The Revenge of Devil | Irondad, pepperony

Chapter 29

"Wow, it's so beautiful here," Pepper breathed in astonishment as she looked around. "Where are we?" she asked her companion, who took her here.

"The new Asgard, but maybe it will be better if I say Norway," he replied with pleasure. He had thought for a long time about showing it to her here, but only today did he finally muster the courage to do so. He considered it his little personal victory that she liked it here. Although he could not credit himself for that outlook.

"Wait, are you telling me we're in Norway?!" she exclaimed in surprise. Well, she knew they weren't definitely in New York anymore, but she didn't expect them to leave the continent.

"Yes, that's exactly what I am saying," he said, rolling his eyes. He literally said that, what was there not to understand?

Pepper laughed. That was all him. She had to admit that he had surprised her with this. The view was breathtaking and exactly what she needed now. Combining wedding preparations with company management was not easy at all. She felt Loki knew that, so he brought her here. Which made her think. When Thor took him to them in August, everyone told her she should watch out for him. That he is dangerous. But they were all dangerous, weren't they? They housed Bruce at home, who could turn into a Hulk at any time. They accepted Natasha, who didn't talk about her past, but Pepper could imagine it wasn't nice. And yes, Loki was often grumpy, but never dangerous. At least not for her. And so she had to ask a question she never wanted to ask.

"Why did you do it?"

Loki froze. He had expected this question much earlier, but when it never came, he thought it would never even come. And here it was.

"Because I'm an evil god who longs for domination," he growled.

"Loki," she sighed, "I know you. I know that's not you. It doesn't make any sense to me," she explained in a whisper. She didn't want to upset him, but she really didn't understand. The deeper she got under his cold mask, the more she had no idea why he had done it back then. Tony almost died to stop him. She should hate him, but how could she? Her Loki was not the one who had invaded Earth years ago.

"I don't like what you're doing to me," he snapped, and Pepper had to smile slightly.

"Nobody likes it, but in the end, everyone talks anyway. Maybe it's my secret superpower. I broke Tony a long time ago, even though it took me a few years. You and Natasha... it is much harder with you, but I think you are both getting better. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I promised myself I would never ask, but I kind of like to control things. I need an overview, you know? I need things to make sense," she explained. She always tried to see good in people. Peter was after her in that.

"I'm not proud of it, know that," he muttered, looking around. He wouldn't want Thor to visit them. "I wasn't completely sane - but that's not quite an excuse because I wanted to be king. I envied Thor and longed for the throne. And one titan decided to take advantage of it and enchanted me. Even now, I don't know if it was all my fault-"

"Did he enchant you?!" Pepper interrupted sharply. "Loki, you were brainwashed! That explains everything. As you said, he used you. You're not to blame for what happened then, don't you see?" she said urgently in her voice. She was never wrong in people. She knew all along that he couldn't do it of his own free will.

"But I wanted it!" he shouted in disappointment.

"Loki, did you want the throne on Asgard or the invasion of Earth? Because these are two different things," she explained quietly.

"I..." he began but did not continue. "We should go back. Didn't you say something about cakes?" he changed the subject, and Pepper looked disappointed for a second.

"Yes, Tony and I are planning a cake tasting. I understand you don't want to talk about it, but at least think about it, okay? Because you have to forgive yourself first so that others can forgive you too."

•••

"The end of February is approaching, do you know what that means? It means it will be four months since Ross' death and we still don't know anything!" snapped the older agent.

"Believe me, I'm more than aware of that, but there's no way forward," Everett said calmly. He understood his former colleague. Four months was a really long time.

"You are under government administration. You are the Secretary, the walls are supposed to have ears here too! Are you telling me that Ross didn't do his job properly?!"

"I would not say that. I just think he approached it personally and that's why a lot of records are missing. You know what he was like to protect people, but he wanted to do it on his own terms. I'm sorry, but I have nothing new for you. I don't even know where to look anymore," the minister sighed.

"Sir, we are ready to begin a tour of the armory," Colonel Jones told him.

"I'll be right there," he said, waiting for him to leave again. "I will continue to work on it, but I can't spend as much time on it as I did until now. As you said, we are a state administration, I have to make sure that is really the case."

"Contact me if you come up with something," the agent told him, shaking his hand before leaving his office.

Everett took a tablet where he finally had all the files loaded, so he didn't have to carry all the papers with him, and headed for the armory. He wanted to solve the murder, but it wasn't his job anymore and he had to start concentrating on his own job. He had to put it all right here.

"Dazzle me, Jones," he challenged the brown-haired man as he reached the armory. He expected some technical conveniences, but Colonel Jones began to show him his typical army weapons. They had a really respectable stockpile of rifles, Glocks, submachine guns, machine guns, and other weapons.

"Now we're going to move to heavier weapons and then tanks," Jones informed him as soon as the grenade inspections were over.

"I must say I am a little disappointed. I expected more from Hammer," he remarked as they moved to another room.

"Hammer? What do you mean, sir?" His subordinate asked incomprehensibly.

"He supplied us, so I thought we'd have some tweaks here," he explained, a little confused.

"It will be a mistake, sir. Justin Hammer never supplied us," said the colonel.

"Are you sure? I have him on my list of employees... what would he do here if he didn't supply us with weapons?" he muttered to himself, finding a list on his tablet to see for himself. Maybe it was just a dream.

"These are all government contracts," Jones insisted.

"Hmm, interesting, I guess I must have been mistaken," he said, staring at the tablet screen, where Hammer's name was just below Beck's. "I'd like to talk to Mr. Hammer anyway, get him for me," he ordered, returning to his office. It hadn't occurred to him before that he had to suspect a weapons businessman, but if he hadn't given them guns, then what he was doing here? This could be their clue.