Fury also goes to talk with Loki himself instead of sending Natasha, either because he thinks Natasha is compromised or because he thinks she's not the best fit this time around since Loki is a woman.
Either way, it doesn't go very well for him. Luckily for Fury, Tony has taken the liberty of derailing some of Loki's plan. The scepter is not being held in the same room as him and Brucie doing their work, and thanks to the drug Bruce is on, it'll take an actual direct threat to his life to get him to Hulk out. Now to be fair, the attack on the Helicarrier might still do it, but Tony is willing to take that risk.
Of course, just as he's thinking that… he gets a call from someone he's been expecting for a while now. Pulling a modicum of his focus back to his physical body, Tony gives Bruce a smile.
"Sorry Bruce, that'll be the Secretary of the World Security Council. Have to take this one." "Oh! No problem… should I leave?"
"No, no, don't mind me. Just keep working."
Then, because Tony can be a little extra at times but he thinks Bruce has gotten to a headspace where he really doesn't mind… he turns and lets his 'holograms' out to play, turning them into hardlight that covers him up like a cocoon or an ominous pyramid and gives him total and complete soundproofing. Well, one way soundproofing. He still hears Bruce quietly say 'holy shit', which brings a grin to his face even as he finally answers Pierce's call.
"Mr. Secretary."
"Tony, I'm hearing some concerning things."
"Well, we've apprehended Loki and are currently hunting down the Tesseract, so I'd say everything is going pretty good, Mr. Secretary."
"Tony…"
At the warning in Pierce's voice, Tony sighs and changes tone.
"What's got you concerned, sir? Is it the personal suit of armor or the Life-Model Decoy?"
There's a telling beat of silence on the other end at that.
"… So your new PA is actually an android based on Peggy Carter?!"
"Look, Mr. Secretary. Everything I'm doing has a purpose. Keeping Fury off balance by flying out in my own suit and bringing 'Penny' into the mix is by design. Because I'm going to let Loki escape." And just like that, Pierce is sufficiently distracted.
"Excuse me?!"
"Think about it, sir! Sure, I could lock Loki up tighter than Fort Knox. I could make sure every attempt she made at getting off this Helicarrier failed. Hell, I could go down to her cell and kill her myself right now, giving us all the time in the world to find and secure the Tesseract. But I'm not going to do that… because we need this to be an actual invasion, sir."
"Explain, Stark."
"So far, we've got an incursion. Loki is one crazy bitch who' s managed to mind control a few dozen people with a glowing stick. At the moment, this isn ' t any more desperate or destructive than the New Mexico incident a couple years back. The rest of the Council is still sitting on its hands regarding Project Insight, but consider this… how fast will they sign off on building those six Helicarriers if New York itself is attacked by an alien army?"
There's a long pause at that as Pierce considers everything Tony has just said. In the end, he asks the obvious.
"… How do you know it's going to be New York?"
Tony rolls his eyes at that, knowing full well Pierce can't see him.
"Because sir, she's going to want to use my Tower. She doesn't like me very much. But more than that, Stark Tower is powered by the same limitless energy source as all of my Repulsor Technology as well as the Iron Legion. It's the perfect place for her to open the portal. Anywhere else and she's not going to have the sort of spectacle she wants."
"And that you want, Stark. While I agree that this would certainly light a fire under the World Security Council's ass… I'm not sure it's worth the risk. We don't know how strong the enemy army truly is. Can we even guarantee that we can close the portal once its open?"
Tony smiles. He knows exactly how strong the Chitauri are, as well as their main weakness. He also knows exactly how to close the portal precisely when he wants to. That all said…
"No sir, but that's even more reason to open the portal. First, we let Loki start her invasion in earnest and allow some of her army to come on through. Then, you manipulate the WSC into launching a nuclear missile at New York that I'll make sure gets delivered right to the alien fleet's doorstep. Two birds with one stone. The people who matter will see just what sort of threats from beyond the stars that we're dealing with, and Loki's army will get blown to kingdom come."
Reluctant silence fills the air, which is amusing because Pierce and the rest of the WSC had signed off on the nuke the first time around. Still, Tony supposes the situation isn't quite so dire yet. No Chitauri have made it to Earth so far after all. " Launching a nuke at New York City would be … career ending, Tony."
That gets a scoff from Tony before he can really help himself. In the end, he just has to roll with the instinctive reaction.
"That's why I suggested you manipulate the Council, not suggest it outright sir. Surely there's someone on the Council who you'd rather wasn't there. And surely someone of your skill can fool them into thinking the nuke is their plan when the time comes. All you have to do is have the missile on standby for me."
This time around, rather than falling silent, Pierce hums consideringly. And in that moment, Tony knows he has the older man.
"… It's not a bad plan, Tony. Though there's quite a lot of room for error, and that error could lead to catastrophe." "You don't have to tell me twice, sir. I'll be right there in the city itself, fighting and protecting New York and my Tower. I already told you I'm ready to fly that missile through the portal personally. I swear to you, if you have my back on this, I can destroy the enemy and deliver a performance worthy of the funding we need for Project Insight. New York itself will have been attacked … people will be stumbling over themselves to make sure it never happens again."
"Heh… you're damn right, Tony. You're damn right. Well done my boy. Go forth with my blessing. And not to worry… I'll have your back."
Tony sure hopes so. Because if at any point Pierce gets cold feet, Tony is more than ready to kill him and the entire Council if he has to, at which point JARVIS can take over, pretending to be the World Security Council for as long as Tony needs the charade to last. But… no. It probably won't come to that. Yet.
Just as Tony opens his mouth to speak, he receives a ping from JARVIS. Barton and Loki's other mind controlled servants are on their way and closing fast with the Helicarrier.
"Thank you sir. Loki's escape just began so I'm going to have to let you go."
"… Godspeed, Stark. Godspeed."
With that, Tony ends the call and releases himself from his hardlight cocoon. Bruce looks over at him and smiles, which Tony returns with a big, wide grin.
Then, the entire ship rocks and Bruce's smile drops from his face as Barton and Company's assault begins. Show time.
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