Different Loki, Same Problems (September 2001)

6 Months Ago...


Seeing himself like that, being face to face ‘with’ himself was a shock to say the least. To be yanked by the scruff of his neck away from his world, his reality though. No, not just that. Not just like that. There was more to it. Being pushed or pulled allows one the opportunity for retaliation. He was thrown over a cliff like a babe in swaddling. He didn’t understand how exactly. It just happened. Where he ended up looked identical but he could feel...a  changing. A difference in the world. 



4 Months Ago...


In his gray suit Loki walked the streets of New York. Now he had come to understand that this world, this reality that he found himself in was not the one he remembered. Time was pushed ahead and there were other differences that he detected. Some were obvious and some were much more subtle and hard to detect. For one he did not have the ability to return to Asgard. He was essentially cut off. He did not know why but he knew something devastating had happened. Or was happening there. His brother was in trouble but he did not know the nature of that. And he could do nothing about it. 


Here though, on this world filled with...primates...He had big plans. He intended to become a King here. A lord. He had already dealt with Victor Von Doom and Professor Xavier. However there was a group of humans  that were going to give him trouble yet, The Avengers. He had seen them in action and they had been close to discovering that he was the master of several crimes. Important crimes. SHIELD had something that belonged to him and going after it directly had proven to be...a mistake. He needed the Tesseract to power a force shield that he was having built. There were 6 force generators that Erik Selvig, a scientist, was building for him. Once they were complete his fortress would become impenetrable with an unlimited power source to power it. Provided he stole the Tesseract. His seat of power...New York City, would become the center of the world!


1 week ago…


Loki had done some research on the Avengers. Instead of them being a bar to what he wanted he decided that he would use them to help him take the Tesseract instead. An ingenious plan. Difficult to pull off but with a good chance of success. To begin they needed an accident. A big one. Loki had been manipulating 2 SHIELD scientists who were working on a new weapon for SHIELD under Nick Fury. They were tapping into the Tesseract to power the weapon on a Destroyer docked at the Naval Base in Saratoga Springs New York. When they turned on the weapon though it misfired and sent a burst of energy straight for the city. Alot of people were killed, many more injured and SHIELD’s reputation had been greatly hurt and Tony Stark himself had been in attendance during the test.

For quite a while after being returned to her timeline, Isabella felt uneasy and anxious. She would wake up suddenly in the middle of the night afraid that she had been yanked from the world she knew and the people she loved. She eventually started to settle down and even let Tony convince her to take a small vacation on their Yacht over the summer. It had been nice to get away and be able to relax. 

Isabella could not believe how big Serena was getting. She was 3 1/2 years old now and was proving to be a trouble maker. She was naturally curious and social and was not at all shy. Photographers loved getting pictures of Serena. She was quite the beautiful toddler and Isabella was teaching Serena from a young age to be respectful. Even so, Serena was still very young and would often have meltdowns or throw temper tantrums. Most of the time, Isabella would choose to simply ignore Serena until she had calmed down. Despite all of that, Serena was still loved in the Tower and especially loved to crawl up into Logan's lap when he was watching tv.

Kate and Steve had been together for over a year now. They spent most nights in the same room together, but had not officially moved in together. They trained every morning together and when it was cool enough they liked to go running in Central Park. Kate was not as well known as Steve, but she was starting to gain a following of young women who looked up to her and respected her. Kate saw a bright future with Steve. They enjoyed each other's company and, though they didn't always agree on everything, they respected each other's opinions. 

Natalya and Logan were both truly learning how to be in a real relationship. They had good days and bad days, but they never let those bad days tear them apart. Natalya had moved into Logan's room, but still had her own room to go to if she just needed space away from him. They were both extremely sexual creatures and thoroughly enjoyed that part of their relationship. However, after being caught having sex in the hot tub they were immediately banned from sex there...the pool...and the sauna. 

Natalya had finally been allowed to go outside, though with Logan's supervision. Since that time, she and Logan had found a bar that they enjoyed frequenting and Logan had taught Natalya how to play pool. It turned out that she was actually better at pool than he was and she enjoyed hustling guys for money. 

For the past week, the Tower had been in chaos after the misfiring of the weapon on a Destroyer docked at the Saratoga Springs Naval base. The weapon had been powered by the Tesseract and as a result of the misfiring many people in the city had been killed or injured. Tony had been in attendance during the test and he himself had been greatly injured. In addition to caring for her injured husband, Isabella was fighting off reporters who were trying to place the blame with what had happened with Tony. In fact, Isabella had called their lawyer to start handling the situation. She hadn't been sleeping and was angry. So angry in fact that she stormed down to SHIELD and demanded to speak to Phil Coulson...immediately.

Phil Coulson had always had a good relationship with the Starks and the Avengers. He was considered to be approachable for the most part and was Kate's Godfather to boot. He agreed to see Isabella in his office. Once she arrived he offered her a beverage and closed the door and gestured for her to sit.

"Hello Mrs. Stark. It's been a while. How is Tony doing? I never found out how severe his injuries were," he said. He sat in his, black leather office chair and he had his laptop open on the desk.

He ofcourse knew why she was here. Tony had been too close to the beam when it fired and his suit functioned as a resonator and amplified the beam. (At least, that was what he believed from what the scientists had told him) They had not yet told that to anyone but now that investigative reporters were moving with a story to blame SHIELD, as a professional courtesy Phil had told Isabella about what they were going to release to the press. A story that placed Tony at fault for the accident.

Isabella began to pace back and forth in Phil's office. She refused the beverage. She was clearly very agitated and upset, which was understandable given the situation she was in. 

"He's recovering...slowly. Phil, you and I have been friends for years. Tony and I have had SHIELD's back on several occasions and so I don't appreciate that you are throwing Tony under the bus for this accident. As a 'professional courtesy' to you, I'm letting you know that I've called our lawyers." The Starks had some of the best lawyers in the world. "They want to talk to these scientists you mentioned. Tony didn't even have to be there that day! He was there because SHIELD asked him to be!" Isabella rarely got angry like this, but she was dealing with a whole hell of a lot right now.

"We're sorry about Mr. Stark, Mrs. Stark. You and Mr.s Stark are good people. We can't release the scientists as they are under an NDA. They can not talk about the experiments or what they are working on. I'm sure you can understand. "I also want to show you something," he said and turned his laptop to face her then hit Enter.

There was a video of the weapons test. Tony was standing beside the weapon. It was a massive energy canon. Just as it appeared to be powering up though he raised his right hand and touched something on the bottom of the canon itself. And then the canon fired with explosive results. The energy cut into the deck of the ship and continued forward from the ship into the side of a building that was on the coast. 12 people were dead and 37 were injured. The mayor, Rudy Guiliani wanted Tony's head on a pike.

"Now I can keep this video from the press but I want Tony to sign this," Phil said and produced a document from his briefcase. I also want him to plead no contest to the charges against him. It will go the easiest on him if he does and SHIELD will keep this video out of the public eye. Isabella didn't know why, at the moment, but something about the video looked...fishy.

Isabella didn't want to watch the video of the weapon's test, but she forced herself to. However, as she watched the video something about it didn't seem right to her. Why would Tony touch the canon itself? Her gut was beginning to tell her that there was something off about this whole thing. 

When Phil produced the document from his brief case she didn't take it and she looked at Phil. "I would like a copy of this video...for our lawyers." She had no intention of showing it to their lawyers, but she wanted to show it to Tony and see if he could explain what was going on.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that Mrs. Stark. And we'll need your answer on the plea. We have lawyers too and we'd hate for you to get a black eye from this publicly. You've done alot of good Mrs. Stark. Please consider this offer. Accidents happen and thats what we want to convey to the press. But...this looks like he was...well, screwing around and I don't think you want that kind of message. I don't even want to think what that could mean civilly," He said. But he did push the document toward her again.

Isabella pushed the document back and looked at Phil. "I've known Tony for a very long time and there is one thing for certain that I know about him. He doesn't screw around when it comes to this kind of thing. You should see the list of rules for the lab at the Tower! Tony may be a lot of things, but he is responsible and cautious when it comes to weapons and you know that! There's something weird about that video Phil. Tony would never do something this irresponsible." She ran her hands through her hair and then looked at Phil again. "Can I at least see the canon?"

Phil tilted his head. He hadn't been instructed 'not' to show her the canon. He decided that she could. "Ofcourse," He said and stood up. "It's been removed from the destroyer and is in bay 14 here. If you would come with me," he said and escorted her out.

The SHIELD building was huge and several of the people they passed stopped to talk to her or get an autograph. Most of those were women though. Finally they arrived at bay 14. It was packed with equipment, most of it was still in black plastic with SHIELD's logo all over it. The canon was on a metal stand and was tilted upward. It was about 16 feet long and about 3 feet in diameter with all sorts of electrical components all over it. There was no discernible damage to it specifically. Not that she could tell save for a small, burned area on the lower, right portion of the manifold. What was odd was that the burn mark was in a perfect square as if something might have been attached there. She couldn't be certain about that though and she had seen the video. Still, there was something about the video that irked her but she was so tired right then, she couldn't figure it out. Phil stood nearby with his hands clasped in front of him as she looked at the canon.

Despite the fact that she was dealing with quite a lot right then, Isabella was always pleasant when people asked her for autographs or wanted to talk to her. Finally, she and Phil arrived at Bay 14 and Phil escorted her over to the canon. Isabella looked very closely at it and she took note of the perfectly square burn mark on the bottom of the canon. It appeared as if there had been some kind of device down there. In the back of her mind she kept thinking about the video and she knew there was something about it that didn't add up, but she was so exhausted that she couldn't think clearly enough to figure out what it was right then. 

She snatched the piece of paper from Phil's hands that he wanted Tony to sign, but made no promises on a plea deal. She left SHIELD and headed home. Stark Industries stock prices were plummeting because of what had happened and Isabella was genuinely concerned about what they were going to do. 

She got home and she immediately went to go check on Tony. The bio bed had been moved up to their room to make him more comfortable. Isabella was quite upset over everything, but she put on a smile for him. "Hey..." she said as she walked over and gently kissed him. "How are you feeling?"

Tony now knew he needed to work on the biobed's comfort level. It was helping him though. His nervous system had taken a severe hit. If it wasn't for his suit, he'd likely be dead. Tony kissed Isabella back and he touched her left hip in a very suggestive way. "I'm going crazy being in this...thing!" He said. "I 'could' use a little distraction," He said and twerked his eyebrows at her and his right hand moved down to her bottom.

Isabella sighed softly and sat down on the edge of the bed so she was facing him. "Tony, you're in serious trouble. SHIELD is demanding that you plead "No Contest" in exchange for not releasing the video they have of the test to the public. We're being sued by the families of those that died and were injured and our stocks have plummeted." She paused a moment to steady herself before continuing on. "I saw the video of the test, Tony, but something about it seems...off to me. Why did you put your hand underneath the canon? It appears that there was some kind of device there."

Tony looked at her oddly. "What do you mean? I didn't. I was just there by invitation to watch. I saw something strange on the side of the canon and shifted to look to see what it was. I reached for it but then I was thrown back into the hull. That's what happened to my left arm," He said. "But I've said this already...several times. Don't you believe me?" He asked concernedly. "Didn't you talk to Phil? What's happening?" He asked her.

Isabella blinked at what Tony said and she looked at his left arm. Then she thought about the video again and something hit her like a ton of bricks. “Oh my God...in the video you were using your right hand to reach under the canon. The video has been altered somehow.”

Tony frowned at that. "Why would SHIELD do that? And I won't believe Phil's in on it if that's true. If they release the video...It won't matter. It'll look like we're just trying to cover our asses," Tony said. He laid back and looked out the window for a moment. "How bad would it be for us, If I pleaded no contest?" Tony asked as he turned back to look at her. "We could throw money into an account for the families and offer that in lieu of litigation," he said. Tony didn't like their options but denying responsibility now would only make it all worse he thought. He knew he was innocent but SHIELD had him by the balls. He wished he knew why though. That and he intended to sever ties with them for screwing him over.

Isabella was trying to understand why the video would have been altered. It just didn't make any sense to her. "None of this makes sense. I know that we don't always agree with SHIELD, but I just don't see Fury authorizing something like this and I absolutely know that Phil would not have been in on something like that." She rubbed her face. She was exhausted and on the verge of breaking down. This week had been particularly difficult on her and it was showing. Tears came to her eyes as she looked at Tony. "I don't want you to throw away everything you've worked so hard for."

"Then we do this. The video stays out of the presses hands and we take responsibility for the mistake. It costs us a little and he help those families," Tony said. "C'mon ere babe," He said as he pulled her toward him. He kissed her forehead and brushed back her long, dark hair. "We've had bumps in the road before. But we might consider keeping our distance from SHIELD from now on. Something's happening there and I don't like it," He said. "Kate's going to be upset," Tony said.

-------------------

Steve had just told Kate what Isabella had told him. Kate had gone ballistic and he had to stop her from dialing Phil's number twice before he snatched her phone away. "Tony and Isabella are doing this and we're all going to support them. He has made it clear that we are to sever ties with SHIELD. I know Phil's your godfather but that goes for you too. I don't like it but there it is," Steve said. "Something's not right here Kate. But we need to be together on this and we're going to support Tony and Isabella," he said as if they were married and he called the shots for them.

Kate was feeling every emotion under the sun right then. She was feeling anger, confusion, hurt, denial, and guilt. She was with Steve in his room and she began to pace back and forth as she let the news that he had told her fully sink in. She began to realize what severing ties with SHIELD was going to mean and she felt a few tears come to her eyes as she sat down on the bed. "I lost my parents and now I'm going to lose Phil too..."

"No you won't. Once this blows over, you can interact with him on a personal level. Just not professionally. And that could change, in time. I don't know why this is happening or what Phil is about but Tony and Isabella have a right to be upset," he said. "He's...he's going to plead no contest and set up a fund for the families of those that died and who were hurt," he said. "Isabella said he was innocent but he's still going to do it," Steve said.

Kate looked at Steve. "Of course he's innocent. Tony is completely serious when it comes to safety around weapons...especially ones as powerful as that one." She sighed. "I know he's going to bounce back, but seeing him in that bed like that. You think he's invincible until you realize he isn't."