The med bay was too bright, too clean. White light buzzed overhead, reflecting off polished steel and the glass of humming monitors. The air should have felt sterile, but already it bit cold enough to sting the lungs.
Loki lay on the central table, unconscious. His skin, no longer Asgardian pale but Jotunn blue was veined with glowing frost. His lips were nearly black, his chest shuddering with shallow, uneven breaths.
Tony hadn't let go of his hand since carrying him in. The boy's fingers were ice in his grip.
"Hang in there, Reindeer Games," Tony whispered, voice breaking. "You made it this far. Don't you dare check out on me now."
Dr. Helen Cho moved fast, eyes darting between monitors.
"Body temperature's dropping below sixty-eight Fahrenheit… that's not survivable, not for a human." Her voice was tight. "His heart rhythm is erratic, barely coordinated contractions. I don't even know how he's conscious at all."
"He isn't," Tony shot back. "That's the problem."
Dr. Hanamura swept in with a tray of tools, already prepping an injection. "We'll try a rapid thermal infusion. Nanite patches for internal bleeding. If he stabilizes"
But he didn't stabilize.
The warming blankets fogged over within seconds, ice crawling up the fabric. The fluid line froze solid halfway down the tubing. The nanites refused to integrate, their activity halted by the invasive cold spreading from Loki's veins.
Then his body jerked.
Alarms blared. Loki convulsed violently against the restraints Cho barely managed to fasten in time. Frost blasted outward, splintering an overhead light, spiderwebbing across the floor in jagged white. The temperature dropped ten degrees in seconds.
"Seizure onset!" Cho barked. "He's coding heart rate collapsing!"
The monitor screamed. Loki's pulse spiked once, then flatlined.
"No. No, no, no!" Tony lunged toward the table, his voice cracking raw. "Don't you quit on me, you hear me? Don't you dare!"
"Defib!" Hanamura shouted. Cho already had the paddles primed. She pressed them to Loki's chest and delivered a shock. Current snapped across his body and fizzled uselessly against frost-hardened skin.
"Again!" Tony barked.
Another shock. Nothing.
"His cellular conduction is frozen," Hanamura muttered, sweat beading even in the freezing air. "The current can't penetrate. It's like trying to restart ice."
"Then melt him!" Tony's voice cracked. His grip on Loki's hand turned desperate. "Do something, damn it!"
The seizure eased, but only because Loki's body went still. His chest didn't rise. The monitor line held flat and screaming.
Tony's knees nearly buckled. He bent over, clutching the icy hand with both of his own, forehead almost touching Loki's. His voice was hoarse, breaking into jagged pieces.
"Don't take another kid from me. Please… not again."
Cho and Hanamura kept trying, cold-shock protocols, recalibrated nanites but their gloves frosted stiff, their breaths fogged so heavy they could barely see the table.
And still, the frost spread.
The med bay was an icebox. Frost veined up the walls, coating steel and glass. Instruments cracked under the pressure. The air was a freezing mist.
Cho and Hanamura shouted through chattering teeth, but nothing worked. Loki's body rejected every line, every nanite patch, every jolt of energy. He was slipping further away.
"Tony—" Cho's voice wavered as she pulled the paddles back. "We can't stabilize him. His physiology isn't responding. We're losing him."
Tony's throat closed. His heart jackhammered as he pressed closer to the table. Loki's hand was stone in his grip, colder than death.
"No. You are not losing him. Not like this. Not while I'm here."
But his voice cracked on the last word, twisting something inside him like shattered glass.
Another convulsion shook Loki, rattling the table. Restraints groaned. A blast of frost shattered a wall-mounted monitor and fogged the room into whiteout.
"Tony, you have to get out!" Hanamura shouted.
Cho grabbed his shoulder, shoving hard. "If you stay, you'll freeze with him!"
Tony fought her grip, fought the guards that surged in to drag him back, but stumbled through the airlock doors into the corridor. His breath came ragged, his chest burning with helplessness. Through the glass, he saw only blue frost crawling over Loki's body while Cho and Hanamura tried and failed.
Tony slammed his palm against the wall.
"Science isn't cutting it. I need magic. I need Strange."
"Sir?" Friday's voice piped into his ear, calm but edged with static from interference.
"Friday!" Tony shouted hoarsely. "Get me Strange. Now."
There was a pause.
"I've been running Doctor Watch protocols. Quietly. Since the other AIs and I discussed his intentions for you, and it appears his sole intention is to protect you. We just wanted to observe Dr. Strange more before drawing conclusions. He's in Japan. Kyoto, specifically. His cell is active. I can reach him."
Strange's Intervention
"Then do it," Tony snapped, voice cracking. "Do it now."
There was a pause. Then static.
"Stark?"
Tony pressed close to the comm, trembling. All his shields sarcasm, bravado, the genius mask were gone. His voice was raw, ragged.
"Stephen… help."
The word tore through the air like a beacon.
Golden sparks ignited. A portal flared wide across the corridor. Strange stepped through, cloak snapping against the icy wind. His eyes locked immediately on Tony.
"Tony." The word was steady, grounding.
Tony surged forward, clutching his sleeve. His voice broke.
"Stephen—please—he's freezing from the inside out. They can't stop it. Cho tried, Hanamura tried, and he's just—" His breath hitched, throat closing. "He's just a kid, and I can't—"
"Tony. Breathe." Strange's hands gripped both his shoulders, anchoring. "With me. Right now."
Tony's eyes were wild, glassy. He obeyed only because there was nothing else left. Strange's calm was a lifeline.
The sorcerer lifted his hands, sigils blazing gold. Ancient light cascaded down. The frost spilling from the med bay slowed. Inside, Loki's convulsions eased. The heart monitor flickered back into a weak but present rhythm. Strange sealed a containment ring around the bed, pulling the frost tight within it.
Tony sagged against the rail, sweat dripping down his temple. "What's happening to him? Why can't we stop it?"
Strange's brow furrowed as glyphs mapped Loki's body like a glowing x-ray. Blue veins pulsed dangerously with unstable power.
"His Jotunn heritage is waking," Strange explained quietly. "The trauma triggered it. Odin's enchantments were never to protect him but suppress him. Masked what he was. Now they're breaking down."
Tony's knuckles whitened on the rail. "So, it's ripping him apart from the inside."
"Exactly. Glowing frost channels, cardiac disruption, magical surges… it's called Fimbulmark. A catastrophic awakening. Without training or control, his own body treats his power like an invader. Science can't fix this."
Tony's voice cracked. "Then tell me what can."
Strange hesitated, spell thrumming. "There may be something. But right now, my priority is keeping him alive long enough to try."
Tony reached out, clasping Loki's frost-rimmed hand. His own hand shook, but he didn't let go.
"Then do it. Whatever it takes. Don't let him go."
"I won't," Strange said firmly.
Tony swallowed, voice low but true. "Thank you, Stephen."
Strange only nodded, silent but present, holding the spell steady as Tony stayed at Loki's side.
The containment ring shimmered gold, humming faintly as it kept Loki's unstable frost from swallowing the entire med bay. Strange stood at the head of the bed, fingers weaving subtle corrections into the spell, eyes locked on the rise and fall of Loki's chest.
Tony hadn't moved from his place at the bedside. His chair sat too close, knees pressed against cold steel, one hand still clasped around Loki's icy fingers. His other hand rubbed harshly at his own temple, but he didn't let go.
Dr. Cho and Dr. Hanamura lingered at the edges, still shivering from the freeze but unwilling to abandon their patient. They exchanged glances with Strange, understanding that for now science had to stand back for sorcery.
The med bay had quieted, but it wasn't peace. The monitors beeped unsteadily, Loki's heart refusing to find a rhythm. Every dip in the line made Tony's stomach clench.
Strange finally spoke, his voice low, steady, meant for Tony alone.
"He's not stable. But he's alive. That's more than he had a moment ago."
Tony nodded once, sharp. He swallowed hard, forcing his voice to work.
"I'm not leaving him."
"I know," Strange said simply. "And I'll stay until he doesn't need me."
Tony exhaled shakily, his thumb brushing over bruised, frozen knuckles that couldn't return the touch. His eyes burned, but he kept them open, fixed on Loki's face.
"Kid… whatever fight you've got left, use it. You hear me? You don't get to quit. Not now. Not here."
The only reply was the weak, stuttering rhythm of the heart monitor.
Outside, the Tower was silent. Inside, in the hum of gold and frost, Tony Stark kept vigil one hand holding fast, unwilling to let go.