Cold Hard Iron

Chapter 15

Loki hadn't even thought of the communication spell. In the many hours that he had been lying in bed unable to stand up for fear of falling over or weakening he had thought of how he could heal his condition. He had known that the best way to solve his problems would be to get back to Asgard for more magical cures, but since his magic was so messed up he knew that that would not be an option. He hadn't thought about speaking to Thor and getting him to transport here. There were plenty of magic-wielders in Asgard for him to get back here without Loki's assistance, and if Thor was to bring the tesseract with him then they could both get back to Asgard very easily.

Loki was just worried that the magic that Stark was using to establish the connection would backfire on him. Humans were not made to withstand magic, and even though Stark had magic keeping him alive he had never used it like he would be trying to. There was no telling what would happen.

"After that you must make sure that you tell him what you need to say quickly, otherwise the connection will break and you will have not made your point," Loki explained.

"Understood," Stark responded, nodding slowly.

"Okay, now you just need to focus on the magic that you have. If you focus hard enough you will be able to feel it, to imagine that it is an actual, tangible force. Use this, and then imagine that there is a small line connecting you to Thor."

"Is that all?" Stark asked him.

"Yes," Loki began. "But, Stark, please be careful and don't overdo it."

Stark looked up at him, surprised to hear the worry in his voice. "Don't worry, I'm always careful," Stark responded with a smile, and then closed his eyes in concentration.

Loki had no way of knowing if Stark was doing it correctly, or if he was just standing there getting nothing completed. Loki was beginning to doubt his accuracy in stating that Stark could use the magic in his arc reactor, but then he felt strange electricity in the air. Stark really did catch on to new ideas quickly.

"Who is there?" came a deep, thundering voice. It sounded as if Thor was standing right there in the room with them, but he was nowhere to be seen. Pepper had jumped and sat down in the chair in shock.

"It's Tony Stark. We don't have much time to talk, so just listen. Loki's sick and has contracted some magical sickness. You need to come here immediately with the tesseract and take him back to Asgard to heal. It is imperative that you bring the tesseract quickly."

The other end was silent for a few seconds, and Loki began to worry that Thor had not understood anything.

"I will come immediately with the tesseract," Thor responded, and the connection ended. Stark sagged on the edge of the bed, completely drained from that short little spell.

"Whoa, magic really takes a lot out of you," he mumbled.

"Well, when you are a human it does. Us gods usually have no trouble with it," Loki responded. He wondered if he was losing his godlike traits and becoming weaker. Maybe that was why he having trouble using magic and getting extremely sick from it.

"That was interesting," Pepper said, staring around the room as if Thor was going to step out of the closet and laugh at all of them. That was when Thor stepped out of thin air with a large crack of thunder. Pepper yelped and took cover behind the chair.

Thor looked around the room; at Pepper standing behind the chair, at Stark sitting on the edge of the bed, and then his eyes landed on Loki.

"Brother!" he boomed, moving around to the side of the bed. Loki looked up at him, smiling weakly.