Dean Murphy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
nyc_merlin) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
moosestories2025-06-20 06:55 am
nyc_merlin) wrote in moosestories2025-06-20 06:55 am
Entry tags:
Angel AU: The Emperor
04. The Emperor - one character is playing dad-friend to another; a character is taking charge, one character is being overbearing, a character is trying to get a handle on their life
—
Powerless is a funny word. Not a ha-ha funny sort of word but the type that can have so many meanings when you start to pick it apart and find meanings within meanings.
An angel is never truly powerless. Grace is always with them. That gift of divine power. A fraction of God’s own nestled deep in the being of an angel that makes them more powerful than any human could ever hope to be.
Of course, it also meant angels didn’t have a soul which is what allowed them to be bound but eh, details.
The point is angels are never truly powerless and to think otherwise was stupid. Just fucking stupid.
Tony makes his shaking hands work faster because the blood loss is starting to get to him.
They wanted to make him powerless. They thought a little ring of metal and magic would do that. When it didn’t they used pain. They thought enough of it would render him powerless. That silly human idea that to break someone you just had to hurt them until they gave in. Angels were meant to fight divine wars. They could handle a lot of pain.
When that didn’t work they maimed him. They tanked his value just to teach him a lesson. It taught him a lesson alright.
He drags the shank empowered by his own Grace against his chest to close off the symbol and moves on to the next.
The lesson it taught him was he had to be smarter. He had to be patient. These were humans with brutal tactics but no plan besides bind an angel, sell the angel for as much money as possible. Rinse. Repeat. Profit. Profit. Profit.
He wouldn’t fetch a good price now. His right wing was mangled and hung mostly useless from his right shoulder. It had healed, broken and dislocated. There would be no flying out of here. There wasn’t supposed to be any escape because Tony’s Grace was bound to a ring. A ring currently worn on the hand of the man in charge.
Thanos.
A slaver so well known among angels that his name made them mutter prayers to God and try to protect themselves behind their wings. Fisk’s name didn’t inspire the same level of fear Thanos’ did and Fisk was a fucking bastard.
But Tony was divine. Tony was an angel of God. He had Grace and he had been made with a purpose. Even if he was bitter and angry at God, he still had all the tools he needed to escape. Well, he did once he made them.
Another symbol carved into his flesh. Another. Another. Another.
There were plenty of people who knew how to bind angels. It’s a big business. Lots of demand. Lots of jobs. There were less that knew how to unbind an angel and destroy binding rings. Those who could kept it to themselves for the most part. Only a few openly and blatantly talked about their craft.
A lot of the loud ones ended up dead under mysterious circumstances.
Tony is neither of those people. He never thought he’d get captured to begin with. He flaunted his freedom each time a hunter tried to take him down. He wanted to inspire hope and the will to fight back in his fellow angels. He wanted to be an example.
And then he’d been captured. He knows that was promoted. Thanos’ had put a camera on him and his cell and bragged. The wild and untamable Tony finally brought low and bound just like any other angel. Just like all angels would be one day.
Tony killed one of the camera crew just to prove that even bound he could still fight. That’s probably why Thanos broke his wing.
Well, if Thanos didn’t mind damaged goods Tony could do plenty of damage to himself.
The last step would hurt the most but if he wanted to escape it was necessary. Tony was always willing to do what was necessary. He would do anything to secure his own freedom.
See, a person could break a binding on a ring and free an angel.
Or that angel could die.
Humanity had learned how to bind the power of an angel but they hadn’t learned how to bind that power beyond death. Probably because demons didn’t want them knowing that in case they decided to turn that power on demons one day.
Tony takes a deep breath, his chest screaming in agony. It’s no worse than the agony from his wing and shoulder.
He will be free. He will not be caged. He will not be sold.
He turns to the front of his cell. It’s not an iron barred cage but a smooth sound proof glass and metal box. The floor is solid, smooth concrete. All in all it’s sleek and sexy and somewhat comfortable. It’s a pretty cage.
It’s also electrified and has speakers in each corner to blast him with sound if he gets unruly.
“Hey Thanos!” There are cameras on him all the time. Tony had to carve himself up at just the right angle so they wouldn’t catch what he was doing. His broken wing provided the perfect cover. He had to sleep at odd angles to get comfortable. No one watching the cameras would think anything of him shifting around to half hang off his cot.
Now he knew they were watching. They could see the blood running down his chest, pale white and shimmering like the surface of an oil slick. They could see the Enochian runes he had caved into himself with an enchanted sharpened plastic pen body he’d lifted off a guard.
“Fuck you.”
Tony plunges the pen into the center of his chest at the same time sending a burst of perfectly controlled Grace through his own heart. He screams in agony, voice powerful enough to crack the soundproof glass.
He yanks the pen out and slumps.
Dying is a funny sensation for an angel. It’s like falling asleep. This is probably warmer than that given Tony’s resting in a growing pool of his own blood but the idea is the same. He closes his eyes and feels his heart stop beating. His lungs stop working. His body simply goes limp and his eyes close.
Peace. Calm. Rest. Blissful rest. A sense of safety so profound if he had any physical form to weep he would.
And then shattering.
Beyond Tony’s cell in the holding facility guards come rushing in. They’re never very far from the cells. Other angels nearby watch with horror and wonder as Tony’s body is dragged out of his cell. There are medical personnel not far behind the guards.
In the city where Thanos is entertaining some guests the binding ring on his finger shatters. The man himself gets up and leaves the party, cellphone pressed to his ear as he demands to know what the hell is going on.
Light explodes from the runes Tony carved into his chest bright enough to blind the paramedic working on him and the guard assisting him.
He sucks in a breath as reality, as physicality, as life returns to him. He’s disoriented but he’s free. Tony is free!
When Thanos does finally arrive at his holding facility it is in flames. One of his employees who escaped the building tells him that it was a slaughter. The escaped angel killed every guard who tried to stop him. He opened the cells of the other inventory and all of them escaped, some with their binding rings, some without. Some hadn’t even been bound yet they were that new.
It’s a huge loss. Insurance will take care of the building but the stock they’ll have to recapture, the auctions they’ll have to cancel and reschedule, the profit loss…
Thanos takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
“The only one I want is the one that did this,” he says, tone firm and without emotion. “Get him.”
—
Powerless is a funny word. Not a ha-ha funny sort of word but the type that can have so many meanings when you start to pick it apart and find meanings within meanings.
An angel is never truly powerless. Grace is always with them. That gift of divine power. A fraction of God’s own nestled deep in the being of an angel that makes them more powerful than any human could ever hope to be.
Of course, it also meant angels didn’t have a soul which is what allowed them to be bound but eh, details.
The point is angels are never truly powerless and to think otherwise was stupid. Just fucking stupid.
Tony makes his shaking hands work faster because the blood loss is starting to get to him.
They wanted to make him powerless. They thought a little ring of metal and magic would do that. When it didn’t they used pain. They thought enough of it would render him powerless. That silly human idea that to break someone you just had to hurt them until they gave in. Angels were meant to fight divine wars. They could handle a lot of pain.
When that didn’t work they maimed him. They tanked his value just to teach him a lesson. It taught him a lesson alright.
He drags the shank empowered by his own Grace against his chest to close off the symbol and moves on to the next.
The lesson it taught him was he had to be smarter. He had to be patient. These were humans with brutal tactics but no plan besides bind an angel, sell the angel for as much money as possible. Rinse. Repeat. Profit. Profit. Profit.
He wouldn’t fetch a good price now. His right wing was mangled and hung mostly useless from his right shoulder. It had healed, broken and dislocated. There would be no flying out of here. There wasn’t supposed to be any escape because Tony’s Grace was bound to a ring. A ring currently worn on the hand of the man in charge.
Thanos.
A slaver so well known among angels that his name made them mutter prayers to God and try to protect themselves behind their wings. Fisk’s name didn’t inspire the same level of fear Thanos’ did and Fisk was a fucking bastard.
But Tony was divine. Tony was an angel of God. He had Grace and he had been made with a purpose. Even if he was bitter and angry at God, he still had all the tools he needed to escape. Well, he did once he made them.
Another symbol carved into his flesh. Another. Another. Another.
There were plenty of people who knew how to bind angels. It’s a big business. Lots of demand. Lots of jobs. There were less that knew how to unbind an angel and destroy binding rings. Those who could kept it to themselves for the most part. Only a few openly and blatantly talked about their craft.
A lot of the loud ones ended up dead under mysterious circumstances.
Tony is neither of those people. He never thought he’d get captured to begin with. He flaunted his freedom each time a hunter tried to take him down. He wanted to inspire hope and the will to fight back in his fellow angels. He wanted to be an example.
And then he’d been captured. He knows that was promoted. Thanos’ had put a camera on him and his cell and bragged. The wild and untamable Tony finally brought low and bound just like any other angel. Just like all angels would be one day.
Tony killed one of the camera crew just to prove that even bound he could still fight. That’s probably why Thanos broke his wing.
Well, if Thanos didn’t mind damaged goods Tony could do plenty of damage to himself.
The last step would hurt the most but if he wanted to escape it was necessary. Tony was always willing to do what was necessary. He would do anything to secure his own freedom.
See, a person could break a binding on a ring and free an angel.
Or that angel could die.
Humanity had learned how to bind the power of an angel but they hadn’t learned how to bind that power beyond death. Probably because demons didn’t want them knowing that in case they decided to turn that power on demons one day.
Tony takes a deep breath, his chest screaming in agony. It’s no worse than the agony from his wing and shoulder.
He will be free. He will not be caged. He will not be sold.
He turns to the front of his cell. It’s not an iron barred cage but a smooth sound proof glass and metal box. The floor is solid, smooth concrete. All in all it’s sleek and sexy and somewhat comfortable. It’s a pretty cage.
It’s also electrified and has speakers in each corner to blast him with sound if he gets unruly.
“Hey Thanos!” There are cameras on him all the time. Tony had to carve himself up at just the right angle so they wouldn’t catch what he was doing. His broken wing provided the perfect cover. He had to sleep at odd angles to get comfortable. No one watching the cameras would think anything of him shifting around to half hang off his cot.
Now he knew they were watching. They could see the blood running down his chest, pale white and shimmering like the surface of an oil slick. They could see the Enochian runes he had caved into himself with an enchanted sharpened plastic pen body he’d lifted off a guard.
“Fuck you.”
Tony plunges the pen into the center of his chest at the same time sending a burst of perfectly controlled Grace through his own heart. He screams in agony, voice powerful enough to crack the soundproof glass.
He yanks the pen out and slumps.
Dying is a funny sensation for an angel. It’s like falling asleep. This is probably warmer than that given Tony’s resting in a growing pool of his own blood but the idea is the same. He closes his eyes and feels his heart stop beating. His lungs stop working. His body simply goes limp and his eyes close.
Peace. Calm. Rest. Blissful rest. A sense of safety so profound if he had any physical form to weep he would.
And then shattering.
Beyond Tony’s cell in the holding facility guards come rushing in. They’re never very far from the cells. Other angels nearby watch with horror and wonder as Tony’s body is dragged out of his cell. There are medical personnel not far behind the guards.
In the city where Thanos is entertaining some guests the binding ring on his finger shatters. The man himself gets up and leaves the party, cellphone pressed to his ear as he demands to know what the hell is going on.
Light explodes from the runes Tony carved into his chest bright enough to blind the paramedic working on him and the guard assisting him.
He sucks in a breath as reality, as physicality, as life returns to him. He’s disoriented but he’s free. Tony is free!
When Thanos does finally arrive at his holding facility it is in flames. One of his employees who escaped the building tells him that it was a slaughter. The escaped angel killed every guard who tried to stop him. He opened the cells of the other inventory and all of them escaped, some with their binding rings, some without. Some hadn’t even been bound yet they were that new.
It’s a huge loss. Insurance will take care of the building but the stock they’ll have to recapture, the auctions they’ll have to cancel and reschedule, the profit loss…
Thanos takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly.
“The only one I want is the one that did this,” he says, tone firm and without emotion. “Get him.”