Loki Misses the Asgardian Prison System

Chapter 183

"I don't suppose you know where they are," Ross drawls, as obnoxiously as possible in true Ross style.

"We will," Tony answers. "GSG 9's got the borders covered; recon's flying 24/7. They'll get a hit." And then he'll go smack some sense into them, because clearly, somebody needs to. "We'll handle it."

Ross shakes his head. "You don't get it, Stark," he says. "It's not yours to handle."

Tony raises his brows. He'll admit, he was not expecting that.

"It's clear that you can't be objective," Ross tells him. "I'm putting Special Ops on this."

Natasha scoffs. "And what happens when the shooting starts? You kill Steve Rogers?"

"If we're provoked," Ross replies.

Tony clenches his jaw. Loki was right: he is an arrogant bastard. He really thinks his people can just shoot Steve Rogers? He really thinks the best way to do this is to shoot him?

"Barnes would have been eliminated in Romania if it wasn't for Rogers," Ross reminds him. "There are dead people who would be alive now – feel free to check my math."

Tony glances at Natasha, who seems no more thrilled about this conversation than he is. It's not even just what Ross is saying; it's how he's saying it. Steve's an idiot. There's no denying that. But they don't need to kill him. He has half a mind to get Loki involved just to keep an eye on him, to keep him safe. But that would just embolden Steve to do more stupid things, and that's not quite what he's going for.

"All due respect," Tony says, "you're not going to solve this with boys and bullets, Ross. You gotta bring us in."

"And how would that end any differently than last time?" Ross challenges.

"Because we're not going to put him behind a desk and ask him politely to sit still," Tony says. "You wanna lock him up? We can lock him up. But you're not gonna get anywhere by shooting him."

Ross narrows his eyes. He's unconvinced... but he's getting there.

"Seventy-two hours," Tony says. "Guaranteed."

"Thirty-six hours," Ross counters. "Barnes. Rogers. Wilson. Maximoff. Banner."

"Banner hasn't done anything," Tony reminds him. "Neither has the kid. Just 'cause they left doesn't mean they're in on it, too." Pietro would never go against Wanda, and Bruce would never be stupid enough to follow Steve's lead on this. The fact that both of them disappeared and that neither of them will answer their phone means nothing. There's no way they're in on this.

"I don't care," Ross says. "Find them. You have 36 hours."

And then he's gone.

Tony groans. This is great. This is fucking great. He has a day and a half to find not only Steve and his boyband, but Bruce and Pietro, too, wherever the hell those two disappeared to. And he only has half a team to do it with. He can't involve the government without putting all his friends' lives on the line. Where the hell does he go from here?

There was a time this would have sent him in some downward spiral – a panic attack, most likely. He's going against his friends. He's going against Steve – and, worse still, he's going against Steve when he is so, so sure that he's right. Even if they do find him, even if they do manage to put an end to this before it gets worse, Steve's never going to forgive him. He's never going to admit that it had to end like this.

Fortunately, it doesn't send him into a panic attack.

Not this time.

But his arm feels... tingly. He'd almost say it fell asleep if it wasn't just resting on his lap, circulation unimpeded. He rubs his hand against his chest, his shoulder, his upper arm. "My left arm is numb," he remarks. "Is that normal?" It's a rhetorical question of a sort. Of course it's not normal. Whether he should be concerned, he can't say – is it anxiety? Is it a heart attack? Is he about to drop dead? He can't say.