Sweet and Pudding 1x1

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Sir, there is nothing I can discern that is ailing him. A preliminary scan shows that there has been no heart attack or stroke-like events, nor anything of the sort. However, I am detecting large quantities of an energy signature identical to the mind given off by the Tesseract. As Ms. Romanoff stated, his heartbeat is gradually slowing. It could have something to do with the mind manipulation, Jarvis answered. Natasha stared down at Thor, then glanced up at Tony and shook her head. "No. I felt faint earlier like I might collapse, but the feeling went away," she answered.

[pudding]

Fantastic. If it was some normal, human issue, he might have been able to help. But now he was just pulling on straws. "Tesseract... Natasha, go get Loki and bring him in here. The staff as well, if you please. He knows more about it so he might be able to help." He pued out his phone and, after a slight hesitation, called Agent Coulson.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha gave a curt nod and strode out. It certainly had to do with the Tesseract, but while he was unconscious she was healthy. It was puzzling. Returning to the main room, she retrieved the staff and knelt next to Loki, slight concern on her face. "Sir, Stark wishes to see you. He needs help."

Coulson picked up immediately. "You had better be calling to tell me that they're secure and we can come pick them up."

[pudding]

"If by secure you mean one is unconscious and probably dying while the other is having an emotional breakdown, sure," Tony replied. He began to pace around the table where Thor was laying, unable to keep still. "I'm calling because I need the tesseract here. Can you bring it here?"

 

Loki looked up when Natasha appeared over him, holding the staff. He was still very confused about what that vision had been and what had caused it. But Stark needed help. "Is Thor alright?" he asked, not moving from his spot by also obviously worried.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Coulson sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. Fantastic, just what they needed. "Fine, we're bringing it over. Be careful Stark, this thing is dangerous," he warned before shutting the phone and moving to begin organizing a squad. "Barton, if you can control yourself around the Widow you can come," he decided, since the archer might be upset and do something drastic.

 

Natasha shook her head. "Something is steadily stopping his heart. Tony's working on it, but we think it has something to do with the Tesseract, and you're the expert," she said, holding the staff out to him.

[pudding]

Loki's expression turned to alarm at this news. Struggling against the alcohol he had consumed earlier, he pushed himself to his feet and teetered dangerously from left to right. "You should probably hold onto the staff," he told her as he pushed away from the bar and stumbled across the room. "Which way do I have to go?"

 

Clint looked at Agent Coulson before nodded. He could control himself. That being said, he also wanted to shoot an arrow in Loki's eye for doing something to her in the first place but he could keep calm. Going with them was important to him. "I can control myself," he insisted as he followed Coulson. He was going with them, end of story.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha nodded and held onto the staff with one hand, using the other to offer him support down the hall. "This way, in Stark's lab," she answered, leading him at a quick but controlled pace to the room where Thor hadn't changed.

 

"Good," was Coulson's reply, already walking down the hall with agents trickling from different places to join them. He ended up with a squad of eight plus himself and Hawkeye as he received the briefcase containing the Tesseract from a separate agent. Then it was off to the flight deck to get to Stark tower.

[pudding]

Loki gripped her hand tightly as he shuffled along to where Thor was lying on a table. Tony was staring at him as if waiting for the secrets of what was making him ill to just unfold before him. Loki immediately let go of Natasha's hand and stumbled over to the table where Thor was laying. Clumsily, he wrapped his blue hands around Thor's left hand. His skin was cold but without magic it wouldn't give him frost bite. Well, not unless he held onto Thor's hand for days. Which he was considering if Thor did not wake up. "Thor?" he asked, giving the hand a squeeze. "What is wrong with you?"

 

Clint followed the group closely as they retrieved the Tesseract then moved to the flight deck. Ten men in total. They all walked as a group to one of the larger planes and began strapping into the back. He was going to figure out a way to free Natasha from whatever spell Loki had put on her. Or isolate him and request in a not very nice way that he lift the spell.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha stood by in case he needed help or fell over. She was sort of glad it wasn't her on the table, seeing as neither of them would've cared, so she most likely wouldve died. Thor did not stir, his expression still agonized. It didn't seem like he was just asleep.

 

As soon as everyone was on board, the plane was off towards Stark Tower. "I want a perimeter made. Secure the floor- no one comes in or out. Wait to detain either of them on my signal, that goes for Romanoff as well," Coulson ordered, watching the building loom up before them.

[pudding]

Loki stared down at his brother, his brain fighting to work against the fog of alcohol. Whatever was wrong with him had to do with the tesseract. Was the hypnotism killing him? Maybe he had to hit his brother over the head to help him. But that was dangerous and he had no idea if it would work. Thor had been the first one he had hypnotized.... would it happen to the Agent as well? This was dreadfully, horribly bad. And to top it all off, he seemed to be having nightmares. Loki lowered his head so it was resting on his brother's chest and he could hear his slowing heartbeat. "I'm sorry," he whispered, squeezing the hand. "Please don't die..."

 

 

"What about Stark, sir?" Clint asked as the plane neared their destination. "Should we detain him or leave him?" The plane landed atop Stark tower since it had no need of a runway for landing and could land like a Helicopter. It was a genius invention, really.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

This time there was a response, if only slight. For one thing, his heartbeat evened out the way it was. It didn't get quicker again like it should have been, but now it was on a slow, steady rhythm, and no longer decreasing. Thor's face did seem to relax slightly at the pain got more gradual.

 

"Leave him. If the god is really dying, we need all the help we can get. We can question him later," Coulson answered, stepping out as the rest of the agents did so. Once again, hacking the building seemed like not a problem -Tony should change his codes- and agents were swarming inside.

[pudding]

Clint nodded and quickly moved out of the plane himself. He followed the agents inside as they moved to block the elevators and doors so that no one could get in or out. Since he wasn't needed for that, he would just accompany Agent Coulson to where the group was. He had a few arrows with tranquilizing tips so if things went wrong, he could use them to detain everyone. Including Black Widow.

 

It took Loki a few moments to realize Thor's heartbeat was no longer slowing down. In the mean time, he had closed his eyes and simply rested his head on Thor's chest. He raised his head and stared at Thor in confusion. "Thor?" he asked, moving a hand to try and feel Thor's pulse from his neck just to make sure he wasn't delusional. It was just staying at the same rhythm now but it was still very slow. What had changed?

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha tilted her head, then glanced up at the screens displaying Thor's vitals. "He's becoming stable, sir," she said, wondering what had happened. Did he do magic or something? It would really help to know why he was like this in the first place.

Coulson led the way down the hall, flanked by Barton and two other agents. As they pushed their way into the lab, they were on the receiving end of two sleek Barrettes, the owner of which narrowing her blue eyes at them and waiting for the order to kill them. "Could you kindly call her off? We're here to help," Coulson requested patiently.

[pudding]

Loki quickly glanced at the door before returning his gaze to his brother. They weren't worth any more of his time, at the moment. "Don't shoot them," he ordered. "If they are here to help, of course." He glanced at Coulson, a frown appearing on his face. Was he here to declare how he was right? How he should've lifted the spell sooner?

 

"Let's just stay calm," Tony said as he moved to Natasha's side. "They're just here to help. Right?"

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha lowered the weapons, not sparing any of them a second glance as she returned her attention to Thor and Loki. As Tony approached she gave him a look. "You and I both know better than that," she replied bluntly. Coulson held up his hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "We're just here to help. Tony said Thor was down for the count, and it's in our best interests to keep him alive. Do you know what's wrong with him?" He asked, stepping forward to peer at the body. Since Natasha wasn't a threat right now, he wouldn't focus on her.

[pudding]

"Not a clue," Tony replied bluntly. "First he collapsed after there was a yelling fest involving Loki. Then his heart started slowing down. It leveled out a few seconds ago but it is still dangerously low."

Clint stared at Natasha as she lowered the weapons. It was like she didn't even know him. What the Hell had Loki done to her? He frowned as he approached the sleeping body on the table. He reached out a hand to feel the slow heartbeat for himself when a blue hand suddenly lashed out and grabbed his wrist. Loki glared up at him, anger and confusion written all across his features.

"Don't touch," he snarled, acting very much like a mother bear protecting a sleeping cub. He pushed Clint away then turned his attention to Coulson instead. Natasha was allowed to touch because he was under her spell and Tony was allowed because he had proved he was trying to help. Everyone else could look and talk but touching was out of the question.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Natasha's hand moved to her gun as Clint reached towards Thor, watching impassively as Loki growled at him and pushed him away. The threat gone, she lowered her hand from the gun at her hip. "Could it have anything to do with the Tesseract? He wasn't showing signs of being sick before," Coulson asked, smartly keeping his hands to himself.

[pudding]

"It could have to do with him not being in close proximity to the tesseract but Ginger Snaps over here is perfectly fine. At the same time, it is more likely to be related to the tesseract since he hasn't been here that long and it would take far longer for human sickness to set in." Tony shrugged. Really, he had no idea what was wrong with Thor and it was making him a bit annoyed. And Loki was being completely useless since he didn't seem like he would let anyone from SHIELD touch his brother. It was going to be pretty hard to help if they had to keep their hands off.

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Coulson nodded, glancing at Natasha. She did look perfectly fine, except for the whole bright blue eyes thing. "Can you tell me exactly what happened before he collapsed? Maybe something triggered it. If you're controlling his mind and heart-" he pointed at Loki, "then maybe it goes further than just action commands. If you told him to stop breathing for example, would his body respond and stop his breathing?"

[pudding]

"Are you blaming me?" Loki asked, anger appearing on his face once more. "I told my brother to do no such thing!" He stared a the finger as Tony quickly cut between them.

"Calm down, Rudolph," Tony quickly said. "They got in a fight. Something about false feelings and the fact Loki think's he's a monster. Then Thor stormed off and collapsed short after."

[Sweet_Wyvern]

"I'm not blaming you. I'm just pointing out that you might have accidentally triggered it," Coulson replied casually, taking a small step away. Not because he was afraid, but because they didn't need any violence right now. "Stark, do you have a recording of the exact conversation? We need to examine everything."

[pudding]

"Of course I do," Tony said. "I always record everything that goes on in this tower when I have company over. Especially when that company happens to be extraterrestrial. We're being recorded right now." He motioned to various points in the room then made his way over to a computer. "JARVIS, pull up the video about the fight."

"Right away, sir," the voice replied and the video immediately appeared on the screen. Tony looked at Coulson and motioned him over.

"You can watch it right now," he said then looked past him to Loki. "Why don't you get someone to take you to one of the guest bedrooms? Natasha can make sure none of them touch Thor and you can get some sleep."

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Coulson walked over to examine the screen. "Please... just let me be. What you think you are feeling are not your real feelings. This staff has warped your mind. Just let me be." Loki had said. "There," Coulson said, making a motion to pause. "This could be considered an order, right? If Loki was telling Thor to leave because he was of no use to him anymore.. Could that translate into the Tesseract killing him?"

 

 

[pudding]

"So every time Loki uses his glowstick of destiny on someone, he has to keep them doing useful things or they die?" Tony asked. As Tony continued staring at the screen, Loki fell to his knees, holding his head. He was the one who was making Thor suffer? He had just wanted Thor to go because he thought the tesseract was making him lie. But instead, it was killing him! It was all his fault. "So to fix him, Loki just has to tell him to get better? I wish all illnesses worked like that."

[Sweet_Wyvern]

Coulson rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know. I think its more to the point that the person still needs to mean something to him. He told Thor to stop working for him I guess, and that meant no longer useful. I think the Tesseract may be influencing them more than Loki himself," he mused, inclining his head. It couldn't hurt to try. "Tell him to get better i guess."