video » @LOKIOFASGARD

[ikols]

[ The recording shows Loki in a tall-backed chair, a faint green glow off-screen drawing his gaze now and then in the shadowy surroundings. Chinning a hand, he appears uncharacteristically sober, the way only a handful of people have witnessed, and his lips have lost their usual mischievous quirk.

Sighing as though this is a chore, he begins. His voice remains carefully level. ]

Tony Stark of Earth-616 has returned through the portal. I had his movements tracked via rune-magic in case he fell into a different dimension or was kidnapped into Hel-knows-where, that sort of thing tends to happen back home more often than not. But it seems, from what I can confirm from tracing his last steps, that they led him ... away from us.

[ His gaze falls to the mysterious glow, watching it from under hooded lashes instead of paying viewers any mind. ]

If anyone wants to claim his workshop in the perimeter guard headquarters, it's full of his last projects. Unfinished. I suggest our other-verse Starks take precedence over commandeering his mess to make use of it or throw it away.

[ Turning the phone around, the illumination reveals itself to be a ghostly green Tony going about his work on the other side of the desk, a conjured echo as the reality-bending god looks on with everyone else. Why Loki summoned it is unexplained, but he raises two fingers to brush aside the phantom with a gesture and it dissolves in an unearthly silent breeze. The workshop's lights remain off; Loki doesn't need them to see and he would rather hide his face. ]

I doubt he would mind, either way.

Comments

[ikols]

I made a list of everything that could be salient to ... one of you.

[ Enjoy Loki's nose as he scrolls through his phone while the video is on. ]

Okay, there are turret-centric defenses and a security system thing, approximately nine million armour variants for Barnes and Rogers, notes on constructs for someone called Ava ... that's about all in his main files.

And all the stuff he was making for me, but whatever.

[buildsomething]

[The other eyebrow joins the first, but Tony just nods.]

Send me those. I don't need to go through the rest.

[He knows enough about his own quirks to know he'd hate someone going through his files. Even himself. Maybe especially himself.]

What about the physical stuff? Or should I just come see for myself?

[ikols]

You don't want to inherit the premises?

[ Uncertain what will become of it otherwise, Loki blinks at Stark apprehensively. The video turns private. ]

Doom will take over if one of you isn't here and the sad-Stark may not be alert enough to stop him.

private

[buildsomething]

[Tony's expression almost instantly shifts to something measuring. Really, the only thing he knows about this Doom is that the other Stark didn't trust him. Apparently, this Loki doesn't either.]

I have my own space, I don't need to steal his. The...sad-Stark can have it, if he wants. But we can take out anything Doom might try to make off with, if that will work.

private

[ikols]

And what if that Stark disappears, too? There's no telling what Anthony implemented in this place, he was practically part-machine himself. He hadn't been entirely physically human for ages. I can't fight science if Victor decides he wants to set up shop here and the perimeter guard doesn't want me around in an official capacity so I can't lay claim, I ...

I need your help.

[buildsomething]

Okay.

[Just that, without so much as a blink.]

What do you need me to do?

[ikols]

[ There's a moment where he pauses, surprised at not having to plead more. ]

Ah, he had security measures in place around his workshop, I'm sure of it. That's why Victor hasn't made off with any of the tech yet, most likely. I can fuss about in his regular coding but the protocols are a different matter, that's where Doom comes into his own. If he breaks in, he's in forever, and all of Anthony's stuff is his.

I need an Iron Man in this workshop, warding off that kind of silent attack with his presence.

[buildsomething]

Okay, but. Is is the actual space you're worried about, or the stuff inside it?

[ikols]

Both. I'm not a Stark, I don't know what he's done in here!

[ Frustration boils over with a gruff grunt. ]

[buildsomething]

Easy. [He holds up a hand almost defensively.]

So I'll swing by and we can figure out what to do. I mean. I don't talk to computers with my brain or anything.

[ikols]

[ Loki settles down, sniffing and fervently rubbing his eyes. ]

You'll do. I'll be here.

[ Whenever Stark comes around, that is. The godling doesn't plan to go anywhere. ]

>action

[buildsomething]

[It doesn't take Tony long to head over, for all that he's never been there before. But considering what Loki's said about security and what he can extrapolate from his own more paranoid moments, he finds himself just kind of staring at the door in mild consternation.

Well, knocking is probably more polite anyway. And Loki did say he'd be there. He didn't exactly seem to be in the mood to be fucking with people at the moment.]

Loki?

[ikols]

[ The door swings open seemingly of its own accord, revealing a treasure-trove of a workshop that looks like Tony just stepped out; multiple benches have half-finished projects with mugs of coffee sprinkled around in various stages of use, and in the centre by the main console is Loki bathed in the blue and green of their respective coding as a screen is scrolled through. He wasn't just permitted to break into Tony's space, he actively contributed to the coding too with computerised Asgardian runes.

Glancing away, his attention falls to Stark by the door and, to his credit, his eyes appear to have dried since last they spoke. His voice is level. ]

This is most of his work on turret security. Come and see what you can make of it.

[buildsomething]

[It earns a slightly arch look, but Tony does pick his way inside, even if it's a bit slow as he glances around at everything else. The space is familiar but not in that disconcerting way he's learned to associate with the other Starks. Which really isn't the point at the moment, so he lets out a breath as he moves over to peer at the screen over Loki's shoulder.

If there's anything he understands, it's using work to distract yourself.]

What am I looking for specifically?

[ikols]

A way to implement the system into the protocols currently used by the perimeter guard. I helped with some add-ons to the defence measures but I can't make this program run ... he hasn't, um, didn't get far enough teaching me, yet.

[ Not meeting Stark's eyes, Loki scrolls down to a green section. ]

This is a spell that activates when something of giant proportions triggers an alarm during an attack, it summons my Lightning Golems to fight it off. [ Turning to face him at last, he shrugs and his shoulders slump. ] I was furnishing his program with extra combative data, that's all.

[buildsomething]

[Spells. Right. Somehow, Tony manages not to outwardly react to that, in favor of leaning in a little more to quickly read through what he can see of the coding sections.]

Can't speak to the magic integration stuff, but I can't definitely get the program running, yeah. Looks like it's pretty much complete, and he sent me some of this stuff to look at before.

[ikols]

[ A wan smile flits over his lips and his gaze wanders, keeping Stark in his peripheral vision. ]

He must have liked you, to work with you.

[ Tony never suffered fools gladly and always insisted on calling out any dubious games on Loki's part in order to keep the trust strong.

Until it broke, anyway. ]

I suppose I owe you one for this.

[buildsomething]

Liked might be overstating things. [Tony can't help but be dry about it. The other Stark certainly hadn't trusted him completely, and Tony can't entirely blame him for it.] But if there's anyone's work you know...

[He trails off into a shrug only to give Loki a slightly curious look.]

Owe me for what, making the thing work? Please. Like I'm just going to leave that stuff unfinished.

[ikols]

[ As Stark downplays the personal nature of Loki's requests, he nods and keeps it so. There's no point arguing, especially with any version of Tony. ]

Still, thanks. Victor will insist he doesn't want Anthony's suits and inventions but he wouldn't turn down any opportunity to absorb them into his possession and act casual about it. The same goes for these programs.

[buildsomething]

Right, that.

[He doesn't actually doubt it, though he does wonder what he's expected to do about the issue.]

I can take most of it to my own workshop. Or all of it, if the other Stark doesn't want any.

[ikols]

I don't trust the other Stark.

[ With a pointed look. ]

[buildsomething]

But you trust me?

[Okay, that's a genuine surprise, and it probably shows.]

[ikols]

I don't distrust you.

[ Hand on a hip, he considers the man before him and lets that be seen. ]

Take comfort in the knowledge that I don't believe you're the worst Stark in the Multiverse.

[buildsomething]

[That. Huh. Tony studies him for a moment, then nods once. He of all people can read beyond the flippancy.]

So I'll go through and note down anything that can be moved without blowing anybody up and we can decide what to do with the rest of it.

[ikols]

That sounds ... like a plan.

[ Tired as he is, his shoulders slump with relief for a moment. He squares them to offer a hand, meeting brown eyes with green. He misses the sharp electric-blue keenly. ]

Thank you, Tony.

[ Who has now graduated above the sea of other 'Stark's out there. ]