I Thought You Were Different: Part 5

Bargain

Here we go, kids.  It's starting.

Slowly making your way back into the main building, his arm heavily over your shoulder and leaning against him, you feared the moment when he would be out of your reach, and with a deep sigh, your body shook even with his strong hold. Flashes of that nightmare with Tony at your side and your world burning to the ground struck you like a train, and you stopped, your breath caught in the emotion.

"(Y/N)? What is it?"

"It was real," you whispered, not to him, but to yourself.

"What was real?" he insisted urgently. "(Y/N), there's no time to be cryptic."

"That dream...that nightmare that Anthony and I shared. It wasn't a nightmare, Steve, it was a premonition. They were showing us something inevitable. I don't know why I didn't realize it before, but I do now. That's where we're going...and I don't know if we can stop it."

~~~

When the two of you entered the building, despite the early hour, everyone was awake, and the feelings that swelled around you and smothered your thoughts were dread and doubt. It didn't take a connection to Anthony to feel it, and it put you immediately on edge. Releasing yourself from Steve's hold, you hurried up the stairs and to the conference room to find that everyone had gathered there, and were just about to call on you both to join them. Tony stood first and hurried to meet you at the door, taking your arms in his hands to hold you steady as he spoke.

"Sweetheart, come here, I'm gonna need you to sit down."

"Why?" You looked from one face to another around the table, from Avengers to Guardians, and the only expression given back was sorrow. "Dad, just tell me. I'm sick of this secretive bullshit."

"Okay," he sighed, but he didn't let you go, "Loki made a connection last night, through Brooke." Steve moved to stand behind you, seeing the look in Tony's eyes and needing to hold onto you, but to add his hands would make you feel caged, so he held back. Instead, he rested a hand on your shoulder and listened intently, though his eyes were focused only on Loki at the head of the table. "Please, sit down with me and listen. FRIDAY can play it back for you."

"Play it, FRIDAY," you commanded, your feet planted firm. The screen at the front of the room came to life, showing Brooklyn's room, darkened for sleep, with just enough light to see Loki standing next to her as she sat up straight as a board in her bed, her body rigid and forced, controlled by someone other than herself.

"If you're brazen enough to control the soul of an innocent, then be bold enough to state your name to me now."

"Do not play the ignorant, Loki, you know who I am," her voice replied, and the vacant coldness of it left you numb. The choice of Tony's catchphrase wasn't lost on you, and you could feel that he recognized it too.

"Are you the Titan himself, or one of his minions, too afraid to deny his command?"

Brooke's head turned slowly, menacingly, terrifyingly, towards Loki, and an unnerving smile curled at the corners of her lips. "Loki, the would-be king who never was," she mocked, "I can see why your father denied you the throne. Your intellect leaves much to be desired, and your insight fails you yet again. There are many actors in this grand drama, and I, Thanos, appear to be the only participant with a full grasp on the situation."

"Then please, do enlighten me. Why are you using these children when you have the means to take the stones without them? What purpose is there to their suffering?"