Stark Tower – Rooftop
Devastation.
Cracks spiderwebbed across the rooftop, massive chunks of steel and concrete missing from the once-pristine structure.
Scorch marks and molten metal decorated the battlefield, the result of relentless energy clashes. Smoke curled into the sky, framing the two figures standing amidst the wreckage—the self-proclaimed god and the man who refused to kneel.
Tony Stark exhaled sharply, retracting his helmet with a smooth hiss of nanites. His golden-red armor gleamed under the flickering glow of the Tesseract's unstable energy, and despite the intensity of the battle, he looked… unbothered. He rolled his shoulders, eyes locking onto Loki's with sharp amusement.
"You know what's funny, Rock of Ages?" Tony started, voice laced with dry amusement. "You gods love to talk about power, domination, fear. But there's one thing you're terrified of more than anything else."
Loki twirled his scepter, his smirk unwavering. "Do enlighten me, mortal."
Tony leaned in slightly. "Irrelevance."
Loki's smirk twitched—just a fraction—but Tony caught it.
"See, you crash-landed here with your grand theatrics, declaring yourself ruler of Midgard, expecting people to tremble." Tony gestured around at the burning cityscape. "But all it took was one loudmouth billionaire to remind you that you're just a tantrum-throwing narcissist with a cape."
Loki's eyes darkened.
Tony grinned. Bingo.
Fury twisted in Loki's expression, his composed arrogance fracturing.
The god thrust his hand forward, magic flaring to blinding levels. Reality itself seemed to warp as emerald energy coalesced into a devastating spear of raw divine power, aimed directly at Tony's chest.
"You dare—?!" Loki roared as he unleashed the god-tier strike.
Tony's response was instantaneous. The Starktonium Core flared to life, his entire suit pulsing with radiant energy as he raised his hand. Instead of dodging, he absorbed the attack head-on.
The impact should have disintegrated a lesser being, but instead—
SHRRRKKK!
Loki's magic funneled into Tony's palm, crackling violently as his suit drank it in, analyzing, converting, repurposing. The air vibrated with unstable energy as Tony gritted his teeth, his core humming at maximum capacity. Then—
BOOM!
He fired it back.
A blinding Starktonium-infused energy beam, tinged with residual Asgardian magic, erupted from his palm. It carved through the air like a cannon blast, catching Loki off-guard.
The god barely had time to throw up a defensive ward before the impact hurled him backward, slamming him through what remained of the tower's railing.
CRACK!
The ground beneath Loki crumbled as he crashed, his Asgardian armor splintering from the sheer force.
Tony didn't hesitate. He blurred forward at enhanced speed, closing the distance before Loki could recover.
One punch—shattering force, vibrating through reinforced nanite gauntlets.
Loki barely blocked, but the impact sent him skidding.
Another strike—faster. Loki's ribs cracked audibly.
A third—spinning heel kick, enhanced by gravity thrusters.
Loki spat blood as he staggered, disbelief flickering across his features.
Tony's eyes narrowed. His body was running hotter than ever, every ounce of power pushing past its previous limits.
Something was happening—his cells, his genes, adapting mid-battle. The instability he'd felt before? Fading. Strength replacing fragility.
The more I push myself… the more I evolve.
Loki wiped his mouth, staring at the crimson staining his fingers. His breath hitched.
For the first time in centuries, a god bled.
Tony caught the moment of hesitation. The flicker of doubt in Loki's usually unwavering confidence. And he capitalized on it.
He dropped low, sweeping Loki's legs, then drove an enhanced palm strike into his chest, sending the god tumbling across the ruins.
The nanites in Tony's suit shifted, reconfiguring his gauntlets into razor-sharp blades crackling with Starktonium energy.
He knelt beside Loki's weakened form, voice dropping to a whisper.
"Now tell me…" His tone was almost playful. Almost. "Who's the god, and who's the man?"
Loki's emerald eyes locked onto his—anger, confusion, a sliver of unease.
But then, a slow smirk.
Tony's instinct flared a warning a second before Loki moved.
SHNNK!
An illusion.
The Loki beneath him flickered, vanishing like smoke. The real Loki materialized behind him, scepter aimed for Tony's back.
Tony spun. The Infinity Suit adapted, flickering into an energy barrier just in time—Loki's strike crashed into it harmlessly.
"Not bad," Tony admitted. "But I don't fall for the same trick twice."
Loki chuckled, wiping the last remnants of blood from his lip. "Perhaps I underestimated you, Stark. But tell me…" His gaze flickered toward the Tesseract, now pulsing with unstable energy from their battle. "Are you certain you've won?"
The cube trembled.
Tony's sensors screamed warnings as the artifact's power spiked dangerously, threatening to rupture reality itself.
Damn it.
He had seconds to act. His suit's Starktonium Core synchronized with the Infinity Chamber, absorbing as much raw energy as possible before stabilizing the fluctuations.
The air crackled as the overload subsided, the cube's pulsing dimming slightly.
Tony exhaled. Crisis averted. Mostly.
Behind him, Loki tilted his head, ever-calculating. "You knew this would happen," he mused.
Tony glanced at him, his expression unreadable. "You're catching on, Reindeer Games."
The sound of approaching jet engines filled the air.
The Avengers had arrived.
Steve Rogers landed first, shield raised, eyes sweeping over the wreckage. Captain Carter followed, behind him. Natasha and Clint took positions, weapons at the ready.
Loki, bruised and bleeding, raised his hands in mock surrender. "Well, it seems I am captured once again," he mused.
'Maybe I can still escape?' he thought.
But.
*Boom!*
"Roaaarr!"
Hulk arrived and stared menacingly at Loki.
'I guess not.' Loki didn't see any other way. He was already spent.
His gaze shifted to Tony.
Tony smirked.
He knew exactly what Loki was doing—shifting the narrative, ensuring his defeat looked planned. But Tony had already accounted for that.
As the Avengers restrained Loki, the god's gaze flickered back to Stark. A silent question, a realization dawning behind his sharp eyes.
He had been played. The entire time.
Tony simply winked.
"Welcome to the new age, Goldilocks Jr."
---
Loki allowed himself to be led away, but that smirk never left his lips.
"Interesting," he murmured under his breath, just low enough that only Stark could hear. "Perhaps you truly are more than just a man."
Tony turned away, but his own smirk mirrored Loki's.
"You have no idea."
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