Stark's Weakness

Chapter 18

Sheer chaos and panic tears through the room as it registers with everyone that there is a missile heading straight towards the building they're in and people begin to bolt towards the door before Loki disappears from the corner he was standing in and reappears in front of the only door leading out. "What the hell, Loki!?" A few of them scream in outrage. "Listen to me. I can get us all out of here with the help of Dr. Strange but I need every single one of you to calm down! Panicking will do you absolutely no good at this point!" Loki says loud enough that everyone in the room hears him clearly. Loki doesn't even have to look in Strange's direction before he's standing beside Loki and says, "Loki is absolutely right, ladies, gentleman, and other non-binary friends. Panicking is not what we need to do right now! But if you'll all stay still I can get us out of this mess in just a few short moments." Strange says, looking for all the world as though the last thing he wanted to do when he woke up this morning was agree with the man responsible for the New York attack in 2012 but he graciously says nothing as he begins to draw a circle in midair.

Gasps are heard around the room and Loki looks at Strange and smirks then looks back to the people in the room and shouts, "Everyone, pick a portal and walk through it! Don't worry about which one they all lead to the exact same place! Everyone quickly! Come on!" People begin to cautiously walk through the portals but as soon as the first group is through and no one hears screaming or fighting more and more people begin to hop through the portals. "I'm going to go get (Y/N). Don't worry, I'll not harm her but if the missile gets too close then I will have to take cover and cast protection spells upon us. Is that acceptable, Stark?" Loki says quickly as he looks at Tony. Tony, who's a bit gray at this point, simply nods and extends his hand for a handshake. "I promise you, Stark, I won't let any harm come to her. Trust me." Loki says with a wry smile knowing that there are a thousand things that Stark could say about his last words but he knows that Stark's snappy comeback will have to wait until everyone is safe.

Loki closes his eyes and disappears on the spot only to reappear in the glass room that you are currently locked in only to find himself face to face with a very mentally unstable you. "Who are you? Who am I? No. NO! NOT I! WE! Who are we?" You mumble as you begin to rock back and forth. Loki looks at you with tears in his eyes and places his finger against your forehead and you immediately drop into his arms sleeping soundly. He takes a moment to make sure that you aren't hurt in any visible way that he can see then stands up with you in his arms. It sickens him to see how they turned a woman worthy of being a Valkyrie into a stark, raving lunatic. Just as he's about to teleport you to where everyone else is a thought occurs to him. He could easily teleport the both of you to Wakanda and let the others know once you're being taken care of by Princess Shuri.

He looks around and bites his lip then sends a quick mental message to Dr. Strange then teleports from New York to Wakanda in a mere moment. As soon as he appears in the middle of the courtyard of the palace, he's surrounded by Dora Milaje. "I-I would raise my hands but...um..." He stutters as he looks down at you then back up to the ruthless women around him. Several tense minutes go by and he seriously begins to regret his decision before a voice rings out across the courtyard and says, "Dora Milaje! Stand down! This man is our friend as is the woman that is in his arms." Immediately, the women lower their spears though they look at him distrustfully.

Loki looks around for the source of the voice and suddenly sees a very beautiful older woman with dark caramel-colored skin walking towards him and smiling. "I'm terribly sorry about all of that. I just received word from my children, T'Challa and Shuri, about what is going on. Please, follow me." The woman says as she uses her hand to gesture which way she wants him to go and he, for the first time in his long life, actually obeys without question. He knew that, at this very moment, Heimdall must be throwing open the doors to the throne room of Asgard and telling everyone who will listen that there is now two that the Trickster will listen to, but Loki pulls himself out of his own head with a small smile because even he must admit that it does feel good to do good every now and then.

"I am Ramonda, mother to T'Challa and Shuri, and also Queen of Wakanda." The woman says as they walk into a building and turn left towards four elevator doors. "We shall take her to my daughter's lab and wait for them to get here," Ramonda says and Loki nods mutely as he looks down at you. He knows that if you were in your right mind that you would be gasping in awe at the marvels of Wakanda and Stark would be loathed to tear his eyes away from you. "Do you know what happened to her?" Ramonda asks softly as the doors close. Loki clears his throat and says, "Yes, she was abducted and tortured by Hydra almost a week ago. We only just figured out her whereabouts a few days ago and when we finally got to her...well, she was like this you see. We were going to come to Wakanda the proper way, you see, but Hydra found out where she was and sent a missile to blow the building and everyone in it to Hel but everyone managed to get out in time, thanks to Dr. Strange, and I went to go get (Y/N), that's her name, out of her containment cell and I thought, why not just teleport straight to Wakanda? It's where we'll all end up anyways." Ramonda smiles and nods understandingly as the doors open and she leads him into Shuri's lab.

"Mama! I thought you'd be leading him down here." A sassy young female's voice calls from the doorway. Loki looks up to see who the owner is and finds himself staring at a teenage girl who could be no older than sixteen. He knows his face probably reflects the shock that he's feeling but he can't help it. He's used to children whining about asinine things such as not having enough money to go buy something that will last them all of a month or they'll get bored within two weeks and forget about not children who are apparent geniuses of entire countries. "I'm Princess Shuri. Nice to meet you." She says as she offers her hand for him to shake. Loki quickly puts (Y/N) on the table and then shakes her hand and says, "Loki, Prince of Asgard, rightful King of Jotunheim, God of Mischief. Nice to meet you as well." He says quietly.

Shuri gapes at him in wonder but before she can say anything several more people appear at the door and Tony is heard very loudly saying, "I want to know where my fiancee is!" Loki looks at his feet and begins to pick at his left palm as Tony, Steve, Bucky, Thor, and several other Avengers walk into the room. "Alright, Reindeer Games, where is...she..." Tony loses all steam from his anger as he sees you sleeping peacefully on the table and he slowly walks over and brushes your hair out of your eyes and then looks up at Loki and says, "I thought you'd just...ya know." Loki scoffs and rolls his eyes then says, "What? Taken her? No. First of all, I can see how much you love her. Even though I've never known such love, I would never dream of taking away from another man. Secondly, she's not even my type. Far too short for me."

Tony gasps as though Loki had just utter a swear word in front of his grandma but before he can get started on a tirade Steve lays a hand on his shoulder and says, "I believe that Loki was simply joking with you, Tony. Besides, we've wasted enough time. Shuri, is there any way in hell that you can fix (Y/F/N) here? Hydra got a hold of her and well...she's in worse off shape than Bucky was when he got here." Shuri looks over at Steve, then to Tony who looks as though he may pass out then smiles and says, "Of course I can! Just let me run some preliminary tests on her and then we'll see what needs to be done."