Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 47

Loki sticks around for a while. He's right by Tony's sidet to watch the clips of Aldritch Killian's fatal experiments. Then, of course, Tony has to tell him who Aldritch Killian is and how they met. Other than that sarcastic remark about how he has a hard time seeing how he's the bad guy when Tony does shit like that, he's not a bad listener.

After that, Loki goes back to check on Harley's progress. Tony makes his way back to his car so he can call and do the same from the comfort of his heated stolen vehicle.

"Alright, how's it going over there?" Tony asks, his phone propped up on speaker by the steering wheel.

"Harley is quite the technological prodigy," Loki tells him through the phone. "He had everything ready for you when I arrived."

"And JARVIS?" Tony asks. As much as he appreciates the help, JARVIS is the only one who can talk to him about this suit on his level.

"JARVIS is somewhat operational," Loki says. "Harley has been asking him trivia questions and gleefully enjoying the wrong answers."

Tony snorts. "Sounds like you're having the time of your life over there."

In the background, Harley can be heard asking, "How tall is Mount Everest?"

JARVIS replies with, "Mount Everest is 29,032 feet highway."

Harley bursts out laughing.

"Uh..." Tony furrows his brows. Okay, that's weird. "What's going on with JARVIS?"

"I will let JARVIS tell you himself," Loki says.

There's a brief pause and a quiet clink of metal on metal.

"JARVIS, buddy," Tony says uncertainly, "you okay?"

"It's totally fine, sir," JARVIS says. "I seem to do quite well for a stretch, then at the end of the sentence, I say the wrong cranberry."

Tony blinks at that.

Okay...

"And, sir, you were right," JARVIS adds. "Once I factored in available AIM download link facilities, I was able to pinpoint the Mandarin's broadcast signal."

"Alright, what are we talking? Far East, Europe, North Africa, Iran, Pakistan, Syria? Where is it?"

"Actually, sir," JARVIS says, "it's in Miami."

Tony hits his head against the headrest a few times. "Okay, Loki, you're no longer the dumbest person in the room. Check the screen. Where is it?"

There's a brief pause as Loki does just that. "It says Miami, Florida," he says. "Why does that surprise you?"

Great, he's working with an artificial intelligence system with broken intelligence and a god with no concept of geography. Thank god he's at least got Harley.

"Nevermind," Tony says. "Look, I'm going to Florida. How's the armor coming?"

"Uh..." Harley checks that. "It's not charging."

Tony slams on the breaks.

It's not charging?

It's not —

It needs to charge.

"Actually, sir," JARVIS says, "it is charging, but the power source is questionable. It may not succeed in revitalizing the Mark 42."

Tony pulls his hands away from the steering wheel, and they begin shaking in front of him. "What's questionable about electricity?" he demands. "All right? It's my suit, and I can't... I'm not gonna... I don't wanna..." He trails off breathlessly. "Oh, god, not again."