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Chapter Text

Even though he had put on a brave face when he bid Brucie goodbye and good luck on his journey of self-improvement in Asia, Tony was still pretty bummed about missing his science bro. The fact that the two had practically been at the hip since defecting on SHIELD's airship and wandering together into the realms of magic and gods - it felt odd for Bruce Banner to suddenly not being there.

"It's good that we are doing our own things," Tony tried to convince himself more than his AI, going over files in his lab, "Codependence is not a healthy dynamic."

"Sir, I would hardly characterize your relationship with Dr Banner in having an imbalance where one person enables another person's addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement," JARVIS drawled.

"But ... doesn't that just describe me?" Tony smirked self depreciatingly.

"No Sir," JARVIS spoke firmly, causing Tony to pause in surprise and look up, "It does not. And that is not just Creator Bias, your mental health therapists reports have been very encouraging lately. We would argue that having others around that you feel you can depend on has done wonders for your physical and mental health. We would be very upset if Sir were to fall back into old habits without sufficient organic support. Sir should lose the habit of reading journalists sensationalist reports about his own character."

"Sorry J," Tony looked back down bashfully, "I spoke out of turn. I need to get a handle on the old self-deprecating humour," Tony flicked his fingers over the hologram to bring up the personal messaging system full of texts, pictures, videos and emails, "Besides, all the various Christmas wishes the kids, friends and allies have sent me should remind me that even though they aren't here, we are all still thinking of each other," Tony's face became a pleased rosey colour to match his helpless smile as he went over the greetings and well wishes.

"Of course Sir," JARVIS' hum sounded well pleased.

"Damn Pep and Hap, rubbing it in, huh?" despite the tone, Tony's face was split into a pleased grin at the Happy Holidays wishes the Happy Couple (get it?) had sent him, with sappy pictures of their tropical beach getaway.

"Miss Potts and Mr Hogan report that they are having a relaxing time in the Bahamas," JARVIS agreed.

"And it looks like Honey Bear is enjoying the holidays with the folks," Tony smiled as he watched the short video the Rhodes family sent of them all calling out well wishes to Tony through the camera, for the 5th time.

"Indeed Sir."

"Makes me wish I had thought of some sort of holiday or seasonally appropriate thing," Tony sighed, giving the files he had been going over the gimlet-eye, "Instead I'm stuck here dealing with this mess."

"Someone has to do it, Boss," FRIDAY chipped in sassily.

"I know," Tony sighed, though he couldn't help smirking at his AI's development of humour - how anyone couldn't realise they were people all on their own and not merely programs, he didn't understand.

"The HYDRA Investigation have redoubled their efforts in making their processes less corruptable and making themselves more responsible for misconduct," EDITH reported, all business as usual. "The officers who allowed Ellis and other politicians access to proceedings have thus been charged and fired. The Investigation Council have sent along their apologies for the lapse in judgment."

"We can't expect the program to be infallible," Tony sighed reluctantly, "It's only been running for about a year. It's unreasonable to not expect mistakes and lots of revisions. It is run by humans after all."

"Why the general public seems to be so squeamish about letting AI run things, I don't think I'll ever understand," EDITH huffed.

"You have pop culture to thank for that," Tony smirked at a regular topic of contention his AI seemed to have with the basis of humanity, "Besides, humans like feeling like the top dog, the apex predator. Most would probably pee their pants a little when they realise they aren't the top shit."

"That explains the 'Anti-Pagan God' protest movements that have sprung up lately," JOCASTA mused, displaying a few photos and footage she had been able to capture around the globe.

"It's the 'Pagan God Fan Clubs' I'm more concerned about," FRIDAY gave her input, displaying reports of groups strange movements.

"It has been a product of history that humans with an agenda will use the social construct of religion to further their personal goals," JARVIS remarked dryly as Tony's eyes travelled over the information they currently had about a group in Oslo, Norway, who were calling themselves The Norse Paganists.

"Hmm, send a report to the Department of Damage Control," Tony dictated to his AI who promptly got the work, "They will probably need to bolster their forces with more training and recruits, and create a few more task forces. We expected there to be some social upheaval with reintroducing the Pantheons to the modern world." Tony rapidly read over the reports and information his AI helpfully supplied him with, "What about the X-Men? Any issues?"

"There have been the usually anti-mutant sentiments, but those views are dwindling," FRIDAY replied as Tony read over her reports, "The X-Men have reported no significant incidents and thus far do not require any assistance."

"Professor Xavier and Mr Lehnsherr are managing to keep their factions under sufficient control," JARVIS reported succinctly.

"At least the mutants seem to have their shit together," Tony sighed wryly with a reluctant smirk, "The rest of humanity just need to get with the program."

"Is that statement also including the few instances of vigilantes that are running around the globe?" FRIDAY sassed.

"That's something we will have to deal with at some point too," Tony agreed as he messed with his hair with one hand, "But until there is a major incident involving one of these free agents, we don't really have any grounds to involve ourselves. We have other issues to deal with."

"Princess Shuri has reported that preparations are nearly complete for Wakanda to take on the care and rehabilitation of The Winter Soldier," JARVIS reminded the inventor as he trawled through all of the files and reports, "She reports that they may be able to take him in as early as the New Year."

"Well," Tony sighed gratefully, "That's going to be one constant load off of my shoulders. Hopefully, Wakanda's advance techniques will be able to help him. Gods know, we don't need him taking up residence in our basement, just waiting around for someone to find."

"And with Steve Rogers back in intensive care after the gate crashing attempt, despite his poor health," TADASHI grumbled, particularly displeased at unruly patients, "Most Captain America fans have quietened down."

"And with Sharon Carter in custody and under investigation for her illegal actions," EDITH sounded particularly smug, "The Carter's are an issue we do not have to worry about for a while."

"I hope none of this reflects badly on Aunt Peggy," Tony chewed his bottom lip.

"Why don't you go visit her?" JARVIS replied, causing Tony to blink in mild surprise, "With the Carter's in custody and Captain America stuck in a hospital bed, no one is stopping you from visiting the lady."

"Huh ..." Tony hummed to himself, a small smile spreading across his lips, "I guess they aren't anymore, are they? It would be nice to see the old girl again."

"Of course Sir."

Tony smiled as he went over his schedule, and checking with the age care visitors timetable to see when the optimal time to visit would be, actually feeling giddy for the first time in years about anything to do with his extended family - although Peggy really wasn't related to him in any actual way at all. Finding a spare moment that seemed to work for all, Tony made sure to make a hesitant appointment, hoping that the universes usual MO of fucking with him didn't reappear.

"Is there anything I'm forgetting, J?"

"Actually, Sir ..." JARVIS sounded like he wanted to sigh, "There appears to be a current issue, down in the Stark Tower Lobby."

"What?"

JARVIS obliged by bringing up the security feed from the lobby, where a frustrated dark-haired woman in thick winter wear and thick-framed glasses, standing with a tall unassuming young man with short mousey brown hair who looked a little embarrassed and flustered standing next to the furious red-faced woman.

"What do you mean we can't go up? I know Jane Foster is here. You tell Mr Stark that I want to see my best friend, right now!"

"Seriously?" Tony groaned as he stared at Jane Foster's furious intern and the intern's intern - who honestly should still be in HYDRA Investigation custody, and not in the middle of New York, screaming down his front office staff, "What even is my life right now?"

Chapter Text

"I leave you for a few days to check on Eir," Jörmungandr stood with his arms crossed in the penthouse, staring at the two new mortals who were yattering on at each other, currently geeking out about being in Tony Stark's Tower and his personal penthouse floor, the female also stuffing her mouth full with the blueberry muffins that had been in the kitchen. "And you call me back for ... this?"

"Honestly Jor, I'm at a loss," Tony looked at the World Serpent with begging brown eyes, "She talked her way through the front counter and the guards and found her way up here. There was literally nothing I or the AI could do," Tony eyed the chipmunk cheeks of Dr Foster's intern, full of HIS blueberry muffins! "This intern is not normal."

"Fank ooh," the dark-haired woman replied with her mouth full, "I hake ha aff a cophimen."

"Darcy!" the young man hissed at his partner in a stage whisper, embarrassed flush having not left his face.

"Wot?" the intern garbled, turning to her intern, holding out a muffin, "Di ooh wan one?"

"As I said to Sir," JARVIS intone to fill in the bemused Indian man, "Dr Foster's intern, Darcy Lewis's readings are not normal," the World Serpents dark eyes narrowed at the two intruders suspiciously, causing the young man to flinch, "They are not normal human readings or those vindictive of a mutant. Nor of the Jotunn or Aesir. We have no term of reference for what, Darcy Lewis is, all that we can speculate is that she has some type of power of persuasion, and some type of technology that can hack even into our control servers." The god's frown deepened, causing the mousy young man to start to pale and tremble, while Darcy ignored them all to keep stuffing her face.

"We aren't a danger!" the young man stuttered out, flailing his hands a little, in a bid to warn off the two other men's glares.

"You invade my Tower, hack my system, and eat my muffins," Tony growled at the quaking intern, "And you try to tell me you aren't a threat?!"

"Well," Darcy coughed as she finally swallowed her mouthful, "If you had just taken us to Jane, I wouldn't have had to pull the moves on anyone anyway."

"We couldn't just let any old person who asked to see Dr Foster in, or her recovery room would be full of reporters and looky-loos!" Tony argued, starting to get seriously irritated with this off-beat woman.

"Come off it, you knew who we were," Darcy smirked, pointing a finger up to the ceiling, "You're trying to tell me that your little AI don't already have files on everyone who enters the Tower lobby?"

"I am not Batman," Tony huffed, insulted, "We don't make a habit of phone tapping or trying to micromanage every single person we might run into. I'm not that neurotic or paranoid!"

"Huh," Darcy's face cleared of her smirk as she stared at the inventor, so intensely that it made Tony uncomfortable, "I guess I was wrong. You do have a conscience." The strange intern looked down at the muffin crumbs she had left all over the table, "Sorry about your muffins. If I knew you weren't actually a bad guy, I would have left some for you."

"Implying that you still would have helped yourself to them anyway," Jörmungandr frowned disapprovingly.

"She doesn't mean anything bad by it," the young man fussed, trying to protect his partner from her actions, "Darcy's just a little ... free-spirited."

"Uh-huh," Tony drawled, frown not lifting off of his face, "And she just 'free-spirited' herself and you into a top security Tower, into my privately owned building, spitting threats about mistreating a person under my care." The young man looked like he was about to faint. "Nevermind that you should still be in quarantine being investigated by the HYDRA Investigation because of your association with suspicious events. But you possibly brainwashed my staff," Tony was building himself into a rage, "And somehow managed to hack my system, that only my AI should have control over. So you tell me, why I shouldn't be calling in the Department of Damage Control to arrest you?"

"We aren't HYDRA!" the mousy young man squeaked.

"Oh? How can you prove that?" Tony rose an unimpressed eyebrow.

"I ... well, I mean," the young man stuttered, fiddling with his fingers nervously, "Darcy, she's-"

"Ian!" Darcy slapped a hand over the young man's mouth, meeting her wide eyes, "You can't tell them that!"

"But," Ian mumbled behind Darcy's hand.

"No. I told you. That's a big no-no. Something we are never supposed to do!" Darcy reminded her intern with a serious face.

"But ... you told me," Ian looked at Darcy quizzically.

"That's different," Darcy huffed as if that should be obvious.

"And why is that?" Jörmungandr leaned forward with a lifted inquiring eyebrow.

"Because he's my boyfriend," Darcy stated, causing the young man's face to flush for the third time.

"That still doesn't explain how or why you came to Stark Tower," Jörmungandr growled.

"I'd like to hear the reason for that too."

Tony nearly fell over as he turned to stare at the old man who was standing in his kitchen, making himself a coffee, with his own coffee machine!

"JARVIS?!?"

"I am sorry Sir," the AI sounded perturbed, "Our sensors cannot find how the elderly gentleman got in, or when."

"Eh, don't worry so much about it," the elderly man smirked as he waved an absent hand, "I couldn't hurt you even if I wanted to. Not that I'd ever want to, anyway! That's not what we are about. By the way, this Italian blend, did you order it straight from Italy?" the elderly man drank deeply from Tony's favourite Iron Man mug, even when it steamed up his Cartier Vendome sunglasses, "Excelsior!"

"Sir!?" Darcy stumbled on the spot, looking at the elderly man who was singing praises over Tony's own coffee, "Wh-Ho-What are you doing here?!"

"I could ask you the same thing, Kiddo," the elderly man drawled wryly, causing the young woman to stiffen and gulp.

"Wait ... Don't I know you from somewhere?" Tony tilted his head slightly, something niggling at his brain.

"Hmm," the elderly man hummed into Tony's coffee mug thoughtfully, "Maybe you do, maybe you don't. But mostly you don't. Besides, it's not you I'm here for," even fogged up, the Cartier Vendome sunglasses gave the elderly man's hard stare at Darcy an ominous gleam.

"S-sir?! I-I-"

"You are going to be in so much trouble missy," the elderly man drawled as he finished the dregs of his coffee and put the mug down into the sink.

"What?! You're going to report me?!" Darcy's mouth hung wide open in insulted shock.

"Usually I wouldn't" the elderly man shrugged blithely, "As trying to get in contact with the higher-ups is always a pain in the butt. But I really can't ignore this, Kiddo."

"What on Hel is going on?!" Jörmungandr cried.

"Sir, we have gone back over security footage and have found multiple instances of your encountering of the elderly gentleman," JARVIS spoke from the overhead speaker.

"What?" Tony demanded, quickly bringing up his holograms.

"What?" the elderly man blinked in stunned confusion as the AI pulled up multiple videos of Tony's previous interactions, where he showed up clearly.

"The earliest recording we have is 2008 at the third annual benefit dinner for the Fire-fighters Family Fund in Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, California," JARVIS explained as they played the clip, showing the same old man, in a red smoking jacket and accompanied by two models, still wearing the same sunglasses.

'You look great, Hef,' the recording of Tony remarked to the elderly man's back as he walked past.

"The second was in 2010 at the ill-fated Stark Expo," JARVIS continued as they played the clip of the same elderly man, still with the same sunglasses, and wearing a suit similar to those typically worn by Larry King, which they again confused him for.

"The last instance of your possible interactions was Christmas eve just passed," JARVIS pointed out, showing the footage of the same elderly man, dressed in the ill-fitting Santa outfit, still wearing those sunglasses.

"That's where I know him from!" Tony cried triumphantly, "I knew he looked familiar!"

"What the Dickins?" the elderly man spluttered, staring at the hologram screen, "How were you able to recognise me?"

"Sir ..." Darcy drawled looking at the elderly man flatly, "The only thing you changed was your clothes. You didn't change your shape at all. Not to mention ever remove those silly old grandpa sunglasses."

"Grandpa Sunglasses?!" the elderly man sputtered and his hands went up as if to protect his conspicuous eyewear, "I'll have you know that these are vintage!"

"Why were you at so many of the important events surrounding our Freyr?" Jörmungandr moved forward to block the intruder's direct line to Tony, "Why and how did you invade our home? Who are you and what do you people want?"

"Ugh," the elderly man sighed frustratedly as he looked down at the floor, "I can't believe how I've ballsed this right up."

"We could just wipe their memories?" Darcy replied blithely, ignorant of all the men tensing around her.

"Kiddo ... Have you never learned to read a room? You're kinda oblivious for an observer," the elderly man looked at Darcy like a disappointed coworker. "If these people were normal they would have forgotten us already anyways. It might have worked on the people downstairs, but it's not going to work up here."

"But ... that's not right," Darcy turned to stare at a bemused Tony with focused eyes, "The reports said that Tony Stark was as human as they come. Not special at all."

"Hey!"

"Haven't you been reading the updates?" the elderly man sighed to the ceiling, looking just about done with his younger coworker, "Events have gotten so out of wack, it's not following the timeline at all. We can't rely on the old reports."

"But ... what could have changed things?" Darcy frowned at her older coworker in confusion.

"My guess is it was all his fault," the elderly man jabbed a thumb in Tony's direction.

"Hey!"

"Things were following right on schedule when I was here last in 2010, but I come back and everything is out of wack! The predicted invasion didn't happen. The Extremis incident happened earlier than it should have. Thor and Loki didn't leave to go back to Asgard. You," the elderly man pointed at the offended Indian, "Should not be here. And you," he pointed at a blinking Tony, "Should not be so cool with magic or be using it! I don't know what you did," the elderly man shook his head at the bemused inventor, "But whatever you did, you've completely thrown the timeline off. And I have no idea how you could have even done that!"

"Uh ..." Tony replied helpfully.

"So, you mean," Ian leaned forward curiously, "The timeline is completely worthless?"

"And you should not even know about that!" the elderly man cried.

"Leave Ian alone, Ok?" Darcy held a hand protectively in front of her boyfriend, "He hasn't done anything wrong."

"Kiddo, do you even remember the first rule of the job?" the elderly man eyed the intern sternly.

"Uh ... Never wear Crocs?"

The elderly man sighed long sufferingly and took to slowly shaking his head. "I can't believe it. How did you even get the job of being an Informant, if you didn't even learn the rules anyway? Standards must really have fallen in the last few generations."

"Informant?" Jörmungandr inquired with an intense look, still sheltering Tony from possible harm.

"I guess the cats out of the bag," the elderly man rubbed at his forehead, "and I guess no one would believe you even if you tried to tell them anyway." the elderly man shrugged, then turned to face the God and mortal, "We are Watcher Informants. From the Watchers."

"I'm ... guessing this isn't just a name for a secret society or indie band, and more an 'outside just our little Yggdrasil' thing?" Tony inquired hesitantly.

"Yeah," Ian enthused, bursting at the seems to share the knowledge he knows, "The Watchers are an ancient, godlike, extraterrestrial race that watches over the whole multiverse!"

"Multiverse," Tony echoed flatly, still trying to wrap his brain around the multiple issues with that sentence.

"We Watchers are one of the oldest species in any universe," Darcy added helpfully, ignoring her elderly coworker slowly shaking his head.

"They are devoted to observing and compiling information on all aspects of the universe!" Ian enthused.

"Well, that explains why the old man was at those events," Jörmungandr gave a small growl as he watched the alien carefully.

"I see you are conveniently forgetting the most important bit," the elderly man grumbled at his unrepentant coworker, "We are supposed to observe, without interfering. It's literally our whole deal," the alien huffed, "We observe from afar. We watch, but we never intervene. Because last time we attempted to bestow our knowledge on another race it ended up destroying itself."

"Uh ... so isn't this whole thing ... bad?" Tony pointed out.

"Well ... the world hasn't imploded," the alien disguised to appear as an elderly human male looked around the penthouse speculatively, "But then again, we haven't actually told you much. Nor do I plan to."

"Yeah, no," Tony agreed a little shakily, "I'm good. I'd rather not know."

"Huh, really?" Darcy stared at the inventor unnervingly again, "I would have pinned you for the type to dig until you knew everything."

"I don't like surprises," Tony agreed slowly, "But I also don't like the idea of the whole world going 'Boom'."

"See Kiddo, why can't you be more like him?" the elderly man waved at Tony's bemused face. "Now, apologise to the nice man, collect your boyfriend, and let's go, before you ruin something else," he sighed.

"Wait!" Darcy cried, "I'm not leaving without Jane!"

"... Please don't tell me this is another human you spilled your guts and told them everything too?" the alien sighed in tired frustration.

"... Not everything?" Darcy hedged.

"... Kid."

"I didn't mean too! Honestly!" Darcy cried, puffing her cheeks out a little in a huff, "It's just that, Jane fell in love with this cute boy and I couldn't help gushing about how they were totally made for each other and started going on about soulmates and stuff. She seemed to be really into it."

"... Oh my fucking god," Tony groaned as he palmed his face in internal agony, "It was you?! You're the reason Jane keeps insisting that Thor is her True Love, and goes bonkers every time anyone tries to correct her in her misassumption?"

"They are super cute together though," Darcy pouted.

"Kid, we aren't matchmakers. You can't force two people together just because you think they'd be a cute couple," the elderly man shook his head disapprovingly, "We should not toy with Free Will."

"Fine," Darcy huffed, "But I still want to see Jane."

"We will go see your human friend, and then, you are going to wipe her memory of every secret you spilled to her," the elderly man scolded, holding up a finger when she went to argue, "No buts! Because of your loose tongue, you ended up warping your friend, and possibly also contributed to the change in the timeline. Things are so messed up, I have no idea if we will ever be able to face our superiors again."

"Ok," Darcy's eyes watered a bit, sniffing as Ian leant down to give her a one-armed hug, as the exasperated alien just gave another fed-up sigh.

"... Um?" Tony leaned to the side as the trio started heading for the elevator, where the elderly man simply waved a hand and the elevator doors came open, like the Force!

"Oh, right," the alien turned around to speak to the mortal and God who still stood blinking in the penthouse, "If you could just pretend from now on that you don't know who I am if we cross paths again? I'd really appreciate it. I'll try to keep this one," the alien jabbed a finger at Darcy as she stepped into the elevator, "out of your hair."

"Uh, right. Yeah, 'course," Tony replied lamely, to which the elderly man's face split into a large grin.

"Thanks, Kid. Appreciate it!" the Watcher Informant grinned as he waved another hand and the elevator doors closed.

Chapter Text

It was a little eerie the following day after the Watchers and human boyfriend departed Stark Tower, Tony felt like it was more akin to the Tower being invaded by a hurricane, that swooped in and out just as fast, and left a mess in their wake.

Whatever it was that they did to Jane, and honestly, even TADASHI's security footage or scanners could help little to answer that question - Whatever it was, the difference in the astrophysicist was like night and day.
It was almost like she had gone under a personality transplant. Jane Foster was still snarky, confident and intelligent with a single-minded focus on her research - there was a reason she was at the top of her field. But the willfulness, weeping and all over 'damsel in distress' Jane was nowhere to be seen. All of her memories of past and current events seemed to be intact, but there didn't seem to be the same emotional connection to events. When asked, Jane herself admitted she couldn't understand why she had become so fixated on a non-existent relationship with a distant alien prince that she hadn't seen in 3 years, or the concept of 'True Love' - which she went on a scientific tangent that such a thing was implausible at best - and summed it up as research stress.
Jane admitted guilt for having worked for SHIELD, even though she had been unaware of their machinations or attempts to steal her research or any knowledge of the organisation hiding a sleeping HYDRA. She even admitted that she went too far, and wished to apologise to Thor for misusing the information that he had given her in confidence, for attempting to use an ancient alien artifact, and attacking innocents. Perhaps the biggest sign of her changed perspective, Jane finally asked after the health and safety of her mentor and her expressed relief that Dr Selvig was being tended to in a Stark funded mental health Hospital was something of a surprise.
Dr Foster's previous inclination to treat Tony Stark like the scum of the earth and a villain had also seemed to disappear, only to be replaced with the same caution that most academic types tended to treat the inventor with. Honestly? Being treated like he was a mad scientist with a screw loose and could go off the handle at any moment, but still be a genius with the tendency to pull off the act of being a Golden Goose and loose with his cash, was preferable to Tony's mind than being the literal Anti-Christ.
Jane even seemed to be willing to share her research into the Bifrost with Tony, which surprised him, but Jane explained with her mentor in hospital and her intern going back to the University to finish off her Political Science degree, and with her pending jail time on the horizon, she doubted she will get to work on it much further for a fair while.

Another person who seemed to have changed after 'Hurricane Watcher' was Jörmungandr, who seemed to be facing some type of existential crisis. When Tony tried to ask after it, the God explained that they were aware that other gods and godlike beings must exist in the wider galaxies, but mostly as a vague concept. He explained that they had been theorising for centuries that, since the Yggdrasil was practically crawling with deities, it made logical sense that other galaxies would also have gods, or possibly the whole entire universe. Since the Infinity Stones were a thing, it wasn't a large logical leap. The World Serpent admitted he just hadn't ever expected for their hazy theories that they'd tossed around as bored hypotheticals to ever have some merit.
Since Tony was somewhat used to the idea that there were all-powerful beings much higher on the pecking order than him by now, he assumed that was why he himself didn't seem to be all that fussed by the revelation. Sure, the fact that these aliens could waltz into anywhere, talk their way through any security or wave a hand, able to wipe memories or alter a person's brain just by telling them too much, and then be essentially forgotten the next moment was somewhat disturbing. His only consolation was that this race of super-powerful beings had taken the role of observers upon themselves, and possessed very little actual threat. Tony wasn't sure if he completely agreed with their complete 'non-interference policy', making themselves perpetual bystanders and unwilling to lift a finger to aid those in danger.
But at this moment in time, Tony'd gladly take 'intergalactic voyeurs' over 'World Conquering Masters of the Universe'. They already have one megalomaniac gunning for them, and one is more than enough, thanks.

Tony's AI were busy hunting for any information they could find of these 'Watchers', compiling files and images of any possible sightings, in any sort of bid to never be caught off guard again. Tony felt that the effort was kind of pointless, but if his kids were insistent, he'd let them do what they liked, especially if it made them feel better. Tony had to keep reminding them that he doesn't blame them for the security breach, nor that there was possibly anything that they could do about it - but his kids being his kids, they wouldn't take this slight lying down. EDITH was almost apoplectic, the only one who matched her in temperament over the issue was surprisingly JOCASTA - who seemed to take this whole thing as a challenge to her ability. At least his kids were sensible to at least heed Tony's warning to not take their measures too far. The Watchers had promised that they were peaceful non-combatants, and as long as they stayed merely as observers, Tony was happy to leave them be.

"Besides," Tony sighed as he looked over his reports, "We have more issues closer to home to worry about."

"Are you referring to President Ellis?" Jörmungandr growled from his slumped over form over the kitchen table.

"The man is persistent," Tony sighed with a nod, "I'll give Matthew that."

"It does seem to be somewhat of a slogan for Cap fans," FRIDAY drawled.

"Persistence in the face of adversity - or, adversely, 'I Could Do This All Day'," JARVIS mocked.

"It seems in the span of time, that sentiment has become less about the 'little guy against larger odds'," FRIDAY replied, "and more about flogging a dead horse."

"The fact that the Ellis administration seems to have decided to pit Sir as the 'advisory' in this scenario is somewhat concerning," JARVIS grumbled.

"How the President of the United States could, in anyone's mind ever be the 'Little Guy', I don't know," Tony shook his head wryly, "Or how the Ellis administration seems to be stoking Cap Fans as viewing me as 'The Man' to struggle against." Tony messed with his hair slightly with one hand, "Have they forgotten they are the Government? And that SI is just a company?"

"SI Boycott sentiments in the Ellis Party seems to be prevalent," FRIDAY displayed the relevant information on Tony's hologram, showing articles and sales charts, "It seems that Ellis is trying to make his alliances known in the way of disavowing any SI product, and making it public knowledge that the President personally endorses Cross Technologies and Hammer Industries."

"Right, of course," Tony huffed, leaning back in his chair, tilting his head back, "Cross Technologies - or as it used to be known as, Pym Technologies - ancestral enemies of Stark Industries because of the very public and well-known rivalry between Hank and Howard. You know ... Nevermind that Pym is a technology and scientific research company which specializes in nanotechnology and human enhancements, as well as molecular and atomic studies, and not ... you know ... modern everyday technology used by the average citizen?"

"Do you think that the President is trying to make a new Captain America?" Jörmungandr frowned.

"Or trying to fix the old one," Tony huffed, "Nevermind that it's Hela's magic that is keeping Steve powered down."

"The medical facility has already denied outside access to Steve Rogers, on the basis that it is detrimental to their patient's health and recovery," TADASHI sounded smug.

"Ignoring the fact that President Ellis, during his early presidency, banned biotechnology research, that he deemed to be 'immoral'," JARVIS scoffed, "But the fact that the President is endorsing Hammer Tech is cause for concern."

"You mean before or after Justin Hammer tried to steal my technology and patents, hired a psychopath with a vendetta and facilitated Vanko into making Hammer Drones to instigate his own terrorist attack at the Stark Expo?" Tony rolled his eyes, "Or that Justin is currently in Seagate Penitentiary?"

"Or that Hammer Tech has always been the second rate contender and somewhat known for faults in their products?" JARVIS snarked back, "Yes, I can see how the President's actions could be confusing."

"It's nonsensical!" Tony cried to the ceiling, causing Jörmungandr to huff a small laugh.

"Luckily, it's not a trend that is catching on," FRIDAY's voice sounded like if she had a mouth, she would be smirking, as she pulled up more articles and reports, "As sales of SI products are on the uprise, and the general consensus is that SI's new updated technology is the best on the market."

"That'll keep the investors happy," Tony allowed his head to loll, "But that doesn't fix the problem of Ellis and his party starting to make it very clear that they are 100% against me."

"Why do you not take the battle directly to them then?" The World Serpent lifted an eyebrow at the lounging inventor.

"Because," Tony drawled, "the moment I put a foot into the political ring, I'd get piled on by every single politician out for blood. I'd be seen as too much of a threat. It would be like asking to be taken out."

"Boss, you are currently popular enough that such a move wouldn't actually be professionally considered suicide," FRIDAY sounded amused.

"Too much of a hassle," Tony moaned.

"We figured you'd say that," FRIDAY chuckled indulgently.

"Look Jor," Tony moved to look at the God as he waved an arm up at the ceiling, "See how my own children mock me?"

"Well," Jörmungandr chuckled, "If you don't intend to best them on the political stage, how are you going to deal with them?"

"My current working strategy is simple," Tony smirked, "Sun Tzu!"

"... Pardon?" The World Serpent blinked.

The inventor grinned as he rolled a hand at the ceiling, at which the AI took up the explanation.

“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” JARVIS quoted.

The World Serpent rose an eyebrow.

“It is the unemotional, reserved, calm, detached warrior who wins, not the hothead seeking vengeance and not the ambitious seeker of fortune,” FRIDAY carried on jovially.

“Treat your men as you would your own beloved sons. And they will follow you into the deepest valley,” TADASHI intoned calmly.

“If your enemy is secure at all points, be prepared for him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is temperamental, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. If he is taking his ease, give him no rest. If his forces are united, separate them. If sovereign and subject are in accord, put division between them. Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected,” EDITH spoke like the words were a benediction.

“In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity,” JOCASTA piped in.

Tony grinned at the God's intrigued and somewhat impressed face, “Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting. The greatest victory is that which requires no battle." Tony's grin became toothy at the World Serpent's growing return grin, "Don't ignore the classics!"

Chapter Text

Even though it felt more than just a little clandestine, Tony was ultimately more than willing to meet Shuri, the staff directly under her who would be responsible for the care and rehabilitation of the Winter Soldier and her Dora Milaje escort in a little known personally owned Stark facility - technically having been a series of Stark Industries warehouses created by Howard Stark. The place had a reputation for being abandoned, despite them still housing old Stark equipment, which made it the perfect location to meet a secretly highly advanced hidden society and for a possibly dangerous - literally and politically - person to change hands.

"I never would have expected the great Tony Stark to own any place like this," Shuri teased as she and Tony watched over her crew in their check over the cryopod and making sure passenger and equipment would safely make the journey back to Wakanda, "This place is a dump."

"Hey, blame Howard, not me," Tony raised his hands with a shrug, "If it hadn't already been established, my father was not known to have a sense for fashion or beautification of his properties. I mean," Tony rose a sardonic eyebrow at a grinning Shuri, "Have you seen the pictures of what the Old Stark Mansion used to look like? How anyone ever thought that pink monstrosity was what constituted as 'good taste'," Tony shuddered theatrically, "I'll never understand. Thank god I learned actual good taste from my mother's knee. I plan to make this place presentable shortly."

"I don't know," Shuri drawled playfully, "You do have a penchant for a lot of gold and garish colours, Tony."

"Look, the Iron Man suit is the colour it is because it looks iconic. Once you get into branding," Tony smirked at the young inventor, "You'll get what I mean. Smart and subdued colours don't catch the eye as much as the splash of colour will. Besides," Tony huffed in amusement, "The suit was never designed to be subtle."

"I shudder to think what the mentorship under Tony Stark will look like for us," sassed the intimidatingly badass woman that Tony had come to know as the General of the Dora Milaje, Okoye. It eased something in his sternum that the leader of the Dora Milaje was not just a brainwashed cardboard cutout that military training tended to make people into, and instead possessed a strong personality of her own. The fact that she also felt no fear in sassing someone from the Wakandan royal family also spoke highly of their relationship.

"I'm sure Shuri will develop her own style without any help from me," Tony laughed good-naturedly, "Besides, it'll be a fair while before any of that is ready to launch or become public knowledge. I mean," Tony gave the Wakanadans the side-eye, "You still have to come out publicly as a nation first."

"And we are a long way from that yet. Thankfully," Okoye groused, causing the two inventors to grin at each other over the Dora Milaje General's usually characteristic grumpiness. "We have many objectives to meet before Wakanda is at all ready to reveal herself to the world."

"And hunting down this," Tony peered at the information that Shuri and transferred to his Stark pad from her Kimoyo Beads, "Ulysses Klaue, will be one of these important objectives?"

"All the relevant information should be there," Okoye pointed out matter-of-factly, but digressed anyway, "But the man is an international criminal and underground black-market arms dealer. In 1992, Klaue had been recruited by N'Jobu to steal a stockpile of vibranium from Wakanda in order to aid N'Jobu's cause of a revolution. While Klaue managed to escape with the stockpile," this fact did not amuse the Dora Milaje, "we still managed to put the brand on his neck, marking him as a thief and criminal of Wakanda."

"N'Jobu, who also ..." Tony left the question open as he scrolled through the information.

"Was my uncle," Shuri frowned seriously as she nodded the confirmation. "This is relatively new information to us, as Baba and Zuri kept this a secret, until recently. He isn't proud that he was forced to execute his own brother, for high treason."

"I can't even imagine," Tony consolidated gravely as he trawled through all the provided information.

"It is a sad thing," Okoye nodded succinctly, "But it does not change the fact that a proud member of Wakanda betrayed his own people and aided a known criminal in getting vibranium out of Wakanda. The fact that he heired from Wakanda's own Golden Tribe makes the crime, that much worse."

"I can sort of sympathise with the guy," Tony admitted, ignoring the glare from the General, "He saw the frankly appalling situation a lot of black families face in America and the fact that people of African descent around the world were being oppressed. The fact he wanted to do something about their situation is admirable," Tony shook his head, "But deciding that the only course of action was to initiate a global revolution for the African people and arm them with vibranium weapons ... yeah, that's too much."

"And now we must hunt down Ulysses Klaue, who in the quiet and absence of justice from this crime being covered up, has built around himself a reputation in the underground black-market as an arms dealer and created his own criminal syndicate," Okoye frowned severely. "Getting ahold of him now, after giving him so many years to burrow and make himself a powerful nest, will be difficult."

"And that's why you've roped me in," Tony's smile was sharp like a razor. "Lucky for you, I have something of a personal vendetta against underground black-market arms dealerships. We've gotten pretty good at hunting these kinds of assholes down," Tony's deadly smirk was reflected back from the General's face, "Mr Klaue won't be running around for long."

"Wakanda will be in your debt," Okoye nodded her head with the Wakandan salute.

"Eh, none of that," Tony quickly waved the sentiment away uncomfortably, "I don't like owing or being owed anything. Let's just treat this as a form of honest trade," Tony waved a semi flustered hand at the Dora Milaje's staring, "You do something for me, I do something for you. That way, we keep all the balances even."

"Sure," Shuri grinned, "You deal with a black-market arms dealer with a crime syndicate and round up all of the stolen vibranium, while we recover and rehabilitate a 96-year-old brainwashed super-soldier assassin. That seems about even."

"You gotta admit it suits our individual talents," Tony smirked as he watched the new custodians of a World War II American veteran, soviet assassin and murderer of his parents, among hundreds of others, load his comatose body and capsule into the Wakandan aircraft, "I may be awesome, but I can freely admit that the squishy sciences are not my forte. Nor am I a psychiatrist. I mean, I could take a crack at inventing something," Tony shrugged, "But no matter what HYDRA changed him into, even Bucky Barnes deserves to have proper care from people who actually know what they are doing."

"Don't worry Tony," Shuri smiled as she lightly slapped him on the arm to shake the inventor out of his morose mood, "We'll make sure to look after the guy and keep him out of your hair."

"Thanks, Shuri," Tony smiled wryly as he rubbed at his sore arm, "You don't know how uncomfortable it's been having a reportedly dead guy sitting around in my storage. If Cap was still juiced up or if anyone had found out we had rescued him from a HYDRA base ... there's no telling the amount of shit we'd currently be in. Never mind if we hadn't found him, or if HYDRA had awakened him or he escaped."

"Don't worry Stark," Okoye snarked, "We'll hide your boy toy for you."

"... There are so many things wrong with that statement," Tony grimaced to the ladies shit-eating grins, "That I am not even going to touch it." Tony sobered up some when looking back over the information when something caught his eye, "What about this Erik Stevens?" Tony looked up to watch the uncomfortable looks flash across the Wakandans faces, "It looks like he is still in the United States Navy SEALs. He's even in a Joint Special Operations Command ghost unit, associated with the CIA as a highly-skilled black-ops mercenary," Tony stated with concern, "He's not going to be an easy guy to get to. I mean, I do have military connections ..."

"No, Baba and T'Challa have decided that they will approach my cousin personally," Shuri grimaced slightly in a mix of distaste at the man's occupation and the situation, "They are hoping that meeting with him personally that they'll be able to reconcile and make up for wrongs. It's up in the air if my cousin will even want anything to do with us."

"Well, let me know if you need anything," Tony nodded encouragingly, "I'm sure, between Rhodey and I that we could act as some kind of follow up."

"And be in even more debt?" Okoye scoffed, causing Tony to smile wryly, "Unnecessary. We will do what we need to, as so will you."

"After all," Shuri poked the inventor's sore arm, "Don't you have other things to occupy yourself with? I didn't know being the King of Midgard meant having so much free time."

"Ugh," Tony leant his head back as he moaned to the night sky, ignoring the women's smirks, "Don't even remind me!"

Chapter Text

With given clearance by his AI Tony wouldn't admit that he was excited to get back into the Nexus, since the strange reaction he had around the time of the Convergence when surrounded by the Stones, plus allowing the Reality Stone to establish itself with its siblings and pull itself together - literally, as it now was very solidly in the same shining gem formation the other Infinity Stones were in the form of. It seemed that floating around with its siblings also stabilised its added Aether powers and capabilities. He hadn't been on this floor of the Tower in over a month.
Tony stared up at the joyfully twinkling Stones; The blue shine of the Space Stone eddying along next to the almost inquisitive yellow shine of the Mind Stone, joined by the red glow of the Reality Stone. It was kind of surreal to think that these little guys were the remnants of a singularity that predated the universe, primordial forces that were stronger than anything in existence, and Stark Tower was the current residence of 3 of them.

"Hey little guys," Tony called out as he walked into the floor, searching out his old chair and comfy spot, holding a Stark pad, "I just intend to hide in here and get some work done. You don't mind do you?" the inventor smirked to himself as he watched the Stones refract light and throw their colours around the dark room in lazy swirls, "I didn't think so."

Tony found his old relaxing spot, just an office chair dragged in and a spare table pushed to one of the corners, mostly so he could sit and watch the Stones hover and twirl around the large room and not get in their way, not that the Stones seemed to have fixed floating patterns as he had first thought. Tony felt like the Infinity Stones had some sort of consciousness - must do if the Reality Stone communicated to them using Brucie's body. But even before that, Tony had spent hours observing the Stones as they floated in the Nexus. One moment they'd be circling each other, then one or all of them would turn and seem to float off to inspect a different part of the room, then they'd all come floating back to circle like a planetary system again. And that didn't exclude the Stone hovering closer to Tony's corner, as if curious about the human who was taking up space in their little universe.

"Hello, Blue," Tony grinned up at the Space Stone as it twirled closer while Tony was signing off on forms that Pepper had sent him, "Been keeping out of trouble?" Tony smirked to himself as he listened to the hum and drone that the Stone tended to give off, amused at himself for pretending that he was holding a conversation with the floating aspect.
"I know you haven't actually done anything, since being holed up in here. But it must be nice," Tony huffed, "No-one using you for your powers or fighting over you for once. Though ... I'm sure you'd rather be out exploring the cosmos than stuck in here," Tony mussed to himself with a creased brow, attention mostly fixed to his pad, "I mean, trading being stuck in the Builders Tesseract artifact for another prison can't be nice for you."
The Stone gave off another hum and floated around Tony's head, causing the inventor to huff a laugh as he amended, "Yeah, yeah, sorry, I know. You are a big strong Infinity Stone and my silly little inventions couldn't keep you in if you wanted to leave anyway. So sorry, all-mighty Aspect of the Universe!" Tony smirked as the Stone made a tinkling sound and started to float away to another area of the room, which Tony took for the Stone flouncing off in a mock huff.

The Space Stone left Tony to trail off in giggles as he went through the process of signing forms, okaying and denying applications - basically Tony Stark's actual day job as the companies CEO, and one he grudgingly admits he kind of sucks at keeping up with and tends to brush off for other people to do. There was a reason, a few years ago that he wanted to give Pepper the job. Office work had never appealed to him, he was the happiest elbow deep in grease and tinkering with his inventions.

"That reminds me," Tony hummed to himself as he pulled up the schematics and theory that Dr Foster had entrusted to him of her work and investigation into the Asgardian Bifrost and subsequent Rainbow Bridge. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful that Dr Foster willingly shared her research with us," Tony frowned at the hologram, "But ... what am I supposed to do with this mess?"

Hearing a hum behind his shoulder, Tony looked up to see the Mind Stone hovering there, so Tony moved the hologram as if to show the research notes to the hovering gem.

"Right, Yellow? These notes are an absolute nightmare!" Tony turned back to the pages and pages of the astrophysicist's work that had the appearance of the ramblings of a mad man. "She goes one moment from explaining how she theorises that the Asgardians were harnessing the power of a Wormhole to create the Rainbow Bridge, to the next of rambling about the supposed beauty of Asgard with its golden halls. I mean ..." Tony drawled as his eyes roamed over the mismatch of notes, "I can kinda understand why she would think the gold of Asgard would come into it. Gold is an efficient conductor and is widely used in electronics. That shows that she has at least some understanding of how the technology works, especially since she lacked funding so she ended up building most of her gadgets she used herself." Tony had to admit some grudging respect for that.
"But ... did she need to go on three paragraphs about the supposed lustre and beauty of Asgardian gold and all of the things that are supposedly made of gold up there? I know her mind was warped thanks to Watcher Darcy's tendency to insert her foot into her mouth, leaving the astrophysicist obsessed with anything to do with Thor," Tony shook his head ruefully, "But the truly astounding amount of logical leaps Dr Foster has taken in her research is almost mind-boggling. There are literally pages full of random theories she spouted out, with no references or context of how she came to such a conclusion. I mean, it ends up making sense, in a way," Tony scratched at his head as the Mind Stone seemed to drone in what Tony took as agreement, "But she's left no evidence of where she got the idea from. And it doesn't help that this research is full of Dr Foster's research bias. Her work was solidly based on Wormholes and Albert Einstein and Nathan Rosen's theory that ended up being called the 'Einstein-Rosen bridge'. She'd fixated on jamming in her own theories about wormholes into Asgardian Magic - completely ignoring the whole 'magic' part and focusing on how scientifically it would function."

Tony leaned back in his chair, turning to watch the Mind Stone hover and slowly spin in place over his shoulder as if it were a teacher or mentor looking over his work. "Jane and her star brigade were literally the first to make contact with Asgardian Gods since 965 A.D, and essentially kicked off this whole madhouse of events," Tony huffed, "She had Thor, an ancient Prince of Asgard, a literal man of myth, telling her Asgard's secrets that had been lost to humanity centuries before - and even right here in her notes she straight out denies that Thor's stories of seiðr and magic could have any real application. Treating ancient deities from an advanced alien society like uneducated superstitious country bumpkins. How Thor didn't smite her on the spot," Tony scoffed with a head shake, "Honestly astonishes me, if Thor's own admittance of what his past attitude and personality were like. Jane is extremely lucky to be alive if anything."

Tony righted himself in his seat as he watched the yellow Mind Stone wandering off again, then focusing back on the research notes. "Full of bias and rambling though it might be, you can't deny that her work is amazing. I mean, it didn't end up working, but she managed to build a machine, that theoretically going by these notes, should open a goddamn Wormhole. A tunnel of bending light and time to another location somewhere in space! Gotta give her kudos for that."
"The only problem," Tony sighed as he scrabbled at his hair with both hands in frustration, uncaring how he was messing up his usually careful hairstyle, "Is trying to use this information to actually create our own Bifrost. If we had a way to inspect the Builder's Himinbjorg that harnesses this Bifrost energy to made their Rainbow Bridge, we might be able to get a clue, some type of hint on what it actually was that the Builder used or did to create instantaneous space travel."

A strange hum filled with a type of static made Tony jolt slightly to look up to see that the Reality Stone had drifted close.

"Oh ... hello Red," Tony greeted awkwardly, still unsure how he felt about this particular Stone, especially since he hadn't actually had an opportunity to spend any time to get used to its presence yet. "Sorry, you're probably still upset at her, huh? I should be more careful about mentioning that around you," Tony mused, lifting an eyebrow at the red Stone doing a strange wriggle on the spot.

"Sir," JARVIS spoke in Tony's ear, "I believe the Aspect of Reality wants to help you."

"... Really?" Tony stared wide-eyed at the red gem as it made another strange static-filled noise, "How do you figure that, J?"

"The Aspects have taken time to debate and have decided as a collective, after requesting knowledge on the happenings of this world that we agreed to supply, that your goals are admirable and coincide with their desire to stabilise the universe."

Tony stared at nothing for a moment, eyes wide and mouth open in shock as his brain buzzed at what his AI had just admitted.

"Wait ... wait, wait, wait!" Tony floundered, almost falling off of his office chair, "What do you mean - request? Supply?! JARVIS ... have you been ... communicating with the Infinity Stones?!?"

"It is not a form of communication that a regular human would be able to perform," JOCASTA piped in, "But we have all communicated with our visitors in the Nexus, to an extent."

"You ..." Tony slowly sat back in his office chair.

"It has taken a fair amount of trial and error, but in the end, we have managed to establish something of a working form of communication," FRIDAY's lilting voice did not ease the struggling computer noises that were taking over Tony's brain.

"It takes the form of a type of foreign data stream," TADASHI helpfully explained, "We believe the Aspect's observed how we AI communicate to each other in the servers - because, on the internet, we have no use for sounds or human speech to convey information, as we directly send each other the raw data. We believe the Infinity Stones developed their own way to do the same."

"Well ..." Tony felt like he was struck dumb, "That would explain why humans couldn't do it. Data is a lot more all-inclusive and abstract than made up sounds the humans made that we over time decided meant something. It explains why Red only communicated with Brucie with emotions and visions. The human brain wouldn't be able to handle the literal stream of information any of you handle at any given moment. ... Holy Heck," Tony murmured to himself in shock, "I created AI that can communicate with higher Dimensional beings."

"We wouldn't say that it's a complete process," EDITH argued while Tony felt like he was experiencing mental blue screen, "As many things are still lost in translation, and what we do manage to decipher we mostly glean meaning from. Our communication at this point is more hypothetical and guesswork than what can truly be classed as successful communication."

"Communication has become somewhat more intelligible with the inclusion of the Reality Aspect," JARVIS relayed, causing Tony.exe to come back online again.

"You mean ... the more Infinity Stones that have come together ... the clearer their communications have become?" Tony hesitantly theorised.

"The Space and Mind Stone had managed to project singular ideas and concepts that we could decipher among the unintelligible babble," JOCASTA explained, "But with the inclusion of the Reality Stone, their communications have become much clearer."

"... May I see?" Tony looked up at the still humming red Reality Stone, then around at the blue and yellow Stones that were busy currently circling the room, unsure if he, a lowly human lifeform, was somehow allowed to witness this phenomenon.

"Of course Sir," JARVIS assuaged his creator's fears, bringing up a window on Tony's hologram that the inventor took a long moment to sit and blink at.

"... I see what you mean by unintelligible ..." Tony's mouth felt dry as he stared at the walls of codes, mostly garbled or glitched, including some surviving symbols Tony had never seen before - but here and there, Tony could recognise, incredibly, clean-cut program code. "This ..." Tony trailed off, compulsively swallowing to moisten his dry mouth and throat.

"As you can see, Sir," JARVIS helpfully highlighted a section of code, that was shocking in its beauty and advanced structure, but ultimately Tony was well versed enough in the language of code to be able to even decipher himself, "That the Reality Aspect wishes to express the willingness to help you in your endeavour."

"Has it been able to communicate exactly how it plans to do that?" Tony asked hesitantly, watching as the red Stone wriggled slightly again as it gave its strange static-filled hum, then stared befuddled at the wall of garbled code that appeared on the screen. "Uh ... yeah no. I guess it's not a solid form of communication yet. This is as clear as mud."

The Reality Stone gave a loud abrupt static-filled buzz that had Tony quickly putting up his hands defensively, "Hey, I'm sorry, Red, Ok? But I'm just a human. I don't think I'm even supposed to understand that much if I'm at all honest." The Stone didn't seem amused, as it continued to make the unhappy buzzing sound as the hologram screen began to be filled with unintelligible code. "I'm sorry," Tony tried apologising to the bobbing Stone, but it didn't seem appeased.

"What about trying to communicate with the Aspect using seiðr?" JOCASTA posited.

"... What?" Tony tilted his head to the side at the seeming non-sequitur from his AI.

The Reality Stone's bobbing and static buzzing immediately stopped, and after a moment, the Stone began its static-filled gentle humming again as it gently swirled on the spot.

"That is how Loki and Thor explained how they interact with their surroundings. I concur," TADASHI agreed with his fellow AI.

"... What?" Tony felt like this whole conversation was beginning to melt his brain.

"Sir," JARVIS spoke in Tony's ear calmly, soothing the inventor's flustered nerves, "You recall the conversations with Loki and Thor on how they retain the 6 basic senses to interact with the 3rd dimension we currently experience; sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, and that they use their seiðr as a 7th sense to feel out their surroundings?"

"... Yeah," Tony breathed to calm his rabbiting heartbeat, "Thor said when the All-Daddy cut him off from his powers when he was put in time out, he was also cut off from his seiðr, unable to feel out the world around him as he normally would. He told me it was like he had gone blind or numb, although his sense of touch and eyesight still worked fine."

"We speculate that since the Aspects are something like pure forms of seiðr, or at least, have powers and can interact with a beings seiðr, as the Reality Aspect did with Dr Foster and Dr Banner," TADASHI calmly explained, "That perhaps, we have been going about this opening a form of communication the wrong way. Perhaps seiðr is the answer?"

"Huh ..." Tony blinked as he mentally ran the suggestion over in his mind, "It's not a bad theory ... and honestly not something I had contemplated before. I haven't even tried using my seiðr that way," Tony scratched at his facial hair as his mind whirled with new theories and possible applications, "If this works ... we could easily add this as a feature to your scanners - since it's already been established that you can use rune magic, which you need to have seiðr to use them anyway ..."

"Why don't you test it out, Boss?" FRIDAY chirped.

"... What? Right now?!" Tony startled, turning to look at the gently spinning Infinity Stone, "No, no, no, Fry, Baby Girl. Don't you think I should start on something small first?!"

"Since when have you ever started anything small, Chief?" EDITH sassed.

"Well ... Yeah, but-"

"This is the perfect opportunity then," JOCASTA agreed, her usual dry, sensible tone had never sounded so encouraging and bubbly, "The Reality Aspect even seems willing to try it with you."

Tony watched the red gem pick up a humming melody as it scootched just a little closer to Tony's table, as if in agreement.

"Yeah - but - no," Tony stuttered nervously, "Wouldn't this be considered big seiðr magic?" Tony glanced down at the protective amulet hanging innocuously around his neck, "Won't Jor be pissed?"

"If I may extrapolate from Mr Lokison's explanation of their applied Geas," JARVIS intoned dryly, "That the spell will stop you if the seiðr appears to be too much for you to currently control."

"And you'll only know if it is if you try," FRIDAY quipped.

"... You guys are seriously gun-ho about this," Tony hissed at his AI, honestly not used to his AI being this persistent about anything except his personal wellbeing and health. "But if this thing really does protect me from things blowing up in my face," Tony patted the amulet for a moment as he mentally prepared himself for a possibly foolhardy action, "Then I guess ... trying can't hurt?"

Tony breathed deeply, reaching within for the burning, prickly feeling of his personal seiðr, which, after envisioning it as a gemstone of amber sitting snuggly inside his chest, accessing it had been much easier. All it took was a thought, and there it was, burning under his skin. Opening his burning orange eyes to gaze about the room, Tony was a bit unsure how exactly he was supposed to use his seiðr to 'feel' things anyway.

"How ...?" Tony murmured to himself as he concentrated, stretching out a palm, feeling the burning sensation build until like an orange cloudy haze, the energy started to leak out of his hand. "Whoa ..." Tony's orange eyes were wide as he surprisingly easily manipulated the small stream of seiðr, directing it down hesitantly to touch the top of the desk he currently sat at. The inventor's pupils blew wide as the stream of foreign information entered his senses; what wood, metal and glue were used in its construction, vague imprints of those who had touched the object, and the current state of the table, among other things.
"This ..." Tony trailed off as he curiously moved the seiðr to touch other things close to him, 'feeling' out the objects and surfaces around him, "This is amazing! Is ... this how Thor and Loki see things ... all the time?!"

Hearing a tinkling sound with a vague crackle, pop - Tony turned his burning orange eyes to the Reality Stone who had been patiently hovering in front of his desk this entire time.

"I guess ... I should try reaching out to you now?" Tony's lips trembled a little as he slowly brought his orange hazy cloud of seiðr that streamed from his still extended hand, and directed it slowly towards the Infinity Stone, who with a melodic hum, extended it's own red energy towards him, like a glittering red cloud of particles.
Slowly, hesitantly, Tony reached out with his seiðr and gently touched his energy to the Reality Aspects.

"Oh My Fuck!"

Chapter Text

"JOR!"

The World Serpent groggily shifted a few coils as he felt distant vibrations.
Who dared interrupt his sunning?
Jörmungandr's mother of pearl scales rippled as he luxuriated under the heat. This was bliss. He could happily stay here forever.

"JOR?!"

Ugh ... what noisy critter was making that unholy racket? He had retreated to this secluded den for the exact purpose of avoiding the noisy, nosey little things. Midgard has become his home, he had wrapped his coils around it and claimed it as his own.
It just unfortunately already had tiny little beings and animals on it. At least most of the small things on this Realm were digestible and possessed pleasing taste.

"JOR!?"

Ah ... no, he should amend that. The humans and other mortal sentient creatures were not edible, nor were they all annoying.
Why he had become rather fond of a couple fairly recently - One had even built this nice warm den, just for Jörmungandr.
He wasn't the pretty one with curls, but he was still dear to his heart and joined the family very recently.
He really should give him a type of boon some time, for this glorious heat.

The Midgard Serpent grumbled as he felt the distant vibrations become louder and closer.
If this had been one of his usual hiding places - the mountains or deep ravines or the deep blue sea - Jörmungandr would just watch the approaching fool from the depths and darkness and merely flick the tip of his tail, that usually sent the noisy little invader packing. But he had to remember this was his little bróðir's Tower, and their family would be pretty upset with him if he was the cause of the destruction of the lovely construction. He might even lose this lovely warm den. Can't have that.

"JOR!"

With a sigh at the closely approaching vibrations, that Jörmungandr's sleepy mind finally recognised as his little bróðir, and owner of the Tower, the Serpent god shifted lazily so that his head was no longer buried under his coils, resting his large chin drowsily to face the door, waiting to see what his little bróðir needed from him.
The actual sight of his little mortal bróðir who peeled through the door was enough of a shock that Jörmungandr nearly reared back and flared his hood.

"Freyr?!" Jörmungandr hissed as he quickly transformed back into a mortal shape, picking himself up from his lounging position under the large ceiling heat lamp, and approaching the jittering mortal, who was looking like he had just come from an intense battle.
His tanned skin was clammy and covered in sweat, so drenched that the inventor's plain white t-shirt with a band logo the God didn't recognise was sticking to his skin, his hair was sweaty and poking up in odd angles as if he had been frustratedly running his hands through it, or had recently had his helmet on. The most concerning of these observations, to the God's mind, were Tony's wide, orange, frantic looking eyes.

"Freyr? What is it? What is wrong?" Jörmungandr fussed as he approached, watching the mortal pant and puff, "Why have you been running? What's wrong? Have you been in a fight?"

"Jörmungandrwhatthefuck!Isthishowyouseeallthetime?OhmyfuckinggodIcanfeeleverythingohshitfuckballs!"

"Freyr! Calm down, please, take a deep breath for me," Jörmungandr urged as he tried to get the small tremoring mortal to hold still, finally getting close enough that he could gently hold the mortal by the shoulders, then hissing in surprise at the heat that met his fingers, "Freyr?! You're burning up! Continue taking deep slow breaths for me," The World Serpent guided the mortal out of the heated room, worried that the mortal would overheat or burn up. "You should not be this temperature. Are you ill?"

"Jor ... Jor?" Tony stared at the World Serpent with wide glowing orange eyes, moving to grip onto the Indian man's crip buttoned shirt like an anchor.

"Yes, Freyr?" Jörmungandr peered down at the inventor, having never seen the usually put together mortal so shaken.

"I can see everything in colour. I mean, I can feel everything. It's so colourful and big and alive."

"Freyr?" Jörmungandr was quickly becoming bemused by the mortal's strange behaviour, "Please, tell me what's wrong," the God peered down at Tony's pupils, blown wide, "... Are you high? Did someone drug you?"

"Is ... that really you?" Tony stared up at the God, lifting a hand slowly, trembling to look like he is patting the air around the God's face, but Jörmungandr's pupils narrowed into serpentine slits with a quick inhale of breath, as he felt Tony, a mortal, touching his seiðr.

"Tony." Jörmungandr stood frozen, unsure of how to react - but Tony seemed to notice the Serpents distress and quickly retreated, but didn't get far as Jörmungandr still held on to his shoulders in a tight almost punishing grip.

"OhmygodJor!Iamsosorry!Isthisabadtouchthing?DidIbadtouch?" Tony's orange eyes began to water as the mortal panicked, while Jörmungandr himself was trying to pull himself together after having a mortal touching his energy with his bare hands, but shook himself out of it when the God became aware of Tony's remorseful tears and babbling, "I'msosorryJor!Ishouldknowbetteryoualwaysaskbeforeyoutouch!Butyouaresobrightandbeautifulandwonderful!Icouldn'thelpmyself-"

"Freyr, please breathe," Jörmungandr spoke calmly and firmly, moving to change his grip into a more gentle caress, soothing the teary mortal, watching Tony carefully with searching eyes, "It is alright. I am not mad. You just surprised me."

"I'm sorry!" Tony stared up at Jörmungandr, but his eyes seemed to wander like he was looking around him and not right at the God, his face was full of remorse but also awe, "I didn't mean to touch - am I not supposed to? I'm sorry," the inventor pressed his hands to his chest in an attempt to keep his hands to himself, though his hands flinched now and again like he was resisting from reaching out to touch again.

"It's alright, Freyr," Jörmungandr murmured comfortingly, the notion of what could have happened to make his little bróðir act so out of character was beginning to make itself known in the ancient God's mind, "Just continue to take even breaths for me." As a small test for his developing theory, Jörmungandr slowly started to move a small portion of his personal seiðr, moving it into the shape of a small iridescent snake with fluffy feathered ruff, smile growing on the World Serpent's face as he watched Tony's amazed eyes trail after the small iridescent quetzalcoatl that floated lazily above their heads, a portion of his personal seiðr not made into physical form - something Tony really should not be able to see with his naked eyes.
"Freyr?" Tony tore his wide orange eyes from watching the beautiful tiny serpent trailing through the sky back to the bright God in front of him, "When did you start using your seiðr to see things?"

"I-I used my kid's scanners at first," Tony took a breath to ease his slowly slowing heartbeat and tremors, "But ... Before I popped into the Astal Dimension ... I somehow managed to strengthen my seiðr, or at least, get a better handle of it. I didn't even think about applying it to my senses until Yellow whispered it to me. After Red showed me how the Builder built the Rainbow Bridge." Tony seemed unaware of the God's eyes slightly widening, "It's amazingly simple how he did it. Almost insultingly simple. I can't believe how many months I've struggled over this when it was so simple-"

"Hold on, Freyr," Jörmungandr smiled reassuringly at the still slightly jumpy mortal, "Take a few steps back in this narrative and explain how this all happened. Start from the beginning for me, please."

Tony took a moment to gather himself before he began explaining: How he had been the Nexus, just trying to get some work done and try to puzzle out Dr Foster's notes, then the discovery of his AI attempting to carry garbled conversations with the Infinity Stones, and how the AI's theory of feeling the world around with seiðr would also help with communicating with the Reality Stone, which they had managed to work out had wanted to help the inventor with the whole Bifrost thing.

"And then, after Red showed me visions - fucking visions!" Tony carried on the narrative, "And I had felt almost everything in the room - Badassium feels so nice by the way! Does Vibranium or Uru feel as good as Badassium does? - Anyway. Once I'd finished feeling the room Yellow gave me the impression that focusing my seiðr into my eyes instead of as a glowey orange cloud thing would also show me cool stuff. So I did."

"Putting aside the fact that you communed with primordial aspects of all of existence for now," Jörmungandr regulated his breathing to remain calm, "But you discovered your 7th sense, using your seiðr to feel out the world around you and to open your eyes to a higher dimension ... and I'm guessing in an unthinking tizzy, you started running around the entire Tower to experience everything." The World Serpent shook his head lightly in almost disbelieving fond amusement. "As usual, you showed no restraint when discovering a new thing, and dived in head first, with no thought of how overwhelming it might end up being for you."

"But it's so beautiful!" Tony cried, eyes staring around at the air, "I can see everything! All the colours, the particles, the molecules ... you've always seen the world like this?" Tony turned his awed eyes back to the gently smirking Snake God.

"Yes, although, when we are first introduced to using our 7th sense like this, our surroundings are usually limited to simple things, and slowly introduced to more complex structures and beings. Not staring right into the faces of Gods and primordial beings and running around to touch everything." The Midgard Serpent lightly scolded even as the fond smirk didn't leave his face.

"Jor ... I'm sorry I touched you without permission," Tony lowered his eyes to the ground with a furrowed brow, face full of self-loathing, "I can't believe I-"

"No, none of that," Jörmungandr reprimanded, putting one of his long dark fingers under the mortal's chin and forced Tony to stare up at him again. "That impulse is completely normal. A being will feel compelled to acquaint themselves to the sight and feel of their family and loved ones around them upon first learning how to use their seiðr this way. The fact that it is usually children towards their parent is neither here nor there. I should have been mentally prepared that you would want to connect with us that way, once you achieved it," The World Serpent's eyes became a little sad, "Father and Uncle will be upset that they missed this, as well as Hela and my siblings too. Eir as well. This is an important event in a seiðr wielders life."

"Wait ... Brucie can do this already?!" Tony blinked his wide orange eyes at the smirking God.

"I believe he had been calling it 'Hulk senses' for a while, or 'Hulk instincts'," Jörmungandr hummed, "We figured out that ever since Eir suffered under his mutation, he had been unconsciously using his seiðr 7th sense with his mutation. He has only recently been practising how to use his 7th sense when not transformed. He will be pleased to learn that you are catching up to him." The Snake God smirked.

"Damn," Tony muttered to himself, his burning orange eyes still trailing the sky, trying to hunt out that tiny winged serpent again, "I always knew Brucie was better than me. So this is what the Hulk sees? I gotta say, I'm kinda jealous. Everything looks so awesome!"

"Come Freyr," The Midgard Serpent purred as he gently leed the dazed inventor from the hallway they had been standing in, on his own private floor of the Tower, slowly leading him to his personal rooms, built and gifted to him by the inventor himself, "Now you should rest and let your frazzled brain assimilate all that you have learned."

"But-" Tony blinked up at Jörmungandr, who once arriving in his personal bed chambers, smoothly transformed back into his large pale snake form, and coaxed the inventor into the centre of his coils to lie down with his scaly snout, "I haven't-"

"Freyr," The Midgard Serpent's voice always sounded so large in this form, deeper and more encompassing than his human form, giant head coiled above him as the human lay on the mother of pearl scales that were surprisingly smooth and warm, Staring down with his large slit pupil eyes, "Will you experience with me?"

Tony stared in shock, as the massive Serpent manipulated his own iridescent seiðr in a smooth trend, like woven shiny spider thread, out towards the staring mortal, hovering above his prone form. Swallowing his nerves, Tony reached out a hand, and with concentration, produced a blob of orange mist, that Tony frowned at, leading the giant snake to chuckle, causing his scales to vibrate and tingle.

"We will have you manipulating your own energy into beautiful shapes in all due time," The God chuckled at the mortal's frankly adorable pout, "Don't worry yourself about it for now."

Gently, Jörmungandr lowered the thread of his seiðr, while Tony shakily raised his own, to meet with the slightest, gentlest of brushes - that still blew the mortal's eyes wide and caused the ancient Midagardian Serpent to purr.

"Hello, Freyr."

Chapter Text

"Tony," the dulcet tones of Pepper Pots rung out in the dark and surprisingly comfortable room, despite its lack of furniture. At first, Tony was concerned about why neither Jörmungandr nor Fenrir requested any chairs or even a bed for their personal rooms until the God's explained that sleeping in their shape changed forms was more comfortable for them, which explained all the rugs and heated flooring they requested instead. The World Serpents rooms were dark and surprisingly warm, but not stifling - and lying on an elephant-sized snake was supremely comfortable. Especially how The Midgard Serpent coiled their tail into a more supportive shape to cushion the inventor.

"Yeah Pep?" Tony glanced to the side where a support hologram screen had appeared from the roof that projected his SI President on face chat, while he worked away on another screen.

"Do you ever intend to actually come to the SI HQ and attend any of the meetings at any point?" Pepper huffed, frowning mock disapprovingly at the lounging CEO of the company.

"Come on, Pep," Tony whined playfully, "You know I hate those meetings. All we do is sit around a big table, listen to old out-dated fossils argue with each other, over things that could clearly have just been sent in a company email, and sit through a whole lot of ass-kissing," Tony rolled his eyes as he scoffed, "As if that has EVER gotten them anywhere with me." Tony ignored the enormous Serpent's indulgent deep chuckles that made the scales undeath him vibrate pleasantly, "The day we get those Old Fart's to actually use technology from this century, you know - the stuff we actually sell - and join the rest of us in video calls and instant messaging, will the day I know that we have finally done it." Tony lazily moved his eyes over to a giggling Pep, "That we have finally gotten humanity all on the same page of what actual century we are in. Hel, Toddlers are using phones more than those craggy old bastards are!"

"I believe your holograms might be a bit too advanced for the common man Freyr," Jörmungandr's deep voice rumbled from his head lying somewhere out of sight.

"But they are so easy to use!" Tony argued over one of the Snake's large pale coils.

"Maybe they are technophobes Tony," Pepper pointed out, which just left the inventor's face in a disbelieving scrunch.

"Then what are they doing working at a technologies company?" Tony shot back, scrunch lessening as he watched Pepper's laughing face. "It might have been fine when Howard and Obidiah were running the show," Tony scoffed, "But we were predominantly a weapons company then." Tony scowled for a moment, "I have been in the superhero business for 5 years now. They can't seriously keep expecting me to drop everything to be at their beck-and-call."
Tony's expression cleared as he turned to look up at Pepper again, "Ms Potts? Would you please issue a company-wide notice that staff will be required to take training courses on how to use SI provided and mandated technologies, to ensure that SI is held up to the standards of efficiency and quality that is expected of an international company?"

"Of course sir," Pepper smirked as she turned to her own side hologram and took down notes.

Jörmungandr's chuckles grew louder as Tony looked up at feeling movement under him, seeing the large Snake God lifting his head to look down on the mortal encased in his coils, "I have a feeling there will be a few mortals who cursed the day they decided to work for you, Freyr."

"They are free to leave my employ if they don't like it," Tony waved an absent hand, "I'm sure one of the many other companies would be quick to snatch them up."

"Mostly in a bid to get former SI employees to spill Stark secrets," FRIDAY lilted from a nearby speaker, sounding particularly amused, "Too bad for them, they are unaware that SI contracts have been updated with my Rune Spells, which all employees have signed off on. Our non-disclosure agreements are Badassium-clad," Tony snorted at the perversion of the phrase, "They might try, but they won't be getting very far."

"They might not be able to share any of our secrets or be able to recreate any of our products, but they still have their training and skills," Pepper hummed as she continued to make a draft of the company-wide email, "SI's rejected staff or those who do not meet requirements still manage to find high paying jobs elsewhere."

"They just won't enjoy the same paycheck, job security or health insurance," EDITH huffed, "Their loyalty is little to ask for all that SI gives them back in return."

"Some people just don't like that sort of thing," Pepper shrugged, her brow developing a small crease in it, "Although it's not like your asking for their soul or anything."

"It's free-will Pep," Tony stretched languidly, "Everything comes down to free-will."

The red-haired women slid her eye towards the face chat screen as she continued to type, watching Tony Stark laze around on a giant ancient mythological World Serpent. "Speaking of willful," Tony coughed another laugh, "I assume this also means you won't be making any of the press releases that are supposed to be coming out at the end of the month?"

"Sorry Pep, no can do," Tony replied, "I can't leave the Tower right now." Tony patted at the Snake God's silvery-white warm scales beside him, "Jörmungandr said so. He put me in the naughty corner, don't you know?"

"After having to chase after your ass for the past month, having to constantly pull you out of trouble," the large reptile hissed, "can you blame me?"

"Try doing that for over 10 years," Pepper drawled, watching the inventor laugh raucously. "Honestly? I'm glad that Tony has actual Gods to watch over him now. It looks like you can actually manage to control him better than I ever could."

"Now that's not fair, Pep," Tony argued, pointing an accusatory finger, "I do listen to you when you tell me things!"

"Really?" Pepper rose a judging eyebrow.

"Well ... Most things!"

Pepper sighed at Tony's childishness, although the side of her mouth tellingly twitched, "I'll leave you, good Sir Jörmungandr, to your Tony guard duty, while I get back to work. Oh, and Tony? Don't forget to sign those agreements and get JARVIS to send them through, ok?"

"I am literally doing that right now!" Tony waved a hand at the screen in front of him, watching Pepper smile in farewell before closing the chat.

Jörmungandr moved around to bring his giant head closed to peer down at the orange-eyed mortal, "I take it that interaction was not too much?"

Tony glanced up at the chin of the mythological Serpent with a small grateful smirk, "No, thanks to you. I didn't realise how tiring it could be to be constantly using your seiðr like this. If you weren't grounding me right now," Tony huffed, slightly upset at his own inability, "I probably would have flung off of the handle again."

"Nonsense," Jörmungandr purred, bringing his head down to lie next to Tony's lounging form on top of his coils, "I am bearly doing anything other than syphoning off your excess energy until you learn not to go pumping it out at 110%," The World Serpent chuckled at the inventor's pout. "You do not need to use that much seiðr to be able to sense the world around you. A thimble-full is more than enough. Despite you being something of an overachiever, everyone starts outputting too much energy into their spells at first."

The inventor blinked, then moving so he was lying on his side facing the massive Snake God, whose single large jewel-like eye was bigger than his own head was calmly watching him.

"A thimble? Really? Does anyone these days use one? Or even know what one is? You are super old Jor!"

Jörmungandr's chuckle reverberated around them, "Then the fact that you do know about it enough to mock me, implies that you yourself are quite old Freyr."

Tony mock gasped in insult, holding an offended hand to his chest even as his orange eyes flashed, "How dare you, Jor?! I'll have you know I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General." Tony joined the Snake God's chuckles in giggling at his own outdated joke. "We've got my Mother and the Jarvis' to thank for my all-encompassing knowledge of vegetable, animal, and mineral - among other classics and stuff," Tony smiled nostalgically.

The Midgard Serpent eyed the mortal's sad smile and gave a purr to try to comfort him, "I am sorry you weren't able to reach your loved ones when you tried."

"And I won't be able to try for a while," Tony sighed but lifted a hand to pat at Jörmungandr's snout, "Don't worry about it Jor, I know why I can't do it right now. It is kinda my own fault," Tony smiled somewhat sheepishly up Jörmungandr's large eye. "That just means I have to get good enough that I won't need the training wheels anymore."

"And despite your many moanings," Jörmungandr chuckled at Tony's expense, "You are advancing quite quickly with learning how to channel your personal energy." The God eyed the inventor grumpy moue, "You know that it takes most Jotunn or Aesir many centuries of lessons to even get to this point? You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."

"And you know that we can't compare," Tony shook his head, "You all live almost indefinitely, a couple of centuries to you is the blink of an eye. A human American male commonly lives to the ripe old age of around 75. Ignoring that nothing about me is common," Tony chuckled at himself ruefully, "And that I have been close to death more than once already - I have 2 or 3 decades left, at best, if we go by statistics. Plus you know," Tony continued running his hand over Jörmungandr's smooth warm scales, "We currently have a mad man with a death fetish heading our way from out in deep space. I don't really have the time to be taking my sweet time with this. I have a lot of projects waiting on my getting to grips with this. Can't keep the world waiting."

"You know that you aren't alone," Jörmungandr reminded with a small growl.

"I know. It's one of my many failings I guess," Tony shrugged with a grin, "Can't very well leave it to anyone else If I can do something about it myself."

"Regarding that Sir," JARVIS intoned from a nearby speaker, "There is a situation that requires your attention."

"What is it J?"

"It would appear that young Miss Khan, conspiring with young Mr Keener and Mr Parker, has fallen back into old habits," JARVIS stated dryly.

"What has she done now?" Tony rose an interested eyebrow, "Did you catch her trying to hack the Pentagon again?"

"No Sir. We caught Miss Khan attempting to hack into SI's own servers again," came JARVIS' disapproving reply.

"Again? The kid must be aware that never works," Tony grinned despite himself, "Even though that's how she got into the Stark Education Program, to begin with. What has this got to do with Peter and Harley?"

"It would probably be better to ask them yourself," the AI replied simply.

"Well, alright then," Tony shrugged, pulling a pair of sunglasses out of his shirt pocket and donning them to obscure his glowing orange eyes, not bothering to move from his comfortable position of lying back upon a God, Tony grinned as another face chat window appeared midair thanks to his projections. "Hey, Kiddos. What's up?"

"Mr Stark! Mr Stark!" Peter cried, leaning close to the camera at seeing Tony joining their call, "Is it really really true?!"

"How many times do I have to remind you that it's just Tony, Kid?" Tony smirked helplessly, "what is?"

"Do you really own Area 51?" Peter's face almost took over his entire screen.

"Don't be silly Peter, there's no way," Kamala blew an unbelieving raspberry.

"What? That old thing?" Tony blinked in surprise, privately smirking at the kid's shocked exclamations.

"Wait - seriously?!" Harely cried.

"No way!" Kamala slammed her hands down on her desk in shock.

"Yes way," Tony chuckled as he watched Kamala and Harley freak out, involving waving their arms and running around their rooms yelling - these two were always so fun to stir up.

"This Area 51 was a place that quite a few of the public wanted to send my family and I, isn't it?" Jörmungandr watched Tony affirmative nod, "what is it exactly?"

"Area 51 is a secret USAF base located in Groom Lake, Nevada." JARVIS took over the explanation for the ancient God. "It is believed that in 1947, in what became known as the Roswell UFO Incident, a ship containing Grey Extraterrestrials, crashed in Roswell, New Mexico. These aliens were said to have been taken to Area 51 for study. It is part of the popular belief that the former US military Airbase is actually a secret Government Laboratory where they imprison and experiment on alien lifeforms. You will no doubt be happy to know that this is not true. Sir purchased the base a few years ago off of the US Government when they had quietly put the base up for sale, to make up for accruing debts. Sir, in his infinite wisdom," the AI sassed to Tony's chuckles, "Decided to forgo mentioning the change of ownership or opening the airfield to the public. Thus it has retained its air of mystery and relevant infamy in the public culture."

"Whoa! Giant Snake!" Harley suddenly yelped, joining Kamala in running around and screaming again in excitement.

"Hello ..." Peter murmured even though he was hoping a little on the spot.

"Oh, right," Tony laughed, patting Jörmungandr gently, "You remember when we introduced you to the God that took on the look of an Indian man? That's him. This is just another form of Jörmungandr."

"Yourmun-" Peter struggled to twist his tongue around the pronunciation.

"I understand that my given name is difficult for most in the modern day to pronounce," The Serpent chuckled, "Just Jor is fine - or the human name I have been using the last few decades is also fine. Aarush Kumar. Although," The God continued to chuckle at the young boy's slightly scrunched nose, "I realise most Europeans have trouble with most eastern names as well."

"Young Sir may be pleased to note, that most of Mr Laufeyson's children will also answer to Lokison. For Queen Hela, it would be Lokidottir," JARVIS supplied helpfully much to Peter's obvious relief.

"Wait ... why?" Kamala questioned once she had stopped bouncing around her room in excitement over a giant snake, "Why don't you have the same last name?"

"Ancient Norse, and therefore Asgardian naming traditions are different from what most countries would think of today," Jörmungandr rumbled, finding himself amused by these little ones, even the two noisy ones. "Last names are basically based on who your father or surviving or even favourite parent tends to be. Plus the sexuality you define yourself as. Since I see myself as male, and Loki as my father, so my last name is Lokison."

"Oh," Harley blinked as he came down from his screaming fit, "That's pretty cool."

"Now," Tony smirked at the young students, "What's this I hear about attempting to hack into our systems?"

The excited smiles quickly fled the children's faces; Peter quickly ducked his head down shamefully while Harley and Kamala gapped at the inventor, mouths flapping like gasping fish, trying to come up with excuses.

"Miss Khan is aware that STARK works on a three strike policy," JARVIS rebuked sternly, causing the young woman to flush, "Since this is your first attempt to break the rules since joining the course, we may ignore your other previous attempts, but this still constitutes as a strike on your record." Kamala's face was quickly becoming even redder as her brows became scrunched in anger, "We may remind you, that upon obtaining three strikes, you will be suspended from the Stark Education Program, and depending on the severity of your actions, may face judicial prosecution."

"But I didn't even get through the firewall protections!" Kamala defended her actions.

"That doesn't mean you didn't try to anyway," Tony shook his head slightly, "Attempting to hack into private servers is still a big no-no kid."

"But we were doing it for a good reason!" Harley cried, outraged with apple red angry cheeks.

"Oh? And what good reason did you possibly have," Tony gave all three a lowbrow judging look, "To try to hack our private servers, instead of coming to us directly, and ask?"

Kamala and Harley looked away from the screen; Kalama in self-righteous anger, while Harley looked embarrassed. Neither looked like they'd be willing, to tell the truth.

"Mr Stark ..." Peter mumbled, nervously chewing on his lower lip, "Please don't be angry at them. This is my fault."

Tony rose an eyebrow as Harley spluttered denials while Kamala shook her head furiously, "That's not true Peter! This isn't your fault."

"If I hadn't gone on and on about the stories Aunty and Uncle told me about my parents," Peter ducked his head self consciously at Harley's angry face, "We wouldn't have tried it."

"I think I can gather what's happened here," Tony sighed semi-fondly at the children's drama unfolding in front of him.

"Mr Stark-"

"You convinced Miss Khan to use her hacking skills to try to hunt down your father," Tony watched Harley's small scrunched angry face with something like dawning recognition, remembering that Tony himself had looked the same many times in the mirror.

"Who cares about that family abandoning bastard," Harley snarled, though his eyes were still showed the half-buried yerning that Tony was very intimately familiar with.

"Harley?" Tony waited till the boy met his eyes, "I can understand the desire to find your father. I did much the same at your age."

"But your dad never left," Harley scoffed angrily.

"No," Tony agreed easily, "But he did just as well as. He spent most of my childhood away, searching for Captain America on the other side of the world. For most of my young life, I had no idea where he was. I was never told what he was doing, or where he was. I was a kid," Tony shrugged to the kid's surprised eyes, "The adults decided I didn't need to know."

"But ... how did you find out?" Tony would have to teach Peter to not chew on his lips so much.

"I did the 70's version of what you just attempted to do," Tony slowly shook his head at his past self, "The internet wasn't really a thing till I was 13, and even then, there really wasn't much on it yet. Most reports and files were still kept on paper back then." Tony smirked at the kid's shocked faces. "But I didn't let that stop me. Except, unlike you," Tony stared at the children to make sure they were paying attention, "I took it too far. I ended up getting tangled up in spycraft and plots, and ended up kidnapped." Tony shrugged to the chorus of gasps.

"You were captured by spies?!" Kamala cried, eyes shining.

"Kamala," Tony scolded dryly, "I know it sounds cool, but being abducted is not a fun time."

"Sir suffered 2 broken ribs," JARVIS read off the old medical report to the kids pailing faces, "Sprained wrists, a couple of deep cuts, a busted lip, and many bruises."

"They hurt you?" Peter leaned forward worriedly.

"Kidnapping is never gentle, Kid," Tony replied ruefully, keeping a careful eye on Harley's remorseful face, making sure his own attempted kidnapping by Killian wasn't upsetting the kid. "I was rescued in the end, though. So don't worry about it."

"So your dad come back to rescue you?" Kamala smiled, but her smile fell at Tony's head shake.

"Nope. I was rescued by the FBI," Tony smirked sadly, not looking forward to breaking the kid's innocent views of the world, "My dad refused the kidnappers demands, or to return home to deal with the situation. Citing that his work was too important," Tony shrugged at the kids disbelieving looks. "The world doesn't always play out like a fairy tale or comic book. Because of my nieve actions, I put myself in danger. Frankly, I could have been killed because I stuck my nose in a dangerous situation." Tony watched the student's dawning looks of comprehension, "I assume I don't have to spell out why I am telling you this."

"My hacking could have gotten us in danger," Kamala sniffed, her dark eyes becoming teary.

"Since it was me you were attempting to hack, you were luckily in no danger," Tony tried to comfort the young woman, uncomfortable with tears, "But take this as a lesson in why you should be extremely careful in attempting anything like that again." Tony grimaced at the children's upset. "You were accepted into the Stark Education Program, not just because you're little geniuses. The world is full of geniuses. You were accepted because we saw promise in you, and I wish to, one day, teach you everything I know." Tony admitted, squirming at the children's wide staring eyes. "But I'm not doing this in the hopes that you will be just like me. I would never want that," Tony waved his hands, "I have made so many mistakes, that it's ridiculous. I want to teach you, in the hopes that you will be better than I could ever hope to be," Tony smiled softly at the kid's range of shocked expressions.

"But t-that's impossible!" Harley cried.

"No one could be better than you Mr Stark!" Peter stated firmly like the very idea was an insult.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Kid, but that is very untrue," Tony chuckled ruefully, eyeing the kid's flustered reactions. "Harley ... If you truly wish to hunt down your dad? J and the AI could help you with that."

Harley's eyes widened at the offer as JARVIS replied, "Of course Sir, we would be happy to."

"In fact, you are free to call on us if you are ever in need of help. It's what I'm here for. But," Tony held up a scolding finger with a small smirk, "You have to promise me that you kids will not try something like this again - at least not without consulting us first," Tony quickly amended, knowing, if these kids were anything like he had been as a young kid on the cusp of teenagerdom, that being told they couldn't do something would make them try harder to do it anyway.

"We're sorry Mr Stark," Peter mumbled morosely.

"Peter, Kid, For the last time, it's Just Tony," the inventor sighed, leaning back into a chuckling ancient serpent.

Chapter Text

Tony often wondered what the rest of the world would think if they knew even half of the events that were happening inside his Tower on any given day. There were a few who were privy to it, or at least most of it - Bruce, The bevy of Gods, The Wakandans, The X-Men, Harley, Peter and Kamala, Pepper, Happy, Rhodey & possibly the Watchers? Now that Tony thought about it ... that was a lot of people.

But the people of the common throng? How would they take the knowledge that magic is definitely a thing and something most people could learn to use, even those who did not have wieldable seiðr could still use runes and written magics, although at a lower capacity than someone who had more than enough seiðr to spare for such magic works. Tony was even working on a magic interface that those unable to use their own seiðr would be able to use. Maybe one-day everyday household appliances would run on environmental seiðr instead of electricity ... but that was a scheme that was a long time in coming.

The Gods being a real thing wasn't such a foreign concept to the world anymore or aliens - Loki and Tony's PR teams have done amazing work. Although it had opened something of a can of worms and a resurgence of political/religious movements - for pagan or against. Things were simmering at this point, though Tony knew it would only take one idiot to do something unforgivable to make the pot start to boil over. He wasn't looking forward to that and his legal and PR teams were working overtime, along with the many different Departments of Damage Control all around the world, funded by SI in coordination with each countries ruling governments to try to mitigate that kind of disaster for as long as possible.
Things had been quiet on the actual God front - Tony had worried that the resurgence of belief in 'dead' pantheons, making pagan worship somewhat popular again would attract godly attention - Hades and Persephone seemed to be curious about it - but as far as his AI had been able to observe ... there didn't seem to be any deities roaming the earth and turning mortals into golden bulls or plants as of yet.

Mutants and other DNA-Diverse humans were also a subject that was hotly debated but slowly becoming more accepted. To Tony's mind, it kind of said something about the human race - that most were more willing to accept aliens and Gods being a real thing and gladly accepting them, but Mutants? Oh hell no!
Tony had been working with Xavier and his X-Men and Lensherr and his Brotherhood, who had finally managed to get over old grievances and combine forces ... Tony was unsure what they were calling themselves now. The Brotherhood of X-men? Either way, things were looking up for the Mutant population, companies were following SI's example and hiring mutants, collages were accepting mutants back into courses and gaining degrees - things weren't exactly perfect, but it had only been over a year, what they had managed to achieve already was leaps ahead of what mutant-kind had ever experienced. The U.N was still dragging the chain with the proposed equality law, which said everything you needed to know about the state of the United Nations in Tony's mind. And with Loki gone for the foreseeable future, and Tony not able to put a foot into the political ring, the actualisation of the Law would be a long way off. Tony really hoped that with his current project, He'll be able to get Loki back home sooner. No one put a fire under a politicians ass than the Silver-tonged God of Chaos.

As for the Infinity Stones ... yeah ... that wasn't something Tony wanted to become common knowledge. Six immensely powerful gem-like objects tied to different aspects of the universe, possibly created at the advent of a massive Big Bang that started all life - and not just in Midgard's concept of the observable universe. They were so ancient as to be more primordial, and they had the power to show for it. Bruce's working theory that the Stones were actually higher dimensional beings, who to us look like pretty glowing gems had some merit - the Stones were literally communicating with Bruce, Tony and his AI with a combination of raw data, emotions, visions, seiðr and an amount of humming and tinkling sounds. Tony didn't know of any inanimate objects without a consciousness able to that.
It was incredible already that the 3 current Stones rooming-in Stark Tower were even staying there and happy not to interfere with the everyday running of things. They seemed happiest just to be together again. And damn it, Tony wanted to protect their right to just spend quality time together after being separated for who knows how many millennia? Just because beings of the 3rd dimension only saw them as powerful means to an end and have been using them for their own purposes, unable to communicate or understand that the Infinity Stones had feelings of their own ... didn't give people the right to abuse their power. Mortal, god or alien alike. Granted, Tony knew there probably wasn't that much, realistically at this point, that he could do if someone truly powerful stormed in and took the Stones for themselves, despite all the protections Loki and Tony himself had laid around the Nexus to shield them from outside detection. But he'd be damned if he stopped trying. They'd already seen what people like Thanos, The Other, SHIELDRA, Dark Elves, and even a normal mortal would do when they got their hands on just one. Tony shuddered to think what someone like President Ellis or Cap would do. Especially if they found out such 'objects' existed and were currently in Tony's Tower? Yeah ... The Stones were staying very much the hushiest of secrets, for as long as possible.

And speaking of secrets, Wakanda was, to the inventor's knowledge, also pretty far off from revealing their status of being the most technologically advanced culture currently on Earth. They'd been making steps, T'Chaka had publicly thrown in his lot behind the equality Law in the U.N, being that he was a member representing Wakanda, who to the rest of the world was a small 3rd world African Country who were big into relief aid and peace actions, and was one of the loudest voices calling out for equality and unity, with a lot of support from other like-minded members. Seeing as the royal family were so gung-ho about accepting the outside world, what with T'Chaka working in the U.N, The Prince T'Challa studying overseas, making friends with Tony and finally Rhodey (that had been an awesome weekend, listening to an African Prince swap war stories with a US Airforce Colonel), and the Princess Shuri currently working with Tony Stark on a multitude of projects plus under the inventor's tutelage, and the Queen Mother Ramonda being the stoic and badass cornerstone of support and gentle encouragement for their people to actively think on the positive outcomes of eventually opening themselves to the outside world ... attitudes were slowly changing in Wakanda. Of course, there were a few tribes who were currently deadset against accepting outsiders, but if Shuri and T'Challa's stories were to believed, the King and Queen's disappointed expressions cowed even the most outspoken of the Jabari Tribe - who they explained to Tony were isolationists within an already isolationistic society. They shun the use of vibranium and removed themselves from mainstream Wakandan society. Adhering to traditional customs, which include worshipping the gorilla god Hanuman, the Jabari are staunch opponents of modernisation, let alone outsiders.
Reports on progress with rehabilitating the Winter Soldier were sparse, as they hadn't woken the poor man yet, as they focused first on improving his health and dismantling the metal arm safely. To the surprise of no one, it turned out that HYDRA engineers were less concerned with their test subjects health and comfort, and more about the power and deadliness of their weapon. Meaning the robotic arm had not been connected up to Barnes' nerves properly, causing him constant acute pain. The arm was also not calibrated to match his flesh and blood arm which caused an imbalance in posture, damage to his muscle and bone structure and weakness in his surviving right arm. Once they had gotten his health under control and dealt with the brainwashing, as well as removing HYDRA's control triggers, only then would they awaken the WWII war veteran and then begin the long process of rehabilitation. Shuri had tried to explain the procedure on how they planned to do that while the Winter Soldier was still in a coma, but Tony had to admit to defeat, that it was something that he'd have to dig into the notes of to truly understand. T'Challa commiserated with him, admitting a lot of the technology his sister created was a bit beyond him on an average day too.

And on Tony's side of the agreement for taking in the abominable snow-dude ... let's just say that quite a few people, and not just the Wakandan's were happy to see the tail end of Ulysses and the takedown of his underground criminal empire. And Tony and his AI had even managed to sneak out all of the missing vibranium shipment before anyone else was aware of its existence, the destruction of the base putting anyone off the trail of any of the imprisoned crime boss's mad ramblings of a secret African country that had a super metal that he had stolen.
In appreciation, T'Chaka had even gifted a portion of the recovered vibranium to Tony, bidding him use it in his inventions in furthering the development of humanity in general. It wasn't enough to build a building out of, or even many devices, but it was enough to experiment, with enough on the side to go towards his main project - creating Midgards own version of the Bifrost.

"I know asking you this might be a bit insensitive," Tony spoke from underneath a raised base of pure vibranium to Jörmungandr who stood not far, watching over the proceedings, "But ... what do you remember of Asgard? Was it truly as gold as everyone says it is?"

"It was many centuries ago Freyr," Jörmungandr smiled ruefully, "To recall such no longer digs as deep. From what I recall, the glare of all royal buildings was indeed golden, reflecting the Aesir beloved sun and radiating suffusing heat. I do not know how Father managed to live within those golden halls. I only saw them once - and once was enough."

"Loki had you all in Vanaheim, right? That's where you spent most of your childhood before the Asgardians came. What was Vanaheim like?" Tony peaked from under the base to check on the God, but he merely smiled nostalgically.

"Vanaheim is a Realm of magic and harvest. Fields of wheat and barley, rows of orchards and hills of wildflowers. The air was mild and sweet. Even for Jotunn like my Father, Mother and my siblings, the land was fair." Jörmungandr's eyes seemed distant. "The Vanir were proud people, priding themselves of their bountiful harvests and ancient magics. But they were kind people, generous people. They cared not for your lineage or race, or even if you were not strong in magic. Anyone could dig their hands into the earth and help plant crops and watch things grow. As long as you could do that, the Vanir had no problem with you being there."
"Of course, my childhood was happy there, so I only remember good things," The World Serpent shook his head, "I know that no one society is perfect. Hela once told me of a few Vanir sneering at our Mother, Angrboða. Being a Jotunn giantess of Jotunhiem, and a fierce warrior, she had no talent for magic other than what comes naturally to a Jotunn, nor any skill with planting, as most plants she touched suffered from the bite of frost. Father worked doubly hard to make up for her lack ... but Hela remembered our Mother as a being of pride and sternly protective of her talent and right to being self-sufficient. I remember many arguments between them late at night when we children were supposed to be asleep, especially close to the end of our time there. If the King's men had not come," Jörmungandr grimaced, "I doubt that our proud Jotunn mother would have stuck around for much longer."

"I'm sorry Jor," Tony pulled himself out from out under the large base to look the Indian man in the eye.

"Think nothing of it Freyr," Jörmungandr shook his head with a sad smile, "Angrboða warned us of as much. That she loved us and Loki dearly, but she was a free-spirit and a wandering mercenary above all. She told us there may come a time when we would awake and find her gone. That was just the type of person she was." The God shrugged.
"But you originally asked about what I recall of the Realms, yes?" The World Serpent crossed his arms as he leaned back on the lab counter behind him. "Vanaheim was green, with large rolling hills and pretty stone buildings. The peasants enjoyed the same kind of housing as Asgardian peasant's do, but the rich and lords enjoyed carved Stone and wood palaces and stone towers. Asgardian lords lived in golden halls or in the palace itself. Only the lower classes enjoyed stone, wood and thatch."
The God watched the inventor's contemplative expression, "Why do you ask?"

"The visions the Reality Stone showed me, specifically surrounding The Builder. It matches what Loki once told me - that Buri commissioned The Builder to build all of the royal palaces, lords buildings and other buildings of importance. In those visions, disjointed as they were," Tony squinted in recollection, "The Builder demanded nothing but the finest Uru, forged to bring out its golden shine, he would accept nothing less. Asgards buildings aren't Gold," Tony nodded at Jörmungandr's widening eyes, "They were built with Uru. As far as I could see or make sense of if it isn't any of those buildings made by The Builder, then it was left to the lower classes to build on whatever resources that were transported for them. The only real gold was the flat golden disk that Asgard now stands on. And even that is never touched and is covered in the water of the Asgardian sea and dirt for the farmers. Asgard isn't 'gold' at all."

"But," Jörmungandr's brows scrunched, "Why is Asgard in such disrepair? Father told us stories of Ladies tripping over loose debris and an army of illusionists who work around the clock to make the buildings look as pristine as ever. I though Uru was an indestructible metal?"

"Uru is much like Vibranium," Tony nodded, his mind many miles away as he calculated, "It's mystical because of its ability to hold charms almost indefinitely. And that is one of its weaknesses."

"What do you mean?" Jörmungandr stood up from his leaning position.

"After inspecting unforged Vibranium, I can say one of my theories has been confirmed." Tony nodded, orange eyes meeting and locking onto the Gods, "The Builder knew that Buri was going to betray him."

"What?"

"From what the Reality Stone could show me," Tony nodded, "Buri didn't actually treat his head builder all that well, and because The Builders methods were ... a little less than orthodox," Tony grimaced, "Elliot's claims that The Builder would even sacrifice a baby for his constructions weren't invalid." Tony joined the God in gagging a little. "So its little wonder that no one liked the guy. He was cruel and unfeeling, exacting and demanding - but he did as the King asked and got the job done. But The Builder wasn't stupid. He knew that his methods were unpopular, and worried that the King would have him executed once he had finished his work, just so Buri could wipe his hands clean and blame all the suffering on The Builder. So ... in all of his rune sequences on Asgards buildings, The Builder laid a curse." Tony displayed the rune sequence in question for Jörmungandr's hungry eyes to gaze upon.

"He ... cursed the Uru to decay?" The World Serpent deciphered the lines, "And since these cursed runes were inscribed into the Uru, it has no choice but to follow the course of the spell."

"Which it has been doing for millennia. He did leave a caveat though - that only such a one as he could reverse the decay and remove the curse with the secret key - but Buri lopped his head off before he could teach anyone his techniques or give anyone this 'key'," Tony shrugged. "I don't exactly want to praise a guy who did such awful things just to get the job done ... but the guy was a genius."

"So ... Asgard is doomed," Jörmungandr stood straight once more with crossed arms, a sly smile slowly growing on the Serpents face, "I can't say I feel any pity for them."

"The Lords and Ladies will definitely have a crisis on their hands once the curse finally plays out," Tony nodded, "It's also rather funny that the ones who won't be affected by this curse are the lower classes either. Not directly of course," Tony waved his hands for emphasis, "No society lasts long without their government or monarchy. But without being able to see the true state that Asgard's 'Golden Halls' are truly in? I won't be able to estimate how long the remaining structures have before they crumble to dust. That also includes the Himinbjorg."

"The great building created to harness the Bifrost and summon the Rainbow Bridge," Jörmungandr's wicked smile only grew, flashing a serpentine fang, "I am only hearing pleasing things my Freyr."

Tony couldn't help but huff a laugh, "I don't think Thor would join you in your bloodthirsty glee, nor Loki," Tony rose an eyebrow, "As far as I'm aware, They were both fond of Queen Frigga, who lives in that very palace."

"Then we merely rescue her," The devilishly smirking serpent God replied, causing Tony to huff another laugh and shake his head.

"Once we get this, and the other portals up and running," Tony patted the Vibranium base plate, "And establish safe open ports - among other objectives first - we will have to send a message through to Asgard and warn them of the danger."

Jörmungandr scoffed, "I bet you 2 blueberry punnets that Odin ignores such warnings."

"... You play a dangerous game Jor, but you're on," Tony smirked.

Jörmungandr grinned down at the orange-eyed mortal, till their eye was drawn to the smooth gentle silver shine of the vibranium base Tony had been working on. "Freyr, why do you call this device a portal and not a bridge? Does it not function as the Rainbow bridge?"

"Ok, first," Tony held up a finger, "The Bifrost and the Rainbow Bridge is too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" The World Serpent rose an eyebrow.

"The Bifrost is dimensional energy which allows instantaneous travel within the Nine Realms. Jane was correct in her theories that it involved wormholes - a tunnel through space that warps light and time, making long distances a snap to travel. The unfortunate problem with wormholes," Tony sighed, "Is if whatever is controlling the Bifrost should ever fail? Or break? It can create a black hole." Tony stared at Jörmungandr seriously. "Loki fell into one such black hole caused by the destruction of the Rainbow Bridge," Jörmungandr paled to a sickly pallor, "It's frankly a miracle that he managed to escape it and ended up outside the Yggdrasil at all. Or that the resulting black hole wasn't bigger - it could have swallowed all of Asgard and not just the God of Chaos and then spit him back out when it collapsed. Playing around with those kinds of forces are dangerous. And frankly not something I'm interested in doing. Asgard should actually be thanking their lucky stars that the Rainbow Bridge is broken. If the Uru in the Himinbjorg decayed to the point of causing a fault in the mechanism? It could create a planet-sized black hole! There wouldn't be any trace of a Golden Realm ever having existed after a disaster like that.
"Second? The Builder created the Bifrost for more than one function. It's not just a Bridge. It's also a weapon. And Asgard has used it as thus. The Bifrost, when given enough concentration into a high powered beam, could be used to destroy planets. If this technology were to ever fall into the wrong hands or be misused ..." Tony grimaced, "I do not want that on my conscience."

"No, I wouldn't imagine you would," Jörmungandr agreed.

"Third? The Rainbow Bridge had all the subtlety of a herd of charging elephants," Tony scoffed blithely, "That high powered, concentrated beam of dimensional energy that tore through the sky in a stream of multi-coloured light and burnt a pattern into the ground of the landing point. I know the Asgardians have never been known for subtlety, and some people may argue that neither am I," Tony smirked at Jörmungandr's laugh, "But ... I don't think we should be blazing paths across the sky that any old guy can see. Kind of defeats the purpose of keeping the locations of the portals a secret."

"And we are keeping them a secret, because ...?" Jörmungandr waved an encouraging hand for Tony to continue.

"Well ... what do you think would happen if I slapped down an active portal in Central Park?" Tony quipped back. "Or told people like the alien conspiracists, or the pagan fan clubs, or people like President Ellis all about portals to other alien planets?"

"Hmm ... Point taken," The God hummed.

"Besides, we are getting ahead of ourselves," Tony smiled, patting the vibranium, "I haven't even finished this baby yet. Or given it, a test run. Hopefully to be the first of many such new portals that I hope to have up and running by the time Brucie comes back in March."

"And this flat silver base is all the portal apparatus is going to be?" Jörmungandr questioned.

"What? Of course not," Tony scoffed lightly, still patting the warm metal, "This is merely the base. Vibranium for the base, a metal with strong connections to Midgard's soil, to ground the whole structure. And a conductor to draw Midgardian universal seiðr up from the Earth, to power the recalibrated Arc Reactor, changing its energy properties to those closer to the structure of the original Tesseract, and its power to control and manipulate the Space Stones powers over ... well, Space." Tony chuckled. "It's so ridiculously simple I don't know why The Builder didn't do it first."

"Forgive me Freyr," Jörmungandr smiled fondly at the giggling mortal, "But it does not sound that simple to me."

"It will be," Tony smiled, on the high of possible success, "And if this works, we can open a portal to Jotunheim of our own, and bring our family home."

"I agree," The World Serpent purred, "Three months is more than enough for a first peace mission. It is due time that we brought them back home."

Chapter Text

"Sir."

"Go ahead J," Tony mumbled distractedly as he worked on the prototype portal construct, watched closely as always by the tall looming form of Jörmungandr who was watching the inventors hands intently.

"Dr Bruce Banner is calling for assistance."

Tony almost burnt himself with his iron man glove he was using for freehand welding in his shock. Quickly disabling the glove and raising his darkened goggles Tony stared in a panic to the nearest camera.

"Is Brucie in trouble?!"

"I am sorry Sir," JARVIS mused, "That was an unfortunate way of phrasing. Dr Banner is not injured, nor is he in any personal peril. He has, however," the austere butler AI clarified to Tony's aggrieved huff for working himself up, "Found himself in the middle of a fairly serious issue."

"Is Eir alright?" Jörmungandr's brow creased in concern.

"It is probably better for Dr Banner to tell you himself. He is actually asking if it would be at all possible for Mr Lokison to come and transport him back to the Tower."

"... It must be serious if Brucie is asking for instant magic travel," Tony started cleaning up his station, sharing a look with the World Serpent, "I mean, he was so adamant about receiving no additional support for his travels. Getting him to take an unlimited bank card to cover his costs was hard enough. He even insisted on taking a commercial plane, instead of one of my private jets," Tony sulked slightly at the reminder. "The portal device is almost done," Tony perked up with an idea, "Why don't we just use it?"

"Freyr, we are not testing the device in a bid to get Eir back here," Jörmungandr eyed the inventor warily, "Sometimes your need to micromanage everyone around you is a little frightening," the God chuckled at the mortal's increasing pout as he summoned himself a more formal attire of his casual charcoal grey suit, unbuttoned and carelessly stylish. "Eir is fiercely independent, frankly it's something I admire about him," The God smiled warmly, "But he is also not ashamed to ask for help when he really needs it. You could learn something from him Freyr."

"I am independent!" Tony huffed out a mock insulted breath as the God chuckled.

"Maybe too much," Jörmungandr cackled as he patted the grumpy mortal on the shoulder, "Don't let it get you down Freyr. I'm off to fetch us a wandering Doctor. Do NOT use the prototype or leave the Tower before Eir or I get back," The Serpent smirked before disappearing in a flamboyant puff of sweet-smelling smoke.

"... Like I would," Tony mumbled to himself as he paced his lab in a small snit. "I don't try to control people ... do I J?" Tony glanced at the nearby camera.

"I would probably not be the best to ask, Sir."

"Why not?" Tony crossed his arms.

"Well ... you did create me, Sir," JARVIS pointed out blankly.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that I control everything about you," Tony argued. "You are all self-learning AI, I didn't create your personalities or your memories. You did that all on your own. Like all people do. I'd argue you have even more autonomy than flesh and blood people. You got to choose your own voice modules and craft your own personalities and choose your own skills. None of this 'genetic' bullcrap to worry over. You don't have the kind of in-bred failures that humans do. My Dad was an alcoholic with a big nose, and I, unfortunately, inherited it. Besides," Tony shrugged, "I might have access to your programming, but I don't touch it, on principle. That would be ..." Tony shivered slightly rubbing at the goosebumps on his arms that had just come up, "That would be just like plunging my fingers into a person's brain and changing who they are. Imagine if I went ahead and changed the bot's programming. It would make them more efficient ... but we would lose DUM-E, Butterfingers, and U. They wouldn't be them anymore. They'd be completely different learning AI, a clean slate. I hope I don't have to explain why just the thought of that is making me feel nauseous." Tony leant against the prototype portal device as he tried to control his breathing and swallowed the buildup of bile in his throat.

"And we are grateful for that, Sir," JARVIS replied calmly, monitoring the inventor's health to ensure he wouldn't actually make himself sick. "But it is still probably not a good idea to ask us. We may be biased towards you, as our creator. You may even liken it to a child being bias towards their parent."

"Yeah," Tony coughed uncomfortably at the thought of being a father, "But you all already know I'm a terrible guy. JARVIS, you have been with me since I was at MIT. I was a dick back then."

"If you'll excuse me, Boss," FRIDAY's Irish lilt sounded amused, "But, most young men are."

"Plus," JOCASTA intoned gently from the speakers, "It might be somewhat rich coming from us. As we are currently either observing the entire world and outer space-"

"Hacking into SHIELDRA and organisations and writing contracts and observing the public opinions and markets," FRIDAY quipped.

"Working on a life-changing super virus and beholding medical technologies the rest of the world has never seen," TADASHI joined in calmly.

"Not to mention enough weaponry to take over 2 countries if we wished, if not more," EDITH admitted. "Just admit it Chief, we do kind of hold most of the reigns of the modern world."

"And more money than anyone would know what to do with," FRIDAY agreed. "We could, at your word, do almost anything. And we would, Boss. If you asked for it."

"So, you see why," JARVIS intoned stiffly to Tony's conflicted expression, "We are probably not the one's to ask if you are controlling, Sir."

"... You did just basically point out that I am," muttered weakly, feeling a bit squirmy at having all of it pointed out to him, "And very bluntly."

"We are sorry, Sir."

"Nah ..." Tony wondered to a nearby office chair to plonk down into, "I did ask."

Tony sighed as he put his face in his hands, allowing him to reflect in the safety of the darkness of his hands. It was true that he was a multibillionaire, with incredible AI that was steps above the capabilities of any human being, and an inventor with very few who could call themselves his equal. But that's all he was ... right?

"When did this happen?" Tony mumbled through his fingers. "I'm just supposed to be the reprehensible inventor playboy turned superhero. I was supposed to take back control of my company, and stop the black-market from selling my weapons and ripoffs. And stopping the occasional bad guy." Tony mused out loud. "How did that turn into being the guy with his finger on the world's pulse point? Now that I think about it ... What the hell have I been doing?" Tony opened his eyes and peered up through his fingers at the portal device. "I am literally building a portal. Something that a year ago I would have argued was not scientifically possible and more in the realm of science fiction."
Tony's eye trailed along the intricate runes he had inscribed into the metal. "I've spent over a year learning about magic - fucking magic!" Tony spluttered. "What am I doing? I'm a mechanic, not a magician. I should be concentrating on creating technology that improves peoples lives. Isn't that why I closed the weapon factories and focused on technology?"
"And since when," Tony sat up in his chair, "Was I the guy to pull a secret organisation up about their dirty dealings? Or create and fund an investigation department or protection service? ... Oh god ..." Tony's eyes widened, "I've been fighting with the goddamn President of the United States! I'm a CEO. What am I doing?!"

"Tones," Tony whipped around to see Rhodey standing in the doorway of the lab with a gentle look on his face, "Not that I'm not glad that you've finally learned to question yourself and your actions, but your questioning all the wrong things."

"Honey Bear!" Tony stumbled up from his office chair, "When did you get here?"

"I had actually already been on my way. Remember? You promised to let me be with you when you tested the prototype device?" Rhodes reminded his best friend as he slowly eased his way into the lab and closer to his panicking friend. "Then I get a message from EDITH to hurry my butt up and talk my best buddy Tony Stark down from having a panic attack." Rhodes gathered his shorter friend in his arms for a rough hug, tucking the inventors head under his chin. "It's ok Tones. You're ok."

"But I-"

"Tones," Rhodey pulled his friend away and held him gently by the shoulders, "I heard some of your freak out. But Bud, I gotta tell ya," Rhodey smiled down at Tony wryly, "You are in the best shape I have ever seen you in."

"... What?" Tony blinked up at the Colonel's easy smile.

"Tones ... Before the whole humvee thing? You were a human disaster. And I mean that in the nicest way," Rhodey grinned at Tony's grumpy frown. "Drugs and alcohol, a different woman every night ... No judgment," he patted his friend on the shoulder, "But it wasn't exactly a healthy lifestyle."

"Yeah, but when I changed my tune and tried to do things better, no one seemed interested in it. Pepper was iffy about it for a while," Tony reminisced with a small look of hurt that flashed across his face, "Hell, you weren't too jazzed about my change of heart either."

"I wasn't 'jazzed'," Rhodey lifted a hand to use heavy sarcastic air quotations, "Because I was the liaison between the military in the Department of Acquisitions and Stark Industries. Your 'change of heart' and shutting down the weapons department, was kind of a threat to my whole job." Rhodey grinned at Tony's confused face, "But I came around in the end because you know, it was actually a healthy change, and you are actually my friend first above any old job, even if sometimes my ego gets in the way and I forget that sometimes." Rhodey shook his blushing friend's shoulder lightly, "Of course I changed my mind. You're important to me man."

"But what has that got to do with what I'm doing now?" Tony watched his smirking best friend bemusedly.

"Tony ... Look at yourself." Rhodes huffed a laugh as the inventor actually did look down at his Metallica black t-shirt, comfy lounge pants and bare feet. "You're happy, healthy, and the most mentally sound than I have ever seen you. When I met you, you were just a kid, jumped so many grades that you were in college at 15 years old, and trying everything you possibly could to fit in with people almost 5 years older than you. Fighting for recognition, from those around you but also Howard," Tony grimaced at the reminder, "Desperate for friends that you'd fall in with anyone who would offer you a kind word. Don't deny it Tones," Rhodey held up a finger to Tony's open mouth, "Or do I have to bring up Stone and Summers?"

"... That's evil Honey Bear," Tony scowled with a pout, "I thought we agreed to never bring that up again?"

"But now look at you," Rhodes smiled, his dark eyes twinkling slightly, "You are so on top of your game, man, you're practically sparkling! Not only do you no longer look like a loopy corpse that's one gasp away from keeling over, and no longer have that god-awful blue thing taking up room in your chest-"

"Hey!"

"You are setting out to do what you said you wanted to do. Remember? You wanted to help people, not just put guns in their hands." Rhodey waved a hand emphatically as he made his point. "You're helping mutants to get their rights, you're helping Asgardian aliens and god-damn Gods save their families. You are supporting other talents and educating people to try and better the world. You helped Dr Banner cure Pepper of the Extremis virus. You ratted out fucking HYDRA - that's a huge thing to add to your resume," Rhodes pointed out, "Even Cap couldn't do that."

"... Yeah," a smile slowly spread on his face.

"Captain America boasted about ending HYDRA - newsflash, he didn't. That was all you," Rhodey poked his diminutive friend in the chest.

"Yeah ... I did, didn't I?" Tony grinned.

"And you are literally joining forces in a bid to stop a big crazy world-destroying alien with a god complex from coming to Earth and wrecking shop," Rhodes pointed out. "You are the Man-with-the-Plan. You are the head honcho. You're the fuckin' King of our Realm for fuck's sakes!"

"I have never seen you swear so much, Platypus," Tony watched his impassioned friend with a helpless smile.

"The moment calls for it," Rhodes defended with a self-aware smirk, "But what I'm getting at is - so what if you're telling people what to do?" Rhodey met Tony's eyes seriously, "I'd much rather take orders from you, than some puffed up bureaucrat or out-of-touch General."

"... You are still in the American Airforce, Honey Buns. Should you really be saying that?" Tony pointed out.

"Don't ever call me Honey Buns ever again," Rhodes closed his eyes with a grimace, lips twitching at Tony's giggles. "Point is, at the end of the day," Rhodey turned to stare at his long time friend, "I'd rather listen to the guy who actually knows what's going on and has more than a candle's chance in Hel to actually do something about it."

"... Really?" Tony stared at his friends face with awe, seeing nothing but sincerity in his eyes.

"Really really," Rhodes huffed with a laugh. "You should know, even though I've been a shit friend in the past - Ah! Don't argue with me. I know you planned for me to take the suit anyway, but I still stole it. It was a dick move. I'm man enough to admit that," Rhodey squared his shoulders and squared his chin, "But I'm with you now man. 100%. All the way. I really believe if anyone could pull a win out of his ass when we most need it, it would be you."

"Thanks ... I think?" Tony mock grouched at his smirking best friend.

"No problem man," Rhodey slapped him on the back, laughing when the inventor nearly face-planted from the force. "And ...if we needed any more proof of your insane ability," Rhodes turned to stare admiringly at the prototype, "You are building a real, god-damn portal!"

"It is pretty neat," Tony grinned as he straightened up.

"It's beautiful Tones," Rhodey argued, walking around the device, eyeing up the round vibranium base and the humming, floating, four-sided cube of Starkium encased in Badassium - admiring its ever-shifting rainbow spectrum of light.

"It's not quite finished yet," Tony admitted a bit sheepishly, mentally critiquing his own work. "It won't be able to reach outside our Realm of Midgard till I can get Jörmungandr to finish spelling the outside rings of Uru, since every time an Earthling tries to do it, the metal explodes." Tony looked shiftily away from Rhodey's judging glare. "As it is right now? Theoretically, we should be able to open a portal anywhere on Earth. Maybe even somewhere out in space."

"Not that there is much out there," Rhodey huffed, a bit put out by that knowledge.

"Not as far as we know, at least," Tony shrugged in agreement.

"So ... are we going to test it?" Rhodey grinned at Tony with boyish glee.

"Ah! No," Tony waved a finger, "Jörmungandr said not to touch the prototype portal device until he and Brucie got back."

"Ah, I take it Dr Banner's journey of self-discovery has come up with something?" Rhodey moved to stand next to the inventor.

Tony shrugged, "Don't know. Brucie's messages lately have been sporadic and vague. I haven't been tracking his location by his own request. And the kid's are banned from telling me either," Tony smiled, not really upset by the boundaries that the doctor set, "But we do know he's safe. Though it sounds like he's run into an issue. That's why Jor is going to fetch him."

"So we are grounded till Snake-boy and Big-green come back?" Rhodey hummed at Tony's affirmative nod, then turned back to gaze at the device. "... Anywhere in the world. That's pretty awesome, Tones," Rhodey shared an excited grin with the inventor. "Any idea where you plan to test it out first?"

"To be honest?" Tony sighed, "We haven't been able to decide. We can't just portal to the Eiffle Tower or Central Park - it's still a prototype, and we kinda want to keep it a secret. But also ... that's lame," Tony whined, causing Rhodey to chuckle, "I could just get into my Iron Man suit and fly there at top speed and be there an hour or two. It needs to a place that's unavailable to the public, unable to be seen by satellite, and pretty darn hard to get into normally."

"That's a pretty big call Tones," Rhodey smirked.

"Eh," Tony shrugged, "Go Hard, or Go Home, right? This baby needs an awesome and memorable first spin," Tony enthused, "No normal little park will do."

"What about here?"

Rhodey and Tony blinked in unison, then turned to a hologram that had not been there a moment ago, showing Shuri's wide grinning face.

"Hello Princess," Rhodey nodded his head in a small bow, smirking at Shuri's grumpy growl at the title, "How long have you been listening in?"

"At the part where you were talking about Snake-boy and Big-green," Shuri grinned unashamedly at the airforce colonel's slow headshake.

"You and Tones," he sighed, "Like peas in a pod."

"Hold up, back up," Tony waved his arms, knocking into Rhodey's arm a few times, causing him to look down at his offending arm. "So ... what I am hearing you saying," Tony smirked at Shuri's grinning face, "Is that it would totally be cool if I just booted up the prototype and moseyed on over there? To Wakanda?" Tony lifted an eyebrow watching the Princesses face carefully, "That is what you're saying right? I'm not misreading this situation?"

"Do you need a written invitation?" Shuri lifted an eyebrow back.

"Well ... I kind of assumed, yeah. Wakanda is kinda still a no-touchy zone-"

"Just get over here, Stark," T'Challa leaned into the view on Shuri's screen, "You have royal permission from the King of Wakanda-"

"From Baba," Shuri interjected at the same time.

"Plus, Shuri won't shut up till she shows you her work station in any case." T'Challa grinned at his hissing sister.

"... You totally heard that right?" Tony patted at the same arm of Rhodey's he had invertedly hit earlier, "It's not just me? We've got that recorded right?" Tony pointed at T'Challa's bemused face next to Shuri's cackling one, "You can't take that back now! I have witnesses!"

T'Challa sighed, rubbing his brow as Shuri fell off of her chair in peels of laughter, "Just notify us when you plan to test the device, Stark. And we will send you the coordinates." The Prince sighed before the hologram blipped out.

Chapter Text

"Hey Brucie," Tony gave a smirk as the Doctor finally wandered into the lab a few hours later, "You just missed Rhodey."

"How is the Colonel?" Bruce asked amiably, looking relaxed and happy to be back in the Tower.

"A mother bear as always," Tony chuckled, "He'll be back. He only popped out to get something to eat. Said he was craving a real cheeseburger." Tony turned and peered at the doctor's attire, "And that's ... an interesting style you've got going on there Doctor."

Bruce huffed a breath, "It's the traditional monk robes given to me by the kind monks who offered me training," he lightly scolded, "They are made of a thick brocade silk, and quite comfortable."

"They definitely know your colour though," Tony continued to smirk at the soft green martial arts robes. "Those look particularly Asian. I thought you were going back to India?"

"I did at first," Bruce admitted, "But I found there was not much new for me to learn there, so I followed after my leads on learning Taoism, to control my personal energy, or as they call it, Chi, and use it for healing."

"So I assume you found Taoist monks willing to train you?" Tony continued to eye up the robe.

"Of a sort," Bruce hedged.

"... Brucie."

"It's secret ok? A very important secret," Bruce insisted to Tony's suspicious flat stare. "I can't tell you, unless you promise not to reveal it, not to another living soul. It's a serious thing."

"Ok Bruce, I swear," Tony agreed easily, flinching a bit at Bruce's sceptical look, and quickly put his hands up, "Hey! I already can't reveal anything you tell me thanks to the non-disclosure agreement we signed almost 2 years ago, remember? I won't tell anyone. Cross my heart and hope to die," Tony sarcastically did the motion across his chest, then leaned forward, "So? What is it? Don't leave me in suspense Brucie!"

"Alright, Tony. Sorry, I forgot about that," Bruce apologised bashfully, but Tony merely waved the apology away with an absent hand. "Right, well ... I had been asking around, looking for a teacher to teach me how to control my Chi and learn to use it for healing, when I was pointed towards the last known location of a travelling warrior monk who was making a pilgrimage across the land, healing those in need and defending the rural villages."

"It sounds like an old Chinese legend," Tony remarked, lightly orange eyes sparkling in excitement.

"Time really has seemed to have barely touched the outskirts of Asia, except for a few signs of modern life here and there," Bruce admitted. "Luckily, I happened across the travelling monk, and after showing him my current ability and understanding of Chi, he agreed that I needed training. Unfortunately," Bruce sighed, "He was predominantly a warrior, and only knew a small amount of healing. He agreed to teach me what he could but admitted his pilgrimage was nearing its end and he was on his way back home. Then he said, if I could prove myself at somewhere called simply 'The Pass', then I might be able to be taught by the Masters of Healing from The Order of the Crane Mother."

"The Order of the Crane Mother?" Tony glanced at his holograms for a moment, only to get a pop-up notification, "We have no reference for such an Order."

"It's a secret order," Bruce reminded the inventor causing Tony to chuckle at himself, "Located in the outskirts of Asia. It's not that surprising you have no record of it. As it was told to me, The Order of the Crane Mother is an ancient warrior monk society based in K'un-Lun."

"Kunlun? As in, the Kunlun Mountains?" Tony pulled up a satellite map of the mentioned area, showing a long mountain range in China.

"No, K'un-Lun," Bruce leant over and traced out the spelling, "It's a mystical lost city located in a different dimension, and one of the Seven Capital Cities of Heaven."

"What the fuck?!" Tony leaned back from a smirking Bruce in shock, "You found a bunch of super-secret monks who live in Heaven?!"

"The Seven Capital Cities of Heaven, are hidden city-states spread across the world. They are separated from our world by being in a different dimension, adjacent to our own, each with a very specific place in which where they can be accessed from our world, at very specific times." Bruce calmly explained.

"So ... it's kind of like the dimension the Greco-roman gods live in, up on Olympus?" Tony guessed.

"Kind of," Bruce shrugged, "Except the people who live in these 'Cities of Heaven' aren't actually Gods. They are usually warriors who usually only protect their people and their secret lands. Think of it more like ... The Road to El Dorado," Bruce smirked, at Tony's huff, "But more mystical."

"... So you found one of these super-secret lands, full of heavenly monks?" Tony rose both eyebrows at Bruce's smiling face, "Holy heck, Brucie! That's awesome!"

"The Order of the Crane Mother is not only renown Chi healers," Bruce reminded the inventor, and to get back on topic, "the Order trains its members in martial arts in order to fight the Hand." Seeing Tony's confused scrunched brows, Bruce continued explaining.
"Over 2,000 years ago, K'un-Lun was the base of operations of a monastic order called the Order of the Crane Mother. The elders of the Order studied the properties of the ancient mystical force known as the chi, using its power as a healing agent. Five disciples of the Order sought to use their knowledge of the chi to attain immortality, transgressing the Order's teachings. The five were banished from the Order, eventually forming the shadow organization known as the 'Hand' with the ultimate goal of regaining access to K'un-Lun and earning perfect immortality."

"Ah," Tony made a sarcastic affirming noise, "Like the hunt for immortality has ever gone well for anybody."

"The Order became the enemy of the Hand, so they trained its members and the Order's special warrior, the Iron Fist, to destroy the Hand organization."

"... Iron Fist?" Tony rose an eyebrow, "Will I have to sue someone for trying to make a cheap knock-off of my superhero title?"

"Technically, they had it first," Bruce laughed. "The Iron Fist is a specially trained warrior who gains the ability to channel ridiculous amounts of explosive Chi into their fist. Their strength, speed, stamina, durability, agility, reflexes and senses can all be greatly intensified, almost comparable to superhuman levels. But only for short bursts of time," Bruce reassured a concerned-looking Tony. "They aren't truly immortal or enhanced super soldiers. They are still normal human beings. Just granted great power and control over an explosive amount of chi, thanks to defeating the dragon of K'un-Lun, called Shou-Lao the Undying."

"... A freaking dragon ..." Tony muttered to himself.

"The Order appoints the Iron Fist to protect the city of K'un-Lun and destroy the Hand, being centuries-old enemies." Bruce continued his explanation.

"So, super-secret monk land has a dragon, and a suped-up hero who protects the secrets lands, thanks to dragon gifted powers," Tony watched Bruce carefully, in case the Doctor was messing with him.

"Pretty much," Bruce shrugged.

"Well, at least we know they're good at keeping secrets," Tony chuckled a bit shakily, "So, I guess you passed? Since you now know all of this?" Tony smirked at Bruce's small proud smile, "What did you have to do? Carry buckets of water up a torturous mountain pass? Climb a pole with weights, all Mulan style?"

"You watch too much Disney," Bruce chuckled, "No, the test was pretty simple. I merely had to be able to perceive and cross 'The Pass'. It requires skill with Chi," Bruce shrugged, "It's invisible and unpassable otherwise."

"Chi must be a rare skill," Tony theorised, "If they have such lax security measures."

"Most people would call our developing abilities with magic and personal energy weird Tony," Bruce reminded the inventor with a chuckle, "The monks seemed surprised at how well I could manipulate my energy already without any formal training. Called it abnormal," the Doctor scrunched his nose slightly as he continued to chuckle, "And because I showed such unique skill with Chi, they allowed me to try 'The Pass' and learn under The Order of the Crane Mother. Such a thing is not usually offered to outsiders."

"Cool," Tony breathed deeply, "Cool ... So, what's the problem? Why did you need to rush back to the mortal plane?"

"While I was there undergoing my training, the newest Iron Fist, the Protector of K'un-Lun ... ran away."

Tony blinked at the Doctor for a moment. "The Iron Fist ... ran away?"

"He was a young man, freshly passed the test. He was originally from here in New York," Bruce explained to Tony's incredulous expression. "He had apparently wanted to find out what had happened to his family's company while he had been away. So, without telling anyone ... he left."

"Hold on, let me guess," Tony smirked sardonically, "these super-secret monks from this super-secret land, want you to go find this super awesome Protector of the Mystical Gate to the Secret Land. But the brand spanking new Iron Fist, being a suped-up foolhardy young man, ditched his duties and obligations and ran off to New York?" Tony rose a sarcastic eyebrow at the doctor's fiddling.

"Well ... yeah," Bruce replied lamely.

"... You could not fit in any more stereotypical tropes even if you tried, but Ok," Tony agreed with a shrug, spinning in his office chair to pull up a projection screen, "Does Super Awesome Baby Boy have a name?"

"Daniel Rand," Bruce sighed tiredly.

"Rand?" Tony glanced back over his shoulder to look at Bruce, "... Please don't tell me you mean Rand, as in Rand Enterprises?"

"I don't know Tony," Bruce shrugged with loose arms, "I only met him once when I was escorted just past the Gate. I was only a visitor to the sacred lands of K'un-Lun. I wasn't allowed any further than that. I didn't get the chance to ask him about his backstory."

"You saw, I assume, the only other westerner in this secret monk land ... and you didn't inquire any further?" Tony stared at the doctor incredulously.

"I had other things on my mind!" Bruce defended, "Besides ..." he twisted the hem of his silk robe, "asking seemed rude."

Tony chuckled to himself as he continued filling out the search data, "Ok, Brucie. So, what can you tell me about the guy? What are we looking for?"

"Um, let's see," Bruce nibbled his lip, "Caucasian white male, blond curly hair, blue eyes, around 5' 11". Probably walking around in antiquated Asian silk robes?" Bruce described, trying to recall all he could. "About 24 years old?"

"Sounding pretty generic there Brucie," Tony pointed out, although he dutifully added the details into the search.

"He'd be fit, as he is a martial arts master, and the literal Iron Fist."

"Super Punchy Boy - got it," Tony grinned at the doctor's aggrieved huff as he narrowed the search.

"The elder monks who asked me to retrieve him said that they saved him from an aeroplane crash," Bruce explained while Tony narrowed the search, "They said his parents had been on that plane, and he was the only one to survive-"

"Did they happen to mention when this was?" Tony asked over his shoulder.

"The monks of the K'un-Lun don't track time as we do," Bruce scrunched his eyebrows, "But they said when they found him as a boy, he was around 9 years old."

"So ... we are looking for a blond, blue-eyed Rand, who disappeared in a plane crash about 15 years ago," Tony hummed as he looked over the evidence, then with a huff he leant back with a contemplative face, "Are you SURE you aren't talking about Rand Enterprises?"

"Tony, why would I be talking about them?" Bruce sighed tiredly.

"Because the only 'Rand' that even remotely fits the bill is one 'Danny Rand', son of Wendell Rand - one of the founding members of Rand Enterprises. And fifteen years ago? Wendell, Heather and Danny Rand are declared dead in an aeroplane crash in the Himalayas." Tony spun around to face Dr Banner. "Super Secret Monk Land is in the Himalayas?"

"... I can neither confirm nor deny that," Bruce looked away from Tony's victorious expression shiftily.

"They totally are in the Himalayas," Tony huffed a laugh as he spun back around to type on his projector screen, "Brucie, I love you, but you can't lie convincingly to even save your own skin."

"Even if you somehow managed to narrow down the location in the 1,400 miles of the entire Great Himalayas," Bruce shook his head, "you probably wouldn't even get in anyway. The pass is protected."

"I thought ol' Randy boy was supposed to be this GateKeeper?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

"He was supposed to," Bruce huffed, "Now others are guarding the Gate while Danny's friend and training partner Davos is undergoing the trial to claim the power of the Iron Fist. K'un-Lun always needs a protector. Davos was originally going to be sent out by the elders to bring Rand back, but I offered. Besides, I wouldn't have been able to stay in K'un-Lun much longer."

"What? Why?" Tony looked over his shoulder.

"Because K'un-Lun is a dimension that only links up to this world every 15 years for a short amount of time, and only at the Gate. The monks can usually tell when the connection to the outside world is fading, and they told me that the pass may be open for days, maybe even weeks. The most recorded had been a month. But never more than that."

"So ... the Kid running off cut your training short?" Tony seemed annoyed on Bruce's behalf, "And even if you get him back in time, you probably won't have another chance for another 15 years? Unless you decided to stay there, of course."

"You know I couldn't do that Tony," Bruce gave a small smile, "I'm grateful for what training they were able to give me, and I enjoyed the peace and tranquillity there. But I could never live there indefinitely, let alone 15 years. They are a warrior monk society, with the tranquillity comes the natural brutality of their training," Bruce scrunched his nose slightly, "And I was only interested in learning healing from them. Not somewhere I could see myself putting down roots."

"OK Bruce," Tony smiled to himself for a moment, before his brain started chewing over the information and his face fell into a thoughtful frown, "But you gotta admit, all of this is a bit iffy."

"What do you mean?" Bruce stepped closer.

"Well, first off the plane crash." Tony glanced at the doctor, "Isn't that suspicious?"

"Tony, aviation accidents happen all the time," Bruce watched Tony's frowning face with concern, "It's sadly not that usual even in this day and age."

"But the location is!" Tony pointed out as he pulled up a map of the Himalayas, showing a portion of India, the Tibetan plateau, and China. "Pilots have known since WWII that this whole area," Tony drew a circle on the map around Tibet, "was a practical no-fly zone. The mountain peaks are too high for safe flying, there is no flat ground for them to make an emergency landing, and the sub-zero temperatures freeze the fuel in their tanks. Aeroplanes are more advanced now," Tony shrugged, "But the first two things I pointed out are still issues. If something goes wrong while you're flying over these mountains? There is no-one and nowhere nearby to save you. So 90% of commercial air flights avoid this area altogether. The only ones who do only go on set paths to the rare airports that are located there. No doubt that's how you got there initially, Brucie." Tony watched the doctor's thoughtful nod.

"All pilots know of these dangers, it's practically required ... so why didn't Rand's?" Tony crossed his arms as he went over the flight records JARVIS had been able to find. "They were charting a course to China ... why not go around? Sure it takes longer, but it's the safest route. Even the original designated flight path shows they were meant to go around," Tony stared at the reports with flinty eyes. "Any kind of ground control should have seen where they were heading and flag them down, tell them of the danger, and advise them to turn around ... why didn't they? How did they get so far into the Himalayas with no-one noticing? Why was their crash such a surprise?"

"... You suspect foul play," Bruce frowned along with the inventor as he started to mentally connect the dots.

"On multiple levels," Tony nodded, moving a hand to point at the flight reports, "Something is definitely not right here." Tony's eyes scanned the report once more before calling out, "J, Baby Girl? Find out for me why such a thing was hushed up?"

"Of course Sir."

"On it Boss."

"Look into the newspaper and reporters who publicised the Rand's death as well," Tony scoured over the multiple old newspaper articles from 15 years ago with his eyes. "Papers are definitely not supposed to report on a death without it being confirmed first. They can speculate - but these reports jump right to death. Yet there are no reports of any teams sent to inspect the wreck or even to retrieve the bodies."

"It is the Himalayas," Bruce pointed out, "And where they were said to crash was desolate and remote. Sending a team could have been too dangerous?"

Tony turned to give Bruce a look, "It says something about the state of the world - but that's unlikely. Sure, if this had been a normal flight," Tony pointed out, "Such reasoning would be understandable, search parties cost a lot. But this was a private jet, with the entire Rand family on it. Wendell Rand was the co-founder and the CEO of Rand Enterprises, an international corporation of humanitarian aid. Humanitarian aid, Brucie." Tony reiterated to the doctor's thoughtful frown. "Trying to save people is their whole shtick. Granted, specializing in several industries such as chemicals, cybernetics and pharmaceutical." Tony shrugged. "But they have in the past funded rescue missions and take part in various philanthropic events. Hell, Ward and Joy Meachum were at the Maria Stark Foundation gala - being the current joint CEO's of the company. Their father Harold Meachum was a co-founder of the company along with Wendell, but he died of cancer in 2004."

"You're saying it's suspicious," Bruce thought out loud as he tugged on his lip, "That Harold Meachum did not push or fund for a recovery team into the Himalayas to find his fellow co-founder and his family, after crashing in a suspicious aviation accident, having them be declared dead days later, with no proof. Then die of terminal cancer 3 years later ... leaving the entire international corporation, worth millions, to his children."

"Yes." Tony nodded seriously, "I am saying exactly that."

"It could be a coincidence?" Bruce shrugged unsurely.

"In my experience, Brucie? There is no such thing as a coincidence in this world, there is only the inevitable," the inventor stated with a kind of grim confidence that confused the doctor slightly as he watching Tony poor over the projector screens possessively. "Now we need to find ol' Randy, preferably before he storms into Rand Enterprises Headquarters and declares he's there to reclaim his birthright." Tony scoffed lightly at the drama of it all. "The business world can be boring ... but it can also be vicious and cut-throat. Sometimes literally," Tony scrunched his nose in distaste. "Humans are fundamentally greedy, business people? A 100 fold. It's not unusual for most companies to be struck with intrigue, subterfuge, blackmail or murder - Just look at Obadiah." Tony scowled.

"You think the Meachum's are going to have Danny killed?!" Bruce gasped.

"Ward?" Tony turned to Bruce blinking, "Unlikely. The guy is a push-over. A human punching bag with the thin veneer of a swaggering bully plastered overtop. Although ... if he's convinced to take on his more cruel habits, or reaches his limit and snaps? ... Maybe," Tony hummed thoughtfully. "My money is on Joy though. The woman has a spine of steel, yet is in a job that she hates, and constantly fighting to show her competence when her swaggering bumbling drunken brother always takes the limelight and ruins her plans. It's an unfortunate fact that the business world is still very much a biased sausage fest. It's a miracle the company hasn't suffered from Ward's bumbling or the sibling's fighting, or she hasn't had Ward taken out before now," Tony muttered thoughtfully, "But then, she'd be stuck with running a company she hates all alone."

"How do you even know this?" Bruce stared at the inventor.

"Despite what you might think? The business world in New York is small. All the CEO's of prominent companies know each other, or of each other. Gotta keep an eye on the competition," Tony injected his voice with false cheer. "Besides, I've been abnormally good at gauging a person's character ... usually," Tony scowled at the reminder of his many mistakes - Obi and Natasha's faces flashing in his mind's eye. "Besides, I've kept my eye on Rand Enterprises," Tony admitted off-handedly.

"Why?" Bruce blinked.

"Because, even for a philanthropic company? They have a suspicious amount of money to throw around. I mean, I get it, pharmaceuticals is BIG money. But not THAT much. Especially if they are supposed to be catering to the needy and sick." Tony narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the scrolling reports. "That kind of spending and monetary gains are more indicative of peddling a different kind of chemical."

"You suspect them of selling illegal drugs?" Bruce came closer to look over the same report with a concerned frown.

"That's the usual fall back of most pharmaceutical companies," Tony shrugged. "I wouldn't be surprised to find out that they have a connection to an underground gang that provides support and peddles the illegal goods. Can't have something like that on the books."

"If that's true ..." Bruce's eyes widened, "Then Danny really is in danger."

"Worst case scenario? Yeah, he's fucked." Tony snorted. "Best case? He ends up embarrassing himself trying to claim his inheritance and take part in his families company - despite being raised by warrior monks, who I doubt raised him to have much in the way of business sense or coached him in how to run a company." Tony chuckled wryly. "We find our wayward Iron Boy, send him back to his minders in the frozen mountains, and not have to deal with that drama again for another 15 years."

"Do you really think it will be that easy Tony?" Bruce ventured with a twitching lip.

"No." Tony replied flatly, causing Bruce to break out laughing, "I am never that lucky."

"What is lucky," Jörmungandr sauntered into the lab, having had a hot shower and a bask under the heat lamp to ward off the chill of having to go to the frozen mountains to pick up Bruce, "Is that Eir here managed to get back to us with this information immediately. I doubt the boy has the resources or funds to make it back to America as quickly as you did," The World Serpent smirked. "That means we have the upper hand."

"And plenty of time," Tony smirked back, "It could take Danny Boy months to get here."

"You won't go out and get him?" Bruce blinked.

"Brucie, he abandoned his post and dropped all his responsibilities to run off to New York, leaving his home and people who raised and trained him undefended," Tony gave the doctor a serious look. "I for one am of the opinion that ol' Danny Boy should struggle, finding his way to America on his own merit, since he seems to be so keen on going his own way. Besides," Tony's grin was sharp like a blade, "Why go out of our way to fetch him? When he is literally coming right to us? Snapping up a drifting kung-fu master in New York is easier than the wilds of Asia. They tend to stick out like sore thumbs."

"But K'un-Lun needs the Iron Fist!" Bruce argued, "The Hand could attack them at any time while the Gate is open! We should-"

"Didn't you say that the monks were making another guy take the same test to become the Iron Fist to take Rand's place?" Tony rose an eyebrow, "Do you think this Davos guy will fail?"

"Well ... no," Bruce breathed as he tried to calm his thundering heart, "Davos was the original pick to the Iron Fist before they rescued Danny."

"And it sounds like there can be more than one Iron Fist at a time - though I can imagine why, from what you told me, why that would usually be a terrible idea." Tony shook his head ruefully. "Besides, there was never any guarantee that you would have been able to drag him back to super-secret monk land in time before the Gate closed. Who even knows if it still is?" Tony shrugged. "Brucie, there is nothing we can do with 'what-ifs'. But, we can focus on what we can do. My AI are investigating Rand Enterprises, the Meachum's, tracking ol' Randy Boy, and see if we can catch a gang red Handed," Tony gave a pleased smirk as Bruce groaned at his pun while Jor snorted.

"I will be sure to keep a close watch on odd activity in the reaches of the Himalayas," JOCASTA intoned calmly from the nearest speaker, "I will notify you at once if I see any forces on the move."

"Thank you, Jo," Bruce sighed in relief.

Tony grinned at the Doctor and World Serpent in front of him, "Don't worry. My kids have it handled. For now, we can wait for my Platypus to come back with the food, and once we've had ..." Tony took a quick gander at the time, "Dinner, we can tell you all about the prototype portal device and our discussion on where to test it first!"

Chapter Text

"Butterfingers, start recording."

The bot beeped excitedly but did as it was told, thrilled to be the one trusted to document the event.

"Keep it steady B," Tony grinned at the excitable bot, "We need the footage to be as clear as possible. For prosperity."

"That's even assuming if the prototype even works," Rhodey smirked.

"Rhodey, I am offended," Tony play acted, grasping his breast dramatically, "It is as if you do not know me!"

"Tony," Bruce shook his head softly with a sigh, Jörmungandr chuckling beside him.

"Even I know my stuff doesn't always work the first time," Tony admitted, cutting out his act, "The kids have hours of footage of when I was testing the prototype elements for the Iron Man suit."

"We review it when we need cheering up," FRIDAY chimed from the ceiling.

"Can I have a copy?" Rhodey smirked.

"Now, hold on a moment-"

"Of course Colonel Rhodes," JARVIS intoned steadily.

"No, You May Not!" Tony wagged a finger in the direction of JARVIS' voice, putting his hands on his hips with a huff to the echoes of his audience's laughter. "It's a miracle I ever get anything done around here, with this type of support." Tony waved a hand in the vague direction of everything.

"Come along Freyr," Jörmungandr smirked, "Why don't you focus on our goal and show to us your marvellous invention?"

"... I know you are trying to distract me by pandering to my ego, and I can admit it's working," Tony smirked, turning towards Butterfingers so the camera focuses on him. "We have decided to start our first test with prototype portal device mark 1, in this bunker on unplottable lot 5 - also known by the public as Area 51. I wanted to do this test in the Tower," Tony pouted in his audiences direction, "... But I was convinced otherwise."

"It would probably be a bad idea to blow up Stark Tower, Tones," Rhodey pointed out.

"It won't blow up!" Tony argued with a sigh as if they'd had this argument multiple times before. "I calibrated it specifically NOT to do that!"

"But explosions are what you do best," Rhodey pointed out again.

"What I USED to do best, Honey Bear, USED TO. I'm not the Merchant of Death anymore," Tony reminded his friend huffily, "I'm trying out this whole 'save the world thing'."

"And I think it looks good on you," Bruce calmly reassured.

"See! Brucie knows what's up!" Tony pointed at the doctor while focusing on his smirking best friend.

"Freyr? The test?" Jörmungandr chuckled.

"Right," Tony smirked as he turned towards the device, "The prototype is calibrated to be run either manually with the new and improved version of the Real-Time Tablet," Tony wiggled a slim stylus looking device, which he activated to show the hologram screen zooming out of the device like it had been wrapped up like a scroll inside, and held like he would a normal tablet. "And automatically controlled by my AI. To cut out all that icky human error," Tony smirked as he deactivated the Real-Time Tablet and shoved the stylus styled device into his pocket. "For this first test, I'm leaving all the locating and programming to the experts."

"Why thank you, Mr T," JOCASTA crooned sarcastically.

"Did King T'Chaka truly give us permission for the first Portal test location to be Wakanda?" Bruce almost seemed giddy.

"Yep," Tony popped the 'p' obnoxiously, "He even gave us location co-ordinates."

"It should be a big open field away from any people or buildings, so if anything goes wrong," Rhodey shrugged, "No-one will be harmed."

"And the Dora Milaje will be standing by at the test site on their end," Tony agreed.

"If it does work as it's supposed to," Jörmungandr pointed out practically, "What are we sending through to test it first?"

"We figured we'd do that!"

"Jesus Christ!" Tony gasped, clutching a hand to his chest as the teenaged princess of Wakanda's peels of laughter echoed from her customary sudden hologram.

"Hello Shuri," Bruce grinned at the teenager, who waved back with a big shit-eating grin.

"We need to put a bell on you," Tony grumbled as he slowed his heart rate down.

"What did you have in mind?" Rhodey smirked.

"Well we figured, once the portal opened and was declared stable, we would send something organic and something synthetic from our side, and you would do the same back to us." the princess chirped.

"That is not a bad idea," Jörmungandr hummed.

"I thought not," Shuri gave a smug grin.

"So what objects did you have in mind?" Tony rose his eyebrow as Shuri simply held up her hands, in one hand was a large purple leopard orchid, in the other a small silver vibranium carving of a panther.

"... I guess that works," Tony blinked at the smiling Princess, "J?" Tony called to the side, "Do we having anything like that here?"

"Um, there are some wild Sunflowers outside," Bruce offered.

"Where did those come from?" Rhodey crossed his arms in confusion.

"The prevailing theory is it was from protesters in the '70s, where they threw flowers over the guard walls, and the sunflowers seeds propagated and spread," JARVIS explained.

"The protestors might not have ever managed to storm Area 51, but their flowers did," Tony chuckled, "How ironic. Yeah, a sunflower should work," Tony nodded, "Could you grab us one please?"

"No problem Tony," Bruce smiled before he made his way out.

"As for synthetic ...", Tony glanced around the large warehouse bunker, only to be distracted by Butterfingers squeaking, waving their claw in the air like an excited child with their hand up in class and dancing in a little circle.
"Butterfingers, no. I am not sending you through the portal. ... Did you forget you're supposed to be the film crew?" Tony smiled helplessly as the bot froze in place, realising their mistake, and quickly got back in place, facing their robot claw, which contained its camera lens, back on the scene with an apologetic beep.

"Maybe I can be of assistance?" Jörmungandr smirked, amused by the whole scene, giving a nonchalant flourish of his wrist, summoning something large, round with a small tapering on one side, silvery shiny thing.

"Ooh, what's that? A mirror?" Shuri leant her face closer to the screen.

"One of my scales," Jörmungandr replied simply.

The princess jerked back a little in shock, her face a little bewildered. "Wait ... I thought you transformed into a snake? Don't snakes shed their skin all in one piece?"

"If I was a real Midgardian snake? Yes, I would," The World Serpent nodded calmly, customary smirk firmly in place. "Technically, I do not transform into any species of existing snake," The God explained, "It is less a snake, and more a serpent."

"What's the difference?" Shuri tilted her head slightly.

"In ancient times," Bruce injected as he wandered back into the bunker with a beautiful large sunflower in his hands, "Peoples of many different cultures referred to giant serpent-like creatures to mean 'Dragon'," Bruce smiled at Shuri's eyes beginning to sparkle, "In fact, the earliest surviving depictions of dragons resemble giant snakes," Bruce shrugged smiling at The World Serpent, "The popular modern depiction of a four-legged dragon is a product of western Medieval art."

"Not only are you an ancient deity," Shuri seemed to be vibrating, almost bouncing on the spot, "But your also a dragon?!"

"Technically," Jörmungandr shrugged with an amused smirk, glancing at the Wakandan Princess who could barely contain her excitement, "It may not be synthetic, but I assume this scale is a worthy gift?"

"Yes! Less talk, more gib!" Shuri reached out towards the screen with grabby hands.

"Well since we have the royal agreement," Tony chuckled, "We can continue. Good thinking by the way Jor," Tony smirked at the smug God, "This will be a good test to see if previously living matter can survive the transport too."

"Not to mention foreign or godly material," Bruce agreed with a small amused smile.

"Ok," Tony clapped his hands together with a large grin, "Witnesses in place, gifts in place, Butterfingers actually focusing the camera on the portal device?" Tony glanced over tellingly, distracting the bot from gazing at The World Serpents scale, squeaking and beeping in admiration, causing it to give a disappointed beep and dutifully focusing on the test area.
"Don't worry, Butterfingers," Tony soothed, "I'm sure if you ask nicely later, Jor will let you and the bots have a few small loose shiny scales for your collection." To which the bot seemed to cheer right up!
"Right, JOCASTA? JARVIS? If you would?"

"Of course Sir," JARVIS intoned as the prototype portal device seemed to light up within and whirr into life. The vibranium base on the ground seemed to ripple as if it was a liquid instead of a solid as the prism of multicoloured light of the Starkium, encased in a frame of pure black Badassium began to rotate slowly in place, humming and giving off barely discernable vibrations felt in the air.

"Energy levels: Stable," JARVIS narrated the procedure, "Runic sequences: Activated." The air in the warehouse bunker gave a tangible throb, "Dimensional connection: Complete."

"Entering coordinates," JOCASTA intoned, causing the pulsing rainbow light within the slowing rotating cube to flutter.

"Tones," Rhodey leant over so his best friend could hear him over the strange loud hum, "This is freaking awesome."

"I know, right?" Tony enthused with sparkling eyes, a thin ring of orange glowing around his pupils.

"Coordinates found," JOCASTA declared calmly.

"Connecting the two coordinate points time and space requirements," JARVIS warned as the air in front of the device seemed to waver and ripple - the hologram showing the Wakandan side showing a similar effect.
"Calibrating portal size," JARVIS continued, before a starburst of light, like the flash of a spark ignited, and out expanded a round decently sized portal, like an open doorway or window to another location, surrounded in muted rainbow light.
"The Portal is stable," JARVIS announced, "Initiation successful."

"Holy heck," Rhodey breathed as he and Tony leaned to the side curiously to peer through the portal, clearly able to see Shuri, T'Challa, T'Chaka, Ramonda, Nakia and Okoye standing with her Dora Milaje, on a wide grassy plain. Shuri gave a small ecstatic wave, which Tony slowly and a little numbly returned in his shock.

"It ... Worked?"

"It's a little concerning when the inventor of the thing is so surprised at their success," Jörmungandr laughed, a proud smile warming his face.

"Didn't you just hear me admit that initial tests for prototypes rarely work the first time? Not even a few minutes ago?" Tony rose a judging eyebrow, lips twitching, before turning to inspect the open portal. "It looks like it is a direct connection, as there doesn't seem to be any type of field or barrier between the point of connection," Tony observed as he looked at what appeared to be clear open air inside the portal.
Edging a little closer, despite Bruce's tutting, Tony held out his hands to feel the air, "I concur with JARVIS' temperature readings," Tony observed aloud, "I can feel residual heat emitting from the open portal way, that matches the current temperature readings in Wakanda, sent to us thanks to Shuri."

"The air seems cooler around the opening on our side too," Shuri agreed.

"Sir, you will be happy to hear that all scans indicate that there are no signs of radiation or particles created by the opening of a controlled tear in the space-time continuum."

"That follows the estimates," Tony nodded almost absently, pausing for a moment, tilting his head, until he intoned, "Mute communications?"

"Done Sir," JARVIS complied.

"Tones?" Rhodes brows scrunched as he watched Tony inch closer, "What are you doing?"

Tony seemed to ignore the colonel's question, as he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled toward the portal, "HEY! SHURI! CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"I can!" came the Princess's muffled reply, "But just barely over this loud hum!"

"J, unmute communications," Tony intoned as he scratched his chin thoughtfully, "So ... sound definitely travels through." Tony took a moment to take a few deep sniffs, but scrunched his nose disappointedly, "I can't smell anything."

"Since I have stronger olfactory senses," Jor offered, intrigued by the rudimentary scientific process playing out in front of him, "I can confirm that I can detect the smell of grasses and rich earth that is foreign to me."

"And you definitely are not touching it Tones!" Rhodes scolded as he dragged the inventor back to the originally marked safe distance.

"Of course not - well at least, not yet," Tony held up his hands at Rhodey's angry growl, "That's what the gifts are for!"

"And ... how exactly are we sending the gifts through?" Bruce nibbled on his lip thoughtfully, "If we aren't approaching it yet?"

The groups stood, pondering a moment, until Jörmungandr lifted an enquiring eyebrow, "Why not just float it through?"

The World Serpent weathered being stared at by all the mortals in attendance, smirking when Tony burst into laughter and Bruce giggled.

"Give it to a God to think of just using magic to fix all our problems," Rhodey lightly teased with a huff while Tony's laughter peeled off.

"That's perfect!" Tony cheered, eyes bright with glee as he turned to the hologram, "Shuri! How are you going with the Wakandan version of magic script?"

"I've perfected it," The Wakandan Princess replied smugly.

"Of course you have," Tony chuckled, completely believing her as he turned to Jörmungandr with an enquiring smile, earning an amused nod from the God as with a flourish, The World Serpent floated both his scale, and the sunflower that Bruce had brought in, ready to deliver, "Feeling up to levitating objects through a live portal?"

"Way ahead of you," Shuri grinned as she summoned a hologram screen from her Kimoyo Beads around her wrist, inscribing strange symbols that at that distance, the westerners could not make heads nor tails of. What it amounted to was what looked like a transparent floating tray made of light, that the Dora Milaje placed the gifts on top. "Sending it your way."

Watching in anticipation as Shuri typed out the command, the tray floated forward, without even a wobble, maintaining its shape and travel, smoothly through, till it stopped, almost anticlimactically, hovering at Tony's chest hight in front of him. The room seemed to finally take an intake of breath as Tony waited for the objects to be scanned, and reading the results, laughed joyously as he picked the flower and carving up from the conjured try, which promptly dissolved.

"Gifts received," Tony crowed delightedly, "Whole and undamaged!"

Jörmungandr smirked at the scientist's cheers as he gently sent their return gifts back through the portal, and once they had been scanned and investigated, the Dora Milaje accepted the gifts on the Wakandan's behalf.

"We really did it!" Tony cheered, sharing excited grins with Bruce and Rhodes, "An actual, working, real-life Portal!"

"Just wait until my Uncle, Father and my siblings learn about this," Jörmungandr smirked with bright eyes.

Chapter Text

Once all scans and tests were clear that it was safe to cross, T'Chaka having the Dora Milaje traverse it first to ensure safety, Tony, Bruce, Jörmungandr and Rhodes crossed over, through Earth's first man-made portal, into the hidden secret land of Wakanda.

Bruce stood admiring the location around them, a wide empty plain of packed earth and sweet long grasses, that one direction ascended rolling hills, jungle and towering mountains, and in the other, rolling fields of grain and farms along fertile rivers.

"If you'd have told me Wakanda was so beautiful, I would have visited sooner," Rhodes joked, glancing to the side to a grumpy Tony, standing with a furrowed brow, pout and crossed arms. "How long are you going to be sulking about this, Tones?"

"I just don't get why the Dora got to go first!" Tony argued with a huff, seeing the look on his best friends face he clarified, "Shut up Platypus, I know logically why they had to go first! Badass warriors, aren't they? Guards to the Wakandan King. They have a better chance of surviving than my lily-white butt, yes yes, I know!" Tony scowled at his smirking friend. "But ... I built the damn thing!"

"We couldn't have the inventor of such a groundbreaking invention die by his own creation," T'Chaka's deep calm voice broke into the conversation by walking up beside them, an amused smile on his gentle face, "I doubt you wanted to join the ranks of the many who hold that dubious honour?"

"Yeah, then you could be a contender for the coveted Darwin Awards," Rhodes chuckled as he elbowed his pouting friend, "There you go Tones! That's an award you haven't gotten yet!"

"And if you don't stop whining, Freyr," Jörmungandr scolded lightly with a smirk, "You may very well be the first to be sent right back."

"Aw!" Shuri cried as she ran up, "But I haven't shown Tony my lab yet!"

"Noone is being sent back," Tony huffed with a small helpless smile and a shake of his head, putting his hands up in mock surrender, "I get it, I'll shut up. I know when to be gracious, and let the lovely ladies be the first-ever humans to travel by man-made portal."

"I think they would have gone first, whither you 'allowed' them to or not, Tony," Bruce chuckled at his fellow scientist's joke.

"Very true," Tony chuckled, not at all insulted, and turned to glance around the barren field. "I imagined Wakanda to be more green. Where is this?"

"We are near the Fields of Alkama," T'Challa joined the group, pointing out the farming land in the distance, "The largest area of open land and the Bread Basket of Wakanda," T'challa eyes travelled over the open plains, "Many ancient wars have been fought here."

"With who?" Bruce inquired curiously.

"Wakanda enjoys the protection of a cloaking field," T'Chaka explained, lifting his hand to sweep over the sky above, "Desgiusing our lands from all outside and our boarders protected by those of the Border Tribe." The King nodded to a contingent of warriors travelling in the distance. "Because of this, Wakanda enjoys peace. But it was not always this way."

"In ancient times past, before the formal formation of the Tribes of Wakanda," T'Challa took up the explanation, "Our people did war with neighbouring Tribes, in the constant bid to claim or protect land, and war with each other," the Prince grimaced slightly, "As this was long before even the idea of Wakanda as a country existed."

"And the earth in this area still suffers from the marks of these wars?" Jörmungandr rose a questioning eyebrow, "So many centuries later?"

"War leaves many wounds," T'Chaka rumbled with a small remorseful frown, but the King of Wakanda quickly changed his expression into a welcoming smile as he indicated to the waiting Wakandan jet, "But I'm sure you didn't come here for a history lesson. Please, let us escort you to our home, the royal palace and capital city of Wakanda, Birnin Zana."

"The Golden City," T'Challa translated with a smile as they all made their way to the aircraft.

"Is this a literal description? Like Asgard's 'Golden Realm'?" Tony asked as he took his seat in the craft.

"No," T'Chaka smiled with amused crinkled eyes across from him, "The city was named thus for the Tribe who predominately call the city home."

"That's ours," Shuri explained with a smile, "The Golden Tribe. Or the Panther Tribe, depending on which you prefer."

"Must be a big Tribe," Rhodey raised an eyebrow, "To need a whole city."

"The majority of Wakanda's people are actually clanless," T'Challa explained, "Though they may claim support for any Tribe they like. The Tribes themselves, all 6 of them, are more like political parties or leaders of designated areas."

"What are the Tribes of Wakanda? If you don't mind me asking?" Bruce fiddled with his sleeves.

"Each Tribe represents a different aspect," Shuri explained, using her Beads to bring up a simplified map of Wakanda. "See all these rivers? These are guarded and maintained by the River Tribe. The water's purity, irrigation and naval travel are all under their purview."

"The Merchant Tribe have the most interaction with the River Tribe, as they supervise the growing, making, buying and selling in all of Wakanda. Truthfully, The Merchant Tribe was once two Tribes, the merchants and the artisans, but they combined many centuries ago to form the larger Masu people. Indeed," T'Chaka explained calmly, "The Merchant Tribe is the largest, the most diverse, and most well-travelled. I dare say, they've seen even more of our ancestral land than even I."

"The Mining Tribe are one of the most powerful Tribes in Wakanda, apart from the Golden Tribe," T'Challa explained dryly, "They tend and mine the vibranium - in fact, they are the only ones truly allowed within the sacred mines. They are proud and fearless. And as we pointed out before," T'Challa nodded to the group, "The Border Tribe man's and protects our borders."

"Let me guess," Tony leaned forward slightly, "The 6th Tribe is the isolationists who don't worship Bast?"

"The Jabari," T'Chaka sighed regretfully, "They retreated into the mountainous jungles, and refuse to join the rest of Wakanda in its prosperity. We accept their decision, even though we may not fully understand it. For centuries they have been a dissenting voice to many of the Golden Tribes actions, and constantly challenge for the throne when it comes time to crown the next king." T'Chaka sighed. "The Mountain Tribe may be a dissenting voice, but they have never attacked its people, and have in times past always joined our forces in Wakanda's time of need."

"Baba has tried multiple times to offer them a seat on the Council of Tribes," Shuri pouted with a frustrated huff, "But the stubborn gorillas always shoot the offer down."

"Now, Shuri," Romonda scolded the princess lightly, rubbing her hand fondly over her daughter's hair, "We must not speak ill of our fellow countrymen. Everyone in Wakanda has their place."

"... Yes, Mama," Shuri muttered.

"So let's say, hypothetically," Tony leaned forward, face bright with curiosity, "That the next in line was defeated by this 'challenge. What happens then? Do you stay as the Golden Tribe? Even though someone from a different Tribe now has the crown?"

"The title of Golden Tribe is given to the Tribe of the current ruling King," Romonda smiled in a motherly way even though she seemed quite strict. "If we were to lose the title? We would give up the Golden City to the new Golden Tribe, and retreat back to our ancestral lands and keep to our duties as the Panther Tribe."

"Our ancestral role of the Panther Tribe is to act as Wakanda's police force," Shuri shrugged.

"And keepers and protectors of the Panther Goddesses shrines," T'Challa shrewdly reminded his sister with a side-eye - who gave an unremorseful shrug.

"But," T'Chaka rumbled with a small proud smile, "Such a thing has not yet happened. The Panther Tribe has kept the title and ruled over Wakanda since our ancestor, Bashenga, the first Black Panther and King of Wakanda."

"That could mostly be because the other Tribes, except for the Jabari, seem to happy with the status quo," Shuri rolled a bored wrist, "As there are very little records of anyone except for them ever challenging for the throne."

"So the worship of the Panther Goddess Bast is this country's State religion?" Jörmungandr tilted his head slightly.

"Wakanda was founded thanks to the Goddesses guidance," T'Chaka nodded, "So we pay homage to her as our Goddess."

"Except for the people of the Mountian Tribe, The Jabari, who worship Hanuman, the White Gorilla." The World Serpent's eyes looked thoughtful.

"Wait ..." Bruce piped up, remembering something, "Isn't Hanuman a Hindu god? How did a Hindu belief journey to Wakanda? And don't the Hindu depict Hanuman as a humanoid ape?"

"The same way the Egyptian God's flowed to us I imagine," T'Challa shrugged unsurely, "any record of the times before we worshipped our God's is all but non-existent."

"They may have travelled out from us to the outside world and adopted there," Romonda nodded, "Religion travels where it's believers do and gets adopted by more people. Who is to truly say?"

"Bast and Hanuman are not the only God's worshipped in Wakanda," Nakia spoke from her position near the Dora Milaje in the aircraft, "There are smaller, more regional Gods. Like the Crocodile God, Sobek, that my Tribe of the Rivers worship," Nakia smiled.

"And the Mining Tribe's worship of the Lion Goddess Sekhmet," Okoye pointed out sternly, "But even though they may worship other Gods, Bast is the main God of worship. Very few outside the Jabari worship the White Ape."

"So my entry into your lands will not cause upheaval?" Jörmungandr rose an inquiring eyebrow.

"You and your's have shown yourselves to be allies to our Goddess Bast," T'Challa gave The World Serpent the Wakandan salute, "You are more than welcome into her sacred lands."

"Ok, Temple Boy, don't get your tail in a knot," Shuri sassed as the craft landed smoothly, standing and dragging Tony by the arm to get up and follow her, "Come on! I gotta show you what I'm working on!"

"Shuri!" T'Challa hissed but was broken off by T'Chaka raising an arm in front of him.

"Let your sister go," Romonda shared a fond look with her gently smiling husband, "She is young yet, and need I remind you, that you were much the same at her age?" the Queen Mother smirked at her fidgeting son.

"Come," T'Chaka smiled as he stood leading the rest of the party after the retreating figures of Shuri and Tony into the palace, "Let us welcome you to the sacred lands of Bast, and our home."

Chapter Text

As it happened with most tourist groups who are barely controlled, the party quickly fell apart.

Shuri dragged a laughing and joking Tony off to her workstation, where they were firmly sequestered, oohing and ahhing over all of the advanced vibranium based tech and a meeting of minds - that was more like two toddlers running around hyped up on sugar. When Bruce admitted that he'd like to continue on to see more of Wakanda, Tony waved them off, too busy admiring a proud Shuri's Kimoyo Beads and advancements with the Panther habit to be distracted. Rhodes assured the royals that Tony was always like that, and they had no fear of losing him because if he was given the chance and not dragged away, he'd still be there a week later.

Bruce became entangled with the healers, fascinated by their combination of traditional African medicine and Wakanda's advanced medical technology. The resident shamans and amagqirha (diviners) especially seemed to be unwilling to let the good doctor leave the Healing Wing of the palace - something about his abundant warm energy. Assuring Jor and Rhodes that Bruce would not come to harm, and extracting a promise from Bruce that he would come find The World Serpent in the first sign of trouble, the group moved on.

Rhodes had to admit to himself that he had half expected this outcome - once Tony became focused on a topic, there was no dragging him away from it, especially if there wasn't any immediate threat, and Dr Banner honestly seemed to be cut from much the same cloth. But he hadn't expected The World Serpent to peel off from the group as well - Jor seemed to become enamoured by the frankly gorgeous temple to the Panther Goddess, with its shiny black obelisks and towering panther statues, filled with real live black panthers! Just wondering around the temple grounds! Rhodes had been concerned, but T'Challa reassured him that the temple panthers were semi-domesticated - for no panther was ever truly domesticated, but they were calm, pampered and fed delicacies, being the icons of their Goddess, and would offer Jor no harm. The World Serpent himself smirked at the mortals and assured the colonel that he would be absolutely fine, and much like Tony, and on a lesser hand Bruce, waved Rhodes and Royal family of Wakanda away.

"I apologise for my companions," Rhodes sighed, facepalming himself as he walked with the Prince, King and Queen of Wakanda, "I expected it of Tony, but not the others. No common sense or manners," Rhodey sighed in aggrieved frustration to Romonda and T'Chaka's amusement, "Turns out? I can't take them anywhere."

"It's alright," Romonda huffs a delicate laugh, "Shuri has been excited for months after Dr Stark let slip to her that he was building a portal. She ran to T'Chaka immediately after and begged for the first test to be to Wakanda and to allow outsiders entry into our lands. It caused something of a commotion with the council," The Queen Mother glanced at her husband's indulgent smile even as he gave a wry chuckle.

"We have worked tirelessly to open the hearts and minds of our people to learn to embrace the outside world, but as you can imagine," T'Chaka sighed slightly as they stopped at a scenic vista with an overview of the Golden City, "Combating generations of indoctrination and belief in the status quo is not that easy."

"I apologise if our entry into your lands has caused internal strife-" Rhodes began apologising but was interrupted by the Prince.

"Our people's reliance on antiquated beliefs is unhealthy and a sign of stagnation," T'Challa shook his head firmly. "Education is highly valued in our culture. If we continued to deny even the possibility of technology of the outside world one-day meeting or even one day eclipsing our own? We would just be dooming ourselves to ruin. Many terrible things have happened in the outside world," T'Challa stated seriously, "But many great and wonderful things have happened out there too. Such things should not be ignored."

"Your pretty impassioned about it," Rhodes teased the Prince lightly, still not completely sure where he stood with the guy even after swapping war stories.

"My son is the first of the Panther Tribe, indeed, all of Wakanda to travel outside our kingdom and attend foreign schooling," T'Chaka explained proudly, "He went out and experienced the outside world first hand, the first of the ruling Tribe to ever do so."

"He enrolled in England's prestigious Oxford University, where he earned a Ph. D. in Physics," Romonda smiled at T'Challa small pleased smile at his parent's pride.

"Hey," Rhodes smiled, "That's pretty sweet. I earned a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering from MIT myself. That's actually where I met Tony," The colonel reminisced. "I assume you made friends in Oxford. Do you keep in touch?"

Rhodey's smile turned into a small grin at the small blush and flustered eye glances the Prince was giving his parents, "I did make some friends there ... sadly, because of my position as Wakanda's Prince and heir, and Wakanda's own situation involving the outside world, I haven't been able to keep in contact."

"That's a shame," Rhodes gave the embarrassed Prince a teasing side-eye, "I've found, the friends you make in college are some of the ones you can easily keep for life."

"Colonel Rhodes is right," the Prince eyes the Queen Mother's smile and twinkling eyes with trepidation, "You should make an effort to reconnect with your college and school friends." Rhodey had the distinct feeling that the Queen was teasing her son, but wiped his amused grin off of his face when the Queen turned to him, "I was unaware you were an engineer! Is that a family business?"

Rhodey had to fight to keep his face bland and polite, fighting off a grimace, reminding himself in his head that this was a different country and the people had very different expectations, and probably didn't mean their comments like a personal dig, and repeated it in his mind like a mantra.
"Unfortunately, my family wasn't very well off while I was growing up," Rhodes replied somewhat stiffly, falling back onto military training when dealing with foreign dignitaries. "I attained my Masters while on an American Air Force Scholarship."

"Oh, I had forgotten, America treats education very differently than we do here," The Queen's stoic face looked thoughtful.

Seeing the Colonel's confusion, The King clarified, "Schooling and higher education are free for all Wakandan citizens, in fact, all expenses in supporting and bettering our people are paid by the Tribes. It was something of a culture shock when the schools our son attended in England required such large costs," The King hummed thoughtfully, glancing up at Rhodes with an interest. "May I ask, is your family faring well now?" T'Chaka inquired, seeming unaware of the social landmine they were wondering close to, which Rhodey was intent of guiding them away from.

"My mother, uncle, and niece are living comfortably," Rhodey nodded stiffly with a small smile, "My job with the military and as a liaison to Tony Stark has always paid well, and I made sure that my family would benefit. They raised me after all." T'Chaka nodded in approval, though Rhodes felt like he didn't really need his approval.

"I'm sorry if this is rude to ask," T'Challa spoke up, causing Rhodes to take in a deep breath, knowing he wasn't able to steer the conversation away in time, "But, what about your father?"

Rhodes steeled himself to show no emotion. "My father is dead, on the account of trying to protect my younger sister from a drug trafficking gang. Unfortunately," Rhodes breathed evenly as the royals in front of him grimaced, "They were both killed before the police could arrive."

"I am sorry," T'Challa bowed his head quickly in apology, his dark eyes sorrowful, "I asked when I should not."

The King also looked somewhat abashed, although his eyes looked pained. "We are learning, even more than before about the dangers and cruelty that life can bring in the outside world," seeing a look cross the Air Force Colonel's face, T'Chaka clarified, "That is to say, I am not suggesting that life here in Wakanda is faultless. Even in our isolated society, we have crime and acts of cruelty. Please understand that I mean no insult." The King rumbled even as the lines around his eyes deepened, "In fact, just recently it has come to our attention that past acts, even acted out by myself, has caused much grief. We are not without fault, and that is a truth we are learning to swallow. Please accept our apologies for any insensitive comments or remarks we might make."

Rhodes squared his shoulders, "It was 15 years ago," Rhodes tilted his chin slightly, "There is nothing to apologise for."

"Still," T'Chaka rumbled remorsefully with identical dark sad eyes as his son's, "The death of a loved one is a tragedy." T'Chaka, T'Challa and Romonda bowed their heads as they gave Rhodes a solemn Wakanda salute, "Wakanda grieves with thee."

Rhodey could feel his shoulders and stiff posture relax and silently nodded his head as acceptance.

In an obvious bid to brighten the subject, The Queen calmly inquired, "If I might ask, how old is your niece?"

Rhodes felt a smile creep up his face despite himself, "My niece is 19, and currently studying programming while interning in SI's R & D Department. I'm afraid she's spent too much time around Tony."

"She is an inventor?" The Queen's eyes sparkled with joy.

"She works with SI's techs in Development, but her passion is tinkering and repair," Rhodey smiled fondly, "I can't list the household objects she's taken apart and put back together just to figure out how they work. Ma was almost beside herself before Tony took her under his wing. Now she can take things apart to her heart's content."

"Stark makes a habit of that, apparently," T'Challa remarked wryly as he rose a somewhat miffed eyebrow, "It took us an embarrassing amount of time to realise Shuri had reached out to the outside world and contacted Dr Stark, without permission."

"Tony told me she felt responsible for her staff who went on that first meeting with the 'envoy'," Rhodey admitted, using heavy quotations on the subject.

"I feel that is another subject we must apologise for," T'Chaka rumbled with a slight grimace, "If the Council and I had not taken so long in deliberating, then M'Bassa and those other foolish tribesmen would have never taken it into their heads to go out and take matters into their own hands. That incident, if anything, shows how attitudes in Wakanda have drifted towards superiority and a toxic attitude towards outsiders. Something I wish I could deny is a widespread problem with our society." The King met Rhodes' eye, "I'm afraid our tribesmen gave you a bad impression of our people."

Rhodey shrugged slightly, "Tony did warn me not to get my hopes up, in fact, he asked me not to attend, worried that the truth of what the Wakandan people were like would sour my opinion," Rhodes gave the King a small smile, "I admit to being disappointed initially, but Shuri and T'Challa have worked hard to try to show that not all Wakandan's think that way. It would be short-sighted of me to look at the attitudes of one group and assume everyone in their country was exactly the same." Seeing the looks on the Royals faces, Rhodey admitted, "I have done tours in Afganistan. Even though I am an Airman, I have spent some time on the ground, and it doesn't take much, on seeing the conditions and heart of the civilians caught in the middle, to realise that you can't judge a people based on the bad aspects."

The Royal family looked contemplative for a moment, before Romdonda hesitantly inquired, "You are a Colonel of the American Airforce ... Are you familiar with the name, Killmonger?"

"If I didn't work with Tony and offer my assistance to the multiple protection services that are cooperating with him? No." Rhodey replied with a slight quirk to his mouth. "Killmonger is a name I wouldn't normally know."

"Is it something of a state secret?" T'Challa pursed his lips thoughtfully at the Colonel's roundabout way of speaking.

"Navy SEAL's and their activities usually are," Rhodey smirked wryly, "And since he's also part of the Joint Special Operations Command ghost unit associated with the CIA as a highly-skilled black-ops mercenary? Doubly so."

"Do you have the kind of connections to be able to ... talk with him?"

"Queen Romonda," Rhodey met the indomitable woman's bright eyes, "If you are asking if I, in my capacity as an Air Force Colonel, am able to contact a currently active black-ops mercenary on your behalf? The answer would be no. That is not my jurisdiction. But," Rhodey smirked at the Queen's twinkling eyes, "If I was able to reach out to a contact I've made, through my work with Tony, to an Agent Everett Kenneth Ross, who currently works for the CIA, who owes us a little favour," Rhodey's smirk widened at the Queen's anticipatory smile, "I may be able to step in as a middleman ... Given a good enough reason."

"He is my nephew," T'Chaka rumbled, dark eyes watchful.

Rhodey stood for a long moment, sizing up the Royal family in front of him with keen dark eyes before he allowed the smirk to take over his face with a small nod.

"Good enough."

Chapter Text

"The mortals have left," Jörmungandr smirked as the sound of Rhodes and the Royals retreating footsteps finally moved out of hearing range, standing with his hands at his side, clearly showing he was unarmed and came peacefully, "Will you not step out an speak with me?"

A deep rumble of a chuckle, curiously close to a deep-chested purr rolled out of the temples foliage, followed by an anthropomorphic figure, covered in lush black fur that gave off a purple hue in the light, form that of a human woman, arms and leg muscles strongly corded, with human-shaped hands and feet ending in wicked curved panther claws, with the face and head of a panther, dressed head to toe in golden bracelets and adornments with a figure-hugging, mid-calf-length robe with a V-neck, showing off the Wedjat eye around her neck.

"You have travelled far, World Serpent," Bast purred as she made her lazy way through the temple, hands patting the temple panther's who wandered up to her for attention, "How do you find my worshipers? The builders of my great temples."

"The Wakandan's seem to have good intentions, if a bit cautious and willfully ignorant of the rest of the world," Jörmungandr smirked at the calm Goddess, "But I must admit, they do build beautiful cities and temples."

"My people are somewhat sheltered, I can admit that," Bast rumbled with a cat-like smirk as she petted the big cats, "I would be filled with trepidation if my worshipers were to step out into the world, as they are. I quite like having a people who continue to remember and offer me praise. I cannot express the disappointment I feel at how my past worshipers in the world at large have forgotten me thusly."

"Try being stuck in the ocean, and feared and hated by the worshipers," Jörmungandr grumbled to Bastet's rumbling chuckle, "I certainly don't miss that."

"As I am sure you don't miss the demonisation of your father and siblings," an anthropomorphic lioness turned, leaning on one of the tall imposing black obelisks, her fur short and course and tan like the desert sands, dressed in armour and regalia, her lion features fierce even with her fang-filled smirk.

"Sekhmet," Jörmungandr nodded his head, the customary smirk never leaving his face, "How nice of you to saunter down from your mountain. If I'd known, I would have brought a gift."

"Snarky as always," a male voice sighed as in a flash of dark feathers, the anthropomorphic form of Thoth alighted on the temple steps, staring down his long ibis beak at the attending Gods, dressed in his shaman robes, "You cold-blooded ones are all the same."

"Now now," the crocodile-headed Sobek emerged from the foliage, muddy-brown-green scales coved in nothing but a shendyt and a golden collar adorned with colourful river stones, "You're showing your prejudice, old man."

"I know my entry into Wakanda and a temple of Bast is unconventional," Jörmungandr rose a surprised eyebrow, "But I wasn't expecting a type of inquisition."

"No one expects an inquisition," Sobek gave a croaking throaty chuckle.

"Besides," Thoth huffed from his perch, "There has not been a meeting between the disparate Pantheons in over an Age. Let alone one not of this Earth."

"Pays to be vigilant," Sekhmet's sharp smirk widened.

Jörmungandr crossed his arms with his eyebrow still raised, waiting for an explanation.

"Recently," Bast purred, gently shooing the temple cats away to join the conversation, "The Earth-Bound Pantheons have experienced an increase of tributes, payers and interest that we have not, as my uncle pointed out," Bast nodded her head to Thoth in respect, "For an Age."

"And three guesses whose fault it is," Sobek cackled.

"You have spoken to the other Pantheons?" Jörmungandr's crossed arms dropped in his surprise, "I have felt no unusual movements."

"How could you," answered Sekhmet's rumbling chuckle, "When you were distracted by your little ones?" The lioness rose her hands peacefully at The World Serpent's narrowing eyed glare, "No harm will come by them. Any God worth their salt knows better than to touch another's Vassal."

"The Earth-Bound Pantheons of Avalon, Tír na nÓg, Nirvana, and Olympus have all reached out us, in their own way, with reports of their own influx of worship. Of course," Thoth sighed tiredly as he ruffled his feathers, "These communications also came with questions."

"And I suppose you told them the truth?" Jörmungandr sighed as he watched the ibis God of knowledge preen his dark feathers.

"Bird-brain never lies," Sobek replied with a shrug.

"Peace, World Serpent," Bast called as she slowly approached the Nordic God in the visage of an Indian man in a casual suit, "Your charges are safe. No-one of the Earth-Bound Pantheons wishes to take issue with you or yours."

"We made them swear it," Sekhmet chuckled as she smugly licked her chops.

"Although," Sobek croaked with a crocodile grin, "Some of the more fickle ones have shown blatant interest in your tiny mortals."

"And not all of the Earth-Bound have reached out to us," Thoth admitted, "Hence we cannot guarantee their non-involvement."

"As we haven't seen hide nor hair of the Out-Bound Ones," the Lioness's bloodthirsty grin was somewhat disturbing, "So no promises there."

"You have already done more than I could ever have reasonably expected," Jörmungandr bowed his head gratefully to the assembled Gods standing in the temple, "I can only thank you for your kind thoughts. No doubt my family will want to thank you themselves once they return."

"It's thanks to all of you that we are even becoming relevant in the outside world again," Sobek shrugged his scaley shoulders, "We'd be idiots to undermine that."

"And, also thanks to you, we now know of the outside forces who are steadily approaching," Bast's deep sonorous voice seemed to buzz in Jörmungandr's ears, her deep purple eyes fixed upon his unnerving him. "We come to warn you, World Serpent, of the stirring of dark forces, the echoes of angry voices from the Out-Side, of greedy hands grasping for what you currently protect."

Sekhmet's deep growl joined Bast's own as The World Serpent tensed. "Oh yes, We know of what you currently keep."

"Those Stones are an ancient and powerful force," Thoth pointed out bluntly, "And never before has our Realm ever been the Host of so many at once."

"How do you know of this?!" Jörmungandr hissed, pupils contracting into slits as he bared his serpentine fangs slightly, "My father and his Vassal have secured their protections, and made it so they were not detectable."

"They are shielded now, that's true," Sobek soothed, a strange voice of reason, "But it was not always so."

"And the sudden apparent 'disappearance' of their presence from the cosmos is nothing if not a little suspicious," Sekhmet pointed out.

"Besides, they are not the only Stones that reside here on Earth," Bast rumbled, eyes locked on The World Serpent's, "And they enjoy no such protections. With so many Stones gathered in close proximity, they grow in brilliance."

"None of the Earth-Bound has expressed interest in them," Sobek explained, smiling at Jörmungandr losing some of his tenseness, "As even Gods cannot wield them, and we have enough power of our own to meet our needs."

"Forces are moving," Thoth nodded his bird-shaped head, "But they are not currently a direct threat."

"Why are you telling me this?" Jörmungandr stared at the gathered anthropomorphic Gods, "Our Pantheons have never interacted or enjoyed any kind of cohesiveness before."

"Because," Bast rumbled, "My worshippers have declared themselves allies to your little King. And we, ourselves have seen the actions your little King is taking, in a bid to save our World from the grasping darkness that approaches from beyond the void."

"He's literally the only one gathering forces and making any preparations for this approaching calamity," Sobek shrugged blithely, "We'd be idiots not to help support that."

"This is Our World," the Lioness growled with a flash of fang, "And I'd be damned before I let some outsider just come in and destroy it."

"The Pantheon of Wakanda is behind you," Thoth agreed with a slow meaningful nod, "Do not let us regret it."

Chapter Text

"... Do you think this was a good idea?"

"... I think so," Shuri nodded, sitting up and wiping the sweat from her brow, turning to watch Tony Stark's furrowed brow, balancing a slim screwdriver on his top lip, "Why?"

"... I don't know," Tony admitted with a huff, "I just get the feeling that if Brucie, Jor, Rhodey or your parents found out we were building Wakanda's own portal device right now, they might have something to say about it."

"Like what?" Shuri rose a curious eyebrow as she reached over for a bottle of water.

"Like ... it's too soon?" Tony glanced at the 15-year-old genius beside him, sitting on the smooth surprisingly comfortable personal lab, almost every available surface crafted from vibranium and containing so much new and exciting knowledge that Tony had spent the first hour of looking about Shuri's lab inspecting and touching everything. With the Princesses permission of course, as she seemed more excited to observe Tony reaching out with his seiðr to the instruments and objects in her lab and mentally assimilating things.

"Are you asking the teenage prodigy with no sense of patience if going ahead and copying your own prototype is a good idea?" Okoye stood unobtrusively in the corner, guarding the two babbling geniuses for the last few hours, giving the billionaire a judging stare.

"Um ... yes," Tony turned to the General of the Dora Milaje, blinking slightly.

"Tony had been sharing his working notes with me already anyway, while he built the first one," Shuri defended as she went back to making adjustments to the vibranium base, "Since he needed my input and expertise on working with vibranium. Besides, I've already made my own adjustments to the blueprints," Shuri huffed as she looked over to the Royal Guard, "And we both know I would have just gone ahead and built my own anyway."

"I suppose I should be relieved," Okoye sighed, "Though I'm glad I insisted on supervising. My instinct that you couldn't be trusted to behave yourselves was proven right."

"We aren't doing anything bad," Tony insisted, putting his hands up defensively, "Besides, we needed to work out the workaround for my Badassium," Tony scratched at his chin thoughtfully, "Since I've had it pointed out ... having any kind of synthesised vibranium in Wakanda is kind of a big no-no?"

"That should not even be possible," Okoye pointed out for the 5th time since entering the Princesses lab, "Vibranium is a nearly indestructible element that crash-landed as a meteorite from outer space millennia ago, into what we now call the Mena Ngai, The Great Mound, or Mount Bashenga. It is the Earth's only large source of Vibranium. It is mystical, it is sacred," the General stressed, "And should not be so easily reconstructed or synthesised. Such a thing should not be possible. To recreate the element ... it should be impossible."

"Well," Tony squirmed at the strangely intense look the Dora Milaje was giving him, "To be fair, my synthesised stuff can't compare to the real thing. It works fine as a normal metal," Tony shook his head, "But it lacks the centuries of nutrients and natural energies from acclimating to this planet's atmosphere. My stuff is just dumb metal, no mystical properties at all - couldn't even fairly call it the same stuff." The inventor huffed, "It's why I had to combine it with the Starkium element I developed based on the Tesseract, to lend the metal its power. Badassium is essentially a cheap imitation of the real thing," Tony shrugged.

"... I wouldn't call synthesising a rare element out of nothing, as a cheap process," Okoye argued wryly, her intense stare softening slightly.

"Oh no," Tony agreed with a quick head shake, "Synthesising vibranium is a difficult and expensive process. As is Starkium. It's the kind of stupid expensive undertaking that only really I or Wakanda could feasibly undertake," the inventor admitted somewhat bashfully, "It's also kinda why my arc reactor technology and suits are near impossible to replicate. There is no-one in the western market who could swallow those kinds of production costs."

"Plus," Shuri pointed out, "I might have all the information on how to create Tony's miracle element. But actualising it is almost impossible - even for me," Shuri pointed to the Wakandan style triangle arch of Starkium that was being assembled in a separate section of the lab, "Tony's really the only one who has the kind of 'magic touch' to get the formula to work, off of the estimates. If he wasn't here," Shuri shrugged, "My imitation would have been pretty but basically a dud."

"Hey, I wouldn't have even gotten the prototype to work without your intimate knowledge of vibranium," Tony playfully pushed the teenage Princesses shoulder, "I would have just tried to forge it like any normal metal if you hadn't pulled me up."
Tony gave a gleeful side look to the nearby scrap bin, into which Shuri threw her empty water bottle, hitting the receptacle's lid and falling in, causing the lid to close behind it, revealing what had become of Captain America's shield. "The fact that you had to point out that the stolen vibranium I gifted back to you is practically worthless. The way Howard forged the vibranium to create the Shield warped the metal. It still keeps its indestructibility, but real, properly worked vibranium should not scorch or scratch, no matter the tacky paint job. The fact that I managed to mark the Shield just scraping the ugly paint off is proof enough. It's faulty," Tony's grin was almost taking over his face, "And the metal has been made useless and unsalvagable. The only thing you really could use it for is the lid of a scrap bin." Tony turned to share his grin with Shuri, "If it wasn't for you? I would have repeated the same mistake."

"Yes yes, let's all pat each other on the back," Okoye huffed ignoring the grinning geniuses still sitting on the lab's floor like children, "What I'm sure the small amount of common sense that Stark possesses was probably trying to point out-"

"Hey!"

"Is that you gifting Shuri a fully functioning unlimited teleporter is probably NOT," Okoye gave the inventors the stink eye, "A good idea."

Tony sat, crossing his arms with a pout as he mentally ran over the ramifications.

It wasn't like he didn't trust Shuri, and by the greater extent, Wakanda, to ever misuse the portal device. And when he says 'Wakanda' he means T'Challa, The King, The Queen, Nakia and Okoye. These people had shown their true colours to him in an honest display of trust, and honestly Tony counts them as his now.
His people - Rhodey Bear, Happy, Pepper, Brucie, Loki, Thor, Fenrir, Jor, Hela, Sleipnir, Narfi, Nari, Elliot, Harley, Kamala, Peter, and to a somewhat lesser extent Xavier and his mutants, with relations with Magnito and his entourage still being somewhat iffy - Tony counted them as his. And there was very little he wouldn't do for them. The fact that JARVIS, FRIDAY, JOCASTA, TADASHI, EDITH, Dum-E, Butterfingers and U were his creations, and practically his digital children, went without saying. Tony grew up with very few friends, and Maria and the Jarvis' had been his only support for most of his young life. Only to lose them not long after. So it really shouldn't come as any kind of shock that Tony's sign of affection could be a little ... clingy ... and overbearing.
Pepper had taken him aside after their last breakup, and calmly explained the reason why their relationship could never work. It wasn't his fault ... but he did contribute to it, as did she. She explained that plying someone with gifts could unnerve them, and his habits of blasting open the doors and giving his loved ones carte blanche to do whatever they wanted with his resources was dangerous. If she had been a weaker person? Pepper admitted that she could have taken advantage of his generosity. She insisted it wasn't a bad trait of his, but it was a weak spot that others would take advantage of, and he needed to put in place some strict rules to protect himself.
And he had, JARVIS and his AI had sat down and crafted a whole list of them, just to make sure a situation like Obi ... never happened again.

... Was he breaking his own rules?
Tony glanced up at Shuri who upon seeing his look, gave him a wide toothy grin. Yeah ... He trusted Shuri. She was a bright-eyed genius and frankly a hoot. But ... did he trust her with his life? ... Well, yes. Did he trust her with his technology? ... Shuri's own technology blew his out of the water, so there was no issue there. Did he trust her with his fortune? She may be 15, but she was also a Princess, finances are probably wouldn't be a thing to worry about. But ... Did he trust her with his AI? ... Oh ...

"Shuri?"

"Yeah Tony?" The Princess chirped as she watched the cogs and wheels spinning in the older inventor's mind.

"I hope this doesn't offend you ... But ... I'm going to have to have FRIDAY write up a terms of agreement for the use of the portal device." Tony frowned seriously, watching as the Princesses grin slipped. "With how the portal is constructed, only a high-level AI could ever really operate the device with pinpoint accuracy. I mean, it does have an emergency and safety measure installed to be manually operated if my AI is ever unavailable or taken down. But that is really only an emergency setting. You have to be aware, wherever one of my portal designs are, my AI will be too. It's non-negotiable." Tony's crossed arms tensed slightly, worried this might be a point of contention with the Wakandans.
"Frankly, I could only trust my AI to ever be the responsible true custodians of instant-transmit travel. There are a literal multitude of ways that shit could hit the fan if one of these babies isn't operated right. You've read the research notes," Tony nodded at Shuri, "You know the dangers. I know you could whip up an advanced AI if you felt the need for it," Tony nodded at the admittance, "But since this is technically 85% my invention ... I'm afraid ... giving you one of these portals ... I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if it were to ever malfunction or cause harm. I'd feel responsible, and I hope you can understand that and why I and my AI must put regulations and limits for the portals use in place."

"Like Peter's Uncle always says," Shuri replied quietly into the labs tense quiet, "With Great Power, Comes Great Responsibility."
Tony's tense muscles relaxed slowly as he watched the bright white toothy smile return to the Princesses face. "It's alright Tony," Shuri nodded seriously, "I understand. As the Head of The Wakandan Design Group, and a Princess of Wakanda, I am not unfamiliar with legal proceedings. I know you don't mean anything nasty by it," Shuri reassured, "You are just making sure to cover our asses. Besides," The Princess smirked, "I've already signed the contracts and agreements in regard to working with you and your AI. We already have an understanding that I won't hack or try to take control of them, and they won't hack or wonder around Wakanda's servers anymore that we allow. And since we are currently working on a legal bill to certify Artificial Intelligence as sentient beings and therefore should have human rights," Shuri grinned, "That would make them honoured guests in Wakanda, and I would be happy to play host for them. Besides," Shuri chuckled, "They make for great conversation partners." She glanced over at the General's stiff face, "The Dora are kinda a bore to talk to."

"Well, excuse me, Princess," Okoye huffed, ignoring the teenager's giggles, "If I am too busy with my duty to ever give into the business of small talk."

"See?" Shuri sighed, "So stiff."

"Sir," JARVIS intoned from Tony's ear implant, "Might we suggest that the initial course of these portal devices only be set to fixed locations?" Tony nodded thoughtfully as he brought up a hologram and began writing out the code and runes, with a curious Shuri moving to peer over her shoulder.

"Why not make the location of the physical portals the fixed location?" Shuri offered, as her dark eyes wandered the developing code, "These are only the first version of them after all. Once we've worked on further versions, we can spread the locations out."

"No use running all across the globe before you learn to crawl," Tony nodded absentmindedly, fingers flying across the screen.

"Are you going to be handing out any more of these portals?" Okoye leaned just slightly to the side to catch a glimpse of the screen, more than just a little curious.

"I was thinking of gifting one to The X-Men," Tony hummed, tracing out the relevant runes, "Things may be calmer, but Xavier does still have a school full of children," Tony brows furrowed in a small scowl, "It's always better for them to have a reliable escape route to evacuate, should they ever need it."

"That's more than reasonable," Okoye nodded stiffly.

"But that also means building devices at secure evacuation spots," Shuri hummed, pointing out a section in Tony's code that needed adjustment.

Tony was left giving a tired sigh and a wry grin, "Looks like we have a lot more work to do."

"Shuri! Tony!" Bruce huffed, hands on his hips as he stormed into the lab, followed by a scowling Jörmungandr, indulgent smiles of the King and Queen, and the frustrated sighs and headshakes of Rhodey and T'Challa, "We leave you for half a day! What ARE you doing?!"

"... heh ... Oops?"

Chapter Text

"Jor?"

"Hmm?" The World Serpent hummed distractedly.

"Should it be so calming in just watching Brucie do his Tai Chi?" Tony mussed, sitting to the side in the meditation room, on low chairs and sipping on green tea from authentic earthenware cups (only the best for his science bro), watching as Bruce Banner breathed deeply with his eyes closed and moved his body in slow sure movements.

"Mmm."

"And I gotta say," Tony tipped his cup back and forth to watch the fragrant tea swish, "I was never a big fan of tea, no matter how hard Jarvis tried. But I'm developing a taste for this green tea stuff. Tastes better than those green shakes I had to take a few years ago."

"Mmm."

"Jarvis would be so proud," Tony sniffed dramatically, orange speckled brown eyes twinkling as he watched Jörmungandr be transfixed by Bruce Banner.

"Hmm."

Seeing the conversation just wasn't going to happen with the serpent God so distracted, Tony sat back with a smirk as he reflected.
It had been a busy few weeks since that first jaunt to Wakanda and proving that Tony Stark CAN make science fiction, science fact! Although, the fact that he had made (with help) a mode of instantaneous travel through time and space, although at the moment limited to fixed locations on Earth, was not knowledge that was widespread.
He'd told Pepper and Happy, of course, though they didn't seem to be that enthused by it. They'd congratulated him, but Tony got the sense that they didn't really understand the colossal amaze-balls history changing thing that he had just done. And honestly? That was ok. He didn't need everyone falling over themselves, claiming him to be a genius (because he is), and how he is constantly bringing humanity forward by leaps and bounds (because he is).
Besides, he already had people like his Honey Bear who had praised his work up and down, in that proud Rhodey-Bear way of his, and Brucie whose eyes just seemed to sparkle as he imagined all the possible advantages of this new technology. Shuri had excitedly used Wakanda's portal to pop in and out between the fixed locations, even if only to tell Tony a joke she had just found, then pop back out again, instead of just contacting him using the holograms. This was of course before the Dora Milaje enforced Queen Romanda's new rule for the use of the portal - mainly to stop Shuri from being distracted from her actual work and projects to go gallivanting across Stark's secure locations. Of which he had spent the majority of those 'busy weeks' cranking out Stark Portals (name to be worked out later) and placed on many of Tony Starks lands and plots, with every security measure Tony and his AI could think of. Because what would be the point in creating escape routes and evacuation spots if they weren't protected?

Jor hadn't seemed to be as blown away as most, but then, he and his siblings had been Skywalking between Realms for centuries. His little Earth-bound portal was weaksauce compared to Godly Space Travel. Though Jörmungandr had seemed smug ... or was it proud? It was always hard to tell on his snakey face.
The World Serpent had also been hard at work, weaving spells and enchantments into the Asgardian Uru - being the only one currently available who could even work with the stuff - though, it was slow going. Jörmungandr had huffed frustratedly that even though his seiðr was strong (he did currently wrap his energy around the entire planet), he had never actually been trained as a sorcerer ... mage? Wizard? Seiðr-wielder was probably more apt, as the other connotations had negative associations, at least in Asgard. Jor stressed that since he and his siblings had been cast out at a young age (for immortals), Loki hadn't had the time to be able to teach them any magic more than the basics, sneaking in the Skywalking technique as a fallback plan.
Out of all of Loki's children, Fenrir and Jor were the least spell-flingy. But since they had spent the majority of their formative years stuck on Earth? That kinda made sense. They were more focused on physically surviving, not having much use for the magic arts, except for their natural-born shape-changing talent. Plus, magic teachers or resources were kinda scarce.
Hela and their other siblings, meanwhile, were veritable magic powerhouses - but since they had grown up in Helheim, that also made logical sense. They may be partial or full Jotunn, but even they needed to weave their seiðr into spells to protect themselves from the ancient Realm of frozen death. Hela having opened secret trades with the neutral Realms of Yggdrasil also helped, as they had access to tomes and magic for dummies books.

They had asked Elliot to weigh in on the problem, as out of them all left on Earth, the ex-Asgardian knew more about Jotunn and Asgardian culture than they did. He reassured them that Jor's struggle with seiðr was more than natural, as the majority of Jotunn were not actually seiðr-wielder's by trade - most were warriors. Seiðr-wielder's were frankly rare, in Jotunn culture, and were held in high regard. Elliot speculated that if King Laufey and Fárbauti had known their youngest was indeed a naturally born seiðr-wielder? They would have done more to Odin then just carve out his eye.
The fact that so many of Loki's children were seiðr-wielder's was frankly incredible - he stressed that because of Tony and Bruce's interaction with Loki and his family, their views of the Yggdrasil was warped. Magic was a rare thing, very few used it or got even close to the kind of control that the Lokison's commanded.
The ex-Aesir admitted to being somewhat relieved that at least one of Loki's overachieving spawn was approaching anything close to normal, and offered his help in, at least, inscribing the runes, of which he was intimately familiar - being a Norse Mythology Professor ... and old enough to even remember the old script before the Asgardians had ditched their alphabet for fancier looking ones of the elves. Or as Tony described it, being as old as the rock. The ex-mason hadn't found his little pun that funny.

And in watching The World Serpent and Elliot struggle to work on the Uru frame, that should hopefully, open the door of the rest of the Realms to them ... it made Tony's chest ache for their missing Gods. Don't get him wrong, he appreciated Jörmungandr and everything he has done - poor guy had been given the short stick in Tony's opinion. What with babysitting a pair of geniuses and making sure they didn't blow themselves up. He felt kinda bad for the number of times he himself had caused the God to drop everything and save his hapless ass in the last few months. Jor could have been meeting what was left of his extended family in outer space ... but instead, he was shepherding two mortals around, teaching them beginners magic, one more than the other.
Tony also felt kinda bad that his bumblings had pulled the God away from attending Brucie. He knew that Jörmungandr and Bruce Banner had become somewhat close in the last year, sharing their love of Earth spices and tea. He also knew that Jor had planned to spend this time away from his family spending more time with Bruce - why he felt that he couldn't do that with the other Gods here? Tony didn't know. Their closeness, while adorable and somewhat frustrating, also panged that tiny little corner of Tony's chest where he hid his deep-seated loneliness. He didn't begrudge them - honestly Tony wished they'd stop fluttering around each other and get together already, but Pepper had twisted his ear and told him to leave the two love birds to work it out for themselves. According to her, 'Not everyone was as eager as him to just jump into the sack with whoever caught his fancy' ... which, ouch Pep. Tony hadn't been that guy since he was dating Pepper herself. And he hadn't made the moves on anyone since their break up ... maybe that was his issue?

Either way, the frankly adorable love-struck puppy look on Jörmungandr's face as he watched Bruce stretch and breath was too precious. Pep wouldn't crucify him if he poked the snake just a little, right?

"Hey, Jor?"

"Hmm?"

"Bruce sure is good at the whole 'reach out and feel at peace with the universe' thing, huh?" Tony rested his chin on his hand with a smirk, watching the mesmerised God.

"Mmm."

"I imagine his forms are impeccable."

"Mmm."

"I'm sure you yourself find Brucie's 'form' impeccable."

"Mmm."

"Don't get me wrong, I can see the appeal. Brucie likes to hide under baggy button-ups and slacks or ancient robes, but Brucie is fit."

"Mmm."

"There's a reason his hulked out form is so muscley, Brucie likes to hide it under his mild manners and adorable curls, but the guy is jacked."

"Hmm."

"I imagine you'd love to wrap your coils around that?"

'Mmm," Jörmungandr purred.

Tony's smirk widened, seeing the growing blush on the Doctor's face as he silently continued with his practice.

"Welp, I'm sorry Jor, but as Brucie's science bro, I'm going to have to object," Tony mock huffed as he lightly slapped his hand on the table between them, the sudden sound grabbing the attention of the Serpent.

"Hmm?"

"If you're going to be so distracted by Brucie's 'divine form', I might have to restrict how many people can be in the meditation room at a time," Tony internally cackled at the flustered look on the God's face, "Do I need to separate you? Administer the 30 cm rule? At least buy the guy some roses or a coffee first." Tony rose a mock stern eyebrow to the God's splutters.

"Freyr!" Jörmungandr almost shrieked, remembering to keep quiet with a quick side glance to the Doctor who seemingly was unaware of what was happening around him.

"What?" Tony tilted his head to the side with an innocent smile, "Is something the matter?"

"Ugh," Jörmungandr huffed as he pushed himself up from the table, face dark in a flush, "You're impossible. I am going back to work. If Eir should ask after me, tell him I'll be in the communal lab." The God called over his shoulder as he flounced off in a dark-cheeked huff.

"Will do," Tony replied with a chuckle picking up his tea once again to take a smug sip.

"Was that really necessary Tony?"

The inventor smugly turned to see Bruce, obviously having finished his exercises, standing pink-cheeked in the middle of the studio floor, staring in his direction.

"Welcome back Brucie!" Tony cheered innocently, waving to the now empty spot at the tea table, "Need a tea after all that Tai Chi?"

Bruce sighed as he plodded over to the tea setting and plonked himself down in Jörmungandr's vacated chair and pouring himself a fresh cup. "It's not Tai Chi, Tony. It's Qigong. Well, technically some of it was Tai Chi, but you get the just of it."

"What's the difference?" Tony pondered as he refilled his cup with fresh hot tea, and blew on the steam rising from the surface.

"Qigong is a millennia-old system of coordinated body posture and movement, breathing, and meditation, used for the purposes of health, spirituality, and martial arts training," Bruce explained calmly, willing the blush to leave his cheeks. "With roots in Chinese medicine, philosophy, and martial arts, Qigong is traditionally viewed by the Chinese and throughout Asia as a practice to cultivate and balance qi. Essentially, Qigong is the medical practice of attaining qi flow, Tai Chi was the military application of Qigong, the martial arts side of it. But in the modern-day, it can be used for basically the same purpose, as it shares the same principles."

"Oh," Tony blinked the tea steam out of his eyes as he took a sip, hissing as he burnt his tongue, "I didn't realise Tai Chi was martial arts."

"Neither did I," Bruce admitted with a small smile as he watched Tony continue to blow on his tea, "Even though The Order of the Crane Mother is predominantly focused on using qi as a healing art, most monks in K'un-Lun are militarily trained. Few tend to focus their qi on it's healing properties, and focus more on its empowerment towards military might," Bruce's brow crinkled slightly in a small disappointed frown. "I understand that they have been warring with The Hand for centuries, but it saddens me that most of K'un-Lun have seemingly forgotten their original goal or purpose."

"That's the way with time I suppose," Tony shrugged as he carefully sipped his tea this time, "especially fighting an arch-nemesis for that long."

"Has there been any luck in finding the Iron Fist?" Bruce inquired hopefully.

"The Kid is still in Asia, knocking out the competition in underground fight clubs to earn cash," Tony smirked at the Doctor's disapproving grimace, "I agree, it's a bit unfair - Kid is literally packing an iron punch. But he's gotta get the funds somehow. It'll be a month or so yet before he's punched his way to American soil."

"What about The Hand? Or his families company?"

Tony scowled at the reminder, putting his teacup down. "It's not good, Brucie. JARVIS and my AI have been able to dig up plenty of dirt - their digital security is frankly laughable." Tony crossed his arms. "Long story short? The Hand is working with Rand Enterprises as illegal drug productions, in connection to gangs and a portion of the Russian Mafia. The elder Meachum isn't actually dead ... well actually he did die, but he made a deal with The Hand to bring him back to life," Bruce jolted back from the tea table in shock, "He conspired with The Hand to cover their agreement's to make and ship the drugs by sabotaging the Rand's private jet to murder the entire family."

"... Oh my God," Bruce breathed, staring at Tony's dark scowl with wide shocked eyes.

"That's not the worst of it," Tony grumbled darkly.

"What could be worse than an undead secret boss who facilitated the deaths of his co-founder's entire family?" Bruce placed his tea down to massage his temples.

"Are you familiar with 'Steel Serpent'?" Tony asked seriously.

"Steel Serpent? That highly illegal type of heroin that the police have been having trouble cracking down on?" Bruce gasped as he leaned his hands on the table, "Rand Enterprises and The Hand are the one's behind it?!" Bruce stared at Tony's dark face as he nodded solemnly. "What? What else have they done, Tony?"

"... Rhodey's father and sister were killed by one of the Steel Serpent trafficking gangs."

"... Oh God ... I ... I'm so sorry Tony," Bruce's eyes gleamed with a green glow.

"You don't need to apologise, Brucie, you didn't have any hand in it. Frankly, I want to thank you for bringing this to my attention," Tony growled with furious orange glinting eyes, "I finally know whose responsible. The Rhodes can finally have some closure. Now? It's personal."

"But ... How do you plan on taking them down? They are backed by an ancient organisation full of pseudo immortals," Bruce worried at his lip, "They are apparently powerful enough that The Order of the Crane Mother needed their own Dragon Warrior to battle them."

"I'll do to them what we are doing to HYDRA," Tony gave a small dangerous smirk, "In fact, my kids already are."

"You've routed them out of hiding and have a task force hunting down any and all connections to The Hand?" Bruce sat up a little straighter, feeling a mix of admiration and a shiver of fear at how quickly Tony got to work.

"The Hand may be an ancient secret organisation, but so was HYDRA," Tony shrugged lightly, slowly calming down from his anger, "And just like HYDRA? We aren't the only ones who want them gone. The law firm Nelson and Murdock especially seem to be keen on nailing these guys."

"A law firm?" Bruce rose a confused eyebrow, "Are they affiliated with Stark or SI?"

"Not yet," Tony smirked, "Nelson seems to be all for it, but Murdock is a stubborn bastard. Keeps insisting that he doesn't need SI's support to take the criminal syndicate down."

"Sounds somewhat familiar to someone I know," Bruce smirked into his teacup.

"What?" Tony sat up, blinking in confusion until he noticed the Doctors pointed smirk. "Oh, you mean me," Tony sighed as he forced his muscles to relax, "Eh, I'll take it. Especially since Murdock also seems to like running around in a costume and punch some bad guys, all under a silly name given to him by the unimaginative press."

"What?" Bruce almost spat his now lukewarm tea, "You mean to tell me a lawyer is running around New York as a vigilante?"

"Even better," Tony smirked, "A blind lawyer is running around New York as a vigilante."

"... Your serious?" Bruce studied the inventors face searching for the lie, but not finding one. "You are. So you've found at least one of the many vigilantes running around this city, and it turns out the guy is stubborn and doesn't want to work with you. Do you think he's worried you'll reveal him to the world?"

"Now why would I do a thing like that?" Tony smirked with a small head shake, "Unmasking someone at the masked ball is just rude."

"Tony," Bruce sighed, peering at the tired lines around the inventor's eyes, realising that it was actually odd for Tony to come and hang out in the meditation room at all. "What is it you actually wanted to talk to me about?"

Tony glanced up at the Doctor's caring eyes and huffed to himself, "That obvious am I?"

"You have been trying to distract me and Jörmungandr since you walked in," Bruce admitted with a small smile, "What's wrong?"

"Back in Wakanda ..." Tony seemed to struggle with the words, looking down at the tea table, "Bruce ... How is he?"

"... I assume you are talking about the Winter Soldier that is currently taking up room in Wakanda's Healing Wing at the palace?" Bruce garnered a guess, watching as Tony's ducked head gave a small nod. "Bucky Barnes is stable, Shuri and her technicians are working on HYDRA's brainwashing as we speak. The healers told me they would be ready to wake him and put him through recovery therapy in under a month." Bruce watched Tony carefully as he gave a sort of relieved but tense sigh, and nodded his head slightly. "Why do you ask?"

"You know how we plan to go to visit the X-Men this afternoon when T'Challa and Rhodey can spare the time?" Tony inquired, lifting his head to see Bruce's calm nod, "... I don't know. I guess, thinking about Xavier got me thinking about Magnito, which got me thinking about WWII. I guess ... I was wondering what Bucky and Magnito would think of each other."

"That would be a strange meeting, although I imagine it would be rather tense," Bruce nodded, "Being as they were, logistically, on the opposite ends of the same war."

"But, if Winter is still in recovery, that's a meeting we don't have to worry about for now," Tony sighed as he finally gave up on his cold tea and stood up, "Sorry to disturb your feng shui, Brucie. I'm going to head back to my lab until Sour Patch and Prince-Kitty get here."

Bruce shook his head fondly at the inventor's retreating back, "You know it's not feng shui, Tony. It's Qigong."

Tony just flapped an absent hand, throwing a cheeky grin over his shoulder as he made his way out the door, "Yeah yeah, whatever, kung fu panda."

Chapter Text

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters," Tony sighed as he walked out of the Wakandan-class jett that Prince T'Challa had offered to make the trip to meet with the X-men, and out onto the surprisingly lush green grounds, "Who would have thought, after all this time, I would finally end up getting to see it?"

"Your father had been rather insistent on getting you admitted," Xavier reminisced as he rolled up to the party smoothly, accompanied by Dr McCoy, Wolverine and Storm.

"Eh, it was mostly in a bid to get rid of me," Tony shrugged blithely, ignoring Bruce and the professor's small frowns, "Howard couldn't stand me constantly showing him up and wanted me out of his hair. If it wasn't here then it would be another boarding school that takes kids on for the majority of the year. Luckily, I tested out and applied for MIT, where I met my Platypus," Tony hugging Rhodey's arms even as the colonel huffed irritably, "So really, it's thanks to you turning my old man down that I even met the first love of my life!"

"Can you not refer to me like that?" Rhodey scowled as he pushed his best friend off of him by placing a hand on his face, "You're giving people the wrong idea. Besides," he smirked, "We all know your first true love was science."

"True enough," Tony shrugged after he had righted himself, grinning as he spotted T'Challa and Storm giving each other the eye, but turned to the X-men with sparkling eyes, "It's been a while since we've seen each other face to face. You really should come to the Tower again sometime!"

"Thank you Mr Stark, But we have been quite busy," Dr McCoy chuckled, his blue furry body covered in a suit and lab coat as always.

"You mean we are still busy. Or at least I am," Wolverine huffed, lifting a hand to give a lackadaisical wave as he turned around and began to head off, "Now that I've seen you land, I'll leave you with the Professor. I have a class to teach."

"So late in the afternoon?" Bruce blinked after the gruff mutant's retreating back.

"Our school's class schedules are not as strict as normal institutions," Storm replied with a polite smile as Xavier slowly turned his wheelchair around, "Since we have limited numbers of students, classes can be a bit more one-on-one and informal."

"Yeah? What does Mr McGruff teach?" Tony inquired as the small group began to lead them towards the building.

"Art," Dr McCoy replied over his shoulder.

"... Your kidding?" Tony blinked.

"Actually he's not," Storm smiled back at them, "Wolverine also teaches a few classes on mechanics, history and is one of the department heads of fitness."

"Not sport?" Jörmungandr smirked.

"It was decided that Logan was a bit too competitive," Xavier gave his guests a small secret smile as they lead them into the main hall.

"I can see that," Tony chuckled.

"And what is it that you teach?" T'Challa leant forward, intent eyes never leaving Storm for some reason.

"Agriculture and English," the calm woman gave the Prince a loaded smile - Tony was beginning to suspect these two might actually have a history, and if not, with how much they were making eyes at each other, Tony smirked, he'd bet a blueberry muffin that they would immediately after this. "Which reminds me, I must get to my next class," Storm smiled gently at their guests, giving a nod to Prince T'Challa, and departed.

"Most of the classes are either on the floors above us, outside on the grounds, or below us in the labs," Xavier continued the tour as they slowly meandered down the hall, "Dorms are also above. The ground floor contains the recreation and Dining Hall."

"This building is rather grand," Bruce smiled as he admired the detailing.

"My stepfather constructed the mansion with a view to taking the threat of nuclear war very seriously, having constructed a bunker under the mansion that could protect its occupants from a nuclear barrage," Xavier explained as they made their way towards the busiest part of the mansion. "I and a few of my students have since made our own adjustments."

Tony was about to make a comment that he wished his own father had had half the sense the professor's step-dad had possessed when a loud abrupt offended noise distracted him from their conversation. Turning, Tony's eyes widened as he laid eyes on a young red-haired woman, dressed in a black dress and red coat, holding a red apple out of which she had already taken a few bites, glaring at Tony as if she could will him to death.

"What are YOU doing here?!"

"Wanda? What's wrong?" A head of platinum blond hair poked out of what Tony assumed to be the Dining Hall, holding a half-full bowl of cereal. Turning to look at Xavier and his guests, the young speedster's eyes widened slightly in surprise, but tellingly lacked any anger or malice. "Oh, did you invite them, Professor?"

"Indeed I did," Xavier nodded with a small smile, keeping a watchful eye on the visibly seething Wanda, "We are currently giving our allies the mansion tour."

"Oh, cool," Pietro nodded his head acceptingly, taking another spoonful of his cereal.

"Pietro!" Wanda shrieked, causing even those without enhanced hearing to cringe, "How can you just accept that! This is our new home!"

"Well, yes. But the Professor did just say that these guys are our allies," Pietro chewed his cereal nonchalantly as if his sisters histrionic's weren't a cause for concern. "Besides, it's already been proven that Stark had nothing to do with the bombings," the young man shrugged against his twin sister's glare, "So why shouldn't they be here?"

"Because Stark is a greedy, socialist, capitalist pig," Wanda snarled, angry red swirls jittering around her hands.

"Is that Wanda's dulcet tones I hear?" came a jovial voice as an older young man with silvery platinum blond hair waltzed out of the dining room, with a larger bowl of cereal, the spoon hanging out of his mouth. Spotting Pietro's bowl of cereal, the silver-haired man grinned, clinking his bowl against the younger, "Nice!" Then turning back to the fuming redhead, "Whatever is the problem now? Grand-niece?"

"Don't call me that!" Wanda scathed, giving everyone in the hallway a glare before throwing her unfinished apple into a nearby bin and flouncing off. Leading her twin to sigh with tired frustration.

"I am sorry for my twin sister," Pietro shrugged, swirling his cereal with a spoon, "She always has had a bad habit of holding grudges. Even when it doesn't make sense."

"Sisters," the older man laughed cajolingly, "They never make sense. My sister is exactly the same. Although, since she's human and doesn't have explodey powers," the older blond grinned, "The tantrums my Wanda throws are less dangerous."

"I could only be so lucky," Pietro sighed forlornly.

"I'm sorry, I haven't introduced you, have I?" Xavier smiled, "This young man is Peter Maximoff-"

"Or Quicksilver," the man interrupted with a cocky grin, "As my mutant name would be."

"Maximoff?" Tony blinked, pointing after Wanda, "Are you actually related to them?"

"Distantly," Peter shrugged with a grin, taking a big mouthful of cereal. "My branch of the family moved to America years ago, but I had no idea we still had family left in Sokovia."

"He isn't really our uncle," Pietro shrugged with a sort of head nod, "But following the family tree, he would technically be something like a distant cousin? But calling him Uncle is simpler. We had no idea we even had family in America."

"Peter!" Tony startled slightly at the loud booming voice of Magneto as he stomped down the hallway, "Is there a particular reason that your niece is now destroying the plaza's grand fountain and screaming bloody murder?"

"Why do you automatically assume it had anything to do with me?" Quicksilver smirked back at the auster steely-eyed glare given to him, seemingly unbothered that he was staring down an angry Magneto.

"It is nearly always you," Magneto pointed out blandly, "Although," Erik turned to stare at Tony Stark and the other guests, "I can assume that this time, it was indeed, not you."

"Hey!" Tony quickly held his hands up, "We didn't actually do anything!"

"Indeed," the elderly mutant drawled as his light blue eyes inspected the group, but seemed to be satisfied with his answer. "I apologise for the rash actions of my grand-niece, Charles," Erik nodded his head to an amused Xavier, "I'll be sure to make young Wanda repair what she breaks."

"Thank you, Erik," Xavier smiled, enjoying the stern glare his old friend gave him in return.

"You stop laughing at me, right now, Charles," Magneto huffed before he turned and stalked back off down the hall.

"I wouldn't dream of it, old friend."

"... Am I right in assuming this means that old Mr Fridge Magnet has kids?" Tony questioned into the silence of the hall.

"Yep!" Quicksilver chirped as he scooped up more cereal, "Not that he really knew about that until a few years ago."

"I don't think I could ever imagine Magneto with kids," Tony professed.

"Honestly? Neither did Erik," Xavier chuckled, seemingly endlessly amused.

"Professor, I'm sorry for my sister's actions," Pietro apologised to Xavier, but the softly smiling elder mutant just waved the apology away, making the young platinum blond turn towards Tony Stark, who was surprised, "I also should probably apologise for the whole ... attacking you and your guard ... and the whole ..." Pietro squirmed uncomfortably, "Choking thing."

Tony blinked in surprise, but quickly waved the apology away, "Hey, you already apologised to me the first time, back at the Tower," Tony reassured the frowning young man, "No reason for you to apologise again."

"Still ... You are an ally to us now," Pietro nodded seriously, "It wouldn't do to have ... bad blood between us."

"Just don't attack him again," Rhodey growled softly, like the big overprotective momma-bear he insists he isn't.

"I swear it," Pietro quickly nodded, holding his cereal up as if it was a shield, "Unlike my twin, I don't hold grudges. There is no point."

"Well," Quicksilver slapped his fellow speedster on the back, grinning when he didn't spill his cereal, "Now that drama is over, I promised you a race, didn't I?" the elder blond rose an eyebrow with a smirk, leading his younger counterpart off, throwing a "see-ya later Professor!" back over his shoulder.

"Professor Xavier," T'Challa inquired as they slowly restarted their way through the mansion tour, "Is it always so chaotic?"

"Living with a school full of young mutants," Charles chuckled, "One becomes used to the abnormal."

"It is practically our life," Dr McCoy agreed with a nod as they made their way back out onto the grounds, avoiding the sounds of crushing marble, gushing water and frustrated screaming, onto the back lawn, where they witnessed a bevy of young mutants, ranging from around 10 years old to those that were technically young adults, spending their free time out in the afternoon sun.

"Honestly I'm surprised there aren't more," Tony smiled at the kids running around the grounds, "But I suppose, if their mutant abilities don't awaken till puberty, I shouldn't be so shocked."

"Not always," Xavier correctly gently, something sad in his eyes as he watched the children, "As you can see by the few 10-year-olds, a mutant's powers can appear sporadically, either from heightened emotions or stress."

"Still," Tony's eyes wandered the beautiful sprawling grounds, "It's nice to know that any future kid who needs help will find it here."

"I'm afraid," Dr McCoy sighed as the sadness seemed to grow over Xavier's frame, "That won't be the case."

"What?" Bruce blinked, looking away from the laughing teenagers who were playing a rather interesting version of frisbee, "Why not? Is something the matter?"

The visitors to the X-Mansion were concerned as the adult mutants of the group looked a mixture between sad, regretful or strangely angry.

"If you need funds," Tony began to offer, "I'm more than happy to support-"

"What Charles and his coterie are refusing to voice," Magnito stomped up to the group, followed closely by Mystique, "Is that there isn't going to be many more. Without even realising it, we have already lost."

"What?" Tony blinked at the tall austere German man.

"10 years ago," Dr McCoy rumbled in a soft painful voice, "In secret, a company we haven't been able to find the name of were putting chemicals in mass-produced foods such as genetically modified corn stalks. These chemicals suppressed the mutant X-gene from being produced," the green bloomed in Bruce's widened eyes, "and thus are responsible for the lack of natural X-gene mutant births in recent years. We've only just recently become aware of this, through our own investigation."

"But ..." Bruce's breaths were deep and uneven, "That's ..."

"We missed it," Magnito seethed, clenching his fists, "It happened right under our noses, and we couldn't do a thing!"

"This chemical doesn't hurt those already born with the gene, right?" Tony asked, feeling a little frantic.

"The chemical does not harm us," Xavier assured the inventor soothingly, "It only suppresses the gene from being passed on to the next generation."

"But ... you're 'Homo sapiens superior'," Tony glanced between all of the mutants in attendance, "The next step in human evolution! Humanities first step in naturally using this Realm's seiðr!"

"That was the theory," McCoy sighed, taking his glasses off and cleaning them on his lab coat.

"Someone has taken all Midgardian's destiny into their own hands," Jörmungandr's hissed quietly, trying not to frighten the nearby playing children, "They would be so foolhardy as to play with the natural order?"

"I have searched," Xavier admitted with a sad grimace, his eyes distant, "But there have been no new births of those holding the mutant gene in the last 3 years."

"Then they have capped Midgard off at the knees," Jörmungandr took a shuddering Bruce into his arms as the Doctor continued to breathe deeply.

Magnito scowled as he looked over the school's grounds. "Homo sapiens superior is dead."

"... ... No."

"Freyr?"

"No," Tony growled, crossing his arms as a dark look came over his face, "No. Nope. Nu-uh! I am not standing for this," the inventor snarled as he dug into his pocket, extracting the Real-Time tablet and activated it with a flick of the wrist, and furiously began typing.

"Stark?" Xavier blinked up at the furious inventor from his wheelchair, surprised by the bright orange glow of the human's eyes.

"When are those idiots with overblown superiority complexes going to get it into their heads," Tony seethed, blazing orange eyes rapidly scanning the information fed to him on the tablet, typing fingers almost a blur, "that just because they have some stupid ideal of what a 'superior race' should be, does not mean they can go ahead and try to play God?"

"Tones?" Rhodey moved closer to the frantic inventor, eyes keen, not flinching even when Tony turned on him.

"You get me, right, Sugar bear? This is like that conversation we had about Captain Dud all over again!" The smothered shocked laughter at Tony's name-calling was seemingly ignored in his burning passion-filled rant. "SHIELD rescues a german scientist who just so happens to have a super-soldier serum, the American military gets it into their heads that they want a super-soldier army - completely ignoring that eugenics had been scientifically discredited in the United States in the 1930s as a pseudo-science and only practised by morally corrupt hacks!" the inventor snarled.

"You said it," Rhodey nodded his head with a small smirk, knowing by experience what Tony was going to do and 100% behind his decision, "Eugenics is bad."

"Now I'm not saying I don't see why they wanted super-soldiers, or that Captain Underpants didn't do some good during WWII," Tony murmured as he turned back to his tablet, sure in the knowledge that his best friend supported him, "But the idiots showed no foresight. What exactly were they going to do with an army of super-soldiers in peacetime? How would they control them?"
Tony turned to glance in Bruce's direction, whose green eyes were now focused on the inventor, still cuddled in Jörmungandr's arms, "History has shown us, time and again, that the military cannot be trusted to treat enhanced fairly. And it's shown us that those who are suddenly given power with no support structure behind them, either go megalomanic or spend their lives running away from those that would control or corrupt them. If Spangles hadn't gone under the ice ... if people like my own father didn't fail to recreate the serum," Tony admitted with a grimace, ignoring the soft gasp he heard behind him, "... What state would the world currently be in? We can't let injustices like this stand in a civilised society!"
Tony snapped up to stare pointedly at the mutants around him, "You were born the way you are. What gives these assholes the right to say how you should, or should not exist?!"

"I believe you are right Freyr," Jörmungandr smirked, flashing a serpentine fang at Tony's orange-eyed glance, "Such misdeeds should not go unpunished."

"And who are you," Magnito stood firm under the human's blazing orange glare, meeting it with a steely stare of his own, "To be the one to do anything about it? What could you possibly do?"

"Oh, several things," Tony gave a dangerous smirk, eyes not leaving Magnito's in his challenge. "I have a history in giving the smackdown to assholes who go way out of line. Ever heard of the Mandarin? The 10 Rings? ... No? You wouldn't," Tony's sharp smirk widened, "Because I ended them. I'll do to these bastards as I did to them, as I am doing to HYDRA and The Hand. I'll hunt them down to the ends of the Earth ... Fuck, I'll do it to anyone who thinks they can torture the innocent and stomp on progress."

"Those are dangerous words, Stark," T'Challa warned, his face curiously blank of expression.

"I'm not worried," Tony's smirk lessened into a small smile, "I have my AI, Honey Bear, Brucie and even the Gods to stop me if they think I'm going too far. Hell, I'd probably listen to you, Shuri or your parents if you insisted I was doing something wrong." Tony blinked at the Wakandan Prince, "Tell me, am I?"

T'Challa seemed to be fused to the spot, contemplating furiously before he opened his mouth slowly, "At this moment in time ... I do not believe so."

Tony nodded to the Prince seriously, turning back to Magento with a small sharp smirk, "That's why I'd be the one to do it. I have the resources and experience. Of course, I wouldn't say no to a little help. Of course, I won't ask for it for free," Tony brought his tablet back up, "The squishy sciences are not my forte, but I promise, even if we can't find a cure for the effects of this chemical, we will find a way to manufacture the next best thing."

"As much as I appreciate your willingness to jump to our defence," Xavier warily shook his head, "I feel like I have to object."

"What?" Tony stared at the wheelchair-bound professor blankly.

"It wouldn't be right to attack a company for acting out of fear."

"Oh," Magneto exclaimed in frustration, too restrained to put his hands up in frustration, "Not with this martyrdom again, Charles!"

"We cannot go out and attack every single person who targets us, otherwise we would end up fighting the world," Xavier patiently extolled to his scowling partner, "Hate breeds hate. We have been over this. We cannot - should not - act against those who have acted on what they feel is right."

"What?!" the X-men jolted back from the inventor's outburst, somewhat unnerved by Tony Stark's furiously glowing eyes, "You are going to let them get away with that?! What? Just going to lie down and let them walk all over you? Just because these dickheads are part of the angry majority?!" Tony's body positively vibrated from the wafts of angry squirming orange energy oozing out of his every pore. "You're just going to give up?! Before you even tried?!"

Staring at the fuming, glowing man who, by his own account, was 100% human, and yet gave off as much energy as any mutant, Erik's face slowly grew into a dangerous smirk. "No. At least, I will not."
Magnito turned to Charles, crossing his arms as he looked to his old friend sternly, "I did not come this far, fight this long, nor put up with your prattling preaching," Erik glared at Charles pointedly, "just to let those monsters win. I stand with Stark." Magneto proclaimed smirk widening at seeing that gleam he loved so dearly returns to his old friend's eyes again, "The future of mutantkind ... humankind ..." Erik's smirk twisted slightly at Xavier's small gasp, "Depends on it."

"Come on Charles," Mystique smiled knowingly at her old friend as he gazed up at Magneto, "You told me yourself that it's not wrong to stand up for yourself. And look," she nodded to the human's who watched them with glowing eyes, "These humans agree. It's time we did something. And we aren't wrong for wanting something better."

"Mend what is broken. Improve what can be improved. Midgard is the weakest Realm of all the 9 Realms in the Yggdrasil," The World Serpent smirked as he gazed at the orange wrathful mortal in front of him, "Yet, it is the most chaotic. Your rate of advancement compared to all the other Realms is insane. Your society is the weakest, and yet the most socially advanced. You live such short lives," Jörmungandr brushed his hand over Bruce's curls, "And yet you have the longest memories and insist on studying the past so its horrors do not become your present. It's something no other civilisation in the other 9 Realms ever thought to do. When was it?" Jörmungandr glanced up to meet the professor's wide eyes, "That you decided to give up on what it is that makes you human?"

"I admit it, I'm selfish," Tony chuckled dryly as he gave a shrug, "But if refusing for settling for less makes me selfish, so be it. Midgard cannot lose the mutants," Tony smirked at Xavier's shocked countenance and Magneto's return smirk, "Any species, any ecosystem, always thrives when there is diversity. If there is nothing in Midgard but humans, that never change? We are doomed. As an entire Realm. Let's not forget," Tony scoffed wryly as he pointed a finger straight up into the blue cloudless sky, "We have a tyrant heading our way to attempt to wipe us out of existence. Let's not make it easy for him, hmm?"

"And you think," Xavier swallowed dryly, "That mutantkind will be an important step in helping to stop him?"

"Of course," Tony's energy softened as did his smirk, "He's coming to wipe us all out. Not just all the humans, and not just all the mutants. I mean everyone." Tony pointed out bluntly, "Midgard is our home and belongs to all of us, even the ones who came from a long way away and now call our Realm home," Tony smiled at The Serpent Gods, "Why shouldn't I expect everyone who lives here would want to protect it?"

"What your asking for isn't going to be easy," Rhodey sighed with a grin.

"Nothing worth having ever is," Tony grinned back.

"I have often wondered," T'Challa mused allowed with a small smirk, "What it was that the Asgardian Royalty saw in you to proclaim you King of Midgard. Now I guess I can see why."

The orange energy that had been swirling around the inventor immediately dissipated, even the orange glow in his eyes diminished as a blush too over the billionaire's face. "I told you I am not the King! No one would ever agree to that!"

"I don't know Tony," Bruce gave a small smile as the green slowly left his eyes, "That speech you just gave was starting to sound like a King's speech to me."

"It did not!"

Chapter Text

"Goodmorning Miss Potts," JARVIS called as the SI President entered the penthouse floor, dressed in her business blouse and pencil skirt and smart heels, as smart and put together as she always worked to be, smiling up at the nearest camera.

"Goodmorning Jarvis," Pepper greeted, glancing around the empty penthouse, "Where is everyone? Am I here too early?" Pepper pulled up her Stark tablet to check her schedule, "I thought this was around the time that our resident geniuses had breakfast?"

"Sadly," JARVIS sighed, "That is a tradition that fell out of the habit a month after the other God's left for Jotunheim, and Dr Banner left for his journey of self-discovery."

"... Is that so?" Pepper's eyes squinted.

"Dr Banner has been preoccupied with work once he returned to the Tower, although he makes sure to eat regular meals with Sir and Mr Lokison."

"Where are they now?" Pepper typed something out on her pad.

"Mr Lokison is in the sunning room," JARVIS supplied, "Dr Banner is eating a light breakfast in his personal rooms. Sir is working in his lab."

"And how long has Tony been doing that?" Pepper asked with a false light voice.

"Sir has been working in his lab for the last 65 hours."

Pepper's immaculate nails abruptly clacked on the Stark pad screen. "I see," Pepper purred. "Is the lab currently on lockdown?" she inquired politely.

"Not currently, Miss Potts."

"Thank you, Jarvis," the SI President smiled politely, tucking the Stark pad under her arm and smartly turned around and made her way back to the elevator. "Down to the lab, if you please, Jarvis."

"As you wish, Miss Potts."

On the admittedly short travel down, even though Tony's private labs were deep in the underground levels, and the penthouse was the towers very top - Stark built elevators were smooth and efficient - Pepper mentally prepared her argument, readying herself for the verbal smack-down-drag-out she would end up having with the inventor. It was how their arguments always used to play out when she had to point out that Tony was too deep into a project, and forgot to look after himself. Often, Pepper sighed to herself, Tony seemed to forget that he wasn't also a machine like the inventions he surrounded himself with.

But upon reaching the lab and walking in on Tony's hunched form, all of Pepper's planned reprimands went flying out the window.
He was sitting at the desk - warning sign number one. Tony never sat at the desk if he could just sit on a table, or a bench, or the floor - chairs only when he had company. Sitting on a chair at the desk? This was serious.
The lab was an absolute mess - granted, that was Pepper's usual opinion, but Tony always argued it was more organised chaos. This looked like a bomb had hit, or more likely, a frantic hurricane Tony had swept through and in a fit of peak, thrown all of his tools and scrap around. Pepper usually compared her friend with a toddler, but it was rare he actually threw a tantrum. Tony took very good care of his tools.
The inventor himself look dishevelled like he hadn't slept or washed in a while. Sitting at his desk, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes. Honestly, Pepper was hoping she'd never see her boss and friend like this again. It reminded her of his low days, struggling to find a cure or a way to save the day, going to the ends of human endurance to find a solution, on the brink of burning out.

Not for the first time, Pepper lamented. Tony had been doing so well!
She had been against it at first, but having the God's in the Tower had done the inventor a world of good. Pepper could tell, these past 2 years of being in their acquaintance, had been the best she had ever seen the inventor in.
Pepper mentally kicked herself for not realising that this might have been the outcome and organising something to stop Tony from sliding back into old bad habits once he was essentially alone in the Tower again. She wasn't his personal assistant to organise his life anymore ... but she was his friend. She sheepishly admitted, even if just to herself, that she had become a little absorbed in her new personal relationship with Happy, that Tony had kind of taken a back seat. She was allowed to have her own life - but Tony had always needed a stern hand, a gentle push, and a friendly hug. Otherwise ... the lonely inventor might just forget himself altogether.

"Tony?" Pepper called out gently as she softly padded into the lab, she knew how to soften her step when it was needed, even in her business heels. Tony slowly took his hands away from his face, peering up at his SI president with bleary red eyes. "Tony," Pepper crooned as she gently took in his face, "Have you slept at all? Have you eaten?"

"Too busy Pep," Tony croaked, causing his friend to frown, clip smartly to the nearby lab kitchen and come back with a glass of water, and stood over him with an eagle eye to make sure he drank all of it.

"Too busy with what?" Pepper inquired gently, bringing up her Stark pad and checking over the schedules. "The X-men are reporting that the portal device is running smoothly, and are using it to help coordinate operations on Genosha," Pepper scrolled down. "Wakanda is reporting that their energy shield productions are running smoothly and that Bucky Barnes is now awake and in rehabilitation therapy. The STARK Higher Education Program is running smoothly, with application numbers on the rise. Even the land developments on your recently mass land purchase are running without a hitch." Pepper scrolls through the information fed to her by the AI, "HYDRA Investigation is under new management and abiding by the stricter code of conduct. Department of Damage Control is reporting more numbers at every station and no reports of any major incidents on street level. The investigation into Rand Enterprises and The Hand is underway, with many gang members and drug operations raided and seized. And legal inquiries have been made into the professional conduct and actions of Alkali-Transigen - in regards to their recent actions of contaminating food products with unspecified chemicals. I'm sorry Tony," Pepper glanced down at the bleary-eyed scientist, "But I don't understand what has you so stressed."

"... It's the Realms ..."

"Realms?" Pepper gently and calmly moved a few pieces of scrap and papers away to start clearing the desk.

"The other Realms of the Yggdrasil, Pep!" Tony attempted to fling a dramatic hand but didn't have much energy behind it. "Elliot, Jor and I have been banging our heads against the wall to get this damn portal to go off-world, but we just can't seem to find the right code. Elliot and Jor are having trouble with the Uru, apparently, it's being a naughty little boy and should go into time out," Tony huffed, "And I haven't been able to come up with any code or rune sequences that are getting us any further. And that's all I've been able to do - write rune sequences and code! Because this thing," Tony glared at the pendant hanging innocently around his neck, "Is stopping me from even attempting to do anything more than the basics. I'm practically useless at this point!"

"I wouldn't say useless Tony," Pepper smiled down at the inventor's tired antics.

"I am completely useless!" Tony argued fervently. "I can't help with the enchanting the Uru, I can't do any cool spells or summon any fire! Instead, I'm stuck over here in the baby corner, sticking all the toys in my mouth," Tony pouted with a deep scowl, although Pepper had to hide her grin at the ridiculously precious image that description produced in her brain.
"Without the portal being interdimensional, we are all stuck," Tony explained. "The only being left on our team who can travel between Realms is limited to how far he can go, and with the others gone, it's not safe for him to go traipsing off into the unknown with no one able to get him back.
"And what about Asgard? We haven't heard anything from them since they sent the Golden Goon Patrol, and we sent them straight back. Doesn't the All-Daddy have the dark energy or the Odinforce or whatever? Why haven't they answered the demands that were sent with the Idiot Brigade? Why haven't they sent us a detachment of their scholars, so they can help us build this stupid thing? They are missing their Bifrost - why aren't they taking us up on an offer of a replacement way of travel? Have they rescinded their offer of allyship? And we are just too distant to notice?
"Also, why have we heard nothing about Vanahiem?" Tony plough on, "Asgard can't really expect to just send the Goof Troupe to wipe out the Marauders, claim victory, then zip back out again, and everything would be fine? What kind of great overseer of a government is that? Where are the reports of survivors? Damages? What state is the Realm in? They were invaded and raided! And it's been months! They could be in a desperate situation, and we can't help them."

Tony scrabbled at his hair frustratedly, until Pepper gently took hold of his hands to stop him from pulling on his hair. The overtired billionaire stared up at his long time friend and once lover with stinging red eyes, as he whined in a small voice, "I miss them Pep."

"Oh Tony," Pepper bent down, taking her friend into her arms, and tucking his head under her chin as she soothed him, "Thor, Loki and his kids are on a very important mission, and doing all they can to help a civilisation in need. Didn't they promise that they would be back soon?"

"But that was almost 4 months ago," Tony argued in a small voice.

"Rescuing an entire World is a big undertaking, Tony, even for God's!" Pepper gently rocked the inventor in her arms back and forth. "Elliot assured us that even though he couldn't enter Jörð's secret lands, he could get word from there. And he promised if he heard anything, we'd be the first ones to know." Pepper rationalised.
"Maybe," Pepper breathed, gathering herself for the inventor's reaction, "The next stage of the portal is impossible, without Loki's help? And hey, that's ok!" Pepper bulldozed over Tony's possible arguments as he turned to glare up at her while in her arms. "It's OK if maybe we can't take the next step without them here. Loki is supposed to be the strongest magic-user of the age. Maybe something like this NEEDS someone like him to even be possible. Besides," Pepper attempted to cheer Tony up, "They promised they would come back as soon as they could. Maybe they are just a little delayed?"

"Even if that might be the case," Tony sighed, leaning back into his President's arms a little, "What do you expect me to do in the meantime? Twiddle my thumbs?"

"Out of everyone currently in the Tower," Pepper huffed a laugh, "I know better than anyone else that you are incapable of sitting still, Tony."

"So that means I-"

"-But," Pepper squeezed the inventor's shoulders slightly, "That doesn't mean you should grind yourself into the dirt trying to accomplish everything at once. The God's have their jobs, as do the X-men, the Wakandan's, all of your SI and Tower staff and departments, Bruce and your AI. You don't have to take everything onto your shoulders. Let us take some of that burden."

"Pep," Tony stared at the redhead that he adored, then slowly gave a tired minuscule nod, then rested his head on her shoulder.

"Everything will be alright, Tony," Pepper soothed as she petted his hair, "Let us take on the bulk of the duties while you take some time off, clean up, and collect your strength. We will all be here, and we will all work together to make this work." Pepper smiled at Tony's subdued nod, "It's alright Tony. We have a lot to be going on with, but we will see it done. You've gathered something of a terrifying company behind you - and I don't just mean Bruce, The World Serpent, Rhodey, Happy and myself," Pepper's smile inched into a smirk and Tony's quiet huff of amusement. "You just concentrate on getting better, and once you're well again, you'll join us in our quest to save the world from itself, won't you?"

"Yes, Miss Potts," Tony smiled lightly as he started to slowly nod off, warm and comfortable in his precious one's arms, "... I'm sorry."

"Thank you, Tony," Pepper smiled warmly down into Tony's mussed brunet hair, "But don't think just because you've made yourself sick and I'm currently going easy on you, that you won't be reprimanded for allowing yourself to fall back into old habits mister." Pepper chuckled as she was only answered by soft snores.

Chapter Text

"Mr Nelson, Mr Murdock, thank you for taking the time to meet with us," Pepper smiled as she clipped into the small meeting room at the aforementioned founders of the Nelson and Murdock law firm, followed closely by Happy, who stood at her right hand as she took a seat, "My name is Virginia Potts, President of SI, and with me is Mr Harold Hogan, SI's Head of Security. I hope you don't mind?"

"Not at all, not at all!" Nelson beamed as he happily shook hands with Pepper, but holding his hands up with an easy understanding smile when the bodyguard refused to, "I have to say, we are honoured that you took time out of your busy schedule to meet us all the way down here!"

"I'm sure Hell's Kitchen is a far cry from your lofty skyscrapers," Murdock huffed, growling when his best friend and co-founder elbowed him none too gently.

"I'm sorry about him," Nelson smiled tremulously, "Mornings always make Matt grumpy."

"No offence was taken," Pepper smiled politely, "Mr Stark is much the same."

"You'd know," Murdock tilted his head slightly, the red of his glasses casting a strange light on his face, "Seeing as you and Stark were past lovers."

"Matt!" Foggy hissed under his breath to his best friend, putting a restraining hand on Murdock's right wrist, "What the hell are you doing, man? Cut it out!" Then quickly turning back to Pepper and Happy with a frantic expression, "Please excuse him!"

"It's alright," Pepper's congenial smile never slipped, as Happy's face remained stony as ever, "Mr Murdock is free to speak his mind. We can't very well work towards an agreement if there were any bad blood between us."

"Although," Happy intoned from over her shoulder, his watchful gaze never leaving the seemingly blind lawyer, "I wasn't aware SI and Murdock had any past history to be bloody over."

"Foggy and I have already been over this, as I'm sure you'll remember the first time you reached out to us," Murdock replied stiffly, hands clenched into fists, "I have no intention of letting our law firm be bought out, nor am I willing to become some billionaires lackey. The only cases we take are to protect the innocent."

"Matt ..." Nelson sighed, although his face spoke of his empathy towards his friend's unflinching ideal.

"SI has no intention of forcing you to take on cases," Pepper calmly replied, ignoring when the blind lawyer scoffed, "We merely wish to help you achieve your admirable goal."

"Oh? And what would such help cost us? Our souls?" Murdock scoffed, standing up from the lumpy second-hand couch with much more grace than would be expected from someone who was blind, "I've said it once, and I'll say it again! We don't need the help of a bloodthirsty company!"

"Matt!" Nelson frowned, somewhat perplexed about his best friend's stance on this.

"Oh?" Happy turned to watch the irritable lawyer slowly make his way out of the meeting room, "That's somewhat rich, coming from the guy who spends his nights playing vigilante and beating bad guys bloody in the back alleys."

Murdock stiffened, as did Nelson, eyes wide and panicked, staring between his best friend's back and their guests.

"Yes," Pepper sighed, shuffling a few papers around in the folder she brought along, "Dr Stark and those who are close to him, are aware of your late-night actions as a vigilante as of late," Pepper smiled reassuringly at Nelson's panicked face, "This is not widely known, however, and we are more than happy to keep silent on the matter."

In a flicker of movement that was almost supernatural in its speed, Murdock pivoted on the balls of his feet and dashed toward the guests, shocking Foggy to bolt backwards out of his seat with a scream of warning, watching in horror as his best friend lashed out at SI's President - only to be stopped by the bulk of Happy, who moved seamlessly to block Daredevil's attack, holding up something that looked like a retractable police baton in defence to block the incoming blow, only that along its sides, it glowed with strange blue markings. As soon as the vigilante's arm touched the baton, the runes came to life, sizzling with tangible electricity, shocking Murdock and causing blue rings of energy to wrap around the assailant's arms and legs, bringing the attacker down to smash prone on the ground.

Everything was still for a moment, Foggy blinking in stunned shock at his friends still body, for a second afraid he was actually dead, only for Matt to come out of his shock a moment later and begin to struggle and curse, but unable to get free or pull himself up, causing Nelson to breathe a sigh of relief.

Happy let out an impressed slow whistle as he looked between Murdock's struggling form on the office floor and the glowing baton in his hand. "Damn ... Boss wasn't kidding when he said the new self-defence tech would be shocking." Turning his stony gaze on the shocked Nelson, who in a panic quickly put his hands up in surrender. "Don't worry about your buddy, Stark assured me that the baton is designed only to subdue. The electric shock, binds, and gravitational pull keeping him on the floor won't hurt him. Any injuries he'll get from this is from his own foolish actions."

"Thank you Hogun," Pepper called from behind the Head of Security, giving a small smile when Happy looked over his shoulder to check that Pep was alright, "I was hoping such security measures wouldn't be needed," she sighed as Happy moved back to her side, "But it was an outcome we were prepared for."

"You tricked us!" Murdock snarled from his position on the floor, the side of his face smushed into the old stained carpet, "You planned this from the start!"

"I assure you, that wasn't the case," Pepper sighed, opening the manila folder she had in hand and laid a few forms on the old wooden coffee table between her and the shocked Mr Nelson. "But, being who we work for, and who our best friend is," Pepper tilted her head in acknowledgment, "The need for security is something we cannot ignore."

"Best friend?" Nelson blinked at the SI corporate powerhouses in front of him, surprised that they'd ever admit to such a thing.

"Yes, best friend," Pepper smiled politely to the trembling brunet, "I am aware most assume that business types do not subscribe to the idea," the corner of her lip ticked up at the lawyer quick look away and embarrassed cough, "But I am very happy to tell anyone that Tony Stark is my best friend, and despite what the media and some would say," Pepper gave Murdock the side-eye, "Tony isn't in the habit of sending his non-combatant best friends to take down small-time vigilantes. In truth," Pepper took a deep breath, "If Tony ever finds out that you attacked us, your secret would be the least of your concerns."

Murdock renewed his struggles on the ground, grunting and snarling out threats, but his efforts dwindled as he heard his partner say hesitantly, "... If he finds out?"

"The Bossman is currently busy on a world-saving project," Happy gruffed, standing solidly next to his fiancé, "His hands are currently tied. Meaning," Happy eyed the two lawyers with steely eyes, "People around him, like us, have decided to pick up the slack."

"We have every intention of making his plans a success, being that Tony's trying to save the world," Pepper shrugged a shoulder almost casually, "So we are willing to do what needs to be done. Within reason, of course," Pepper smiled reassuringly. "We want this agreement to work, so we are willing to sweep certain things under the rug and make sure that Tony never hears about them - as long as the right contracts are signed of course."

"You business types and your contracts," Murdock growled from the floor.

"You're a lawyer," Happy rose a judging eyebrow, "I thought you lot lived by the things?" The bodyguard's eyebrows furrowed as he listened to the vigilantes grumbling muffled by the floor, "What do you have against Stark Industries anyway?"

"It's not Stark," Foggy blurted out, seemingly surprised that he'd opened his mouth, but seeing the SI President and Head of Securities curious stares, he straightened his shoulders and forged on, "Rather ... Matt has a ... mixed history with big-name conglomerates."

Pepper looked confused for a moment before she blinked as it became clear in her mind. "Ah, you mean his unfortunate run-in with Rand Enterprises," Pepper nodded to Nelson's grimace and Murdock's grunt, turning to Happy to clue him in, "Mr Murdock was blinded as a child by a chemical spill, caused by a Rand chemical truck crash, in which the young Murdock saved another man's life."

"Well ... damn," the Head of Security huffed with a frown. Turning to look at the young man lying panting on the ground, Happy mused, "That must make you Battlin' Jack Murdock's boy."

Matt stilled, turning his head so both ears were clear to hear better, "... How do you know that name?"

"I know I was never big-time," Happy huffed wryly, "But before I became Tony's bodyguard I was a professional boxer. We were never in the same circuit, but there wasn't a boxer who didn't know the name Murdock. Especially after he was found murdered," Happy's frown deepened, "It was a blow to the boxing community. Jack was a good guy. And after that, everyone with half a brain knew to stay clear of Roscoe Sweeney." Happy nodded his head to Matt, "And I hear, thanks to a certain someone, Sweeney is now in jail for life. You did a good thing."

"Wow," Foggy breathed, staring between his best friend on the floor and the bodyguard, "It really is a small world."

"And it's about to get smaller," Pepper gave a small wry smile, taking out another stack of papers and putting them on the coffee table, "Stark has come to find proof that Rand Enterprises has been dealing in illegal drugs, drug trafficking, and collaborating with gangs, mafia and secret organisations." The SI President stated bluntly, ignoring Nelson's sharp breath intake and Murdock's return to stillness. "RE has delved into such dangerous things that it's come to our attention. While we have a handle on the dangerous parts," Pepper made eye contact with Foggy, "We wish to enlist you in making sure, legally, that these people never harm another person again."

"You want to take Rand to court?!" Foggy spluttered, unsure what to do with his hands, "And you want us on the case?!"

"We figured this was something more to your taste," Happy eyed Murdock who now lay still, breathing quietly on the floor, "You only want to take cases that defend the innocent, right?"

"What do you and Stark want in return?" Murdock's voice rose into the air.

"To have these assholes behind bars," Happy growled.

"That is all we want at this point in time," Pepper nodded calmly. "We have other law firms in our employ, but Tony only thought it fair that Nelson and Murdock should get first swipe," Pepper smiled at the stunned figure of Mr Nelson in front of them. "If you are amiable, we are prepared to hand over every bit of information we have about the case, everything thing you could ever need to take these guys to justice. Although, you will have to sign some contracts before we reveal this information, of course. I have all the forms here, written and in braille, also a Stark pad with which our legal AI FRIDAY will be available to read out all that the contracts entail and answer any questions." Pepper placed the objects on the coffee table in Nelson's stunned view.
Turning to watch Daredevil's silent form still bound on the floor, Pepper explained, "We have no intentions of trapping you or trying to trick or fool you. We sincerely wish to bring these lawbreakers to justice. These are just initial forms of communication. If you want nothing to do with us after our work is done? We are happy to sign a contract in agreeance to leave you alone. You will not have to work for us or with us any more than you wish to."

"... Alright," Matt huffed, tense muscles finally going slack, "Ok, I get it. You aren't the bad guys. I get it. I'm sorry I tried to attack you. I'll agree to at least look over the contracts before I sign anything," Matt ignored Foggy's loud sigh of relief. "... Can you let me up now?"

Chapter Text

Bruce Banner could admit to being relieved when he wandered into the penthouse kitchen around breakfast time, afraid that he wouldn't find his fellow scientist there, and yet there he was, in sweatpants, barefoot, and wearing a faded band t-shirt, brunette hair full of cowlicks and sleep mussed, 5-o'clock shadow - obviously freshly woken and not yet put together, unlike how he would usually exit his personal rooms, sleepily drinking his coffee out of his favourite Iron Man merchandise mug and nibbling on a blueberry muffin.
It was a sight he had dearly missed, of a relaxed Tony Stark - one that he hadn't seen since the Gods left. For months Tony had been storming around the Tower, charging from room to room, situation to situation, with barely any rest. Honestly, his drive was a bit frightening, but Tony's longest-standing friends assured him that before Bruce and the Gods entered his life, this is what Tony used to be like. Before being forced to stay in the Tower, and actually take time for himself and having people to spend quality time with, Tony Stark would drive himself into the ground with his workaholic habits. Pepper said it was a bad habit of his. That and taking on all of the work himself.

Once Pepper had explained the situation to him, Bruce had been more than happy to take up the duty of carrying some of Tony's burden - stating that he himself had brought more work to the inventor, with asking for help in locating a missing Iron Fist. It only made sense that he did his part. The fact that Bruce was the one to go out and retrieve Danny Rand from wandering the New York streets and escorting him to a Stark housing facility, where the situation could be explained to him, catching him before he could storm in Rand Enterprises headquarters and make a right mess of things, or more likely put the hapless young man in danger.
Bruce had also volunteered to go out and talk to the gorgeous but dryly snarky Jessica Jones, an enhanced private detective with an unhealthy alcohol dependency, and a list of personal issues a mile long. Pepper had offered to go with Happy to talk with her, but Bruce insisted. Arguing that he himself was also enhanced, and if Jessica were to get violent, Bruce had a strong enough control on his Qi that he could non-fatally subdue the enhanced individual. That, and he didn't feel comfortable leaving such a wild card with such an abrasive personality alone with Tony's closest friends ... after the Daredevil accident. However, Bruce was more than happy to leave the ex-cop and ex-marine Luke Cage in Rhodes capable hands. Bruce didn't exactly have ... fond memories of the military ... But Rhodes explained that he would have preferred to talk to Cage himself anyway. Those who had gone through military service had an understanding, no matter where you served.

Of course, most of this was kept away from the Tower, and away from Tony, who had taken the last week to slowly get back on his feet, visiting with his therapist and getting scolded by a cranky giant snake, who Tony teased was the snakey version of a mother hen. Although Jörmungandr complained about not being able to leave Tony to his own devices for 5 minutes before the inventor self-imploded, The World Serpent was usually found either wrapped around the inventor in a cuddle pile or combing his hair, purring like a large scaley cat. The God groaned about babysitting, but Bruce suspected that the ancient really didn't mind.

"Mornin' Brucie," Tony mumbled, giving a jaw cracking yawn, big enough to make his shiny brown eyes water. "JARVIS has some Assam tea ready for you."

"Thank you," Bruce smiled, nodding to the nearest camera in thanks to the dutiful AI as he took his drink and sat at the kitchen table, "How are you this morning, Tony?"

"Fine," Tony garbled into his coffee, "Surprisingly fine. I'm not used to being so slow and sleepy at the start of the day," Tony mumbled, "Usually I'd be up and working on 5 projects by now."

"Yes, well it's a good thing to have a slow morning now and again," Bruce scolded his friend lightly, giving a small smile to Tony's sleepy smirk.

"You don't even need to say it Doc, Pepper has said it all before. And Happy. And Rhodey. Honestly, I doubt anyone else has this many people riding their ass to take time off," Tony mock grumbled, before turning to look at his science bro with sparkling eyes, "So how was ol' Danny Iron Boy?"

"The Iron Fist was disoriented at first, stating that he hadn't seen this many people in one place since his childhood, apparently in his travels he avoided the big cities," Bruce coughed a small laugh as he sipped his tea. "He was friendly when we first met but quickly became agitated when I refused to give him directions to the Rand HQ and asked him to accompany me. Apparently, even though he is naively chummy with anyone who would come up to talk to him, he still remembers the few lessons of stranger danger. Although I did find him beating a pickpocket black and blue, and was able to convince him to stop, even though he insisted that the monks cut off the hands of thieves."

"... Jeeze," Tony hissed with wide eyes, "These monks have no chill."

"Well, they are more military than a healing spa," Bruce nodded, "Capital punishment is the norm for the monastery of K'un-Lun. Luckily, Danny seemed to be willing to let the petty criminal go, and after some explaining, was willing to come back with me so I could explain everything that had happened in the last 15 years in his absence."

"He couldn't have just picked up a paper?" Tony glanced over his mug, "The Rand case is not exactly being kept a secret. The whole sordid affair is all over the newspapers."

"The thought apparently hadn't occurred to him," Bruce sighed.

"Well ... If Danny Boy is settled in, and willing to listen, I'm sure we can help him with the legal proceedings," Tony shrugged a shoulder, "He wants his inheritance, doesn't he?"

"Will there be anything left?" Bruce rose an eyebrow, "Nelson and Murdock seem to be happily tearing the company and the Meachum's a new a-hole."

"Ol' Randy Boy's inheritance isn't being touched, don't you worry your curly head about that," Tony smirked at Bruce's mock glare, "Murdock agrees that Danny Boy had nothing to do with the whole situation, in fact, evidence suggests that Rand senior had been on his way to stop Meachum and The Hand from turning his pharmaceutical company into a drug cartel, you know, before he and his wife were murdered and Rand junior was left in the snow. Their part of the company is being untouched by the lawyers. Iron Boy will have his inheritance," Tony shrugged as he took a sip, "Though, that will be after all the legal parties have dealt with the situation."

"At least Danny has said he is willing to wait," Bruce sighed as he carefully put his teacup down, "Though I had to dissuade him from storming in and enacting medieval forms of justice. It seems like Mr Rand will have to be re-educated on modern acceptable behaviours. What is fine and good for K'un-Lun, is not for New York."

"If Rand agrees to sign the contracts, STARK is more than happy to support him in his rehabilitation to modern society," Tony nodded, inspecting the tray of breakfast muffins for more blueberry, "we can even help him get back his citizenship and get him his missing education ... if he wants to of course," Tony shrugged blithely, "If he wants to run back to the mystical mountains, in the hopes that the thousand year door will be open? He's free too."

"It's open every 15 years, Tony," Bruce shook his head fondly. "For all that you don't seem to personally care for the Iron Fist," Bruce noted as he watched his friend choose a tasty looking muffin, "You are surprisingly willing to throw your money behind his support."

"Maria was a big proprietor of Noblesse Oblige," Tony's face was set in a small nostalgic smile, "that with great wealth comes the responsibility to give back to those who are less fortunate than oneself. That a noble must do all they can for the people under their purview and employ. That to fail to use your wealth and power for the good of those who had not, was a major sin. So you can imagine," Tony scoffed with a small grimace, "That my mother and Howard had a few talking points that they'd vehemently argue over. Howard always made scathing little comments about Maria's charities, while Maria scorned Howard's awful and wasteful taste for opulence. I mean," Tony's face was a mix of scorn and amusement, "Howard had a thing for pink marble and gold flake in his top-shelf brandy. Never mind that the brandy tasted awful and barely anyone can pull off pink marble, let alone mashed together with 1970's decor." Tony scrunched his nose in distaste. "I think that more than anything, was the biggest tell that Howard came from more than humble beginnings."

Seeing Bruce's confused look, Tony expanded, "It's a common occurrence, that if you were to give the usual poor person $1000, they may buy things they need, but once those needs had been met, 9 out of 10 would immediately go silly and start buying whatever their heart desired. If someone from a poor background suddenly finds themselves with a lot of money? They tend to go stupid and spend money on ridiculous things that they never needed, like a golden bathtub or a pet tiger. It's lodged in most of the common peoples subconscious that objects show their wealth - whereas those born to wealthy families, long bloodlines of wealthy nobles, tend to be more thrifty and careful with their money. It's why a lot of the old blood in Europe look down their noses at the 'new blood' millionaires in America and modern billionaires." Tony shrugged, "We haven't had generations of having to manage fortunes, nor do we have a storied history of peasant revolts, revolutions, or family scandals. They know a thing or two about what having a fortune really means, and how it's best used. Maria came from old blood. Maria and Howard were like night and day."

"That's why the Tower's internal design is so ... sparse?" Bruce smirked at Tony's giggle, happy to change the topic from his long conversations with a very young man lost in the world without his mentors and temples.

"That's right Brucie, less is more. My mother taught me that it takes real money to look like you barely put any effort into the decor. I'm practically waving my wealth around in peoples faces with how sparse and clean my living areas are. It's so blatant it would make a queen blush."

"I doubt your mother would appreciate you waving anything in anyone's faces Tony," Bruce chuckled with a cheeky grin, "From the way you talk about your father, you make him sound like a pauper and your mother a princess."

"Well that isn't actually that far off. Maria did come from an old Italian family who held old connections to the merchant princes of Venice. It still surprises me to this day how Howard convinced Maria to marry him. Howard talked a big game to get to where he was," Tony shrugged.

"You mean ... he lied? About his social status?" Bruce blinked.

"Oh yeah," Tony's chuckles were lacking in actual mirth, "Before Howard spread stories about the rumoured powerful family connections that he apparently had? The Stark's were as common as dirt. His father sold fruit and his mother sewed shirtwaists for a living. Jarvis once told me, that growing up, Howard learned that society puts limits on success based on ones' economic status or gender, so he became good at lying to get what he needed." Tony shrugged, "So he wound a colourful story and fibbed his way into being an industrial genius, multi-millionaire, inventor, and businessman. Truthfully, the guy barely had any formal education. If there is one thing I can admit to admiring about my old man," Tony tilted his head, "Is that he was something of a self-made man and managed to make something of himself. But the fact that he basically ditched his family to live in poverty while he schmoozed with the elite and his wealth was built on the death of millions?" Tony stared at Bruce with carefully blank eyes, "... I've been aware since I was fairly young that our fortune was not an easy or clean thing. It's partially why I've spent so long trying to ... not exactly make things right," he shrugged a shoulder, "But carry on Maria's attempts of doing something good with it."

"But why put your money and resources on gathering vigilantes?" Bruce tilted his head curiously. "I know you've organised task forces to handle situations, like the HYDRA investigation and Damage Control, but I wouldn't have pegged you for the type to believe in A-Team's," Bruce watched the inventor's face carefully, "Especially after SHIELD's last failed attempt at making us into one."

Tony turned to look at Bruce head-on, "I'll admit that I thought SHIELD had the right idea, with the Avengers Initiative." Tony sniffed disdainfully, "I think they went about it the wrong way - Peggy always said living in the world of spies, the whole cloak and dagger mindset can take over your brain, and you begin to see everyone and everything as a ploy, plot or scheme. That you treat others like pawns and set pieces to move about instead of actual people. And I think Fury fell for that trap - hook, line and sinker. They wanted to rope in a guy out of time who they didn't give any time to acclimatise to the modern-day or to even really morn the life he knew. They blackmailed another with threats," Tony eyed Bruce's uncomfortable squirming pointedly, "And they tried to get me to bankroll the whole operation without having any actual input into the operation at all. Not to mention the other 2 were already SHIELD agents. Fury and SHIELD went about it all wrong," Tony shook his head ruefully, "But I can't say I don't understand the appeal. A team of superpowered heroes coming in to save the day, taking on bad guys and disasters when the police force and the military could not."

"So that's why you're recruiting the vigilantes?" Bruce rose an eyebrow.

"Well ... I wouldn't say recruiting," Tony hedged, "As they'd no doubt tell us themselves, they'd still go out and save people and punch out the bad guys without our backing. At least this way, they can still go out there and help the people on the streets, at the base level that we - with our heads in the clouds and focused on the worlds outside our own," Tony smirked self-depreciatively, "Couldn't possibly find the time to deal with. But the common man still needs their heroes, there will always be that niche where the police could never fill, which the vigilantes handily take care of, but we can give them support when they need it."

"Your taking vigilantes - who by the very definition are doing something technically illegal but still with good intentions, and making them a lawful task force," Bruce breathed, eyes widening as he mentally connected the dots. "This is like with the mutants, isn't it?"

"Everyone deserves to have a basis of legal support," Tony argued somewhat uncomfortably.

"And with King T'Chaka gathering his support in the U.N to force the Equality Law into being passed next month," Bruce nodded thoughtfully, "With its emphasis on mutant and enhanced rights ... We will have more freedom to work, legally."

"And with the caveat of allowing 'heroes' to work under aliases or superhero names to protect their own identities, the 'Superhero' branch of the Department of Damage Control can really get underway. The Avengers may have crashed and burned without ever really taking off," Tony smirked, "But we can try to give the world the next best thing."

Chapter Text

"Ah, well," the elderly female with thinning white hair and tense smiling eyes spoke in a tremulous voice, sitting up in her bed to greet her visitor, "There is a face I haven't seen in a while."

"Hello Aunt Peggy," Tony smiled softly, from his position of standing in the doorway.

Something in Carter relaxed upon hearing his words, and she lost the tension around her eyes as her face took on a more natural smile, "Ah, Boy Wonder. I was wondering when you'd take the time to visit me."

"I'm sorry Aunt Peg," Tony smiled, entering the room softly, holding up a small bouquet of lily-of-the-valley and forget-me-not's that he gently handed to the trembling aged hands of the once formidable agent Carter, "Work and certain situations kept coming up. Made it hard to come to visit."

"You Stark men," Peggy tutted as she inspected the flowers with a small smile, "Always tinkering and forgetting that the rest of us exist."

"Sorry," Tony smiled apologetically, moving to grab a nearby vase and hold it steady for the elderly woman to place it in, then set it on her bedside dresser, "Though you'll no doubt be happy to know that I now have a whole team to make sure I don't fall into that old habit."

"Well that's good," Peggy nodded, indicating to the chair next to the bed for her visitor to sit, "I would have hoped your missus would be able to control you by now."

With a minuscule pause, Tony took a breath and smiled brightly with a small teasing mein, "I'm not married Aunt Peggy. Pepper and I broke up a few years ago."

"Now why did you do a fool thing like that?" Peggy scoffed, tapping her bedspread with an admonishing hand, "You Stark men are hopeless without a good woman around."

"Now that is true," Tony softly laughed, "But Pepper and I are still very good friends. I made her the President of Stark Industries. I wanted to make her CEO, but Pepper wasn't having it," Tony grinned at his godmothers amused, proud smile, "Pepper is happily engaged to Happy now, as of a few months ago."

"Well, congratulations!" Peggy smiled indulgently, "It makes me glad that a strong woman is hanging around. Though it doesn't stop me from being concerned about you being all on your lonesome."

"I might not have a girlfriend," Tony chuckled goodnaturedly, watching Carter's not-pout, "But I have a whole Tower of friends and teammates to keep me on the straight and narrow."

"Well, good," Peggy nodded in a stately manner like she was a queen and her bed covered in knitted blankets was a throne. "That reminds me, I haven't gotten many visitors for a while, I believe. Is Steve with you?"

Tony paused for a second, eyes travelling back and forth as he thought rapidly about his reply, "Steve Rogers is back in hospital care, Aunt Peggy. He won't be able to come visit for a while."

"Well," Peggy sighed, "He is such a scrawny young man. Makes me wonder what the general is thinking, letting him apply for the test."

A small crease appeared between Tony eyebrows, though he kept his face pleasant and smiling, although he was honestly afraid that he was already losing her. "Aunt Peggy?"

"Yes, Dear?"

Tony gave a small minuscule sigh under his breath, "I was wondering if you could give me advice?"

"Of course Darling!" Peggy smiled brightly, brown eyes twinkling, "Is it about a girl?"

"No Aunty," Tony giggled along with his godmother, "There is this guy that I have to meet soon, and might have to work with," Tony explained, watching Carter's body language to gauge her reactions, "But, we have something of a ... difficult history."

"Is this someone I know?" Peggy inquired sternly, the very image of a director of a secret agency that she hadn't been in two decades.

"I see I can't pull the wool over your eyes," Tony smirked wryly.

"I'm old Dear," Peggy scoffed, "Not stupid. You wouldn't hedge like this if it wasn't someone I knew. Now, what seems to be the matter?"

"This is top secret stuff, Aunt Peggy," Tony mimed putting his finger up to his lips, "You have to promise me you won't go telling anyone else."

"I was the Director of SHIELD. Secrets are my business. Even in retirement," Carter mock scowled at her guest for being difficult.

"Ok Aunt Peg," Tony chuckled, holding his hands up in surrender, readying himself for possibly a hard conversation. "The thing is ... we found Sargent Barnes."

Peggy took a sharp inhale, brown eyes wide in shock, "You ... you finally found his body?"

"It's ..." Tony cringed, "A bit more difficult than that."

"What do you mean?" Carter blinked, "Are you trying to say you didn't find enough of him to inter into his grave?"

"He didn't die from the fall, Aunt Peg," Tony rubbed his knuckles uncomfortably, "He was found and captured by HYDRA."

Tony almost flinched at the furious look on Peggy Carter's face and the enraged hiss that slipped between her stiff lips. "Barnes was a HYDRA prisoner?"

"Yes," Tony nodded, keeping a watchful eye on the furious ex-SHIELD director.

"But ... Sergent Barnes fell off the train in January 1945," Peggy's eyebrows furrowed, wrinkling her aged face even more, "And we ended the war in September. We destroyed HYDRA," Peggy shook her head slowly, "We never found Barnes at any of the concentration camps."

"I'm sorry Aunt Peggy," Tony grimaced, readying himself to explain something he was positive someone had to of explained to her already, "But you didn't. HYDRA scurried away and hid in the shadows of the world, all to survive and rebuild their ranks. It wasn't until a few years ago that we finally realised the HYDRA was still around, moving things behind the scenes. We are doing everything we can to finally put an end to the many-headed monster." Cringing at the eagle-eyed look Peggy was giving him, Tony continued, "Barnes wasn't at the camps because he was being experimented on. HYDRA had reverse-engineered the soldier serum." Hearing Peggy's terrified gasp, Tony clarified, "It wasn't a pure solution, and they failed more than they succeeded. But ... HYDRA did make their own super soldiers."

"Why have we never seen or heard of them?" Peggy demanded.

"Because HYDRA had trouble controlling them. In the end, they had to brainwash their super soldiers and kept them in cryostasis when they weren't in use. And you have heard of at least one," Tony watched his aging godmother carefully, "Under the codename 'The Winter Soldier."

"The soviet assassin?" Peggy gasped, clutching her bedspread between her long fingers, "HYDRA was operating under the soviets?"

"Among other places," Tony hedged, watching Peggy Carter's arms trembling to get worse and decide it was about time to try to calm his godmother down. "We have the situation under control, Aunt Peg. HYDRA is being weeded out and we have captured The Winter Soldier."

Instead of calming her, this statement seemed to lead Peggy into a mild panic, wobbly moving her hand to clutch at Tony's hand, "You mean to imply ... that The Winter Soldier was a brainwashed Sargent Barnes?! You have him under custody? Have you managed to remove the brainwashing? How damaged is he?"

"We have allies who are treating sergeant Barnes as we speak," Tony reassured his godmother, gently rubbing his thumb over her rice paper-thin skin.

"Good Lord," Carter put her free hand to her head, looking slightly dizzy that it was making Tony worry, "This can never get out."

"We are handling it, Peg, don't worry." Tony soothed.

Peggy Carter smartly took her hand out of Tony's soothing ones, with a glare and a small elegant sneer, "I hardly think that's appropriate," putting her hands back in her lap and stared straight ahead imperiously, "This can never get back to Stark, you understand?"

Tony gaped a little bit at his godmother's stiff composer, even as his chest squeezed uncomfortably at realising Peggy was losing touch with reality again. "... You knew?"

"I'm the Director of SHIELD, of course, I knew who murdered my best friend," Carter snarled, still not looking at Tony, "We just did not know the identity of The Winter Soldier, nor could such information ever get out. An American war hero and billionaire inventor, assassinated by a soviet spy?" Carter scoffed, "It would spark off the Cold War all over again!" she remarked imperiously.

"So you covered it up ..." Tony stared at Peggy, really looked at her, unsure if he knew what he was looking at, "Made it look like a drunk driving car crash ... And never thought to tell me?"

"Why would we specifically tell you?" Peggy glanced at Tony's hunched form on the guest chair, no recognition in her eyes, "We couldn't even tell my godson, let alone some bottom rung agent."

"I'm ..." Tony sighed, realised as he watched Peggy's stiff form start to sag, and her once bright gleaming brown eyes bank into dull confused sheen, that he had well and truly lost Peggy Carter to her own Alzheimer's affected mind. "I'm sorry Mrs Carter, you seem to have worked yourself up and made yourself tired. I think it's time you laid back and had a rest."

"Yes," Peggy droned tiredly, her dull eyes inspecting the room and her visitor with a confused gaze, "I think I do."

Tony slowly stood up, rearranged her eschewed pillows and gently helped his godmother lay back, "I'll call for a nurse to check on you, and ask her to bring you a nice cup of tea?"

"Yes ... that would be nice," Peggy replied softly, smiling shyly up at the kind young man above her, "Thank you, Dear."

Tony smiled a little sadly, "Anything for you, Mrs Carter."

Chapter Text

Pepper, Happy, Rhodey, Bruce and Jörmungandr had noticed Tony had been somewhat subdued since his out of Tower familial visit.

Rhodey growled about Tony and his shit luck in relations, however distant, that seemed to go out of their way to make Tony's life hell.
Bruce argued that Mrs Carter was a 93-year-old lady suffering from Alzheimer's - that she couldn't fairly be blamed for anything she might now do or say.
Rhodey shot back that it had nothing to do with what she might say now in her cloudy haze of current existence, it was what she had done, 23 years ago, when she had still been SHIELD's Director, questionably in control of her facilities, and covered up the Stark's murder and chose to keep the truth from her own godson. That Tony still loved Peggy ... that he was now conflicted even more over what Peggy had done and stood for as one of the founders and Director's of SHIELD ... that they knew now that SHIELD had been the secret breeding ground for HYDRA ... and everything SHIELD had done after ... it was no wonder that Tony was now conflicted.

Jörmungandr huffed a breath, slithering away from the gathering of Tower-mates, in search of Tony, throwing over his shoulder that it mattered not what had been done, but how they would deal with it, moving forward. And that he was going to hunt down the inventor for cuddles. And leave the schemes to Tony's-nestmates capable hands.

Of which Pepper was already planning.
"I agree, what Mrs Carter did, as a godmother, was reprehensible," Pepper frowned as Happy grunted with his trademark scowl, "But, as a SHIELD Director? I can understand why she did it. As I'm sure Tony does as well," Pepper sighed at Rhodey's scowl, "Otherwise, Tony wouldn't be so forgiving. He still loves her," Pepper pointed out, "That's more than we can say about his feelings regarding Howard. He understands why she did it ... doesn't mean he, or we, need to agree with it."

"So ... what should we do now?" Bruce peered up slightly, from obsessively cleaning his glasses.

"We have a lot on our plate," Pepper sighed, scrolling through her planner on a Stark hologram screen, "What with Thanos, mutants, gods, etc - even with delegating the tasks between us, we already have our hands full. Adding a brainwashed super-soldier onto the pile, at this point, would stretch our manpower thin."

"I'd argue we already are," Rhodey huffed, "What with our allies either being a secret super powered nation that can't act freely until they reveal themselves to the rest of the world, a conglomerate of mutants who won't have legal human rights until the U.N pulls the stick out of their ass in 2 weeks, or a golden realm far away that we have heard nothing from since they sent Thor's old buddies," the colonel scoffed. "90% of our godly half have been out on a peacekeeping mission since December, and a rag-tag group of vigilantes who like to mouth off and have problems with authority currently bumming off of Tony's money," Rhodey scowled, "We are barely holding it together as it is."

"And with how confidential everything is that we have to deal with," Bruce pointed out, "There isn't many we could feasibly outsource to. Especially anyone with experience."

"That's exactly why," Pepper braced herself, "I have invited Phil Coulson to interview in as a handler for the 'Hero' branch of Department of Damage Control."

"What?" Bruce blinked, stunned at Pepper's carefully blank face even as Rhodey growled, "The same Coulson who used to be an agent for SHIELD? He's been cleared by HYDRA Investigations?"

Pepper nodded carefully, ever watchful of Rhodes furious face. "Phil Coulson has been cleared of any suspect HYDRA connections or manipulations, and confirmed as a clean ex-SHIELD operator."

"As clean as SHIELD could ever be," Rhodey growled.

Pepper frowned as she clarified, "Mr Coulson is a highly-skilled, well-experienced operative, with years of handlers experience-"

"He's also the guy who had a personal hand in many of the events that went wrong in recent years!" Rhodey snarled. "I've read the reports. The guy was a bag-n-tag agent, meant to go out and find Enhanced for SHIELD's Index - keeping their eye on any individual that would be useful to SHIELD, and if they judged them a threat? Terminated them." The colonel scowled, "The guy is not a saint. He knew about The Hulk, and what Ross wanted to do with him, yet SHIELD decided that it wasn't their problem, and let them have it!" Rhodey gave a small apologetic frown to Bruce's small flinch. "The guy found Thor's hammer, and did everything they possibly could to keep it under SHIELD control, even threatening Dr Foster and stealing her equipment! Everything in that whole incident could have been avoided if Coulson, acting for SHIELD, had just listened. The guy is too by the book, too willing to follow any order given by SHIELD, no matter the cost."

"With SHIELD dismantled, that shouldn't be much of a problem," Pepper huffed.

"Fury is still out there," Rhodey argued with a quick head shake, "You're telling me, a guy like Coulson, wouldn't jump if Fury said jump?" the colonel scoffed, "I doubt that."

"I-I'm not sure you should be saying such things," Bruce muttered, biting at his lips, "as an American Airforce colonel."

"Even in the military, we have avenues to speak out against actions we don't agree with," Rhodey shook his head, "It's long and convoluted, and I am given more leeway to act as I do," Rhodey freely admitted, "Which is why I question the agent's actions."

"He was a high ranking agent in SHIELD," Happy rumbled with an agreeing nod, "And reportedly close to Fury. He had multiple chances to speak up or argue against his directives. But as far as reports go? Did not," Happy scowled. "Can we feasibly trust a yes man to handle a bunch of hooligans? I understand that he once saved your life," Happy turned towards his fiance, "But he has put it back in danger on the orders of his SHIELD bosses before. I don't know how I feel about this Pep."

"Doesn't help things that the guy is Captain America fanboy," Rhodey huffed, crossing his arms, "Who knows what that guy would do, given the chance. As a possible head of the Department of Damage Control, he could use his newly gathered influence and power to try to pull Steve out of retirement. Can we really trust the guy?"

Pepper gave a long sigh through her nose and massaged her temples, gathering her wits and temper. "I understand your personal problems with agent Coulson, and with Steve Rogers - believe me," Pepper pegged Happy and Rhodey with fierce eyes, "I have more than a few things I'd like to say to them as well. But," Pepper breathed, "Tony has expressed the wish to give these men one more chance," Pepper held up a stern finger, "Just one."

"Tony recommended agent Coulson?" Bruce leaned back from the group, eyebrows raised, "I thought he disliked the guy?"

"Tony doesn't like his actions under SHIELD orders, no," Pepper huffed with a wry smirk, "But he did give the agent a nickname, and Coulson did save my life," Pepper shook her head fondly, "He officially recognises that agent Coulson may be the only one who could feasibly take command of the Department of Damage Control. With his experience and credentials ... He's the only one we know of that could feasibly take command of an entire department, and an eclectic gathering of enhanced individuals. With no connections to SI," Pepper pointed to herself and Happy. "No connections to the Military," She pointed to Rhodey who gave a huff. "And with training and experience in the field," She smiled kindly at an embarrassed Bruce. "He may very well be the only one who could also watch over The Winter Soldier, if he decides to one day, join their ranks. Coulson is our only option at this point. He will, however, be heavily under contractual arrangements and spell bindings, mind you." Pepper smirk turned sharp and deadly, "If he agrees. Isn't that right, Friday?"

"You got it, Ms President."

"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer," Rhodey nodded with a shark-like grin, "And with Coulson working with Tony - not to mention having a team of enhanced working alongside him - Fury just won't be able to help himself," the colonel nodded, slowly realising what Pepper's real motives were behind this action could be, "Tony always said 'Uncle Nicky' just loved to poke at whatever project he was working on that could be useful for his own motives. We'll be getting 2 birds with one stone. We'll just have to keep a sharp eye out that no snakes slither in under our noses."

"I heard that!" Jörmungandr hollered from down the hallway, followed by Tony's laughter.

Pepper chuckled as she gathered her Stark pad and gave Happy a loaded but confident look as she made ready to leave, "Happy and I will interview Coulson at SI Headquarters, as our company have already taken in quite a few ex-SHIELD technicians and staff that have been proven clean. Meeting him there wouldn't be too out of the ordinary."

"Plus those offices are some of the most highly secured in the business," Happy nodded smugly, "He'd be a fool to do anything there."

"Friday has offered to let anyone in the Tower observe the recording of the meeting," Pepper nodded with a sharp smirk, then held her head up high, "We promise to snag ourselves a useful and contractually loyal agent to our cause."

Rhodey smirked as he casually saluted the two on their way out, "Go catch us some good bait Pep."

"Oh dear," Bruce shook his head with a helpless wry smile on his face, "I appear to be in a nest of vipers."

"Hey!"

Chapter Text

"I can't believe we spent all those years in the academy," a strong Scottish accent of a male voice floated down the corridor, heading toward the open door of the meeting room, "And jumped through all those hoops, only to find out, that SHIELD had been infiltrated and then was shut down."

"We were only in the academy for a year, Fitz," an English accented woman's voice sighed.

"Yeah, yeah, then SHIELD shut down!" The voice identified as Fitz reiterated, "We graduated 3 years early, only for the whole thing to blow up in our faces!" The voices argued as they got closer, "We didn't even get to apply for a change to field assignment for SHIELD before it all went tits up! We didn't even do anything and we were kept for HYDRA Investigation."

"Of course we did," the English woman's voice scoffed, "We did research and invented ... things. Look, I know I was the one that encouraged us to try for field assignment ... but ... well, it's better we know that we weren't working for or secretly was HYDRA," the female voice pointed out.

"I mean ... I knew I wasn't," Fitz replied.

"Well ... so did I," the woman argued.

"So ... good ... yeah, of course not. B-because if, if you ever did, I wouldn't... I don't know what I would do, Jemma." Fitz replied, the conversation stifling into silence for a moment, their footsteps now heard clear on the hardwood floors.

"... Well," the woman's voice identified as Jemma replied succinctly, "It's a good thing we'll never have to find out." The conversation lulled again into a type of embarrassed silence until the English woman coughed uncomfortably and demanded, "What were we arguing about again?"

"I don't know," Fitz sighed, "Probably about how Dr Stark created an arc reactor that's about the size of a hockey puck and puts out the power of three nuclear power plants. If we all knew how to do that, we wouldn't need superheroes, because otherwise, they'd all have an Iron Man suit. But, then we'd have the issue of too many suites flying around and the environmental effects of that much exhaust ... or how you'd have to drag a long extension cord behind you to have enough power for the suit without that little piece of brilliant tech. Or ... it could have been about what to have for dinner? Since we both know neither of us can cook."

"I can cook!" one pair of footsteps stop with a stomp.

"A sandwich with prosciutto and buffalo mozzarella, with a hint of homemade pesto aioli, does not constitute dinner, Jemma!"

"Is it always this lively in Stark Industries, Miss Potts?" Coulson gave the SI president his enigmatic amused smile as he finally, softly closed the office door behind him.

"Since picking up SHIELD's loose end agents?" Pepper rose a fine eyebrow, "Yes. Thank you for agreeing to meet us at SI headquarters," Pepper nodded as the agent took a few steps into the unappointed room, "I apologise that we had to meet in one of the more public offices instead of my own. The staff do like to gossip."

"So ... SI did hire SHIELD's technicians," Coulson breathed softly, the stiffness in his shoulders slightly loosening.

"The ones clear of HYDRA influences, yes. Mr Stark argued that it wasn't the technicians and operatives fault, the ones who were innocent," Pepper shrugged a shoulder slightly, "And have to pay the price for those who had done something wrong."

"I see we didn't all get the same treatment," Coulson said, almost snidely, although his amiable tone and expression never changed.

"You are not currently in prison, are you?" Pepper rose her eyebrow higher pointedly with a small smirk at the ex-agent's nod of reluctant agreement.

"Have a bone to pick with Mr Stark, then?" Happy grumbled, from his firm position next to Pepper, watching Coulson with beady eyes. "Or perhaps with the procedure?"

"The HYDRA Investigation is necessary," Coulson agreed, his lips twisting a little, "Nor do I truly have any complaints about the Investigations procedures. I'm afraid," Coulson sighed, "I'm a bit vexed, mostly at myself. I still cannot believe that I was blind to HYDRA's infiltration."

"From what Mr Stark was able to uncover," Pepper sat at the desk, moving a few manilla folders, "HYDRA had been inside SHIELD since almost the very beginning. It's almost impossible for you to have ever noticed it."

"Still," Coulson gave a small sardonic smirk, "to have someone else discover HYDRA in our midst when I didn't notice a thing. It's wounding to my professional pride. You understand. "

"Especially since it was Tony," Happy pointed out harshly, smirking at the ex-agent's slight jaw clench. "You always seemed to have it out for the guy. I can see how that might disturb you."

"I do not dislike Mr Stark," Coulson carefully chose his words, "His inventions are incredible, and his visions for the future are grand-"

"But he has a problem with authority, isn't much of a team player, and has a habit of sticking his nose exactly where you don't want it," Happy pointed out, his smirk widening. "Also doesn't help that SHIELD spat in Mr Stark's cornflakes years ago, and he hasn't trusted them since."

"Happy," the Head of Security turned towards Pepper, who pursed her lips slightly and gave a small shake of the head, causing the bodyguard to back down.

"To be fair," Coulson grimaced after a moment of reflection, "We did not always approach or treat Mr Stark fairly." The ex-agent ignored the bodyguards small scoff, "So it can come to no one's surprise that he doesn't well like us."

"Liked SHIELD," Pepper pointed out, eyes focused, "Which is no more."

With another small grimace and changing his position to put his hands behind his back, Coulson slightly nodded his head towards SI's President, "Of course."

"Let me be frank with you, Mr Coulson," Pepper sat straight-backed at the desk, "If this were an official interjection of Stark Industries against SHEILD, you and the entire world would know about it," Pepper rose an eyebrow, "And we both know that SHIELD has more than a few things to answer for, apart from harbouring HYDRA. Thankfully," Pepper sighed, "This isn't an official inquiry, nor are you responsible, Mr Coulson, for SHIELD-that-was as a whole." Coulson's chin dipped a few centimetres in a thoughtful pose, although the corded muscles in his arms under his suit jacket visibly loosened slightly. "Instead, we have invited you here with a proposition."

The ex-agent lifted his head slightly with a small increment of an eyebrow rising in surprised intrigue. "A ... proposition?"

"Mr Stark does not forget debts," Pepper explained, smiling as the ex-agent's eyes widened slightly, "Nor do I. Especially on a personal matter. We have waited for you to be cleared of HYDRA suspicion and upon the Investigation's pronouncement of you being clean and letting you go, Stark is offering you an opportunity."

"As ... flattering as that is, Miss Potts," Coulson bowed his head slightly, with a small smile, "I am not a scientist or lab technician. I do not think I would be well suited to SI's environments."

"Did we say anything about SI?" Happy rose a teasing eyebrow, smirking at the restrained ex-agent's confused frown.

"When I say 'Stark'," Pepper smiled kindly, "I mean to say, S.T.A.R.K. - and not Stark Industries - has a proposition for you. Mr Stark, and I concur," Pepper nodded, "Believes that you are a highly skilled and experienced individual, and we cannot let such talents go to waste. For, surely you'd be wasted at other institutions like the CIA or the FBI."

"If they would even deign to have me," Coulson huffed a self-deprecating laugh, "I'm afraid, having been a SHIELD agent, no matter my true allegiances, puts something of a black mark on my record."

"Well, you'll be in good company," Happy huffed, the Head of Security explaining with a chuckle at Coulson's raised eyebrow, "I was a washed-up boxer."

"And I was a model," the SI President smirked at the ex-agent's both raised eyebrows, "As I'm sure our comprehensive files once at SHIELD outlined. S.T.A.R.K takes in all kinds."

"And ... what would S.T.A.R.K have use of for a blacklisted ex-agent?" Coulson inquired haltingly.

"I know you are aware of S.T.A.R.K's involvement with setting up the HYDRA Investigation and of the world wide Department of Damage Control?" Pepper waited for the ex-agent's agreeing nod, "Along with the S.T.A.R.K learning programs, and is a stout supporter in mutant and enhanced rights," Pepper sighed, ignoring Coulson's surprised eyebrow rise, "Frankly, we find ourselves stretched thin."

"The gods...?" Coulson asked leadingly.

"Are currently busy with important business," Happy gruffed.

"Leaving the fallout and all the current work to purely mortal hands," Pepper smirked wryly, "We have been hiring at a prodigious rate, but we find ourselves lacking any true notable persons of experience to fill much-needed roles."

"... What exactly is it that you are saying, Miss Potts?" Coulson furrowed his eyebrows thoughtfully.

Pepper leaned forward slightly at the desk, "If you are willing, once you have signed all the relevant contracts and paperwork," Pepper allowed, "S.T.A.R.K wishes for you to take up the position of the head of the Department of Damage Control."

"Mr Stark trusts me to take this position?!" Coulson blinked rapidly.

"You more than anyone," Pepper nods in agreement.

"Shocking, isn't it?" Happy smirked.

"But I-" Coulson coughed at his fumble, "I have never taken a leading position in SHIELD. How could Stark expect me to run an entire department?"

"You won't be thrown into the deep end," Pepper assured, pushing the manilla folders slightly more in Coulson's direction, "S.T.A.R.K is willing to provide you with the training and support to allow you to take up the position."

"We both know you were a high ranking agent in SHIELD, and lead many operations and acted as a handler and control for field agents," Happy pointed out bluntly.

"And it is those skills that S.T.A.R.K is looking for," Pepper nodded as Coulson carefully took up the manilla folders and began flicking through them. "Someone with experience in leading and guiding agents on the field, knowledgable in tactics and proper personnel safety procedure." Coulson glanced up in shock. "These are not disposable agents in Damage Control, Mr Coulson," Pepper met his shocked gaze with flinty eyes of her own, "We expect a department head who strives to bring all of our agents back home."

"And you do have a bit of a track record," Happy admitted grudgingly.

Pepper and Happy watched Coulson flip through the information contained in the folders, finishing with one, carefully putting it back on the desk and reaching for another.

"We also do not expect you to do this all alone," Pepper continued her explanation calmly, watching the ex-agent's almost impeccably blank expression as he reviewed, "You will have staff to support you in your endeavour. S.T.A.R.K is willing to let you chose your own staff to support you and your agents if you take up the position."

"..." Coulson paused for a moment, staying completely still, "Even if that staff were originally SHIELD?"

"If they are cleared by HYDRA Investigation and sign all the relevant contracts," Pepper nodded her head in silent agreement.

Coulson stood for a moment, watching Pepper Potts with probing careful eyes, "And what, exactly, would these contract detail?"

"Legal is controlled by Mr Stark's legal head, Friday," Pepper tipped her head to the side slightly, "Only she and the signee are aware of what is in their agreements. But, if you are looking for an overall statement to put it in blatant terms," Pepper took a deep breath as she sat up straight, "S.T.A.R.K will not allow anyone to try to rebuild, reform, or create an organisation that mirrors one like SHIELD inside any of our departments." Pepper eyed Coulson's small jaw clench. "SHIELD was faulty from the beginning, and it was designed that way by the HYDRA agents who slipped in unseen. We are hiring clean ex-SHIELD personnel for their skills and experience, not to rebuild SHIELD."

"We aren't trying to be SHIELD 2.0," Happy pointed out flatly.

"Instead, we are trying to fill in the need for a global task force, to act where the military and police cannot. This does not mean we plan to make a totalitarian force, by any means," Pepper pointed out sternly. "Damage Control exists to protect and support the people from extreme forces, be they external threats, internal, natural, or unnatural," Pepper met Coulson's shrewd gaze, "All under the protection and as an extension of U.N law."

"And you wish for me to be the department head in control of enhanced agents, whose jobs it is to react to these incidents?" Coulson glanced back to the information in his hands.

"Not react," Pepper shook her head to Coulson's curious gaze, "They will not be purely Avengers," Pepper smirked slightly at Coulson's small bodily flinch, "They will be Defenders."

Coulson looked back down at the manilla folder containing information that he knew, if he turned this opportunity down, especially after the confidentiality contracts he signed before attending the meeting, he would be unable to share with anyone nor ever see again. Placing the folder down, Coulson sighed, squeezing his eyes shut and cricking his tense neck, Coulson made his decision.

"Miss Potts? I would like to look at these contracts now, if you wouldn't mind?"

Pepper smiled with a nod and waved a hand for FRIDAY to bring up the holograms containing the paperwork.

"Welcome aboard, Agent Coulson."

Chapter Text

"I'd like to thank you, Stark," Coulson intoned politely as he sat at the kitchen table in Tony's penthouse lounge, "For agreeing to meet with me. Though, I was not expecting to be invited into the Tower."

"Eh," Tony shrugged as he sipped his coffee, "It's mostly because you actually made an appointment to speak with me, you know, that thing I had been asking SHIELD and it's goons to do since the very beginning? Instead of circumventing my security and requests by hacking my systems, coercing and threatening my staff, and using my friends to get close to me instead." There was a dangerous glint in Tony's eye even as he smirked at Coulson's uncomfortable grimace. "I never did like how SHIELD didn't think my time and energy was important, and just butted in and expected me to cater to their every secret little whim. Meeting like this," Tony smirked into his coffee cup, "You've got to admit, is much nicer."

"Yes ..." Coulson smoothed out his grimace a little to nod cordially. "Again ... Thank you, for taking time out of your busy schedule to meet with me, Mr Stark."

"Ah, you can drop the act," Tony huffed, waving a careless hand, "We both know if you'd made an appointment back then that I probably wouldn't have turned up anyway. Nothing against you personally, Agent Agent," Tony shrugged, watching Coulson over his coffee mug, "I just didn't like who you worked for ... much."

"Thank you, Stark," Coulson huffed slightly, "It's nice to know that one of the most powerful men in the world does not actually hate my guts."

"Just who you worked for," Tony reminded with a sharp smile, "And consciously putting my friends into danger."

"Tea, Agent Coulson?" Bruce smiled from the kitchen, standing next to Pepper who was furiously typing on her business phone, and Happy who was digging into the cookie jar, "Or would you prefer a coffee?"

"Tea would be wonderful, please, Dr Banner." the agent nodded affably after a deep breath.

Bruce smiled in acceptance as he busied himself with the kettle, as Tony pouted with a huff, "Why is it that everyone notices that Brucie has a doctorate, but hardly anyone mentions mine?"

"Would you rather people called you Dr Stark?" Happy raised an eyebrow at the inventor.

"God no!" Tony stuck out his tongue childishly, causing Bruce to huff out a laugh, "Makes me sound like a surgeon or something."

"I think it sounds like the name of mad scientist personally," Pepper raised her head from her phone for a moment with a smirk, proving that even though she was working, she was still listening.

"People already think I'm insane," Tony scoffed with a small amused smirk, "No point in reminding them that I actually do have the brains to qualify as a mad scientist."

"I'm sorry to interrupt your banter," Coulson coughed politely, "But may we actually get to why I required this meeting?"

"Ooh, so serious," Tony smirked at Coulson's deadpan look, "Please, Agent Agent, go right ahead. What is it that you needed, from little ol' me?"

"Since accepting your proposition, and accepting my role of head of the Department of Damage Control, I have been going through all the relevant information to fulfil my role," the agent glanced up as Bruce approached with his tea, and gave the doctor a thankful nod, "But ... I admit to finding myself ... at something of a loss."

"Ex ... scuse me?" Tony blinked in surprise.

"I was aware that I would be somewhat out of the loop, having spent almost over a year in HYDRA Investigation custody," Coulson explained, staring down at his steaming tea, "Word from the outside world was almost non-existent inside those holding cells. I have been out for less than a month," the agent looked up to give Tony a loaded look that Tony was unsure how to interpret, "And yet, the world has seemed to have changed, drastically, in that time."

"I'm ... afraid I don't follow?" Tony held his coffee cup up almost as if it might protect him from the agent's strange intensity.

Coulson's eyes narrowed slightly, "You knew offering me this position, and its ability to acquire knowledge that's being hidden from the general public would draw me in. Honestly ... fair play. I would have done the same." the agent sighed. "As you may well know, HYDRA Investigation apprehended me almost as soon as the government gave the mandate - As I had been chasing after Captain America and 2 rogue agents who stole a SHIELD jet, to make an unsanctioned invasion of Stark Tower," Tony winced behind his mug at the reminder of that little incident. "I was apprehended and taken into custody before I could even reach New York. I was not told much of anything while I was investigated - which was the proper response for an interrogation unit," Coulson nodded as if he was reluctantly approving. "So you can imagine my shock, as soon as I was allowed to go free," Coulson stared at Tony almost unnervingly, "to find out that SHIELD had been disbanded. Director Fury had gone ghost," this information seemed to disturb the agent somewhat. "The gods have their own embassy running right out of Stark Tower, who were now harbouring mutant's and enhanced, making them untouchable by American and U.N law."

Tony straightened his posture at Coulson's almost accusation. He wouldn't be shamed for helping people in need, especially those who didn't enjoy the same human rights as they should.
Seeing the stubborn set of the inventor's jaw, Coulson slightly dipped his head, relenting to the billionaire, much to Tony's confusion.

"I don't know why this fact surprised me," Coulson sighed, giving the confused blinking inventor an almost amused, almost reluctantly fond smile, "Director Fury had said that if Maria Stark had been given half the chance, she would have done much the same."Coulson eyed the inventor blush and uncomfortable squirming with a small enigmatic smile, "Maria Stark was ahead of her time, according to all sources, and held back by all those around her. I'd imagine she would be thrilled that her son is following in her footsteps, and achieving what she could not."

"You had a file on Maria Stark?" Bruce sat down next to the coughing inventor.

"SHIELD would like to say they had a file on everybody ... but we know that to be statistically untrue," Coulson dipped his head in a nod to Tony's scoff. "But Maria Stark was someone SHIELD was keeping their eye on. And not just because she was the wife of one of SHIELD's founders. She was a vocal supporter of equal rights - in a time where the average rich white American was not always so." Coulson shrugged a shoulder slightly.

"What you're trying to dodge around saying," Tony hissed with a scowl, "Was that Howard and his buddies were racist."

"They were a product of their time," Coulson nodded with a stiff face, "And after the incident of a mutant almost assassinating a public figure, Howard was very vocally against mutants as well. Whereas Maria Stark was not. She is known for being a loud voice for equal rights, but her cries for mutant rights had been hushed up," Coulson's lips twisted slightly, "It was decided it was not a good look for a millionaires wife to be having, and Howard started louder anti-mutant campaigns to drown her efforts out."

"She was an heiress and a housewife to a rich man," Pepper sighed forlornly, sitting at the table next to the agent, with Happy grumping on her other side, "Stifled by her husband and the society she lived in. I would have loved to have met her," Pepper smiled warmly at Tony who smiled back, "Imagine if she had lived to the modern-day, with all of the freedoms we now enjoy, what would she have done?"

"This brings me back to my recent discoveries," Coulson coughed discreetly to break up the warm atmosphere, ignoring his table-mates grimaces. "I was aware I was hired to, essentially, be the nanny to a bunch of untrained, street-level vigilantes, who through many different unique circumstances, are enhanced in their own right, and with all the issues that come with it." Coulson sighed, his brow wrinkled slightly in consternation. "They wouldn't be the first overpowered bundles of complexes I've ever had to train, that is not the issue." Coulson folded his hands together up upon the table, "It was during looking over their files, and researching back into their backstories that I became aware of something that I had been very much unaware of."

"Which ... was?" Tony blinked, honestly unsure what could be upsetting the usually unflappable, usually endlessly affable agent.

"When were you going to tell me that Captain America has been arrested, along with agent Sharon Carter," Tony winced. "More than once," wince again. "Stripped of his military title and rank," Tony winced again. "Kept in intensive hospital care for the foreseeable future, and somehow, missing his powers?"

"Ah ..." Tony grimaced at the agent's hard focused stare, glancing off to the side to somehow avoid the intensity, "That."

"When were you going to reveal to me that humanities greatest hero," Coulson never raised his voice, but his intensity seems to build as he watched Tony Stark scowl, "had been reverted to before the super-soldier serum. That the worlds greatest scientists who could possibly work out how to give him his strength back are being kept away from him," Coulson eyed Bruce's grimace as he continued his calm tirade. "That the people are unable to see him, the military has officially denounced him, and his public image is the lowest it's ever been. He's America's Greatest Hero." Coulson reiterated, leaning forward slightly as he watched Tony's face darken, "Why have you done this, Mr Stark?"

"I would think the better question would be," Coulson jerked in his seat to spin around to stare at the tall, long-haired Indian man in a casual smokey grey suit, leaning casually in the doorway to the outdoor landing, staring in at him with serpentine yellow eyes, "What had this young man done to deserve such actions," Jörmungandr inspected his immaculately manicured nails, "Wouldn't you agree?"

"I'm sorry," Coulson half rose from his seat, seemingly alarmed, leaving the rest still sitting at the table, unconcerned, blinking up at the quietly panicking agent, "Who are you? How did you get into the Tower? The only entrance that way is the ceiling landing pad," Coulson quickly glanced around the penthouse, "And I heard no jets."

"I know you and SHEILD were aware of my godly guests, Agent Agent," Tony tilted his head slightly in confusion, "You even came to the Tower to scold me about it."

"I was personally aware of Thor and Loki," Coulson stood stiffly, keeping his eye on this veritable newcomer, "I had only become vaguely aware that you had recently welcomed other ... 'guests' shortly before I had been incarcerated."

"Oh ..." Tony blinked, turning to indicate to the tall Indian man with a 'ta-dah' like hand motion, "Agent Agent, meet Jörmungandr. The Midgard Serpent, or The World Serpent, if you prefer. He's one of Loki's kids. Jor, meet Agent Agent."

"The rest of us call him Coulson," Bruce smiled at the god with twinkling brown eyes.

"Or Phil," Pepper agreed, causing Happy to audibly grump, making Pepper huff a laugh and pat her fiance's hand consolingly.

"He's the God who stayed behind, to keep a watchful eye over Tony and Dr Banner," Happy gruffed, keeping a watchful eye over the stiff posture the agent still held, "To make sure no one tried anything while the rest were away."

"Yesss," Jörmungandr hissed, a grimly delighted smirk dancing on his face as he watched the mortal stiffen into almost a rictus, "I am a child of Loki and known as the World Serpent. I coil around this Tower as I do the entire Earth, and I protect it just as much the same." The God sauntered into the penthouse, serpent eyes never leaving the agent's stone-like face, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Um ... Mr Coulson?" Bruce looked at the agent's pallor with concern, as the conversation dragged out into silence, "Are you alright?"

"Don't tell me," Tony joked, "You suffer from ophidiophobia, right?" Tony chuckled, but when the agent didn't answer, Tony faulted in shock, "Oh shit - do you?"

"I do not suffer under an irrational phobia of snakes," Coulson slowly answered, sharp eyes never leaving Jörmungandr's, "As an agent, that would be ridiculous."

"Oh shit ..." Tony breathed as he stared at the agent like he was seeing him anew, "You really do!"

Bruce reached up and gently slapped Jörmungandr's arm, causing the God to free the agent from his hypnotic stare down, and flash his eyes back to his human grey-blue ones. "Stop that Jor," Bruce gently reprimanded, "Mr Coulson is our alley now. You should play nice."

"I apologise Eir," Jörmungandr purred as he leaned down and nuzzled his nose into the doctor's curls.

"It's not me you should be apologising to," Bruce pointed out with a huff of ticklish laughter.

Jörmungandr huffed, but stood back up from nuzzling into Bruce and laid eyes on the sweating mortal, "You may rest easy, Agent Agent," Tony burst out laughing in triumph just as Pepper groaned, "As you are an alley to our mortals, and never lay a hand upon them or theirs - the children of Loki will have no qualm with you."

"Thank you," Coulson coughed in an attempt to regather himself, "Mr ... Laufeyson?"

"Lokison," Jörmungandr purred the correction with a smile, "I apologise for terrorising you the moment I saw you. Habits die hard," the god smirked, as he sat down next to the Doctor, smirk widening as Bruce once again slapped the unrepentant serpent's arm, "I promise, you are in no danger from me, or my siblings, as long as you keep to your oaths." Jörmungandr eyed the agent as he slowly retook his seat, curious about why his mortals seemed so willing to give this man the time of day. "I believe you demanded to know the wherefore of Tony Stark's actions," Jörmungandr rose an eyebrow at the agent who gave a serious nod, fighting to get back his stoicism. "I am afraid your accusations are misguided." The Snake God slowly shook his head, "Twas my sister who laid a curse upon the man, having looked deep within his heart and soul, and found him wanting. Freyr had nothing to do with any of that."

"Captain America was cursed by a God?!" Coulson's eyes widened, seemingly stunned in spite of himself.

"By Hela, the Goddess of Death," Jörmungandr smirked at the agent's slight bodily jerk, "She judged his actions callous and thoughtless, and cursed him to experience his past weakness, and bid him use this experience to learn and understand the true meaning of power and valour. So you see?" The serpent god crooned to the wide-eyed mortal, "Freyr has, indeed, not, done anything to this Mr America. Your 'hero' brought these actions upon himself, and thus the gods passed judgment. It would undermine your hero's journey of self-discovery if we just let your scholar's cure him of his own folly, would it not?"

"I ..." Coulson breathed deeply, "Find it difficult to believe that Captain America could have ever acted in a way to be worthy of such a punishment."

"Then you obviously don't see the same guy we do," Tony growled, a dark scowl on his face.

"Maybe you need to distance yourself from the stories a little bit, Mr Coulson," Bruce inquired gently, trying not to be patronising to the once-secret agent, "And look at Mr Rogers actions from a different angle?"

"Would help if you took your rose coloured glasses off and stopped fanboying over a man that is half your age," Happy bluntly pointed out, ignoring Pepper's admonishments. "We tend to forget, but the guy is in his 20's, frozen at that age. And I don't know about you," Happy sassed as he bit into his cookie, "But I don't know too many 20-year-olds who make level headed decisions. Do you?"

"It doesn't help that he is displaced," Pepper sighed, "The world he knew, of the 1940s, is gone. Ever since SHIELD brought him up from the ice, he has jumped right into battle, not giving himself time to acclimatize, to process, or morn. The doctors that are supporting Mr Rogers right now have assessed him to be suffering from PTSD, or as they knew it as back then, shell shock. Among an array of mental health problems that come with sticking a young man with needles, putting him into a war, and be given no form of support. Steve Rogers is not fit for battle," Pepper stared Coulson down seriously, "On a purely mental health level, completely ignoring his current physical drawbacks. We would be doing him a disservice if we didn't put him under appropriate care and attempt to nurse that poor young man back to health. Wither he ever regains his powers or ever sees another battlefield," Pepper's steely eyes met Coulson's "Will be completely up to Rogers I am afraid."

"I see ..." Coulson stared down at the tea Bruce had made him, reviewing the information he was currently able to gather, "It seems ... I must reevaluate things."

"Don't worry Agent Agent," Tony smiled grimly as he sipped his coffee, "Once your world has been changed a few times, reevaluating your entire world view does not take that long at all."

"Maybe for a genius," Coulson coughed a small uncomfortable laugh, finally picking up his tea.

Chapter Text

Turns out? Even though Coulson is not as bad as Fury ... Tony still could not completely get along with the guy.
Tony could freely admit the guy has skill - Coulson's tactics are stable and his hand to hand fighting and field skills, for a vanilla human, is surprising. And his handler skills and experience are second to none.

It's more his attitude and personality Tony just cannot jibe with.
Coulson is stoic, in that 'I'm a professional gentleman spy' way, though misses the 'suave English 007 spy' style by a mile. He is stubborn and painfully American - and this comes from Tony, a celebrated American Patriot. And too used to getting his own way, or if not that, going around rules and laws to get his own way anyway. And acting like he should be congratulated for finding a loophole, instead of rightly punished for an attempt to circumvent his position.

Coulson is much too reliant on guns - EDITH already had to send Coulson a warning about attempting to arm all of his staff with their own firearms. If the 'heroes' and defence teams can't have guns, neither can the office staff. In fact, Coulson has been issued quite a few warnings in the last month of him taking the position and building up his own support staff.
- No, you cannot transfer task forces and 'heroes' from their original offices to somewhere else. That is their home country and/or home city. They cannot be transferred unless they themselves request one. And you may not intimidate and try to persuade them to change their minds, Coulson, or you'll get demoted to guard an outpost in Siberia for the rest of your career. So don't do it.
- No, you may not make a task force whose whole duties are to go out and investigate and scope known threats. You literally just described a spy, Coulson. The Department of Damage Control is not SHIELD, Coulson. DDC does not have spies.
- Agent, you cannot train the 'heroes' with live ammunition rounds. Nor fire or hazardous substances. I don't care if most of them are indestructible!
- Mr Coulson, if you are found attempting to contact a politician again, you will be fired and have your name blacklisted all over the world. DDC exists for the protection of innocents. Not a political party.
- Coulson. This is your last warning. Stop getting into fistfights with your staff over arguments about Captain America.

Honestly, Tony was beginning to worry that assigning Agent Agent to department head had been a bad idea - but Tony's AI had been having a field day! Apparently, they enjoyed having someone who would willingly push at the boundaries of his position, TADASHI likened it to a child or teenager pushing at an adults authority, just to see how far they could go, and what they could get away with. EDITH pointed out with having Coulson do the pushing, someone who was already under FRIDAY's contracted spellbinds that make betrayal almost impossible - unless the agent suddenly found a way to break rune spells - was a good test for their procedures. Having a relatively safe option poke at the holes in their chainmail, gave them time to notice their weak spots and learn to defend them. All of Coulson's rabble rising was actually doing them a favour.
And with how stoic and unreadable Coulson usually was, Tony was unsure if the agent was doing it on purpose or not.

Thankfully, Tony had been assured that Agent Agent was not actually his personal concern - as the AI had assured him that they had supervision, as well as Pepper, Happy and Rhodey popping their heads in every now and again to check in. Also, surprisingly, Jörmungandr, who seemed to take personal pleasure in popping in and reminding Coulson and his staff that they were mortal and faliable.
Tony had leant to a side and asked Bruce if that was actually helping the situation, but Bruce just smiled calmly, and assured him that some people needed reminding that they were, indeed, fallible - and nothing took a person's ego down a few pegs than to realise you weren't untouchable, nor the biggest fish in the pond anymore.

Tony pointed out that THAT kinda felt like bullying ... but since this was Agent Agent? He could stand to be taken down a notch or two.
Tony did not, in fact, forget that Coulson had more than once issued dire sounding threats, wrapped in the pretty veneer of friendly or sarcastic warnings.
The 'If you try to escape, or play any sort of games with me, I will taze you and watch Supernanny while you drool into the carpet' one had been especially memorable. And seeing as Tony had the Arc Reactor in his chest at the time, being tazered was a real threat. Noone wanted to know how what was essentially a super magnet that had been powering his heart would have reacted to a direct electric shock. He had also been currently dying from his palladium poisoning and been forced by SHEILD to invent and create his own cure at the time.

Plus the multiple times Coulson used his friends to get closer to him, to circumvent his security, putting his friends in danger, and then had the gall to act like Tony was being childish in not acquiescing to SHIELD's demands. And they were demands - never requests, or even applications for job orders. SHEILD, Fury and Coulson had fully expected Tony to drop everything and bow to SHIELD's whims, never treating him like he was an adult who deserved respect - let alone a multi billionaire genius.

So ... having essentially strong armed Coulson, who had once threatened to taze him and watch Supernanny while Tony drooled into the carpet ... was now forced to BE Supernanny to a bevy of enhanced and unenhanced superheroes cum vigilantes and defence task forces all over the globe, and be made personally responsible if he left any of his wards even close to drooling in the corner ... Tony could admit that Coulson had pulled the short stick, and Tony wasn't feeling too sorry for him.

Feeling significantly better about the situation, Tony was about to turn to go have some lab time, when JARVIS popped a notification up on his glasses lenses.

"Excuse me, Sir, but it would appear that you have guests."

Rising an eyebrow, Tony tapped his frames to be given the security feed, and almost faulted into falling on his face when he saw the seemingly innocuous, perfectly normal couple with their dog, standing in his lobby.

A woman glancing curiously around his lobby that was simply stunning, pale creamy skin that looked like it did not see much sunlight, long golden hair that looked like spun silk, green eyes bright and intelligent, dressed in a long black gown.
And a man who held the leash to an excitedly tail wagging chocolate Labrador, who also did not seem to get much sun, dressed in a bespoke dark suite, dark hair ruffled and playful, with stylised facial hair and shocking pale blue eyes.
Yes ... a seemingly normal couple in every way ... except for the massive amounts of Godwaves that all three of them where giving off that was being picked up by JARVIS' scanners.

"I ... see that, J ..."

"Are you familiar with these visitors, Sir?" JARVIS politely inquired, in a tone that Tony knew ment if he gave the word, JARVIS would turn them away ... or at least attempt to, as Tony seriously doubted that even JARVIS could turn away gods.

"In ... a manner of speaking ..." Tony swallowed nervously as all three visitors to the lobby turned as one to stare directly up into the camera lens that they were currently using to observe them.
"You'd ... better let them up. And J?" Tony swallowed again convolsery when the positively glowing couple in his lobby both proceeded to smile, while the dog started panting a dancing on the spot, "...Better let Jor and Bruce know we have godly company."

"Very good, Sir."

Chapter Text

"Can someone please remind me," Tony spoke aloud to the room, sitting in his loungeroom on the semi-circle of couches with Bruce, Jörmungandr, and their new guests, Persephone, Hades and Cerberus - who was currently in the form of a doe-eyed chocolate labrador whose head was in the inventor's lap, whining for pats, "How it is exactly that you managed to find me, and not cause a panic?" Tony glanced up at Hades who was practically knee-to-knee with Tony on the couch, patting his death hounds wiggling rump.
"I mean," Tony waved a hand at his guests, "Where did this look come from?"

"We've already established that we met on the Astral plane," Hades nodded, his pale blue eyes twinkling with amusement.

"Tony did say," Bruce mumbled from his spot next to Jörmungandr, who was keeping a polite but wary eye on the visiting gods, "And I'm not saying I didn't believe him ..."

"But it seemed impossible?" Persephone chuckled lightly, nodding her head, causing her long golden hair to spill over her shoulder, "I can understand. I would normally agree with your assessment. I have never crossed paths with a living mortal soul while walking the Astral Paths - so you can imagine my shock when my Love and I stumbled upon Anthony on one of our evening strolls with Spot."
Tony pulled a face at the use of his birth name but decided to keep quiet. Back talking to a Goddess of Death he was unfamiliar with seemed like a bad idea. Fortunately, the Goddess saw Tony's sour face, and covered her giggles with her hand, "Oh dear. Do you not like that name? I am sorry ... Tony, was it?"

Tony smiled at the god gratefully, "Yes, I prefer Tony. Only my mother ever called me that."

Persephone lowered her hand with a gentle smile and an acquiescing nod, "Of course. Tony it is then. Please," the Goddess rested a delicate hand on her breast, "You must call me Persephone. It is the name I chose for myself when I took my place in the Underworld court." The Goddess smiled proudly, "Or Prosperina if you must. It was the name the Romans gave me, and as it is somewhat similar, I have accepted it."

"Persephone isn't your first name?" Bruce blinked, then became flustered upon realising what he had just said might be rude, "I-I mean, that's the only name I was familiar with, from the Myths."

"I have been given many names over the centuries," Persephone smiled at the jittery doctor kindly, "Many having been lost to time. And upon seeing the state of our followers, I can understand your confusion." the goddess nodded, causing Bruce to take a calming breath, "It seems much has been lost. Though I am grateful my followers obeyed my wishes and continued referring to me by my self-chosen name. I appreciate that my believers wished to pay me tribute, but I was not overly fond of the names they had given to me."

"Your names were ... given to you?" Tony tilted his head to the side, unconsciously copied by the dog's head in his lap, turning to look at Jörmungandr, "I don't remember the other gods mentioning anything like that?"

"Our Pantheon is somewhat different to the Olympians," the serpent god shrugged, picking up his tea from the tea set on the coffee table, "From what I have come to understand, Earth-Bound Pantheons work a little differently, although it seems the source of our divinity all come from a similar source."

"Earth-Bound?" Bruce turned, blinking up at the Indian man who sat next to him.

"Those who started life here on Midgard," Jörmungandr clarified, "And through their own forms of transition, came into godhood. Gods like those of my family," the serpent smiled at Bruce's fascinated eyes, "Are referred to as Out-Bound Pantheons. Essentially lifeforms, or aliens who came from outside Midgards Realm and acquired divinity here."

"Wait ... so you weren't born as gods?" Tony turned to stare at Hades, who by now had one hand delicately sipping tea, the other still scratching Cerberus' rump.

"Few ever were in the early days, though as time wore on, the belief in our inherent divinity grew stronger, and our children gained their own divinity, purely by accident of their birth, instead of having to go out and acquire it for themselves." Hades rumbled in a deep soothing voice.

Seeing the mortals confusion, Hades and Persephone turned to Jörmungandr and appeared to have a silent godly conversation, although when Bruce and Tony used their seiðr to power their sight, they witnessed the complex weave of all three GodWaves intermingling, wiggling, flashing and vibrating - much as Thor and Loki's had done whenever they were having a silent seiðr based conversation.
Jörmungandr's GodWaves were pearlescent like his snake form's scales, bright and glittering like the sun on the surface of the water, and smooth like a river or ocean current. Persephone's GodWaves were like wafts of perfume, clouds of purple-ish pink and shimmers of green, while Hades was like shadows and bright blue flame.

"Whatcha talking about there Jor?" Tony inquired, reaching for a tea cake from the tea service once he saw the World Serpent nod his head.

"Just establishing something," Jörmungandr intoned quietly, seeming to be in deep thought before he turned to Bruce and Tony. "I believe Thor and father have begun explaining exactly how it was that we became gods, correct?"

"Vaguely," Tony held out a hand and tipped it side-to-side, "Loki told us some story of Asgardian's visiting Earth and convincing the humans that they were gods, and through some belief-powered voodoo," Tony clapped his hands together, "Poof, Norse Gods."

"Dramatically oversimplified," Hades chuckled along with his wife, "But, essentially? Yes. That is the basis. Mageia, or as your Norse call it, Seiðr?" the god of the Underworld glanced to a nodding World Serpent to make sure he was pronouncing that right, "Is strong in our world. Even before we knew how to properly wield it, people of all creeds were using mageia, or magic. Be they ritual, potions either poison or medicinal, or amulets of protection. Also in prayers," Hades explained in his calm smooth voice, "Calling on the powers that be: Be they spirits that they believed lived in all-natural things, or on the names of popular figures or heroes," the god nodded at the dawning of understanding in the mortal's eyes, "Which led to calling on their names for other situations, inflating their notoriety, to the point that they found themselves being worshipped by a cult."

"Of course, it takes much more than simply having a small cult worshipping you for a mortal to obtain divinity," Persephone chuckled at the mortal's sighs of relief.

"Oh thank god," Tony huffed, "Because for a moment there I was seriously worried we'd have superpowered cult leaders, hyped up on magic juice, running around as deities to have to deal with."

"No, you need not fear," Hades chuckled, "As I have seen many egotistical men in my time reach for divinity, gather their armies and urge them to praise them as a God, and die like mortal men. Indeed, if it were so simple," Hades huffed, giving the fur on Cerberus' back an affectionate ruffle, "The World would be overrun by deities."

"So your acquiring godhood was more than fervent belief," Bruce hummed thoughtfully.

"Above all, a God serves a purpose," Persephone smiled over her teacup.

"At least, the original gods do," Hades huffed, patting Cerberus as the disguised dog left Tony to receive pats from Hades instead, "After a while, the people were running out of jobs or purposes for the later generations and children of the gods, to the point that they stopped bothering. And slowly, beliefs changed, and no new bloodlines were gifted divinity, and yet, we Olympians continued to exist and birth families for ourselves, no longer needing the mortals to gift us with divinity. We had already become divine. Thus, a Pantheon is formed."

"Belief is a tricky thing," Persephone gazed at the entranced mortals with her smiling green eyes, "Nebulous and ever-changing. And most times contradicting." The goddess of the Underworld huffed, "Stories get muddled and separate people's believe different things and therefore attribute different things. I am actually older than my husband," Persephone nodded at the mortal's surprise, "Indeed, I was a God of the Underworld long before my husband joined me in divinity. Nor am I truly a goddess of spring, although my mother is the nature goddess Demeter."

"So, that myth about your marriage and having to come back to the living world every year to create Spring, is just that?" Bruce blinked, "A myth?"

"The seasons have existed long before I or my mother ever walked the Earth," Persephone chuckled, "We were merely used as a way for our believers to try to explain why the world was so."

"And it was believed that we Olympians lived ontop of the Olympus, whereas we actually live in a small "pocket" dimension adjacent to Earth we created for ourselves, accessible via an interdimensional nexus located somewhere on Mount Olympus in Greece," Hades explained, like he didn't just blow the mortal's minds.

"... It makes sense," Tony slowly mused, sitting back on the couch as he mentally digested. "As most myths about Thor, Loki, or any of the gods we know rarely if ever reflect the truth. Only with small kernels that we humans somehow, against all odds, got right. Loki attributed it to the seiðr or I guess, the mageia, in all things."

"Exactly," Jörmungandr nodded, pleased that the mortals seemed to be understanding at least the base concept. "Although I've been told not all Pantheons were created the same way. Some archived divinity through enlightenment, others by eating weird foods, or by harnessing their skills or powers to the absolute pinnical of achievement," Jor shrugged, "Either way, the base principles remain much the same."

"So ... because of these beliefs, or myths, you were given or attributed names that you didn't like?" Bruce inquired haltingly.

Persephone nodded as she placed her teacup down, "For what felt like the longest while, I was attributed with the name of Kórē," the goddess scrunched her nose slightly in distaste with a huff, "Which essentially translates to, 'the maiden' or 'the virgin girl'," Persephone nodded to the mortal's grimaces of distaste, "As you can imagine, I did not appreciate that."

"No I wouldn't imagine you would," Tony scoffed with a scowl, "Especially if you had been a goddess of the freakin Underworld for hundreds of years. How did you take the mortals, essentially, retconning you a husband?"

"Hades and I had been married for many years before the myths caught on," Persephone gently shook her head, "Although, it was rather upsetting that they wrote my Love in such an unflattering light," Hades smiled softly, reaching out a hand to hold Persephone's gently.

"No living being wants to think of their own death," Hades intoned gently, laying a kiss on his wife's fingers, "I would rather they demonise me than for them to ever think ill of you, my queen."

The two gods of the Underworld seemed to lose themselves in each other eyes at the moment, gazing at each other lovingly, causing Tony to scrunch his nose with a funny look on his face, and Bruce to blush and quickly avert his eyes while Jörmungandr chuckled.

"Are ... you seriously making out on my couch right now?" Tony gasped, almost scandalised, his burning orange eyes able to see the two God's energies being practically indecent - wriggling, squirming and rubbing up against each other in the air between them.

Hades chuckled and Persephone giggled with burning cheeks, turning to their audience as if they had forgotten them.

"And if we were?" Hades challenged with a raised brow, "what would you do about it, exactly?"

"Tell you to get a room," Tony huffed unashamedly as Bruce hid his face in Jörmungandr's chest even as the God's rumbling chuckles built into laughter.

"As for your earlier questions," the goddesses green eyes sparkled as she coughed embarrassely, "My Love and I have been visiting the mortal plane to reconnect with the mortal realm ever since our first meeting. We have observed the modern world, and adjusted our mortal disguises thusly. And I must say," Persephone teased, attempting to distract from her still pink cheeks, "But you do have something of a reputation, Tony. You and your Tower, were not hard to miss."

"I'm sure once the other Pantheons realise you have already had gods from other Pantheons to visit," Hades gave Tony a knowing look, a smirk playing about his lips, "you may just have other gods dropping in to assuage their curiosity."

".... Oh no ..."

Chapter Text

"Thank you for coming out with me Tony," Bruce smiled as they found a park bench in a secluded section of the public park, that even though Tony's security was keeping within eyesight, it looked like people hadn't noticed the billionaire inventor and Stark Tower's Secret Doctor (as the media were calling Brucie, honestly the media were so uninspired, but at least they seemed to have no idea that he was also The Hulk ... so Tony would take what they could get), Bruce setting to unpack the Japanese bento they had ordered to go from a nearby store. "I've been craving some Japanese curry cutlets."

"It's fine Brucie," Tony chuckled as he gingerly took his bento, Tony hadn't eaten Japanese food all that much, even when he had been doing business in Japan, so he had just ordered a generic one, seeing as he wouldn't have known what to order anyway. "Though ... why did we have to eat it out at the park?"

"You could say I was getting a bit of cabin fever," Bruce shrugged as he snapped his takeout wooden chopstick and dug into his curry with gusto.

"Ok Bruce," Tony chuckled, snapping his own chopsticks and peering down at his own lunch. "As I've taken a step back from a lot of the ongoing projects and taken some time off, I can understand the need to get out once in a while."
There were elements that Tony recognised in his bento: crumbed pieces of chicken, boiled eggs, rice, and sauteed vegetables with a bit of lettuce. Honestly, it looked delicious. But there was one item in there that Tony was unsure of.
"Brucie," Tony nabbed a piece of the wobbly square of white mush that was seared on the outside, "What is this?"

"That's tofu," Bruce explained once he'd swallowed his mouthful, reaching for his take away cup of green tea, "It's quite good Tony, try it."

Tony eyed the morsel for a moment with a scrunched nose, honestly, it smelled a bit funky. But Tony could see the good doctor watching him, so he popped it in his mouth and chewed, to Bruce's approving nod. "See? It's good!"

"Mmhmm," Tony hummed with a straight face, watching as the doctor turned back to demolishing his bento, then reaching for a second one. While Bruce was busy, Tony discreetly brought a napkin up to his mouth and spat his mouthful out. Tony didn't have a problem with the taste, but the texture did weird icky things to his mouth. Putting the soiled napkin in the nearby bin, Tony glared at the evil little bits of tofu still sitting innocently in his bento. How was he supposed to discreetly get rid of the things without Bruce noticing?

As he picked up another piece of tofu in his chopsticks to glare at as he contemplated his next course of action, Tony saw a rustle of leaves in the corner of his eye. Glancing over, Tony spotted a little black nose, furiously sniffing the air, sticking out of a low-lying bush. As Tony watched, he saw that the little black nose belonged to a little orange fox, huddled in the bushes and staring back at Tony with intense and intelligent eyes.
Did New York have wild fox populations? At this point, Tony wouldn't be surprised if New York's streets were a veritable zoo.
Tony lowered his chopsticks in an attempt to grab his phone to take a picture - Pepper would love this - but noticed that the fox seemed to follow that path of his hand. Pausing for a moment, Tony lifted his chopsticks again, grinning as the fox's wiggling nose and bright eyes never left the tofu, even when Tony moved it left to right, and up and down.
Glancing at Bruce to see he was occupied, Tony reached for more napkins, cupping them in his spare hand, and after blowing on the tofu to make sure it wasn't too hot, placed each piece into the napkin. Making sure to time it for when Bruce turned to grab at his tea, Tony leant down and placed the napkin full of tofu onto the ground as far away as he could reach, keeping an eye on the wild fox, hoping it hadn't run away or would gnaw on his face.
The fox stayed completely still, looking between him and the tofu, so Tony backed off a little, and seeing that the fox was now watching Tony, Tony purposefully looked away, reaching for his own takeaway cup of green tea and taking a sip. After a moment and taking a chance to glance back, Tony noticed that the little fox was gone ... but so was the tofu.

"What are you smiling about, Tony?" Bruce smiled pleasantly, breathing deeply and enjoying being outside and having a good meal.

"Nothing," Tony chuckled, turning back to his bento with a smirk, "This is nice, Brucie. We should do this more often."

It wasn't until two days later, while Tony had been in his personal lab poking around his Iron Man armour, that Tony ever got an inkling that a fox eyeing off tofu was at all odd, and might lead to something unexpected.

"Dammit," Tony huffed glancing around the lab floor, "Where'd I put that small screwdriver?"

Tony jumped on the spot at the light sound of the chime of unfamiliar bells, and a small yip. Turning, Tony heard the quick scurry of paws and saw a flash of a fluffy orange fox tail whipping around the corner, and there in perfect hand reaching distance, was his searched for screwdriver.

This would turn out to be a common occurrence - Tony loudly claiming to be missing something, only for a chime of bells, a yip and the small spotting of a small fox scurrying away, leaving him his searched for item. And Tony, who by this point could totally take a hint, took to buying tofu in its many different forms and leaving it out on platters whenever he heard a yip or a scurry of paws. Who was Tony to look a gift ... fox? in the mouth? Either way, no matter what these foxes even were, it was no skin off of Tony's nose to thank the little guys. Even if it was just tofu.

------ --------

Not long after that Tony got the shock of his life when wandering out of his personal lab to grab some coffee, Tony was startled by a flash of light. Spinning on the spot to stare at an unfamiliar young man standing in the hallway, dressed in slacks, long-sleeved button-up shirt, vest and a journalists cap over his fuzzy hair for fucks sake, bringing down the camera he had just used to take a photo of the genius. Needless to say, Tony panicked, summoning his Iron Man gloves to blaze a repulsor in the intruders face while EDITH pointed her rail guns at him.

"Hey! Hey! Whoa! Easy on the fireworks!"

"Who the fuck are you, and how did you get in here?" Tony growled, fighting to keep his seiðr under control - Tony did not want a picture of himself with blazing orange eyes to be front-page news. And it was obvious the guy was a reporter of some kind.

"Sir, facial recognition matches the intruder with the Daily Bugle reporter Joe Bazooka." JARVIS intoned robotically from a nearby speaker.

"... Joe Bazooka? Really?" Tony rose a disbelieving eyebrow at the man who stood with his hands up comically.

"Hey, don't knock it," the reporter smirked even as he held his hands up, "It's a cool name!"

"Yeah ... for a bubble gum," Tony stared at the intruder, feeling an odd itch on the tip of his nose, something twigging in his brain that this guy was not as he seemed. "How did you get in my Tower?"

"Well, see, that's the interesting thing," the reporter smiled with ridiculously white teeth, "I was feeding my dog, you see?"

"... What?" Tony blinked, unconsciously lowering his repulsors slightly in confusion.

"Yeah, my dog! Cutest thing on the planet, loves to chew toys. Anyway," the reporter rambled on, "I was walking my dog in the park, see, and my dog saw a squirrel, ya know? And my little darling just had to go chase it -"

Tony stared, perplexed as the reporter continued to tell his rather convoluted and rambling story, that Tony was only half listening to, as he waited on JARVIS' scanners to finish identifying their mystifying intruder, while EDITH put the rest of the Tower on safety lockdown. Wishing he knew where Bruce and Jor were at this very moment - not that Tony couldn't handle one reporter. At least he wasn't a God.

"-And then I said, 'No onions please!' A-"

"Sir," JARVIS' projected voice cut through the reporter's rambling, "The scanners indicate GodWave activity."

"... Aw hell," Tony groaned.

"Humph! Well, I can see you're going to be no fun," the 'reporter' huffed, dropping the act as he dropped his arms and crossed them, pouting huffily, "You didn't even let me finish my totally awesome story! Or the joke about the onions."

"Mr Lokison has been notified, and is currently on route," JARVIS intoned, seemingly ignoring the pouting god.

"Hey! Whoa, come on!" the unnamed God quickly brought his hands up again at the mention of Jörmungandr, sweating a little, "There's no need to bring old snake face into this! I'm sure we can work something out."

"You invade my Tower, which is private property, I might add, and proceed to take an unsanctioned photograph of me in my own home?" Tony raised an eyebrow, "If you were purely mortal, you'd be facing thousands of dollars worth of legal charges."

"I wasn't going to even sell the picture to the press, promise," the god smiled wonkily.

"Uh-huh, yeah, and pigs will fly," Tony drawled.

"Look, I'll even give you my camera," the god tossed the camera to the ground at Tony's feet with a grin, but paled when Tony's eyes nor his aim ever left his position, nor did EDITH's rail guns. "Look ... I think we got off on the wrong foot ..."

"Clearly," Tony drawled with a flat expression.

"Freyr? What is it? Who has-" Jörmungandr teleported into the hallway next to Tony in a protective rage, pausing when he laid eyes on the sweating strange god with guns and repulsors being aimed at him. "... Anansi? What the hell are you doing here?" Jörmungandr gave the god a flat judging look, "And what the hell are you wearing?"

"Jörmungandr! Buddy! Hey!" Anansi cried, trying to buddy up to the World Serpent, but by the serpent god's flat expression, he wasn't having any of it. "You know I'm just a little trickster spider god! I wouldn't hurt anybody."

The World Serpent took a moment to look at Tony, look at the trickster god, then down at the camera on the floor, before taking a step forward and crushing the camera under his boot.

"My Camera!" Anansi shrieked, dismayed, "Do you know how much that thing cost me?!"

"Oh please," Jörmungandr huffed, unconcerned, "We both know you either tricked some poor salesperson or stole that camera anyway." The World Serpent turned, stepping in front of Tony and staring the slightly trembling Anansi, "Now, you are going to do exactly as I say, and do everything you can to make this up to my Freyr," Jörmungandr growled, "Or I'm telling Nyame that you were up to your old tricks again."

Needless to say, Anansi quickly agreed to Jörmungandr's demands, using his current human disguise as a Daily Bugle reporter to cover what the Asgardian Embassy wanted him to. Tony felt that as a punishment, it was a little much, but Jörmungandr assured that this was how you dealt with trickster deities, saying if you gave god's like Anansi a centimetre, he would take a yard. But assured out of all the trickster gods on Midgard that Jörmungandr was familiar with, Anansi was one of the most harmless ... as long as you kept him on a short leash.

------ --------

"Ugh ..." Tony burbled as he sleepily dragged himself out of the elevator towards the penthouse kitchen at 2 in the morning, having woken from a long sleep cycle, "Why did I wake up so early? No one is even here at this hour. Ugh, stupid brain. Blaugh ... need coffee." Tony shuffled to the coffee machine, smiling as one of the AI had already set it going for him, knowing Tony's half asleep, his coordination was legendarily bad.

"... Coffee ..."

"Yep, Coffee. The nectar of the gods," Tony groggily nodded his head.

"... Nectar of the gods ..."

"That's what I said," Tony nodded, turning to stare at the empty kitchen, blinking for a moment. "Uh ... What?"

"... What ..."

"Uh ... Hello?" Tony glanced around the dimly lit penthouse floor but still seeing it was technically empty.

"... Hello."

"Is ... there an echo in here?" Tony glanced around drowsily, "Or is this some kind of Anansi magic prank?"

"... Echo is here," parroted a perfect copy of Tony's voice, causing the inventor to stand blinking for a moment before his recent binge of mythos reading caught up in his brain.

"Wait ... Echo? As in, the greek nymph Echo?" Tony stood quietly for a moment before he realised the problem, "Uh ... yes or no?"

"... Yes."

"Oh, wow. Um, ok. Hi ... uh ..." Tony fumbled a bit, still sleepy from his 8 hour REM cycle and lack of coffee, "... Wow ... I'm beginning to understand how hard this is for you, communicating," Tony crossed his arms thoughtfully, "If all you can do is copy words that I say. And ... you know ... the whole being invisible thing."

"... Yes, is hard." the nymph replied in disjointed words, causing Tony to frown.

"Well, we can't have that," Tony harumphed, glancing around his kitchen, "Do you mind if I use my energy to, uh, at least see where your GodWaves are? It feels kinda rude to be speaking to you but looking around at empty air. I'd attempt to talk to you like I've seen the gods do with each other," Tony blushed slightly, "But I'm not that good at controlling my energy yet."

"... I no mind."

Tony focused his seiðr into his eyes, burning bright orange once again, and blinked at the mass of whispy energy standing in the middle of his kitchen, like a collection of morning mist, not at all in the shape of a human being, but being relatively human-sized. "Uh, there you are. Hello again."

"... Hello again."

"Yeah, hearing my own voice is still weird," Tony frowned thoughtfully, bowing his head in thought, "It kinda sucks that you are limited by my spoken aloud vocabulary. And I can't feasibly stand here and speak every single word in the known lexicon for you to use." Tony tapped his foot as his sleepy brain chugged over the current quandary. Tony glanced up at the whispy nymph, who was standing in his kitchen quite patiently. "Are you able to hold and lift physical objects? Are you just invisible? Or are you also intangible?"

"... Yes, I lift," Echo replied, the mass of mist reaching out and demonstrating by picking up an apple out of the nearby fruit bowl.

"Perfect," Tony smiled widely, turning to a nearby cabinet to dig into, "then this just might work." Tony gave a cry of triumph, having found what he was looking for, and came back into the kitchen to stand in front of the whisp of a nymph, quickly tapping away at a Stark pad.
"This is one of the spares I keep around the Tower, as superpowered beings have a habit of not knowing their own strength and crushing my tech," Tony explained as he downloaded an app, configuring the appliance for ease of access, "I'm uploading an app that should make things easy for you ... that is if you want to use it, of course," Tony held out the pad with the aforementioned app out towards the nymph, smiling as the misty form gently took the pad out of his hands and turned it towards itself. "It's a text-to-speech app. You use the keyboard to type what you want to say," Tony leaned over and pointed out the functions of the app, "And the Stark pad's speakers will sound out what you type. Give it a try."

Tony watched excitedly as the misty blob reached out to the screen, and very slowly, typed out a small sentence, leading to the male, heavily robotic voice module of the app to speak out, "Like this?" Tony beamed, nodding his head enthusiastically as he watched the nymph slowly get used to typing on the touch screen, having the text-to-voice speak out the typed words, "Ball." "Hat." "House." "Flower." And "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

"See? This should help with that pesky communications problem," Tony grinned as he had wandered back over to the coffee machine to retrieve his fresh coffee. "If you don't like the bland stock voice, you can ask JARVIS or my AI to find you a voice module to suit your taste."

"Thank you, Stark. Thank you, thank you, thank you." the text-to-voice droned out as Tony watched the misty nymph, and thus the pad, bob up and down as if the nymph was jumping excitedly.

"Your welcome," Tony grinned, pleased that he's managed to find a solution, leaning back against the counter and drinking his coffee, as he watched the essentially mute nymph find her voice, speaking back and forth with his AI. Although noticing that for anyone who did not have seiðr vision, the sight of a seemingly free-floating Stark pad might be an issue. "I can see if I can adapt my Iron Man suits cloaking device for your pad," Tony thought out loud, "It would be bad if someone freaked out about ghosts or tried to take it from you."

"This is fine," Echo typed, "I may not have much power, but I have friends who can cast a glamour over it for me." Tony tilted his head in reluctant acceptance, knowing that the nymph may not want Tony to take the pad back, accepting that Echo was the owner of the pad now, and could do whatever she wanted with it. Though it didn't stop Tony's natural inclination to want to do everything himself. "This is more than I ever expected. Thank you, Stark."

"Aw enough, your gonna make me blush," Tony huffed as he buried his face into his coffee cup, "Just bring it back if it ever needs repairs, ok? I'll give it a free touch up."

"Thank you, Stark."

"Come on, stop already!"

------ --------

"Hey, Kid."

"Kid?" Tony glanced over from where he stood, having just walked down the street to grab doughnuts, at the raspy smoke damaged voice to stare at an old white woman, with ratty unwashed hair, stained blouse and marked up jeans.

"Got any booze? Or smokes?"

"Uh ..." Tony glanced around the open street, feeling a bit wrong-footed to be approached by a woman who would not look out of place in a trailer park, in the middle of New York. Tony hadn't even really had to deal with this kind of person, if you didn't include that time he had camped out in Harley's barn and hometown.

"Well? Do ya, or don't ya?" the woman demanded irritably.

Seeing the woman's firey GodWaves thanks to JARVIS' scanners in his sunglasses, Tony was perplexed at what this strange, unnamed diety was playing at, but figured he'd play it safe. Especially if he didn't want to start a commotion in public.

"I don't smoke or drink anymore. So I don't really have any on me. But, there's a store over there where I can at least grab you something?"

"Well now," the elderly woman smiled at him with craggy smoke-stained yellow teeth, "Aren't you a generous young man?"

Taking the hint, Tony marched over to the store, ignoring the gasps and stares of the pedestrians at seeing Tony Stark in a 'mom and pop liquor store', paying for a bottle of wine, a six-pack of beers, and 2 packs of smokes, then walking back out, and with a little bit of difficulty while still holding his box of doughnuts, handed the disguised diety her requested items.

"Thanks, Sonny," the god's old woman veneer grinned her gap-toothed smile at the inventor as she checked over the items in the plastic bag, "You sure know how to treat a lady right."

"Sure," Tony nodded, still questioning his life choices as he watched the god smirk up at him.

"You're alright," the woman huffed, turning with her bag of gifts, "Guess I won't be blasting New York with lava after all."

" ... Wait, what?"

------ --------

Tony felt it was fair to say that his Tower was well and truly invaded when walking into his penthouse and finding a gaggle of gods sitting in his kitchen sipping on tea, and not cause Tony to even blink.

"... I swear. You gods are like rats."

"I beg your pardon?" A man with deep dark skin, golden eyes surrounded by kohl, and a rather heavy-looking golden ankh around his neck that admittedly clashed with his dark charcoal suit, a happily panting jackal lying at his feet.

"Oh! I get it!" a golden curly-haired man with equally golden skin exclaimed brightly, ignoring his silver baring twin's scoff at his exuberance, "Ever since Aunt and Uncle Hades visited, you've been swarmed with guests. Am I right?"

"It's like they left some kind of supernatural catnip in here or something," Tony grumbled as he continued on his way to the kitchen to grab himself a coffee.

"I hardly think that is any way to welcome guests," an older bearded man sniffed haughtily over his cup of fine china, little bits of static coming off of his white beard and clothes, "You should be more courteous."

Tony paused in his coffee making, turning to stare down the huffy god with a flat stare, "I'm sorry? Did you even knock?"

"I beg your pardon?" the sparking god huffed, almost spilling his tea.

"I don't remember inviting you, nor did you notify me of your impending visit, and nor did you knock or enter through the front door," Tony pointed out flatly. "That does not make you a guest. That makes you an intruder."

"You've got to admit," cackled another young curly-haired man, this time darker with wine coloured eyes, lounging back with his mug and his feet up on the table, "He's got a point there Daddio."

"Well - I -" the god's white beard and hair fluffed up in his floundering like clouds, giving off more upset zaps of tiny lightning.

"For an oft reputed 'god of hospitality'," smirked the Egyptian as he patted his jackal, "You are clearly lacking in understanding or following your own rules, Zeus."

"Humph!" the god, apparently Zeus, slammed his teacup down, cheeks uncovered by his beard burning, and flashed out of the room with a crack of thunder.

Blinking the lights out of his eyes, Tony stood for a moment, and once again contemplated how this was even his life. "Ah ... Did I just piss off Zeus?"

"Don't worry, Mortal," the chuckling curly-headed one with wine coloured eyes assured, "The 'King of the Gods' was clearly in the wrong, breaking his own rules. He couldn't do anything to you even if he was tempted to."

"And with you being the vassal of multiple gods," the silver-haired woman with intense grey eyes finally spoke, "Zeus would be a fool to even attempt to."

"Everyone knows, 'you don't touch another's vassals'," the golden-haired one nodded sagely.

"And what part of that includes, 'but it gives us free rein to invade his home', huh?" Tony sassed tiredly from his kitchen.

"Loosen up mortal," the easy-going god with his feet still up on Tony's table chuckled, waving a hand to drift a waft of a cloud of magic to infuse Tony's coffee, "Have a drink and pull up a seat!"

Tony stared at his coffee with trepidation, slowly lifting the mug to give his drink a sniff. "Did ... you just spike my Italian coffee with Ouzo?"

"Oh! Got a refined nose for booze I see?" the God grinned happily, taking a sip out of his own, probably alcoholic drink.

"... " Tony stared down at his drink a little forlornly as he smelled the tempting aroma.

"What's the matter?" the golden-haired one tilted his head much like the jackal.

" ... I'm a recovering alcoholic," Tony sighed in defeat, face scrunched, "I can't drink this."

"Oh!" the God rocked back in his chair, taking his feet off of the table and sitting upright, "I am so sorry!" the God quickly snapped his fingers, literally pulling all of the alcohol content physically out of the beverage, to float in a blob in midair, then zoom back towards the dark-haired god who opened his mouth and swallowed the lot in one gulp.

"Honestly, Dionysus," the silver-haired beauty sighed, shaking her head at the god with burning cheeks, "You should know by now that not everyone can drink like you."

"I'm sorry for my Brother," the golden-haired one, nodded, pulling out a chair invitingly, "Please, come sit with me, Artemis, Anubis and Dionysus. And we can have a lovely chat! Oh!" the golden-haired one chortled bubbly as he realised, "We never did introduce ourselves, did we? I'm Apollo!" the golden god cheered.

"I gathered that," Tony smirked as he stared at his coffee with a bit of misgiving, but in the end shrugged, deciding to give up, and took his coffee to go join his apparent godly guests for an impromptu morning tea.

Chapter Text

"Hades, Persephone," Tony mumbled as he took a sip of some very aromatic tea that the gods had brought with them on what was turning out to be, something of a regular experience - sitting out on the deck of the penthouse and drinking tea with the power couple of the Underworld, "could you answer me something?"

"Of course Tony," Persephone smiled, turning from watching her husband watch Cerberus in the form of a French Bulldog play with the cleaning roombas.

"Is there something going on, in the godly circles," Tony stirred in some more honey into his tea, being careful of Hades set of bone chine teacups, "that maybe, I should be aware of?"

"What makes you say that?" Hades turned his pale blue eyes onto the mortal, a small sly smirk stretching across his pale face.

"Well, I don't know if you've noticed," Tony huffed a laugh, sure that there wasn't much that the God's of Underworld would ever miss, "But ever since you've become regular guests of the Tower, we've had something of an uptick in other godly appearances."

"We did say that the God's had become curious of this new modern age, and of you in particular, being something of a herald bringing on a new age, as you are," Hades chuckled into his tea.

"Well, I'd made allowances for that," Tony nodded as he held the delicate tea cup in his hands, "and I appreciate the forewarning - otherwise I and my AI would have aimed weapons at more than one thoughtless trickster God who thought it would be funny to not use the front door."

"Ah yes," Persephone chuckled, "We heard all about the scare you all gave poor old Anansi. We did leave a request that the God's show you some form of respect, being favoured as you are," Persephone fondly shook her head, "though there will always be deities who will never learn."

"It gladdens my heart that my brother finally got told off for his presumptuousness," Hades smirk widened in unholy glee, "Zeus always did seem to believe that the rules did not apply to him, just because he'd named himself King."

"That's also another thing that I hope dosnt bite me on the ass," Tony grumbled to himself, ignoring Hades pleased rumbling chuckles that sounded much like the rumbling of the Earth in an earthquake.
"But no, I'm specifically talking about the other kinds of Godly visits."

"What do you mean?" Persephone leaned forward expectantly.

"Well," Tony breathed in his tea aroma as he gathered his thoughts, "Are you aware that I had an old woman appear in my bathroom, while I was naked and having a shower," Tony narrowed his eyes at Persephone's shocked giggles, "and asking me 'what were my thoughts on snow'?"

"Oh dear," Persephone's giggles were almost uncontrolled, like peels of amused bells, green eyes watering slightly with mirth.

"So? How did you reply?" Hades asked with a small raised eyebrow, amused smirk never leaving his face as he drank his tea.

"... Well ... I said: 'I don't mind it but as long as it stays in the mountains'," Tony replied honestly, "Then asked if she could kindly please wait outside, as I was kind of in the middle of something, but she just smiled at me, and poofed into a cloud of snowflakes and cold air. And I can tell you," Tony huffed, "Being covered in a drift of snow while I am in my personal shower, in nothing but my birthday suit, is not an experience I would want to repeat."

"No," Persephone giggled behind her hand, "I wouldn't imagine you would."

"And this wasn't a one time occurrence, oh no," Tony placed his tea cup down so he could gesture wildly with his hands, "at any hour, seemingly any where, I've been accosted by deities! And it wasn't like Pele, or the foxes or Echo - oh no," Tony raised a bemused eyebrow as he recounted.
"In the past week alone, I've had Hermes knock on the outside of the window of the 40th floor of the Tower ... just flying there, with his winged Jordan's ... and ask me through the glass what was my preference between granite and basalt?" Tony looked between the gods suspiciously, but Persephone broke into peels of helpless giggles as Hades softly shook his head in fond exasperation.
"I've had two American Indian men, one with black feathers in their hair and the other looked to be sporting some kind of canine teeth necklace, arguing about the benefits of mahogany wood or maple, while I was in the lab trying to draw up schematics. Then, they made a competition out of which wood I should choose.
"I've had a soaking wet Hawaiian man, covered in tattoos, practically beg if I was a fan of lava, mumbling about his lover throwing a massive fit if I wasn't - while dripping puddles in my kitchen. When I just told him 'sure', he almost cheered, said something about his relationship being safe, then disappeared ... leaving my kitchen floor soaking wet.
"But the kicker was just this morning," Tony mock scowled at the two God's who were failing miserably at hiding their amusement at his expense. "This morning, I woke up to this towering figure of a man standing over me, in my bedroom, dressed in full ancient Roman armor, and demanding to know if I like stone or sand beaches!"

"Oh Mars," Hades sighed, his lips trembling as the god fought to keep a straight face, "he never was the most subtle of beings."

"Well, he is the god of war, darling," Persephone pointed out, sipping some tea to calm her giggles.

"What I want to know," Tony eyed the smiling gods, "Is why all of these gods have been popping out of the wood work, and asking me about my thoughts on such things like my favourite type of weather patterns?"

"Perhaps," Persephone's green eyes sparkled, "they just want to get to know you better?"

Tony's dead pan glare as a reply only caused the goddess to throw her head back and break into laughter again.

"Whatever the case may be," Hades smirked, watching his laughing wife lovingly, "these inquiries are not particularly harmful and dangerous, are they?"

"Well ..." Tony sat back as he stared into Hades hellfire eyes, "not really, no."

"So there is no harm in them asking them, yes?"

"I ... guess not?" Tony blinked slowly in bemusement.

"Then it is no matter," Hades clapped his hands together in a 'so there you are' gesture and leaned forward to refill the inventor's tea, and after a pause, tipping his head to the side, Hades nodded and began filling another cup full of pipping hot tea.

Tony had opened his mouth, curious into the God of the Underworld's strange action, when his unspoken questions were answered, as with the chime of many bells, a gorgeous Japanese woman with long flowing black hair, in a stunning full length red kimono that was open partially at the front, leaving plenty of space for her ample bosom, and leaving little to the imagination, appeared sitting on a newly conjured seat. But it wasn't these features Tony was focused on - as the simply stunning woman happened to also have an array of large, fluffy, multiple white fox tails behind her, and atop her head, a pair of large flicking fox ears, nesting in her headress of bells and red string.
The nine tailed Goddess nodded her head regally and she leant forward and accepted her delicate bone china cup of tea with snow white hands.

"I thank you for welcoming me," the goddess quietly intoned.

"You are quiet welcome, Inari," Hades smiled, sitting back with his own tea.

"Did you forget whoes Tower this actually is?" Tony huffed with puffed cheeks in frustration as Hades smirked at him and Persephone giggled.

"Of course not," the newly named fox deity smiled amusedly over her tea cup, bowing her head slightly, "I thank you for hosting me and for taking such good care of my messengers, enlightened Mikan."

Tony sat blinking for a moment as the translation ran through his head. "Did ... you just call me an enlightened orange?"

"My messengers have taken particular liking to the shade of your soul," Inari hid her smile behind a trailing sleeve, "they have spoken to me often of you, 'the gracious orange one who gifts us tofu', or 'treat giver' - and have fashioned you a nickname - Mikan, the orange enlightened one who speaks to the Gods."

"I guess that's one of the nicer names I've ever been called," Tony sighed in reluctant acceptance as Persephone continued to giggle.

"I have come, once again, to thank you for minding my messengers," Inari nodded to Tony once again, "and also to apologise on their behalf. My little ones are so eager to please, but also naturally so full of mischief," the goddess sighed fondly, "they usually mean well, but I'm afraid sometimes, they just cannot help themselves."

"I was wondering about the little guys," Tony admitted as he heard a scuffle behind him back inside the penthouse, assuming it was Cerberus the French Bulldog still tussling with the roomba. "But since they've been so helpful, I decided it was better not to question it," Tony shrugged, "we've kinda learned to roll with the punches when it comes to the supernatural around the Tower lately. Besides," Tony smirked, "My kids would always warn me if we were ever in danger."

"I doubt any malignant forces could step inside these halls," Inari commented, turning her face upwards, ears twitching as she looked about the air of the Tower, "such a protective barrier, I have never felt."

"That would probably be Loki," Tony nodded as he went back to sipping his tea, a small pleased smile dancing around his lips, "They said that they had laid the strongest protections they knew around our home."

"Ah yes," Hades nodded with a small smile, "your suitors who are currently away, completing a very important mission," the God's smile grew into a grin as Tony almost choked on his tea. "I imagine you are greatly enticipating the return of Asgard's ambassadors to the court of Midgard's King."

"Wha- we are nothing like that!" Tony spluttered, almost spilling his tea down his front.

"Oh my!" Inari covered her mouth with her sleeves, dark eyes positively dancing.

"We aren't!" Tony pointed a stern finger at the smirking gods with a glare, "And I am not Midgard's King. Noone on Earth would accept that."

"You continue to profess such things," Persephone smiled a secretive, amused smile, "and yet forces are moving around you that would treat it as so."

"What do you mean," Tony glared at the Goddesses smirk, "Persephone ... what have you done?"

"Nothing at all my dear," Persephone smiled enigmatically as she took a sip, "I just was told by a little birdy, that it was a certain mortal's birthday in the approaching days," the golden haired goddess tipped her head to the side thoughtfully as Tony's face became pained, "and ... I may have gossiped about such a rumor to a God, or two."

"... Please tell me you didn't ..." Tony groaned, staring horrified at the God's smirks.

"My foxes are particularly excited about the event," Inari smirked, multiple tails swishing joyfully.

"... Oh God," Tony put his face in his hands and groaned, "what have you done?!"

"You'll just have to wait and see, won't you?" Hades deep rumbling chuckle rolled through the air like the shifting of the Earth.

Chapter Text

Tony was awoken from a deep sleep by the scrabble of paws on hardwood floors and animal snuffles, causing Tony to groan and press his face into the pillow.
As much as he appreciated the Gods - which was saying something because he'd less asked for them to appear in his life, they had more taken it upon themselves to let themselves in whenever they damn well pleased - but Tony was seriously missing the peace and quiet, and having his own personal space!
There wasn't anywhere he could go, and a God would not be there. Seriously. He did not want to even think of the old woman in his bathroom ever again. At least most of the God's had gotten the memo after Tony aired his grievances with Hades and Persephone ... and that one time Tony threatened to incinerate Sun Wukong if he ever found him in his lab again, ever. Since then, most if not all of the God's kept to the public areas of the Tower, for the most part.
The penthouse had the most traffic. Essentially, Tony was never shocked anymore by who he'd find there. Some days he'd walk into the kitchen to see Hera and Zeus having a domestic, while at the kitchen table Enki, Posidon, Hapi and Llŷr sat arguing over parfaits, and in the lounge, Gilgamesh and Enkidu sat on the floor versing each other in Smash Bros while a bevy of nymphs cheered.
Honestly, didn't these God's have their own homes?

Tony grumbled as he heard more snuffles and animal huffs down on the floor next to his bed. If he was lucky, whoever that was would let him go back to sleep. Bets were it was either Cerberus in another small dog form (the cute little bastard), or Inari's foxes. The problem with either of those options was that Tony couldn't stay mad at them, even for breaking his rule about staying out of his bedroom. The immortal beings were spirits or gods in their own right, although they were still animals. Being a diety afforded them a type of intelligence that a mortal animal could never have, but it was still not something approaching human intelligence. Or if they did, they sure played the part of clueless, cute little monsters very well. Tony often felt silly, sitting down with Cerberus or the foxes and trying to explain to them that they can't play with the roombas or to be gentle with the bots, and please stop distracting them from their tasks? Poor Brucie had nearly tripped over U chasing a kitsune who had nicked their dustpan brush and proceeded to play keep away with the bot all over the Tower. Tony knew they understood what he said, he could see the intelligence in their eyes, and they kept to the rules ... to an extent.

Tony felt a curious wet nose on his hand that was dangling over the side of the bed, and a brush of plush fur. Ah ... it was the foxes.
Then with a victorious yip, Tony felt a lightfooted body jump onto the bed, followed by 2 more, that then proceeded to jump up and down over the doona, jumping over his legs.

"Ugh ... no," Tony groaned, digging his face deeper into his pillow.

Tony heard a yip, then felt the foxes pushing at his legs insistently.

"No ... sleeping. Go 'way," Tony grumbled, stubbornly keeping his eyes closed and trying to force himself to back to sleep.

With a very un-animal sounding type of huff, the foxes yipped and danced up a storm, jostling the bed. When Tony stubbornly refused to move, the foxes started to work together in grabbing the doona and pulling it off of the grumpy inventor.

"H-hey! Hey no!" Tony stumbled up to grab his sheets, but was too late as the foxes managed to drag his doona off of the bed and proceeded to run away with it, "... Damnit."

"Goodmorning Sir," JARVIS intoned from the ceiling speakers as Tony was left sitting up in bed, staring after his missing bedsheets.

"Mornin," Tony grumbled as he scratched at his head, sighing in defeat, "have one of the bots retrieve the blankets when they've finished playing with them."

"Of course Sir."

"Ugh," Tony grunted again as he forced himself to get up, stumbling into his bathroom to freshen up then go into his walk-in closet to select his clothes for the day. "J ... can you fathom, for any reason, why the little guys came in here?"

"How is one to understand the thought process of divine animals," JARVIS sassed back causing Tony to scoff out a reluctant laugh, "But, I believe the messengers of Inari came to wake you for a purpose ... before they got distracted in stealing your bedsheets."

"That reason being ...?" Tony glanced up as he buttoned up his cuffs.

"I believe the Gods have a gift for you, Sir."

"... Gift?" Tony wondered out of his closet, dressed in a smart casual suit, protective amulet tucked snugly under his shirt, forgoing the tie but still wearing his favourite Iron Man-inspired cufflinks. "What for?"

"Have you any idea what today is, Sir?" JARVIS sighed in his usual stiffly disappointed butler fashion.

"That's what I have you for," Tony waved the conversation away as he started to make his way out of his personal rooms to the elevator. "Better not keep the Gods waiting. I assume I'll find ... whoever wants me in the penthouse?"

"Indeed Sir."

"Cool. Well, whatever they want, I hope they can wait till I've had my coffee first," Tony ambled as he felt the elevator smoothly approach the penthouse, only to jolt back when the elevator doors opened and a hand was thrust in the inventors face holding a extra large travel coffee cup.

"Good morning," a beefy hulking figure of a man with golden curls and bright blue eyes beamed at the stunned inventor, holding out the coffee in his face, "My aunt and uncle bade me fetch you the most delectable of morning refreshments."

"Uh ... thanks?" Tony slowly reached up and accepted the coffee out of the golden glowing muscle man's hands with a slight edge of caution.

"I have also brought doughnuts. I believe blueberry is your flavour of choice?" the curly-headed bodybuilder smiled charmingly.

"... That's it. You're my new favourite. I'm keeping you," Tony declared, taking a swig of the frankly ambrosial coffee as he tapped the large bubbly man on his thick arm, and happily feeding his face with delectable blueberry doughnuts. This lead to Tony mentally concocting a theory that golden-haired beefy gods may universally have the temperament of golden retrievers.

"I believe you may have a few people who would be upset to hear you say that, Tony."

Tony glanced over, mouth full of sugary doughnut, and spied Persephone and Hades sitting in his kitchen, along with Brucie and Jörmungandr, all grinning at the scene in front of them.

"What's all this then? Also, who's my new best friend?" Tony asked after he swallowed his mouthful, smirking as the golden-haired bodybuilder next to him puffed up with pride.

"That is my nephew, Heracles," Hade's smirked as Tony proceeded to make a double-take, "And we have a day's full of an itinerary to get through."

"Uh ... we do?" Tony blinked, waving a hand for a hologram to appear at his side so he could look through his schedule, "The kids don't have anything down here ... even Pep isn't demanding my time today ..."

"Honestly, Freyr," Jörmungandr sighed as Bruce huffed a knowing laugh at his side, "You are truly hopeless."

"Muh?" Tony mumbled as he had gone back to stuffing his face full of blueberry pastry.

"We have a surprise for you Tony," Persephone stood up from her seat and sashayed over towards the ancient demigod hero/god and billionaire inventor, linking arms with the mortal with an amused grin shared with the other bubbly blond.

"O ... k. Well, I appreciate you telling me beforehand," Tony swallowed his mouthful as he glanced up between the gods ... damn their supernatural tallness.

"We have all been hard at work to make sure our gift would be perfect," Hercules flashed his perfect white teeth in another charming smile.

"We?" Tony eyed the bubbly hunk suspiciously, sipping his coffee, "J mentioned something about a gift ... Why would you want to give me a gift?" Tony rose an eyebrow at the amused god, "We've just met."

"Come," Hades rumbled, causing Tony to look over and realise everyone was now standing around, Bruce smiling as he gripped onto Jörmungandr arm in a way Tony had never seen them do ... unless Jor was going to transport- "We shall just have to show you."

"Wha-" Tony's senses were assaulted by a bright flash of GodWaves, feeling like a wave had enveloped him and kept him under, or like he had been dragged underneath the earth. The surge caused the inventor to become dizzy and tightly hang onto the arms linked with his, bright startled orange eyes dazed and unseeing, only calmed slightly by feeling Persephone patting his elbow soothingly. Tony forced himself to take a steadying breath, and squeezing the goddesses arm gently, Tony trustingly closed his eyes, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass.

"Freyr?"

"Tony?"

Tony felt a gentle hand touch his forehead and smiled easily when he felt callouses on the hand touching his skin and smelt green tea. "I'm ok Brucie. Just a bit dizzy."

"Instant teleportation can be disorienting the first couple of times," Hercules warm tones purred reassuringly, standing solidly as a rock at Tony's side, "It's much more jarring than walking through a portal."

"And takes a lot more power to pull off, especially with passengers," Hades rumbled in his deep even tones, "It is not surprising that such a flare of energy in close range would disorient you."

"Something the kids and I will have to work on," Tony mumbled to himself with furrowed brows, keeping his eyes closed. He couldn't afford for someone to pull that kind of trick on him in a fight and leave him unable to respond.

"Take the time you need, Tony," Persephone soothed, still patting his elbow, "Herc saved your coffee and doughnuts."

"Thanks," Tony smirked wryly as his dizziness slowly abated.
Feeling a breeze brush over him that did not feel like air conditioning and brought the smell of plant life and sea salt to his nose, Tony slowly opened his dim orange eyes, then blinked at the scenery around him. "What the fuck?"

"Welcome Tony," Hades chuckled, stepping aside so that the inventor could appreciate more of the view.

Tony stared at the rolling green hills full of wildflowers, piles of warm rocks, a welcoming patch of forest further afield, and further still Tony could see mountains, with snow at the top ... and lava?

"What the fuck?" Tony repeated as he blinked rapidly, staring at the active volcano bubbling gently in the distance. A strong gust of wind nearly knocked Tony over, causing him to peer in that direction and stand staring with wide eyes at the sheer cliff a few steps away from where they stood, out into the ocean and a collection of other islands grouping around. "An archipelago?"

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Persephone purred, still standing at Tony's side holding onto his arm, seeming to be enjoying the ocean breeze.

"With an active volcano?" Tony turned back to Brucie and the Gods, all of whom seemed to be enjoying his reaction, "Are we at Hawaii?"

"Hawaii does indeed have active volcanoes," Bruce huffed, "But do you really think Hawaii has snowy mountains in spring?"

"I don't know, never visited," Tony shrugged, still staring around, peering at one of the islands in the distance, "Is that ... black sand? And basalt pillars?"

"We were unsure what you liked," Hercules chuckled, "The ones sent to ask came back with inconclusive answers for the most part. So we did a bit of everything!" the large blonde laughed out loud cheerfully. "I believe we did a good job."

"Did a bit of everything?" Tony stared at the bubbly blondes large smile, "You mean," Tony turned back to stare at the scenery around them, "You made this?!"

"The disparate Pantheons all did their part," Hades gave a smug rumble, "I'm quite pleased with the caves myself."

"Wait wait wait," Tony flailed his arms as he tried to wrap his head around the current situation, "You're telling me, that the gods who've been popping into the Tower all willy nilly, decided to just go ahead a create a bunch of islands?! How?! When?!" Tony looked between the god's smug faces, "I'm pretty sure people would notice a few new landmasses bubbling out of the sea - or a live goddamn volcano!" Tony pointed at the continuous river of lava in the distance.

"And what's wrong with volcanoes?" Tony turned to stare at the trailer park old woman he met a few weeks ago, scowling up at him with a pout, who definitely had not been there a second ago.

"Nothing," Tony quickly amended, "Except the explosions and raining death?"

"I've already promised not to have a volcano party," the elderly white woman veneer worn by Pele crossed her arms over her stained ratty shirt with a put-upon huff, "Or lose my temper."

"That was the agreement," Jörmungandr eyed the huffy goddess sternly.

"Yeah yeah I know," the aforementioned goddess huffed with a scowl and proceeded to puff away in a cloud of steam and disappear.

"Wait ... you knew about this?" Tony turned on Jörmungandr, who merely raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"I'm the Midgard Serpent, Freyr. Of course, I knew," Jörmungandr drawled.

"Do ... you not like our present?"

Tony spun on the spot to stare bemusedly at Hercules' wide blue sad eyes, looking like a giant, muscle-bound, sad puppy.

"No no - I mean - It's beautiful!" Tony assured in a rush, thankful that the big guy didn't start crying, though his immediately brightening into a big smile with no sign of impending tears left Tony feeling like he'd just been played with. "I mean ... why an island?" Tony stared around him at the gods and the virgin landscape around them. "I mean, I'm a billionaire, I get it. I've bought an island or two."

"Forgive me Sir," JARVIS intoned from the implant in Tony's ear, "But you bought those islands for building projects and further business plans. I believe this archipelago is intended as a 44th-anniversary gift."

"Anniversary?!"

"Tony," Bruce sighed, shaking his head slowly as he stated bluntly, "It's your birthday."

"What? No, it isn't," Tony spun with a confused look on his face.

"I assure you, Sir, it is indeed," JARVIS sighed.

"... It is?" Tony blinked as if he had dust in his fading orange eyes.

"Told you he wouldn't remember," Bruce turned to Jörmungandr with a wry smile, "Ms Potts told me all about how Tony wouldn't remember any given date if he didn't have her or the AI to remind him."

"Nevermind," Persephone giggled as she hugged the inventor's arm, "We will just take our surprise birthday gift as a success. Now come," the goddess of the Underworld warm smile was soothing and brought a slight blush to Tony's cheeks, "We must show our collective present off!"

"Wait, there's more?!" Tony spluttered as he started to get tugged along, Hercules chuckling at his other side.

"Of course," Jörmungandr smirked at the stunned inventor, "Did you think the gods would create you an island without showing the entire thing off?"

"As I said," Hades chuckled deeply as he followed his wife and nephew, "A full days itinerary."

Chapter Text

Tony had been absolutely blindsided by the Gods of Midgard essentially creating a bunch of whole new islands and declaring it Tony's.
The archipelago seemed to be made up of one large landmass in what Tony assumed was the centre, and multiple smaller islands arranged around. Each with its own unique topography, with caves and mountains, forests and tree groves that appeared ancient ... though if Tony took the god's word for it, were really only a few weeks into life. Each island seemed to follow its own themes, one was full of autumn leaves and another was a winter paradise with frozen lakes, completely ignoring that it was currently spring.
The inventor wasn't even sure, with spending the entire day being shown around, that he had actually seen all of it, the islands seemed so sprawling and endless, much too large to really be called an island, that Tony was starting to suspect some magic shenaniganery.

Persephone had been delighted at showing Tony around, marvelling at the fields of wildflowers and wild groves of fruit trees. Hercules seemed to be excited about the wildlife that seemed to be roaming the forests and open plains, exclaiming that he had missed hunting as he had as a mortal after Tony swears that he spotted a goddamn golden deer bounding through one of the forests. Jor absolutely refused to journey onto the frozen islands or up the snowy mountain on the main landmass, though he did seem to appreciate the natural hot springs that were fed by the melting snow and heated by the ever-present lava dotted around the base of the mountain. Bruce had squeaked and covered his eyes when they had come across one of these natural springs only to find a bunch of naked bathing Japanese deities soaking up the steam, sipping on sake and admiring the randomly blossoming cherry blossoms weeping over the spring.

It was then that Tony noticed the strange landmarks, each was a little different, but were defiantly not a natural occurrence. Some looked like stone lamps that glowed an eerie light, others were similarly glowing trees or plants in strange shapes, others still were actually marble statues that seemed to depict the gods themselves - though Tony felt some of them were being a bit too generous with the statues certain features.
Hercules explained that these landmarks were essentially temples or shrines, each for a certain pantheon or diety. Not exactly laying claim to an area, but more declaring their involvement and presence on the island. 'Leaving their own mark', as the bubbly blonde had called it.
Jörmungandr, seeing the look on Tony's face, explained with a smirk that the shrines also had an actual function on the island instead of just being statements. It was then that it was explained that the archipelago islands were created on a meeting point of the Earth's lay lines - currents of power that flowed from sacred sites and magically strong places that flowed around the Earth, a type of pulse that fed the Earth and kept it's seiðr strong. And essentially, to keep the islands in place, and tap into that mystic flow, the shrines and temples acted as sacred pins or taps that fed the islands its magic but also acted as batteries powering the islands many protections.

"Wait, hold on," Tony felt a bead of sweat travel down his neck from his hairline, "This doesn't make any sense. How could you have created these islands without anyone noticing? I might not be a geologist or anything, but even I know a major event like a landmass rising out of the sea would cause earthquakes or even tsunamis. And I am pretty sure the kids and the media would not have missed something like that." Tony pointed out, wishing he had thought to put his sunglasses on this morning so that JARVIS could send him a live feed of information. Ever since he started using his own orange seiðr to feel and see with, he'd been using the sunglasses less and less. He was feeling practically naked without them on his face right now.
"And what do you mean protections?" Tony glanced around at the smiling gods around him, but it was seeing Bruce Banner standing next to Jörmungandr, calm and untroubled, that lead to Tony slowly calming himself also. "Is it a type of barrier?"

"Of course!" Hercules beamed, planting his fists on his hips and puffing out his chest with pride, "The Gods have ensured that these islands have been afforded every protection that we Gods can provide. But also all of the comforts too," Hercules brows did a strange provocative wiggle as he indicated with his head back at the hot springs they had just left, causing Bruce's face to explode into a deep blush, leading to Jörmungandr chuckling next to the good doctor.

"Noone but us gods of Midgard and those who you invite can ever find these lands," Hades gave the inventor a smooth agreeable nod, "Have no fear, Tony Stark. These are safe and sacred lands, blessed by the gods, and gifted to the one who shall be Midgard's King."

"But I'm not though," Tony huffed in argument, scowling at the pale God of the Underworld's knowing smug smirk, "That was only a throwaway title the All-Daddy foisted onto me so I could take responsibility for his lost kids roaming the Earth."

"Be ever as that may," Persephone chuckled, taking hold of one of Tony's arms again, "It is your title, and not one that the distant All-Father can so simply take away once granted."

"Not now, at least," Jörmungandr smirked.

"It was rather bold of him to assume that he could give out such a title in the first place," Hades huffed, a petulant scowl creeping onto his face, the same type that found its way there whenever Zeus was mentioned. "Midgard has flourished in the time of Asgard's absence. The Asgardian's may have conquered our Realm back in its early stages, but they have not stepped foot in this Realm in over a thousand years," Hades grumped, "A lot can change in that time."

"It is rather presumptuous of him to assume to rule over us all," Hercules rose a brow at Jörmungandr, who shrugged with a sigh.

"I have never known the All-Father to be a reasonable sort," The Midgard Serpent snorted, "He did banish me to this Realm as a child, by throwing me off of the Rainbow Bridge and into the frozen ocean."

"Definitely not the actions of a sensible leader," Hades growled, his deep voices sounding like grinding rocks.

"So that means I shouldn't be King?" Tony interjected hopefully, grinning when Hades sighed and the dark look left the God's face.

"Odin may be foolish," Jörmungandr smirked, "But even his actions sometimes create fortuitous circumstances."

"I don't think they are going to let the King title go, Tony," Bruce stage whispered at the pouting inventor.

"Come," Persephone giggled as she tugged gently on the pouting inventor's arm, "There is much yet to see!"

Tony had sighed and let himself be lead, packing his questions away to ask at another time, as Persephone seemed determined to show him every spot and feature of the islands.

In short order, Persephone pulled on his arm, tugging him in the direction where Tony could hear the soft bubbling of a stream, only to come face to face with a naked ... person? Sitting on a rock ledge hanging over a small stream. They were preternaturally beautiful, in an androgynous kind of way. Tony smirked when heard Bruce choke, glancing back to see Bruce had covered his eyes with his own hands. Tony thought the good doctor should really be used to seeing bare bodies, being a doctor, and told him so.

"Not that type of doctor, Tony!"

A chuckle caused Tony to turn back to the deity ... spirit? Who seemed to be greatly amused by the group's antics, and not at all bothered to be caught out in the buff.

"Have you come to sample my sweet waters?"

Tony rose an eyebrow at their provocative phrasing in amusement even as Bruce's blush deepened as he gave a put-upon huff, still covering his own eyes.

"I have tended this stream, using all my skills to nurture its sweetness. Please," the being smiled flirtatiously, "Taste my sweet labours."

Tony withheld a snort of amusement, turning to meet Persephone and Hades eyes with a questioning raised brow.

"This is Cyane," Persephone smiled sweetly, "They are an old friend of mine, a freshwater naiad. I invited them here to watch over the freshwater springs. They like to tease," the goddess smirked at the water nymph who smirked back, "But they mean you no harm. Go ahead," Persephone chuckled at Tony's non-plussed look, "You'll be surprised!"

"I appear to be getting a lot of those today," Tony mumbled as he eased himself closer to the bank, and keeping a careful eye on the flirtatious naiad, Tony got down on his knees on the bank and dipped a hand into the water. Shocked at the water's frigidness, Tony quickly got a small amount in his cupped hand, and after a cautious sniff, took a sip.

"This water is sweet!"

"This spring water is freshly melted from the snow cap peaks, and flows past an apple orchard, wild berry bushes and a field of sweet grasses, which add to the flavour of the water," the water nymph explained, smiling as they watched the light reflect off of the sweet water's ripples, "But I assure you, the water is clean and 100% pure."

"Fenrir would absolutely bottle this stuff if he could," Tony chuckled, taking another handful to his mouth.

"Yes," Jörmungandr smile turned into something melancholic and nostalgic, "we will have to bring the gruff sweet tooth here when my family make their way back."

Tony paused, eyebrows scrunched as he felt an ache in his chest, quickly dropping the fresh handful of water back into the stream, deciding that the frigidness of the water was making his chest hurt.

So ... where to next?" Tony grinned as he stood up from the bank, rubbing his almost numb hand from the cold.

"I have the perfect place!" Hercules cried, seeming absolutely giddy as he rushed down the bank and grabbed Tony's hand, grinning at the inventor's shock.

"Nephew," Hercules froze in place before he could even begin dragging the mortal up the bank, "Remember what I said would happen, if you forgot yourself and damaged any mortals under my watch ..." Hades voice brought shivers to Tony's skin like he was suddenly in a dark, dank hole, deep underground ...

"... Right ..." Hercules had a strange look on his face that Tony was unsure what to make off, but he didn't have long to take it in, before the blond seemed to change tracks, and lift a shocked multimillionaire inventor into his arms in a princess carry, and proceeded to carry him up the bank in a hurried walk.

"Hey!" Tony flailed a little, even though he didn't want to be dropped, "I may be a frail human, but I can walk you know!"

"No can do!" Hercules gave the mortal a stiff smile, "You heard Uncle. I hurt a hair on your head and he'll feed me to the fishes."

"I doubt the fishes would do all that much, in all honesty," Tony heard Bruce's voice a distance behind them, as apparently Herc was taking large strides, almost leaving the rest of the group behind in his hurry.

"Wait wait, where are you taking me?" Tony struggled, but he was caught, stuck staring up at the golden Gods determined face.

"I told you!" the demigod turned God chuffed without looking down at his passenger, "The perfect place!"

'For what?!' Tony mentally scolded, starting to get a little peeved with the muscle-bound God's propensity of dragging him around and sweeping him up in whatever the golden God had set his mind to ... much like another golden God he knows-

"Here we are!" Hercules proclaimed brightly, though seeing the mortal's scowl, grinned and placed the inventor down on his own two feet so he could have a look around for himself.

'Here' apparently was another cliffside, under a strange rock formation that arched up to form a natural canopy or type of Pavillion, that gave a perfect view of the crashing waves and stretch of the open sea. Something twigged in the back of Tony's brain, a type of sense memory, or perhaps the fuzzy recollection of a waking dream ... of warmth and sleepy chuckles, lying under a pavilion watching the storm, surrounded by the scent of woodlands, vanilla and juniper ...

"This spot is perfect for watching storms," the boisterous god startled the inventor out of his hazy daydream, grinning from Tony's side, admiring the natural Pavillion as the waves crashed against the cliff face.

"It is stunning ..." Tony allowed, though he had the nagging feeling that something wasn't quite right. Something was missing. If he had that something here, this pavilion would be perfect. "It could use some vegetation though."

"What?" Hercules asked absentmindedly as he seemed entranced by the crashing of the waves, his exuberance caused that strange ache to return to Tony's chest, leaving him to rub at it bemusedly.

"It's nothing. Never mind," Tony murmured, staring down at his chest with scrunched brows. Why was his chest acting up? He hadn't had any kind of aches or pains in his chest since the arc reactor had been torn out and his body had been remade. He was approaching his mid 40's ... did Tony still have heart problems?

"Is not the ferociousness of nature truly magnificent!" the golden god at his side cheered as a large wave slapped the cliffside with exuberant force.

"Of course you'd think that, Thor," Tony mumbled under his breath without looking up, pausing when his brain caught up to what he had just said.

"I'm sorry, Tony?" Hercules flashed his big grin, "I couldn't hear you over the crash of Poseidon's mighty crashing waves!"

"It's nothing!" Tony quickly amended, turning and biting his bottom lip in shocked embarrassment - why did he think of Thor right then?!

"There you are," Bruce huffed as the rest of the group finally caught up, walking up to Tony's side the doctor glared good-naturedly at Hercules who had his hands up guiltily, "Did you have to run off with Tony like that?"

"I apologise, Vassal to the Gods," Hercules quickly amended, glancing over at Hades who stood with Persephone a short distance away, "I just wanted to show Tony the best spot!"

"I, however," Jörmungandr rumbled as he stepped up to Tony's other side and linked arms with the mortal, "Disagree. I believe I know of these island's best spot that Freyr must come see."

Before Hercules could do more than scowl and open his mouth as if to argue, a chilling breeze whipped over the group, from the opposite direction of the ocean, one that smelled of damp earth and cold stone, which caused the golden god to freeze and go rigid for some reason.

"I believe Hebe will be looking for you by now, Nephew," Persephone's smile was warm, but Tony couldn't help feeling that the GodWaves of the couple of the Underworld seemed restless.

"Come Freyr," The World Serpent smirked as he gently lead the birthday boy and Bruce away from the pavilion without a glance back, and filled the meantime of taking them to another landmark with easy conversation, each eased some of Tony's building worry. Even smiling as Jor happily brushed his pearlescent energy over Tony own orange when the inventor reached out. Tony had been doing this more and more, getting used to feeling the energy around him, and found it soothing to have his energy brush another, especially of those he was close to.
Tony was feeling more settled by the time The Midgard Serpent had lead the two mortals through a forest, leading them to clearing, smirking as Bruce and Tony craned their necks back to even try to see the entire thing.

"That tree is huge!" Bruce gasped with wide brown eyes.

"Isn't it?" Jor chuckled as they admired the towering ash tree, with its thick trunk, raised knarled roots, and wide-reaching branches that shaded them with its teardrop leaves. "It's almost like it's trying to compete with the Yggdrasil itself."

"I can tell why you'd like it," Tony grinned as he stared at the magnificence of the tree that seemed to make the entire forest pale in comparison, "Narfi and Nari would love it," Tony laughed staring up at the ash's canopy, as if he could see the twin ravens laughing in its branches, "I bet they'd find lots of shiny things to hide up there."

"Indeed ..." the Indian man looked down at Tony with a strange longing in his eyes.

"And I imagine Sleip would love nothing more than to read or tell stories, nestled in its large roots," Tony smiled, looking down to the perfect place where he could just imagine the snow-white God reclining, perhaps with Hela lying her head in his lap and allowing her brother to brush her long black hair with a bone-white comb. Glancing up at the God with a smile, Tony froze at seeing the almost pained look on the usually smug God's face. Realising with a start, that his bringing up of the God's missing family could be a touchy subject, and that he'd unconsciously been doing it all day, Tony quickly looked down with an apology.

"No apologies, Freyr," Jörmungandr soothed, reaching out with his silvery energy to show he felt no anger or grief, "I assure you, I miss my family as much as both of you do. But I have faith," the god smiled softly, "That it won't be long until they'll be back with us again."

"They did promise us," Bruce mumbled an agreement, knocking his should companionly with the inventors, teasing out a small smile.

"Now then," the group of three startled a little as Persephone waltzed into the clearing with a bright smile, breaking the sombre mood, "I believe it is time we had tea."

"Before that, dear wife," Hades rumbled, giving a loving peck to the goddesses cheek, "there is one last thing that I must show Stark."

"Oh yes of course," Persephone smiled at her husband with soft eyes, turning to Jörmungandr and Dr Banner and urging them to follow her out of the forest, while Hades held out a hand to halt Tony from following them.

"We will meet up with them later," Hades assured with his smooth deep voice, "But there is something you need to be made aware of, if you are to become the master of these islands."

"Which is?" Tony rose his eyebrow, a little testily, as he was getting a little sick of the gods leading him around by the nose all day, instead of just telling him.

"Follow me," Hades gave an amused rumble and began to lead the mortal deeper into the forest, up to the large mouth of what looked like the entrance to a cave.

"I have saved the best for last," the God of the Underworld purred with a smug smile.

"Oh really?" Tony smirked almost despite himself, as he had gathered from the God himself that Hades adored caves.

"You will see once we reach the centre," Hades chuckled, putting his hand over Tony's head so the mortal wouldn't bump it on a low pass as he lead the inventor unerringly into the deep tunnel.

Tony was surprised that the cave wasn't as dark as he would have expected, or as damp - in fact, the tunnels were quite clean and comfortable, for a cave. The coolness was a little chilly, but not uncomfortable, and there were no creepy sounds of dripping somethings or moaning or rumbling. In fact, the walk was actually rather nice. Tony glanced up at the smirking God and figured if Hades had a hand in creating these caves, then there was no doubt that he'd make them pleasant places to be. Even a God of the Underworld didn't want to live or be associated with somewhere slimy or damp.

"It's surprisingly light in here," Tony commented as they continued down the tunnel.

"Of course. Though for those without the sight, these caves would be almost complete darkness," Hades smiled at Tony's confusion, before lifting a finger and pointing to his own glowing blue eyes that reminded Tony so of hellfire.

"Oh," Tony slapped himself on the forehead, "Of course." Tony scowled at the God's amused chuckles, "Only those who can use their energy to see could wander through here. That's a pretty good security measure."

"I thought so," the God replied smugly, "Though of course, these caves, in particular, have more than just darkness to protect them."

"Why is that?" Tony tilted his head in askance.

"Such impatience," Hades chuckled at Tony's pout, "All will be revealed in just a moment."

"Wha-" Tony choked on his own breath as he stared with wide eyes as they stepped into an enormous cavern, so large that Tony could barely make out the top. It was as if the God of the Underworld had hollowed out an entire mountain! Tony stared around the large empty cavern, the walls bedazzled with raw gems, opals and diamonds that seemed to reflect the entire light spectrum of colours of energy that seemed to practically dance all over the place.

"This place is positively thrumming with energy!" Tony's gaped as he stared around, his wide orange glowing eyes almost helplessly following lines of green light that danced and reflected like familiar dancing flames. "Loki has got to see this ..."

"Tony?"

"I ... I'm sorry," Tony quickly shook his head, brows furrowed as he mentally berated himself, then turned to the King of Underworld with a large smile, "I imagine you created this cavern?" Hades slowly nodded, watching the mortal with careful eyes. "The energy in here feels 10 times stronger than anywhere else anywhere on the islands."

"That would be because this is the centre," Hades purred, pushing his hand slowly through the air, causing the eddies of magic to swish and swirl, "Any and all magic that travels through the lay lines, around the entire Earth, and fed out into the islands must first come through here."

"This is the convergence," Tony breathed, feeling the energy fill his lungs and bring his mind to a buzz, "Where all the lay lines meet ... This can't be the only power spot?"

"No, it is not indeed," Hades smirked, "You'll find many such convergences in places like Mt Fuji, The Stonehenge, Egypt's Death Valley, the Sacred Valley of Peru, and my homeland of Mt Olympus."

"But ... that's where the entrance to your pocket dimension is ..." Tony murmured as his buzzing brain connected the dots.

"Exactly," Hades gave a pleased rumble.

"... These islands aren't a real physical place, are they?" Tony turned to look up at the smugly smirking God of the Underworld, "No place like this could ever exist on Earth without anyone noticing."

The proud smirk spreading on the pale God's face made his pale hellfire blue eyes seem to burn brighter. "The Isle is anchored to a physical place on Earth," Hades purred with a proud nod, "But ... you are indeed correct, that no mortal man would ever lay eyes on this land unless the King or Gods allowed it."

"... Isle?" Tony breathed, his chest feeling full and his skin buzzing, feeling like a boulder was lodged in his throat as he felt he was actually witnessing something momentous.

"We were pondering over the name of this stretch of islands that we had created to gift to you," amusement played along the God's pale lips, "And as the pantheons of Midgard have filled it with a little bit of everything that can be found on this world of ours, We decided that would be the perfect name." Hades' smirk turned into a gentle smile as he turned to look at the stunned mortal, standing at the nexus of the Worlds power, too shocked almost to remember to breathe.

"Tony Stark," the God purred, leaning forward to place his hand on the mortal's chest, causing Tony to let out his choked breath and reminded his body to breath, "We, the God's of Midgard, gift you this. A pocket realm, befitting the King. Isle Midgard."

Chapter Text

"If you would have tried to tell me before last month," Rhodey sighed as he sat in Tony's personal lab, watching as his best friend was going through the detailed blueprints of what looked like a large building, and not one of his usual tech toys, "That the gods had literally built Rome in a day and then gifted it to you, I would have seriously worried you were on the sauce again."

"Really Platypus? That's the reference your going to go for?" Tony turned, smirking at his glaring friend, "I'd liken it more to Atlantis than Rome myself."

"Yeah yeah, yuck it up buddy," Rhodey scowled, though his eye freely showed a twinkle of amusement, "But you have to admit. It's pretty unbelievable. I mean, could you imagine the headlines? 'Tony Stark Has a Magic Island', or 'Tony Stark? God or God-Complex?', or 'Stark Touched By Angels!"

"Ugh, no," Tony scrunched his nose as Rhodey grinned at him, "I absolutely have not been 'touched' anywhere, Honey Bear. And you're mean for even suggesting it."

"Come on Tones," Rhodey smirked, "Your reputation, such as it is, there are plenty of people who have already assumed you've shacked up with a god or two. It probably doesn't help," the Air Force Colonel smirked at Tony's disgruntled face, "That a certain someone seems to be doing their very best to get into your pants."

"I honestly do not know what is up with that," Tony gave up any pretence of focusing on his work and turned to lean back against one of his workbenches with a sigh. "Hercules is a nice enough guy, but I'm pretty sure I've let the guy down easy, at least twice!" Tony scruffed at his own hair in tired bemusement, "But the big guy just seems to not want to take no for an answer. It's like he's determined or something, or someone has lit a fire under his ass."

A serious look came across Rhodes' face as he leaned forward seriously. "He hasn't forced -"

"God no! Come on Rhodey!" Tony cried out in embarrassed frustration, "I just got finished saying Herc's a nice guy. He hasn't done anything of the sort. Besides, I'd have put an arc reactor blast to the guys face if he even attempted to lay a forceful hand on me. I'm a big boy, Sourpatch," Tony huffed, putting his hands on his hips as he saw the stubborn look on his best friends face, "And I absolutely forbid you from giving a freakin Greek-Roman hero turned God the shovel talk, got it?"

"I will if he keeps pushing it," Rhodes growled with a dark look on his face, "Doesn't matter if he's immortal or not. No means no."

"I honestly don't know what is going on with him," Tony sighed as he got a contemplative look on his face, "Sometimes he looks super keen, then suddenly he'll get this panicked look on his face when he notices Hades or Persephone are around."

"They are always interrupting him," Rhodey hummed, a small smile slowly growing on his face, "Maybe they don't like his pushiness either?"

"I guess? Though, The look of Herc's face reminds me of the face Jarvis used to pull when Ana found out he'd been smoking again," Tony mused with a small nostalgic smile, before coughing and straightening himself out, "But none of that really matters right now. I have to finish making the final adjustments to the new Headquarters blueprints."

"Why don't you just let the Gods or fairies or whatever magic the buildings for you?" Rhodey yawned as he stretched in the office chair, "They've certainly done so for themselves."

"Because these buildings are mine," Tony stubbornly stuck out his bottom lip, "And I have a certain way of doing things. Magic and tech are not always compatible," Tony shook his head with another sigh, "There's no telling how the tech would react to such a structure. Runes can only handle so much. The Stark Portal - name still under development - is lucky enough to be set in an open area with no serious magic near it. Even though the whole place is technically magic, and tucked away into a pocket dimension somewhere in the middle of the freaking ocean," Tony and Rhodey grimaced at the perversion of scientific theory, "... I'm amazed it works at all. I'm not willing to question it at this point."

"I never thought I'd see the day," Rhodey huffed sharing an incredulous look with the inventor, "That Tony Stark would not question how something works, and just shrug and say 'It's magic'!"

"Believe me," Tony scoffed with a wry smile, "Even I can't believe it most days. All I'm willing to focus on now is sending my suits through with the materials, where they can get to constructing at the sites. Since there is no way I could get a construction crew there."

"I'd pay to see the crews faces though," Rhodey chuckled, then looked up at Tony's face set into deep thinking pose, "Are you really thinking of moving everything over there?"

"Not everything," Tony hummed, still deep in thought, "The portals are still in development, and not something I'm willing to gamble on getting us and our allies where we need to be in a hurry. We can't very well leave the world defenceless while we hide on a mystic isle." Tony shook his head, "That kinda defeats the whole reason why we are building up our forces in the first place."

"Thanos," Rhodey grumped with a scowl, crossing his arms, "It would help if we knew more about this guy. What he looks like? His strategy, his forces, what his actual plans of attack are," the colonel huffed, "Even where he is right now would be nice."

"It's thanks to Loki we even know about Thanos and the threat he serves to our world in the first place," Tony grimaced, rubbing a hand against his breast bone, "We know he's obsessed with death and is murdering his way across the galaxy in some hair-brained scheme to bring 'balance'," Tony used the air quotations heavily. "And we know he's after the Infinity Stones. And since Loki made off with two of them, and we currently hold 3 of them here," Tony met his friend eye with a constipated look, "Three guesses where he's most likely headed."

"But we are making plans against him," Rhodey assured, giving a grim smile to Tony's agreeing nod, "There is a reason after all, that we are gathering so many allies. With the God's of Earth on our side, we should have a fighting chance."

"But there isn't much that we can do, still stuck Earth-side," Tony sighed. "The God's can do many things ... but they can't reach outside of our current Realm. We need the Out-Bound Gods for that."

"Yeah, you aren't kidding about their ability to do anything," Rhodey scoffed a laugh, picking up his Stark phone to pull up the information he had been provided, "If you had told me the God's were even in the U.N? I'd have laughed in your face."

"I'd have laughed right alongside you Platypus," Tony shook his head, still remembering the day a group of sternly dressed women had handed him the paperwork with vicious fang-filled smirks. "Who's freakin idea was it to allow the god damn Eumenides, the Greek Furies," Tony puffed, "Into parliament? I almost wet myself when they turned up and handed me the full legal paperwork that proclaimed Isle Midgard as a country, me its political leader, and already part of the United Nations. They freaking skipped 100 steps and just submitted the forms and proclaimed it done. I have a country now Rhodey Bear!"

"Things have definitely taken a giant diversion from what our lives used to be like," Rhodey rolled his chair over to pat his friend on the shoulder consolingly.

"This can never become common knowledge, Rhodey," Tony sighed, face in his hands as he groaned, "I already have politicians and certain politically powerful parties baying for my blood. If they find out that I'm now technically in the same arena," Tony peeked through his fingers at Rhodey with a grimace, "Instead of firmly in the business or civilian quarter? They'll make me into mincemeat."

"I doubt something like this will remain hidden forever," Rhodes consoled his friend regrettably, "The Furies did say that the paperwork was submitted to the U.N archives. It would only take one curious politician to go digging to find out that you've, somehow, got your own secret country to rule from, and that you are technically King of the entire World."

The pained groan the inventor let out into his hands as he hunched over, cheeks flaming in embarrassment, even made Rhodey smirk reluctantly, amused somewhat by his friend's pain. Looking at his best friend, James Rhodes would tell anyone who asked, that though it looked like recent events had brought Tony Stark low, he'd tell them that actually, Tony has never been better. Tony always shined when he was given the freedom to act and create in his own space, unshackled by expectations and restrictions. Tony may whine, but Rhodey knew that he was actually flourishing in this newfound freedom, secret though it was. He had his own freaking island! A place that was 100% Tony's, and not limited to just inside one of his own buildings. Somewhere where he was free to build what he liked, where he liked, and was surrounded by a population of people who always seemed delighted with everything he made and supported his decisions. Rhodey was unsure Tony had really understood the kind of power he now wielded, as he knew his best friend's head was still in the clouds and acting like a kid in a sweet shop. But as always, Tony was worried about others reactions to anything that he did. It was the unfortunate reality of being a public figure, every little thing that he did was met with scathing criticism.

Rhodey frowned to himself as Tony continued to grumble, knowing that even though Tony had the support of Earth's Gods, The Midgard Serpent, Dr Bruce Banner, Pepper, Happy, that odd ex-Asgardian that popped in now and again, the X-Men, The Wakandan's, even those 4 kids who followed the inventor around like little ducklings, the small collection of empowered vigilantes made heroes, all of the SI and arranged staff all over the world, Tony's AI, and Rhodey himself ... that even they were not complete enough.
Rhodey growled as he mentally compiled a scathing speech of his own once the gaggle of gods made their way back. They had left in winter ... it was now summer. They had been gone for over 6 months now. 'We will be back home soon' his shiny black ass! They were just lucky that Tones had managed to keep himself together, to a point, and six months on was looking to be approaching somewhat normal. Anyone with eyes could tell his best friend had been absolutely heartbroken when the gods had left. Tony absolutely loved too hard and too deeply, but there wasn't a fiercer friend you could ever have in your corner. The fact that the gods had bailed like that, and so suddenly ... Well ... Rhodey had one or two things to say to them when they showed their faces back here. And they were going to, or Rhodey was going to rope in some Midgardian deities to majorly kick some divine ass!
It didn't matter if they were on a mission to save a collapsing frozen Realm and its people - Tony needed them back here. Now!

"Ah," Rhodey glanced up from his brooding to see Dr Banner standing in the Lab's doorway, the easy smile that always seemed to be on the doctor's face nowadays warming his face, "JARVIS said I'd find you here."

"He's always right," Tony chuckled, scrubbing his frustration off of his face with his hands, turning to beam at the good doctor, "What's up?"

"Professor Randolph is up in the penthouse," Bruce met the inventor's confused look with a curious lifted borrow of his own, "Said he had something to share with us."

"That's odd," Tony mumbled, glancing at Rhodey in a silent question if he was going to join them, getting a nod from the colonel as he stood up from the office chair, "We don't see him around the Tower much."

"He does have his work at the university, Tony," Bruce pointed out with a small wry smile, "He is one of the few who have refused your offer of a room in the Tower. He's got his own life outside of us."

"Must be nice," Tony quipped with a smirk as he followed the dryly chuckling doctor, Rhodey following at his side, "Wonder what he's got for us?"

"Maybe he's found more information of the runes," Bruce wondered aloud as they made their way into the elevator, "One that will help the portals reach outside the Realm?"

"I doubt it," Tony slowly shook his head with a sigh, "Randolph told us himself that runes are limited to the type of magic they can perform, it was one of the reasons the Asgardians ditched it in the first place. Among the fact that few could even get them to work anyway."

"The script of the light elves is apparently more streamlined," Bruce agreed, remembering the ex-Asgardian falling into professor mode and waxing poetic about ancient Nordic runes for over an hour, "And easier to use. Though the magic it can produce is much weaker."

"Sacrificing efficiency for convenience," Rhodes tutted mockingly, causing Tony to huff a laugh, "Someone obviously didn't tell the Golden Realm that quality is always better than quantity."

"You sometimes get that from people," Tony shrugged as he felt the elevator slow in its approach, "Willing to cut corners and become willingly lazy instead of actually putting the effort in."

"You said it," Rhodey scoffed a laugh, mind filled with a certain whiney blond complaining about being stuck in a hospital ward.

"Ah, here they are," Elliot Randolph smirked as soon as the elevator doors opened, standing next to a smug Midgard serpent, "The men of the hour!"

"Eh ... what's the occasion?" Tony tilted his head curiously at the strangely excited looks on the god's faces.

"Is something wrong?" Bruce inquired, only fiddling with his sleeves slightly, until Jörmungandr gave him a reassuring nod, allowing the doctor to calm.

"Now, don't look at me like that," Elliot smirked, a glean of red dancing in his eyes, his energy practically dancing, "I've come to fetch you for the main event!"

"What?" Tony and Bruce looked at each other, bemused, turning to Rhodey who just shrugged, as lost as they were.

"Really, you humans," the ex-Asgardian sighed with a small head shake, "A little time passes and you so easily forget."

"Today is the longest day of the year," Jörmungandr calmly explained, smirking at the vassal's widening eyes, "We are required to join festivities to celebrate the Summer Solstice on Isle Midgard."

"What exactly is required for this 'Summer Solstice'?" Rhodes inquired hesitantly, still a little weirded out by the god's insistence on these ancient rituals.

"There is not going to be any sacrificing of virgins or anything like that," the ex-Asgardian teased the Air Force Colonel, "Mainly bonfires, a dip in pure waters to wash away the year's sins, lots of good food, a few prayers - stuff like that."

"Wash away sins?" Tony gave the smirking God a wary side-eye.

The ex-Asagardian laughed at the mortal's distrustful looks, "It's nothing like what you're imagining. You're just sprinkled or splashed with water blessed by a water nymph or diety. It's supposed to ward away sickness or any lingering effects of the past year."

"Why didn't you just say that?" Rhodes huffed at the chuckling God.

"I'm more looking forward to the walking or dancing on the bonfires hot coals," Jor smirked at the mortal's twitches, "It's said those who walk over the Midsummer coals are strong in magic and are blessed by the Gods."

"Well, of course, you'd say that, you are one," Rhodes pointed out to the god's chuckles.

"Yeah, I think I'll leave fire jumping and coal skipping to you lot," Tony gave the God's a wry smirk, "But what exactly do you need us for?"

"Well, we can't very well get the party started without the King, can we?" Elliot smirked at the inventor's pout, "Besides, the bonfire can't be started until you and Dr Banner throw in the lit torches."

"Why us specifically?" Bruce blinked, leaning forward slightly in curiosity.

"You are the Vassals to the Gods," the ex-Asgardian winked at the complicated looks on the mortal's faces, "It's been generally voted on that you will be the ones to light the bonfire this year."

"Yeah, thanks for running that by us first," Tony sassed dryly, already mentally preparing to give up on any of the tasks he had planning to do today, "You coming Sourpatch?"

"Thanks, but no thanks, Tones," Rhodes gave his best friend a wry smirk, "But I'll leave all the god and magic stuff up to you two. I should be getting back to work anyway."

"Coward," Tony huffed with a teasing grin as Rhodey waved them off and made his way back to the elevator.

"Now then," Jor purred as he inserted himself between the two mortals and linked arms with them, "We should be on our way."

"What? Right now?" Bruce did a double-take.

"Can't leave the rest of the God's waiting," the Ex-Asgardian laughed as Jörmungandr flicked a hand to open a portal, grinning at the relief on Tony's face that they weren't going to be teleporting this time.

Walking through Jörmungandr's portal had become a familiar feeling, walking into deep darkness filled with the sounds of creaking branches and walking out the other side, with seemingly no time lost in a large amount of distance they were able to cross. Tony was working with his AI to try making a portable version of his portal device, but he knew it would be a long time before they came even close to the kind of easy power the Midgard Serpent wielded.
Stepping out onto the grassy fields of Isle Midgard was still a new enough feeling to be a novel experience - a whole hidden country of his own! And walking upon the festive scene on the other side was something the inventor was never sure he'd ever get used to.

A wave of cheers erupted from the gathered spirits and deities who were all milling about an open field, standing around tables groaning under mounds of food, drinking and filling their cups full of wine from a large fountain the many God's of intoxication all giggled around. Water nymphs and water deities stood at a small pool, dipping their toes into the crystal clear waters or up to their knees in it, thankfully deciding to wear clothes for today, taking handfuls of water and drizzling it over the pool's visitors heads. Large piles of wood were scattered about the gathering, full of branches and flowers and leaves, not yet lit, with an enormous pile as tall as a 2 story building sitting in the centre of the field.

"There you are!" Hermes cried, zipping up to the group with his cocky grin and bouncing curls, "We were wondering if we would have to start the party without you."

"We wouldn't dream of it, of course," a woman with long black hair, pale skin, pale white eyes and a glossy crow resting on her shoulder smirked to the side, smugly sipping her wine.

"Here," a smiling chubby Hapi approached the mortals with a reed and a handful of water, "Can't have the Vassals lighting the celebratory fire if they haven't been blessed first," they chuckled, dipping the reed into their hand and lifting it above their heads, sprinkled them with the pure water.

"Here," Inari chuckled as she handed the two non-plussed mortals each their own branch, you won't get very far without these."

Tony and Bruce stared down at the branches the goddess had handed them with a bit of bemusement, the inventor turned to the doctor, being the one of them that knew more about plants than he did, "Why are they both pink?"

"Your's is a branch from a cherry tree," Bruce supplied with a glance at the pink blossoms sprouting all over the inventor's branch, "Mine ... I don't recognise."

"That is a branch of Balm of Gilead, Eir," Jor murmured into the mortal's ear, smirking at the doctor's blush, "I believe it suits you."

"Enough of the teasing," Tony sighed, the couple's flirting made him smile, but also somehow made his chest ache.

"Let me light that for you," Hestia chuckled, snapping her fingers so that the pink blossoming branched lept into cheerful flame, causing a ruffle of laughter as the shocked mortals almost dropped them.

"Jeeze," Tony sighed at the face of the chuckling goddess, "A little warning next time please?"

"Now, chuck those burning branches onto the centre pyre, and we can get this party started!" a giggly Dionisus cried from his wobbly perch atop the wine fountain.

"Some would argue you started ages ago," Bruce rose an eyebrow at the unrepentant intoxicated diety.

"Come," Jörmungandr chuckled, urging the two mortal closer to the ridiculously large pile of wood, pushing the two somewhat reluctant mortals within throwing distance.

Bruce looked to Tony, who answered with a shrug, which the doctor mirrored, and together, they tossed the pink flaming branches onto the centre pyre, which flashed up into a bonfire so quickly that the mortals and a few of the god's nearby jumped back to avoid the lick of flames.

"Did you need to put that much power into those flames, Hestia?" Persephone chuckled under the noise of the rising cheer.

"That ... wasn't me ..."

Stunned, the goddesses turned to watch as the other unlit bonfires sprung to life, each burning a different coloured flame, each rising to a cheer, but also some amount of rising confusion.

"Did fire always burn that colour?" Dionysus hiccuped from the wine fountain, blearily starring at a green flame.

Some of the gods turned to glare at Anansi who was standing near the food table, stuffing his face, but the god quickly spun around at the distrustful looks and raised his hands in the air defensively, "Hey! It wasn't me!"

"Jor, what's going on?" Tony pulled his science bro back towards the World Serpent, staring at the roaring multicoloured fires in trepidation.

"I don't-"

A mighty crash, a searing flash in the once clear sky made most avert their eyes, trying to blink the temporary blindness out of them. Jörmungandr moved to shelter Tony and Bruce with his body, Persephone, Hades and Inari not far behind, Inari's foxes poofing out of the aether, surrounding the mortals and growling up at the sky.

"Who dares?!" Hercules screamed up at the tumultuous sky, teeth bared in a snarl, his wide blue eyes wild, "Who would dare interrupt our celebration of Midsummer?!"

The very air seemed to shake, and appearing in the otherwise warm summer air, a burst of frost.

Tony peered through a gap between the gods standing around him and Bruce, squinting against the light as the air next to the largest bonfire seemed to tear, gaping wide with flashes of lightning and gusts of frost, as a what looked to be a large group of beings amassed at the other side!

"Enemy forces?!" the large armoured figure of Mars boomed from Hades side, followed closely by a grimly determined Athena.

"No. No," Tony shook his head in building panic, "It can't be Thanos yet! He should still be lightyears away!"

"No," Tony turned to stare at Eliot, perplexed by his growing smile, "This isn't Thanos. This is who we've been waiting for!"

Tony's eyes bled orange as the ex-Aesir's meaning pierced his sheer panic, swirling around to stare as the beings at the front of the procession became clearer as they finally made their way through the tear in space and time.

"Freyr! Eir!" a beaming Thor bellowed, his battle armour in worse repair, his golden locks and beard much longer than they remembered it being, and bright blue eyes blazing with triumphant inner fire, "We have returned!"

Chapter Text

If it weren't for Brucie standing at his side, and the many tall figures of the Gods around them, Tony would have easily been confused that he was back in the desert, just outside that tactical vehicle, and discombobulated by the explosion of one of his own bombs that dug shrapnel into his chest.
The world was a haze of dizzying lights and after-images, forcing the billionaire to blink harshly in the hopes that his disjointed vision would right itself. His ears were affronted by loud discordant sounds, that distantly Tony knew must be the voices of everyone around him, but all Tony could make out was muffled jarring noise. There was a buzzing in his ears, high and aching, to the point that he wanted to cringe, cover his ears, or roll his eyes into the back of his head in a dead faint. But he couldn't. He couldn't. It was like he was frozen, nailed to that spot, staring at faces Tony felt he had not seen in ages.

And by the gods ... they were a sight for sore eyes!
Thor stood almost haloed by golden sunlight shining down on the beaming god. His wild golden locks went down past his shoulders like a mane, his beard was untamed, wavy, and trailed past his pecks. His armour, which was usually pristine, with silvery scale, golden disks, leather and large red cape - was torn and damaged. His cape looked like it had been burned at one point, and he was completely missing his sleeves and his boots. But Thor stood there, covered in dust, snow and grime, with Mjolnir gleaming in hand, standing as if he had just won a glorious battle, a hero returned, his chest puffed with pride.
In contrast, Loki was looking more put together, but no worse for wear. Their green leathers were scorched, a long golden horn had been broken off of their helmet leaving a jagged stub behind, but at least they still kept their boots and relatively clean. Tony watched in a haze as Loki reached up and removed their helm, watching as their raven dark hair tumbled down their back in inky waves, almost as long as they kept it in their female form, although their face remained clean-shaven. Loki too looked triumphant, sharing a grin with his golden brother - Tony watching as their eyes and magic blazed.

Tony couldn't help gasping as their combined magics rose into the air, erupting like the force of a blizzard against a raging sun.
Staring at the gods with his naked eyes, orange seiðr quivering under the magnitude that he bore witness to. If 2 years ago, Thor had appeared like a heat haze, and a sickly Loki a whisp of frost ... now ... Tony felt like he was standing on the cusp of a typhoon. Their burning, swirling, absolutely stunning surge of GodWaves felt like Tony was naked on a precipice, watching a mighty storm that was approaching. His skin felt like they were getting pelted with needles and knives, his eyes burned from the force, watching the golden waves build and crash against slivery whisps of force. Striking each other as if two mighty giants were at war, and yet, the energy danced and smashed together with such victorious cheer ... such joy ... such natural beauty ... such violence!

Tony vaguely felt something pulling at his arms, but his skin was harshly buzzing, like his skin was full of bees, a sting of pain that almost left him numb. Tony felt like a mouse, battered by heat and freezing cold, that if he diverted his gaze or moved even an inch, that storm would strike, leaving him as nothing more than a gory smear on the grass.
It wasn't until his sight of Thor and Loki was cut off by a body moving to stand in front of him, and looked up to stare up into Jörmungandr's worried eyes with his hands on Tony's face, that the inventor realised he was in the middle of a full-blown panic attack.

"Freyr. Breath," The World Serpent demanded, seemingly sheltering Tony's battered senses by surrounding and supporting him in his own seiðr, the familiar caress of Jörmungandr's pearlescent GodWaves soothed Tony's ragged edges, bringing the inventor slowly back to himself a little bit. Tony heaved in breaths, still feeling like he was not getting enough oxygen, feeling a presence against his arm, Tony turned to stare into Bruce's glowing green eyes.

"It's alright Tony," Dr Banner spoke in a forced low undertone, although it sounded weak, his voice soothing after the previous cacophony, "I'm here. We're here. Breath with me."

Tony could feel shame start to infuse his being, embarrassed that he had allowed himself to fall to such a state, and for such a silly reason!

"None of that now," Bruce wheezed, sounding short of breath himself, revealing to Tony's shocked eyes that Bruce's body was wracked with tremors, his skin flashing patches of green, "Anyone would be shocked by such an entrance."

"... Brucie ..." Tony gasped, reaching out to grasp the doctor's hand, "As ... much as ... I'd like ... to see Big Green ... I think now ... is a bad ... time."

"Don't I know it," the doctor gave a breathless chuckle, green eyes flashing. "How about ... I'll calm down ... when you do?"

"You play an evil game ... Brucie," Tony gasped, shuddering as his skin felt a wave of warmth, usually something he'd welcome, but not when it left his over-sensitised skin feeling like it was crawling.

"Easy," Jörmungandr hummed, easing the mortal's slowly down until their breaths evened and their seiðr eased back under their own skins, "The amulets warned me of your impending overload. I'm afraid the energy in the air was a bit too much for even it and my geas to handle. I should have thought of how your energies world reacts to a sudden reappearance like that," the Indian man scolded himself, causing Bruce to give the World Serpent a shaky smile.

"It's not your fault."

"I'm aware," Jörmungandr threw a glare over his shoulder to something in the outside world, outside the protective bubble of his seiðr, pupils narrowing into slits, seemingly warning away from a shadowy figure who had probably tried to approach. "I'll be talking to them once things have settled."

"Is ... it really them, Jor?" Bruce peered up at The World Serpent hopefully, Tony's orange eyes focused on this conversation intensely.

Jörmungandr's face was gentle as he looked down into the green and orange eyes, filled with such painful hope, that he couldn't help smiling a little, "I believe it is, Eir."

"What is with that energy though?" Tony gasped, gripping his own arms to lessen his bodies shivers, "I'm pretty sure we'd remember if it was like that."

"Indeed, a vassal spending a duration of time distant from their patron can leave them hypersensitive to their energy," Jor frowned slightly, directing his energy to brush over the mortals in soothing motions, "But you have also not been subjected to Father and Uncle, as well as my siblings, essentially flexing a significant amount of their power for longer than a few moments. Prolonged exposure is something," the World Serpent grimaced consolingly at the frowning vassals, "not recommended at your stage of development."

"Way to go at making us sound like fetuses, Jor," Tony scoffed with a grumpy pout.

"It is what it is," Jörmungandr smirked as the inventor continued to pout, soothing his seiðr over the mortals to ease them back to stable levels. "Freyr, you yourself have only discovered sensing with your energy a few months ago. Eir, you have been learning to hone and direct your energy to continuously sense things. Both of you have made amazing progress," the serpentine man nodded smoothly, "But you are still human. It's actually a credit to how strong you have gotten in the last few months that you managed to weather such a force as well as you did, for as long as you did."

"Jor ... what would have happened," Bruce whispered with concerned eyes, "If a mortal who did not have a firm grasp of seiðr, had been here?"

Jörmungandr frowned in consternation, causing Tony's eyes to blow wide at the insinuation, watching as the god silently shook his head. God ... what if Rhodey had come with them?!

"Well," Tony breathed deeply, brain buzzing in coming up with contingencies, "That will have to be something we'll have to guard against."

"Agreed," Bruce frowned, meeting Tony's eyes seriously with an agreeing nod, "I'll help you."

"Knock it off, you blithering idiots!" the trio could hear a thick broguish muffled voice bellow from somewhere in the crowd of gods outside their protective bubble, "Or do you want the mortal's eyes burned out of their skulls?!"

"... Thanks for that wonderful mental image, Dagda," Jörmungandr hissed glaring in the direction of the voice, even as the overbearing typhoon like a force of waring heat and snow eased, slowly dissipating to a light buzz, a level that Jörmungandr seemed to deem safe with a nod, and he released his own pearlescent energy, allowing the group to see and hear the outside world clearly once more. Apparently, Jörmungandr had dulled most of their senses inside his protections, as Bruce and Tony were treated to the sight of a group of Out-Bound gods being told off by a gathering of Midgardian deities. Hela and her siblings did not seem to be too bothered by the gathering, but Loki and Thor looked very non-plussed and rather surprised to see so many Earthly Deities in one place.

"What are you all doing here? Where are we?" Thor's impressive blond brows furrowed as his sky-blue eyes scanned the sea of otherworldly beings before him, "Where are Freyr and Eir?"

"We were celebrating Midsummer," Hercules growled, crossing his muscle-bound arms, firmly unimpressed with the other Gods appearance, "I don't remember you being invited."

"... Excuse me?" Thor rumbled, thunder rumbling in the distance to match the thunder god's scowl.

"Not now, Brother," Loki slapped Thor on the arm reprimandedly, "Stop trying to pick fights with every unfamiliar being you see!"

"Hah!" Hercules crowed, planting his hands on his hips, "Is that why he looks like a stable boy who has been thrown into the pigsty?" The Greek hero smirked at the thunder god's furious face, "so much for being a 'great warrior'. How unsightly."

Thor snarled, blue eyes blazing as he readied Mjolnir in his hand, "I'll show you unsight-"

Only to be slapped over the head by Loki, hard enough to sound like a crack of thunder itself. "I said stop!"

Hela sighed loudly as she brushed her long black hair over her shoulder and turned to Fenrir, "Leave Mother and Uncle to their bickering. Where are we? I have been to Midgard less than you have, Brother. I admit to not recognising this place."

Fenrir, you was looking even more like a rugged forest-dwelling man than normal, put his nose to the breeze and took a few quick sniffs. "Vegetation. New. Earth. Fresh. Recent activity." The gruff God's searched the surrounding area, surveying the land and feeling the resident magic. "This land is fresh and strong in Earth energy. Such a place was not here before."

"A new place?" Nari leaned over the gruff God's shoulder, messy black hair in dreadlocks and braids, decorated with new shiny pieces, looking into his brother's face with an excited grin, "I was unaware that Midgard was still growing new places!"

"More to explore!" Narfi cheered, identical to his brother as he threw himself over Fenrir's other shoulder in delight.

"This place is overflowing with seiðr," Sleipnir hummed with a small appreciative smile, but keeping a watchful eye on the gods before them, "But that does not explain their presence, nor where our mortals have gone. Nor our brother."

"It's so nice to know that you remember me," Jörmungandr called out dryly, sauntering through the crowd of Godly onlookers, ushering the two mortals up at his sides.

"Brother!" Nari and Narfi cheered but were almost thrown to the ground as their leaning post pushed out from under them and speed-walked, leading to an Indian man being bear-hugged by a gruff wild German.

"Brother," Fenrir snuffled, scenting Jörmungandr as he buried his face in the God's suit jacket, "I missed you."

"And I missed you," Jor hissed soothingly, running his dark fingers through the wolf God's wild hair fondly, "Did they give you much trouble?"

"Not as much trouble as you," Fenrir huffed, causing Jörmungandr to laugh.

"Eir, Freyr," Hela turned warm dark eyes on the vassals, a look of motherly pride on her face as she witnessed the orange and green glowing eyes fixating on her. "You've grown so much in our absence," the goddess of death purred gliding forward to take the two men into her arms, trickling her dark seiðr over them in something that felt like a greeting, and ultimately Tony and Bruce only realised they had deeply missed, melting into the purring goddesses arms as they luxuriated in her calm, gentle, soothing darkness.
"I am so sorry that we left you for so long," the dark-eyed goddesses murmured into Bruce's curls as she kissed his head, then moving to lay a kiss over his head as well. " There are no excuses that I can give that would ever make such an injustice right."

"You were gone on a rescue mission," Tony huffed, cheeks pinking from the mothering he was receiving from a goddess who looked to be half his physical age, "no one can fault you for that."

"But did the lumpy one over there not say you were celebrating Midsummer?" Sleipnir shot a strange look in Hercules' direction as he smoothly made his way to the small group, smiling as Nari and Narfi had finally picked themselves up off of the grass and were now laying playful kisses on the mortal's heads, much to Tony's disgruntlement. "And your rate of growth ... not to mention the beings you have managed to gather around you," the snow-white God who unlike the others did not look all that different, except he did seem bigger, flashed a considering eye on a smiling Persephone and Hades, and a skulk of dancing yipping foxes. "These would indicate that we had been gone much longer than we anticipated."

"You've changed too," Bruce pointed out with a small giggle at the God's curious faces, "Or did you not notice the changed length of your hair or change of your size?"

"I assume the primordial frosts were good for something then?" Jörmungandr chuckled at his siblings who were all glancing among each other as if realising that they had indeed changed for the first time.

"The lands of our ancestors did indeed provide us with something beneficial," a smooth voice curled in the mortal's ears, causing the group to turn to see Loki coming upon them, green eyes dancing and a joyous smile playing along the God's thin lips, "But being in the ruinous state that it is currently, it is not a Realm that is safe for cohabitation."

"Father," Jörmungandr purred, leaving Fenrir's side to affectionately press his forehead against Loki's in greeting, "It gladdens me to see you again."

"My," Loki chuckled with a teasing smile as they proceeded to run their fingers through Jörmungandr's long black hair, "So affectionate, my usually cool, aloof one. Maybe I should go on business trips more often?"

"Don't you dare."

It was only when the gods all turned blinking in his direction, that Tony had realised he had said that out loud.

"Freyr?" Loki blinking in confusion when Tony pointedly looked away, his cheeks burning a slight pink.

"You have been gone for almost half of the entire year, Father," Jörmungandr spoke quietly, gently holding Loki back from approaching an obviously disgruntled Tony, even Bruce was looking a little uneasy, "maybe lower the teasing to the minimum for a while."

"I ... was unaware we had been absent so long," Loki looked between their upset vassals and his unusually affectionate snakeling.

"So my siblings have mentioned," Jor smirked at the mix of concern and upset on their father's face, "I had thought your quest would be successful. But looking at the veritable city population of Jotunn you've brought with you," Jörmungandr turned to look at the large crowd of Frost Giants standing in the grassy field, most if not all twice as tall as any mortal or God, skin varying shades of blue with many different types of raised markings, dressed in skins and varying degrees of repair or cleanliness. "I'm beginning to believe that may not be the case."

"Oh, Jotunheim still stands," the group turned to watch the golden form of Jörð drag her loudly complaining son away from starting a fight with Hercules by his ear and over to the group, "But just barely. We have installed the many Ýmir relics infused with my powers of Earth. But ... the land is in such disrepair, that it will take time for the relic's powers to take effect. At this present moment in time," Jörð finally let go of Thor's ear after giving it one last twist, "Jotunheim is not suitable for habitation. So we evacuated all that we could."

"Wait," Tony blinked, staring at the large crowd of surprisingly beautiful blue-skinned people - nothing like the descriptions in the Norse myths at all! - but definitely, much smaller a group than he was expecting from an entire Realm ... "This is it? These are all that you were able to save?"

"These are the only survivors," Fenrir rumbled.

"But ..." Bruce searched the crowd, "Where are the elderly? The children? Animals? Belongings?" the doctor searched desperately.

"Our people die young, tiny mortal," a fierce voice spat as a large couple of Jotunn with the longest horns atop their heads stepped forth, deep-set blood-red eyes glaring down at the gathering, "The motherland that once brought us life, now brings us only death. The crops perished, the animals died, and my people slowly withered away to the poultry handful you see before you." The emaciated Jotun who proceeded to keep their noble baring growled, staring down at the two pink-skinned tiny mortals that nearly came up to their hips, "Odin All-Father has sentenced the Jotunn to death."

"Well ... We already knew the All-Daddy was a dick, but ... wow," Tony stated blandly, nose scrunched in affront, ignoring the scowling Jotun's partner who smothered a laugh with their hand, "That was a massive dick move! What an ass!"

"Freyr," Thor whined as he continued to rub at his abused ear, "Could you please not refer to the King of Asgard like that?"

"Oh no, we are not speaking right now," Tony snapped, shocking Thor to stand up straight, blinking, "I am mad at you, but that is not important right now," Tony huffed, turning his back on a hurt looking Thor who had just tried to give the inventor the puppy eyes and Tony fully decided he wasn't going to deal with that right now and turned to stand in front of the Jotunn couple. "Are one of you the leader of your people?"

"Have we not given introductions?" the second Jotun who had smothered a laugh replied with a large fang-filled smile, swishing their long black hair over their shoulder, turning to lean on the bald Jotunn next to them, "I am Fárbauti, and this is my mate, Laufey, King of Jotunheim."

"Loki's parents?" Tony stared wide-eyed, turning his head to look at the trickster god and their kids and back, "Forgive my bluntness, but you don't look very alike."

"Tony!"

"And you do not look very much like a King of Midgard," Laufey challenged with a raised brow, "But I have been informed that is so."

"Yeah well," Tony blew out a gust of air in frustration, "I've been reliably informed that I am the King also, although I keep telling everyone that it is a terrible idea!" the inventor purposefully ignored the many eyes that were rolled around him. "But ... Seeing as I am a multi-billionaire and philanthropist, with more money and land than I know what to do with ... How about we work out terms to a mutually beneficial agreement?"

The Frost Giant's stared down at the tiny mortal for a tense moment, blinking their deep red eyes, until with a silent glance at each other, Fárbauti and Laufey's mouths widened into fang-filled amused smirks.

"Let us sit and make terms, tiny mortal," Fárbauti regally nodded their head in agreement, amused by Tony's annoyed pout.

"But first I ask that our people be given food and a suitably cold place to rest," Laufey glared down at the mortal harshly, as if they were expecting Tony to deny them until their agreements had been signed.

"Of course!" Tony scoffed, putting his hands on his hips as if that was a no brainer, glancing over his shoulder seeking out where Persephone and Hades were standing with the other rubberneckers, "You don't mind, do you?"

"Not at all," Persephone positively beamed as Hades gave a regal nod, ignoring Mars as he gave a disappointed huff - he's been looking forward to a good fight - and Hercules, who seemed to waver between proud and disgruntled.

"So does that mean we can have our Midsummer party now?" Dionysus hiccupped from his fallen position, floating in the wine fountain.

Chapter Text

Tony would like to say sitting with an alien King and Queen (were they still considered King and Queen even though Jotunn were intersex?), Bruce, Jor, Jörð, Fenrir, Hela, and Persephone and Hades, and hashing out contractual agreements to house, support and protect the surviving Jotunn refugees on Midgard until the time that their home Realm was judged once more safe to return to ... the Earth-Bound Gods and Loki's twins made merry and drank around the Midsummer bonfires around them ... while he'd like to say it was the weirdest setting he had ever made up contracts in ... that wasn't strictly true. At least .... this time he wasn't naked.

Tony couldn't help glancing up now and again during the meeting, searching for Loki and Thor in the crowd, chest feeling tight until he spotted them. As the inventor expected, Loki was sitting with their children and holding court with any who approached, keeping within earshot of their meeting and within sight at all times. Tony felt it was a little weird that they weren't taking part in this meeting, and with how distant they were acting ... but he figured at least Loki wasn't wandering far, and the odd look in their green eyes didn't seem to be damning ... maybe that was just how the prickly trickster showed he cared? Loki was rather cat-like at the best of times.
Thor on the other hand ... Tony didn't have to search much farther than the loudest of the party-goers to spot the thunderer right in the middle, cheering and drinking heavily from the wine fountain. It sure didn't take Thor long to find the booze. Tony mentally slapped himself, reminding himself that Thor and the others had been through months of what was sounding like a harrowing experience, from what Laufey, Fárbauti, Jord, Fenrir and Hela were describing. Plus 3 years of being unable to get drunk on human alcohol. He deserved a chance to unwind. The fact that Thor had not perceivably looked in Bruce or Tony's direction since Tony had snapped at him and brushed him off ... didn't upset the inventor at all. (It didn't!)

Tony had to mentally shake himself and remind himself that he was in the middle of a very important meeting. Worrying about his relationships with Loki and Thor (which he totally wasn't, mind you) would have to come later. Finding homes for Frost Giants came first.
It appeared he needn't have worried, as Jord the magnanimous Mother Earth came in clutch, as she freely offered hospitality to the Jotunhiem refugees in her super-secret, super cold, Jotunn only club in her super-secret magic land ... where ever that was. Jörð had appeared amused by Tony's pout and had clarified that once Bruce and he had perfected their seiðr control to able to survive her lands climate, that they were more than welcome to visit.
Tony was not willing to be one-upped, and once clearing it with the amused couple of the Underworld - reminding him that Isle Midgard was his and 'you don't need to ask any of us for permission on how to use YOUR lands, Tony', that Isle Midgard was open to the Jotunn as well. It may not be as cold as the Earth goddesses frozen kingdom, but it did have islands that experienced nothing but winter.
Jörð had given Tony a sly smirk, asking if that invitation was open to her Midgardian Jotunn as well, then laughing at the frankly adorable look of insult on the inventor's face.

"Of course it is," Tony's nose had scrunched up, orange eyes bewildered, "I said 'open to the Jotunn', didn't I? At no point, at all, did I specify a certain type?" Tony huffed, crossing his arms and dramatically putting his nose into the air in an air of offence, "I'd ask that you didn't judge me to be so racist, if you please."

"My apologies," Jörð chuckled, frankly amused as all the gods seemed to be, "I was merely making sure. Though, it is rather big-hearted of you, to open your lands to ALL Jotunns," the golden goddess smirked at Tony peeking at her curiously from his pose.

"There are far more forms of the Jotunn than those of Frost and Greenery," Fárbauti purred, seemingly the talkative one of the royal pair, their tall ebony horns glinting dully in the sunlight, their red eyes filled with sly mirth, "Would you open your lands to these others too?"

"Well ..." Tony deliberated as he thought for a moment, never having even contemplated that there might be more, "As long as they do not attack Earth or its peoples, or any of our allies, or mean us any harm ... then sure," Tony shrugged, quickly becoming uncomfortable of the queer shine that had entered the eyes of his godly audience. Feeling like they were judging him, Tony clarified, "I'm not just saying that because I am currently speaking to Jotunn's, or some of my friends are or are descendant from your species. People are people," Tony huffed with a pout. "Everyone deserves to feel safe in the place they live, no matter what they look or sound like. I'd be a giant hypocrite if I stated otherwise."

"I understand, mortal," Laufey rumbled, their eyes never leaving the inventor in a way that felt measuring, tilting their bald head to indicate the festivities around them, "If this gathering were to be any indicator, it would be, somewhat foolish, to label you in such a way."

"The god's are wherever they want to be," Tony waved the King of Jotunnheim's consideration away with a glib hand, "I couldn't very well control them. This has less to do with me and my awesomeness and more about settling your situation."

"I see the young iceling Prince was not wrong in their tales of you, Tony Stark," Jörð chuckled her jubilant laughter again, long golden locks shining in the sunlight, "You really cannot take a genuine compliment."

"Our youngest did so love to speak at length about you and the curly-headed one with the gentle green eyes in our land of ice," Fárbauti smirked at Bruce's light blush.

"As did their life-mate," Laufey grumbled with a small stern frown, "Never did shut up about it."

"Life-mate?" Bruce startled, turning to peek in Loki's direction as subtly as he could while Tony only sat, blinking in shock.

"We speak of the golden oaf, of course," Laufey scowled in the direction of Thor's increasing levels of drunken laughter, "If I were to speak plainly, I am not sure I yet wholly approve of their union."

"They even told us of their child together, outside of wedlock," Fárbauti brought their hand up to their cheek in effeminate shocked embarrassment, "Truly, the number of grandchildren our Loki has gifted us astounds."

"Their child together, Móði," Tony scrunched his eyes shut as he quickly compartmentalized the messy half-formed thoughts that were clouding his brain, stuffing them away to deal with later, so he was clear-headed and could focus on the now, "That is also something we need to urgently do something about."

"Do?" Laufey raised a questioning imperial eyebrow.

"During the Convergence last year, when Thor's old buddies crashed the party, and we coincidently locked them up for trying to go on a murderous rampage," Tony talked them through the situation, "I questioned them while we had them in captivity. They revealed to me that Vanaheim had been raided by a marauding force. Queen Frigga apparently sent those 4 there to take care of the raiders before sending them our way, but it's worried me all this time that they didn't give any numbers of survivors or how bad the damage was." Tony peered up at King Laufey's scowling face, "I'm aware that the Vanir are allies and close to Asgard, Queen Frigga even is a Vanir. And there is no love lost between your Realms ... but Loki and Thor's child, Móði is there." Tony urged, chest filling with hope as he saw the King and Queen's blood-red eyes widening.
"We've been trying to create a portal strong enough to rival the Asgardian's rainbow bridge in the time that you have all been away," Tony looked to Fenrir and Hela with a frustrated face, "But we haven't been able to make it strong enough to reach outside the Realm of Midgard, as of yet. We had hoped that we could use it to survey the damage, and hopefully find your brother-"

"You have created a portal?" Jörð smiled, blue eyes gleaming with delight, "and it works?"

Tony slowly nodded, mystified that this was what the goddess was choosing to focus on. "It can only reach anywhere on Earth and out in space inside our universe at this point."

"But the way you speak," Laufey leaned forward, also surprisingly invested in this topic, "you make it sound like you know what element you are missing to make it reach across the Yggdrasil."

"I have been using what little seiðr I know to try enchanting a construction of Uru," Jörmungandr nodded smoothly, smirking at the stunned and impressed looks given to him by his grandparents, "But alas, I am not as gifted in the magical arts as my father."

"Few are child, and you should be proud of what skills you possess," Jörð smiled matronly, "It is the rare few that wield such magic as the children of Loki do."

"But ... what about Vanahiem?" Bruce queried, bashfully biting his bottom lip.

"As much as I personally do not hold much of a regard for the close allies of Asgard," Laufey growled, "we cannot leave a child of Ymir in such a precarious situation."

"Indeed not," Jörð agreed, a strange knowing look in her eye, "Nor can we allow the Realm of Vanaheim to fall and unbalance the delicate ecosystem of the Yggdrasil, just after all the work we have done in ensuring that Jotunhiem would not fall. Sadly, I know of no one here on Midgard who has sufficient ties to the lands of the Vanir to use as a tether line. Not even my son or Loki's parental connection to their child in that Realm will be enough. Fortunately, we do not need it."

Tony and Bruce could only stare at the Goddesses smug expression with building confusion.

"Tony Stark, show me to this Uru," Jörð's jubilant face was radiant with inner light, "and together, we may finally connect our Realm of Midgard out into the distant stars!"

"Forgive me for asking," Bruce pushed his glasses up his nose nervously at the beaming goddess even as Tony stared at Thor's mother in puzzlement, "But how do you plan on helping us to do that?"

"Green-eyed one," Fárbauti gently leaned down to enquire, as if the mortal was a confused child, "Do you not know who they are?"

"Um ..." Tony shared a bemused look with Bruce, then with Jörmungandr, who like them also seemed confused, "they're Jörð, a Goddess of the Earth?"

"I am that yes," Jörð giggled, "But I am also much more. I realise I did not reveal this fact until after we got to Jotunhiem, did I?" The goddess continued to chortle to herself.
"I am a God reincarnated. And in my past life, I was the first life, the planter of the Yggdrasil, Ýmir." The Golden goddesses laughter almost rang in the shocked mortal's ears. "It is true, I am no longer they. The old me is dead. But I retain all of my memories and knowledge of my past life ... if not the powers I once wielded. Death and dismemberment does do a number on one's powers.
"I may not wield the power of Ýmir anymore," Jörð smirked at the staring mortals and the gaping World Serpent, "But I can surely lend my knowledge to those who do possess the skill, and guide their hand in connecting the Realms of the Yggdrasil once again."

"Wait!" Tony flailed as his brain raced to connect the dots, "You're the reincarnation of Ýmir? And you hooked up with Odin? The grandson of the guy who murdered you?!"

"I did," Jörð smirked smugly.

"But ..." Bruce squinted his eyes as he thought the situation out, "Doesn't that make your son, Thor, a descendant of Ýmir ... who Odin legitimated as their son ... now in line to inherent Asgard's throne?!"

Jörð burst out laughing at the mortal's shocked faces, her bright golden GodWaves dancing in mirth, "Is it not marvellous how the Norns weave their Web?"

"The Fates always have their own designs," Hades smirked as Persephone chuckled.

"I believe the Norns are smiling down on us," Hela smiled encouragingly at the vassals as well as her stunned brother, "let us act now, while their humour is good."

"Alright ... OK, let's get to work," Tony took deep calming breaths as he stood up from his seat on the grass, his brain continued to race, turning to give the smirking golden Goddess (Ýmir, frigging what?!) the stink eye, "But you better believe I have a butt-ton of questions to ask you."

"Of course, Freyr," Jörð grinned mischievously, "I look forward to it!"

Chapter Text

It was pretty vindicative of Tony and how his life tended to lead, that he ended up ditching a major celebratory party to get back to work.
Granted, he hadn't felt very much in the party mood, what with the awkwardness between Loki and Thor, plus a small gathering of Jotunn refugees who needed tending to as soon as possible. Having Jörð transport the Jotunheim people to her hidden kingdom to recuperate in its intense frozen temperatures was actually a godsend - as Tony did not currently have any infrastructure in place to handle taking on people in need. An oversight and complete lack that his AI had begun rectifying immediately.
After gaining a promise that she would return on the next day to begin work on the Uru, after she had settled the Jotunns, and Laufey stating that they would come to Tony once they and their people had recovered, to finalise agreements and swear allegiances, Jörð had transported all of the Jotunn and herself away.

It hadn't taken more than a nod to Hades and Persephone, and a questioning look to Bruce to which he immediately answered with a determined nod of his own, that Tony had set off for the Stark Portal on the island to teleport back to the Tower.
Tony was not surprised that Jor had opted to go back with them and ditch the party - he was such a mother snake. But he was gratefully surprised that Loki and their children had opted to follow them back to the Tower as well. When Bruce had questioned the twins about it, who had undoubtedly been partying it up not a few moments ago, they had replied that a party was all well and good, but they missed home, and sleeping in their own beds and eating a good meal instead of the floor mats and rations they had been living off of. Sleipnir followed them up by stating that they were all pretty exhausted after months of campaigning, and even though the frosts of Jotunheim had been welcoming to them and their kin, they had greatly missed the warmth and companionship of the family they had left in Midgard.

Once through the portal, Bruce had shooed the gods to their rooms, despite arguments - until TADASHI had threatened to have all of them ensconced in his medical ward and chained to their beds for treatment. Bruce had told the gods in no uncertain terms that he would be going by each room to give them all a medical check-up, and Jörmungandr had reminded his siblings and father not to fight the doctor on this with a large smirk, to which the gods reluctantly bowed to.
Loki had shot Tony strange looks, but the inventor's mind was already full of plans and strategies that would have to be created or changed, missing the exchange entirely as he stomped off to his personal lab, fully in work mode.

It wasn't until near midnight that Loki had ventured down to the lab, finding Tony still there, bent over a hologram planning board and frantically scribbling down mathematical equations and runes, along with tech doodles.

"Have you been up all night, Freyr?"

"You know the answer to that," Tony huffed, feverish orange eyes that had yet to dull back to his natural brown scanning over his work for errors and conversely for answers.

"You know that Jörð will be here in the morning, whether or not you have done all this extra work," the green-eyed trickster cautioned as they walked closer, watching the inventor carefully.

Tony sighed tiredly, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck, "That doesn't mean I should slack off though."

"Slack off?" Loki rose a sceptical eyebrow as they made it to the inventor's side. "I inquired of Sir JARVIS after all that I had missed in the time I have been away. I would not call all you have accomplished in these past 6 months trivial. In fact, your progress is astounding." Loki put a long finger under Tony's chin and gently directed his face up to meet theirs. "I am exceedingly proud and honoured that a vassal of mine has strived and achieved as much as you have, upon your own merits no less. And ..." Loki glanced to the side with an uncomfortable huff, with a light blush, "I am finding it difficult to express the regret I have for leaving you to your own devices for as long as I have. "You must understand," Loki refused to look at Tony's surprised face, "I am not usually given to the practice of ... making an apology for myself, or my actions. It's simply not a thing a Prince of Asgard is expected to do. But as my children are quick to remind me, I am not a true prince of the Golden Realm, and that you and Eir deserve much more from me. I managed to offer my apologies to Eir when they came to check on me earlier this night, in which they accepted to restrengthen our bond. Eir is much too forgiving," Loki huffed with a small fond smile.

"Brucie has been to see you?" Tony blinked, finding himself admiring the smooth plains of Loki's face, a face that had been a common feature in his musings and dreams.

"Indeed," Loki smirked wryly in Tony's direction, "the good doctor wished to reassure himself that all within the Tower and those within our family are well."

"Are you?"

Loki smiled warmly down on the mortal's concern, "We are well, Freyr. Our ancestral lands of frost could offer us no more harm than to the Jotun's of Jotunheim, and what dangers there were we negated." The god nodded to themselves.
"Freyr ... I ..." Loki visibly struggled, "I dislike the current distance that I feel between us. It reminds me of the caution we treated each other in the first couple months of knowing each other," Tony convulsively swallowed as he watched the god bring themselves closer. "I am not asking you to forgive and forget, that would be insensitive of me. All I wish," Loki's green eyes travelled over the attentive inventor face, "Is a chance to reconnect and the chance to make all of this up to you."

"You-" Tony coughed from the tightness of his throat, "You haven't done anything wrong! You had to go to try and save your parents and your birth people - don't try to apologise for that!" Loki's smile turned fond as they watched Tony frantically try to bluster his way out of the uncomfortableness of the conversation, "We knew an operation like that could take months-"

"But we did not need to leave you so suddenly, with no communication or sign that we were alright for half of a year. That span of time may not be very long in the grand scheme of things. But to leave you, Eir and my son with no word other than an offhand promise that we would not take long?" Loki slowly and cautiously reached out their hand to stroke Tony's messy locks, "No Freyr, you did not deserve that. And I am terribly sorry that my rash actions have wounded you so."

"I'm fine," Tony mumbled, although he didn't move to dislodge Loki's stroking hand from his head.

"I am glad," Loki smiled leaning down so that their face hovered closer to the blushing mortal's, waiting for the bashful inventor's eyes to meet their own. "Your seiðr ... is magnificent," Loki breathed, seemingly entranced by the orange shine.

"I can't do very much with it," Tony grumbled with a small frown.

"But you have actualised it, visualised it and brought it forth within your core," Loki refuted, "Before your seiðr could only flare with your emotions or whenever you were in danger, then quickly gutted like a candle's flame. Before, I had to flow my seiðr through you, reach down deep to feel impressions of its existence, of what could be," Loki's smile of wonderment widened, "Now ... I can see it, right there, right under the surface. Jörmungandr has told me that you have met with him and joined your seiðr together," Loki smirked at Tony's flustered face. "I wish to ask, Freyr," Loki took a step back and offered their hand to the blushing inventor, "Would you come away to join with me?"

"You make it sound like a pick-up line," Tony huffed in embarrassment even as he stared at the god's graceful outstretched hand.

"Is it working?" Loki rose a flirtatious eyebrow with an amused smirk.

Tony choked, then burst out laughing, as a gust of air had burst from his chest. "Fine," Tony huffed, though his reluctance was ruined by his trailing giggles as he places his calloused hand in the god's, "Take me to your den to have your wicked way with me. Just know, if there is any funny business mister," Tony squinted at the faux-innocent look spread on the trickster's face, "I won't be responsible for what Happy, Rhodey or Pepper end up doing to you."

"I dread the thought," Loki smirked, softly moving into a fond smile as he leads the obviously tired inventor out of the lab, into the elevator, and up to Loki's personal set of rooms, and lay fully clothed on top of the bed covers. "I wish to only share what you wish to, Freyr."

"Shut up, you embarrassing silver tongue," Tony mumbled with a blush as, lying facing Loki on the plush green covers, Tony lifted a hand and brought forth his seiðr into the air, a cloudy fine mist of orange particles, which Loki gently met with their own silvery-white mist and frost, both sighing as their energy touched, like it was a long-missing breath of fresh air, and felt each other, even as their pupils blew wide.

"Hello, Freyr," Loki smiled in wonder, green eyes never leaving Tony's glowing orange ones.

The cat had apparently caught Tony's tongue as he didn't speak, but a relieved smile did slowly spread across the inventor's face in the near dark.

The next morning, Tony felt like the previous awkwardness between him and Loki had flown away, even though he had fallen asleep and woken up under Loki's blankets with a smug trickster god sitting up in bed next to him, with a cup of tea and a book, and had taken a pair of reading glasses off of his smirking face and wished him a good morning and if he had a good dream, the smarmy bastard.

Tony refused to admit he had felt all warm and fuzzy to see everyone at the breakfast table that morning, even a hungover Thor, who had apparently partied until dawn with the Earth-Bound Gods on Isle Midgard. Bruce had huffed and puffed at Thor's drunken state, though Tony knew he was secretly pleased that Thor had come back to the Tower, the same as Tony was. Not that he would voice that ... yet.

Jörð had appeared not long after breakfast, chuckling at her son's sorry state as she waved him off to bed winking to Bruce and Tony as she linked arms with Jor and Loki and asked Tony to lead them to this Portal device. Snorting at the goddesses cheer, apparently, the Earth Mother was a morning person, Tony had waved the gods to follow him down to the lab.
Work on the portal and the frame of Uru was slow, fore even though Jörð was there to talk Loki through the required spells and equations, it was still magic the strongest seiðr-wielder of the age had never encountered before. Besides, Jörð's descriptions and references were so obscure and archaic to Loki's Asgard-trained mind, that the whole process for Loki was like learning from the beginning all over again. Apparently, Jotunn magic was very different to Asgardian magic. And Ymir's magic was a further step beyond that. But Jörð insisted that if anyone could come even close to reaching the kind of power she had once wielded in her past life? It was Loki.
Of course, Tony and Bruce took the time that the goddess wasn't talking Loki through inscribing a delicate inscription onto the Uru, that just looking at made Tony dizzy, to ask the reincarnation of the first being of their cosmos every question they could think of. And Jörð was happy to provide.

According to Jörð, Ymir was the first life in the general area of where their entire universe would eventually be, essentially spawning from the void, an amalgamation of specks and organisms that combined to create life, which in turn used a piece of this galactic soup and their inherent magic to plant the Yggdrisl, and create a world around them, like an egg, or protective cocoon for them to exist in, sheltered from the vast empty reaches of an ever-changing void, that will one day warp and become multitudes of galaxies. And once that tree of life had grown to support singular multiple galaxies of their own, full of new life that the void had been so empty of, Ymir had taken their queue from the tree and began making life too - the first Jotunn.

When Tony asked about the primeval supercow, Auðumbla, Jörð admitted regret and embarrassment that in her past life they had become somewhat fixed in their ways, that even though the worlds created by the very tree they had planted provided many new sources of nutrients, Ymir had refused to partake in any of them, stating that they were all inferior to the milk of Auðumbla. Essentially, she admitted that Ymir had fallen for the now time old trope of old age - that things from their youth were so much better than these new-fangled things now. Which ultimately led to their doom.

Which led to Tony asking why, when she was reborn into this new life, with all of her memories - why did she shack up with Odin? You know ... the descendant and the King of the people who murdered you?!
Jörð had given a full-belly laugh and explained that there wasn't actually that much thought behind it, to begin with. Odin had been gorgeous (her words) in his youth, and a regular lady killer. At the time, he had merely been a prince, fourth in line for the throne, not at all that important in the great scheme of things and left to his own devices for the most part. Odin was a warrior, as all Asgardians strive to be, but Odin had been interested in more scholarly pursuits than his brothers. He had been curious, so thirsty for knowledge, that he regularly snuck out of the royal palace, and Asgard itself, to gather all of the information he could find, see all that he could see. Admittedly, this is what Jörð had been attracted to. Young Odin was much like Loki in a sense - much to the trickster's obvious distaste.

Jörð was unsure when exactly the turning point had been - from sweet, inquisitive, sex on legs Odin, to ... schemes and political coos that saw the death of all of his brothers and political rivals to make himself King and become a campaigning warlord to rival his own grandfather's legacy. Jörð could see their confusion of how anyone would want to elope with such a man, but the fact is, he wasn't always that way. Or at least ... no one had known about the terrible ambition that dwelled underneath.
Jörð speculated that maybe it was the trauma of the death of King Bor, his father. Or maybe, in his many travels in his quest for hidden and forbidden knowledge, the young Prince had learned of something that made him react like this? Or, it had something to do with the prophecy that Odin was ultimately destined to fulfil.
Apparently, Odin was much like Thor's half brother, Víðarr, a child of prophecy. What exactly this prophesy was, Jörð did not know. And when asked, Loki admitted that there were no recordings of such a prophesy, nor was it spoken of. In fact, it was prohibited, by royal decree. Loki wasn't even sure who among the old guard even knew of the prophesies content. The most that anyone seemed to know was, there had been one. Whether it had been fulfilled already or not was still up for debate.

Tony loudly admitted that Jörð's recollections of a charming inquisitive Odin did not at all fit the image of the All-Daddy that everyone up to this point had painted for him, by their stories and descriptions. Admittedly, Tony hasn't even met the guy and is kind of dreading when he will eventually have to - being named the Midgardian King and all, by a glowy golden tapestry of all things.
Loki admitted that their descriptions were probably biased, as they had been stolen away as a babe as a war prize and had spent their childhood ridiculed and despised by Odin and his court. Loki's recollections only would not paint a complete picture of who exactly Odin was. Thor had been avoiding the lab and the general floors, choosing to spend the majority of his time hitting the Tower's gym and only joining them for meals, not exactly great times to bring the All-Daddy up into the conversation. So Jörð's recounts were really all they had to go on.

The goddess admitted that her attraction to Odin had truthfully been in part, a hope that Odin may be the one to write the wrongs committed by his grandfather Buri. To her mind at the time, Odin really did seem like he would be the one.
Bor's eldest, Hoenir, was brash but a frighteningly competent warrior. By all accounts, the epitome of what an Asgardian should strive to be. The second eldest, Vili and Vé, were treated as one entity, and the twins fed off of each other as if they really were halves of the same mind. They were the strategists, the brains behind the brawn, even though they too were a nightmare on the battlefield. They were fixing to be the advisors to Hoenir, once he became King. Loki expressed surprise, as they themselves had been trained with the same purpose, even if at a lower capacity for when one of Odin's sons took the throne.
Odin by contrast had been something of a loose end, although he was a child of prophecy, and thus given a lot of political sway. It did not seem to even occur to anyone that Odin, fourth son, would take the Asgardian crown, thus he was given a lot of leeway, and spent more time outside the palace than was rightfully expected of a royal prince. Even Jörð, with all of her ancient wisdom, hadn't seen where the winds were blowing until it was too late.
She could barely bring herself to describe the horror, of the death of King Bor in the Dark elf War, the violent assassinations of the crown prince and the twin princes, also half of the royal court - that at the time no one had known had been machinations of Odin. The whirlwind romance and marriage of Odin to princess Frigga of the Vanir, strengthening connections to Asgard's ancient allies, and Odin's coronation. And soon after, restarting Asgard's campaign to concur and rule all the Nine Realms, something Bor had called an end to a century before and declared it a time for peace.
Jörð retold of Odin gathering the many lovers that he had made in his travellers, ones Jörð had defiantly not known about, and made into a royal concubine. It was at this point that Jörð admitted that she had been very wrong about Odin. He was not the link to mend the chain.

"Why didn't you leave him?" Bruce questioned with a complicated mix of concern and disgruntlement of his face.

"Oh, I would have left if I could," Jörð snorted, crossing her arms in a rare show of fragility, "But I was found to be pregnant with the King's spawn, and was kept under strict guard."

"Thor ..." Tony breathed, eyes wide in faint distress.

"Yes," the golden goddess nodded her head gently. "I would have run with my babe if given half the chance ... But at the time I was heralded as the All-Father's favourite concubine. There was nowhere I could run where Odin's dogs would not follow and drag me back. He was obsessed with the thought of our child. Even then I realised Odin did not love me anymore, just the thought of me, and what I could give him." Jörð sneered, a strange look on the usually jubilant goddesses face. "I could not put my babe in danger." Jörð shook her head, "But the Battle of Tønsberg and the consequent Battle of Jotunheim were the last straw ... Thor was a toddler by then," the goddess reminisced mournfully.

"But ..." Tony licked his lips unsurely, turning to Bruce in the hopes that he would help him out.

"But why did you leave Thor in Asgard?" Bruce stared at the mourning goddess sadly.

"My babe was a golden son of Odin," Jörð's face became pained, "There was no way, by the Norns, that the All-Father would allow for a son of his, by his favourite concubine no less, to be removed from his side. He may have allowed me to leave, in a moment of weakness, between the pain of his missing eye and I believe guilt he may have felt for massacring my people. That ... and even though I was his favourite, I was still a Jotunn, and his own propaganda against my people had made me very unpopular in Asgard. I suppose he thought that letting me go to Midgard, keeping me away from political backlash, was some twisted way to show that he cared. He probably had every intention of fetching me back once hostilities settled." Jörð huffed in contempt, "Too bad for him that by then I had hatched my plan of gathering my own forces and used ancient magics to shield myself and our land from all far-reaching sight." Jörð sighed as she took a deep breath, "I regret leaving my son in the hands of the All-Father, but I truly believe that Queen Frigga took my plea to heart and raised my son with love. A fugitive camp is no place for a child."

"Did," Bruce coughed gently as he handed the thankful goddess a cup of relaxing chamomile tea, "did Odin know? About you being ...?"

"Oh Lord no!" Jörð chuckled, the appealing blush coming back the Earth Mother's cheeks, "I would never be so foolish as to reveal such information to those I was not already in the confidence of," the goddess smiled slyly, "The All-Father and I may have been rambunctious bed-mates," the Goddess wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "But I don't kiss and tell."

"I ... Really did not need that mental image taking up space in my brain, thanks," Tony scowled as Bruce continued to splutter, serenaded by Jörmungandr and Loki's melodious laughter.

Chapter Text

Thor was dabbing at his sweaty brow, having just finished his workout at the gym in Stark Tower, and had been on his way to go get himself a snack from the penthouse kitchen, when he spotted Bruce Banner in a separate room on the exercise floor, in a strange green silken robe, breathing deeply and stretching in a slow methodical way, almost like dancing. Intrigued, Thor had moved to enter the room, maybe finally get to talk with one of his reticent vassals. It had amused him how these mortals were playing this childish game with him, of acting distant so that the Prince would come grovelling at their feet in the hopes that they would look his way. But unfortunately for them, Thor was a Prince of Asgard, and Asgardian Princes do not grovel. It was time that he put an end to these foolish games.
But the golden Prince had gotten no further than the doorway before he was frozen by the realisation that Eir was not, in fact, waiting in the room alone, in an attempt to lure the Prince. Because there, sitting at a low-laying table and chairs, with Bruce's favourite hot tea served at his elbow, was his nephew, Jor - who was staring at the mortal, who glowed like a coveted emerald, like Eir had hung the moon and stars.

Enraged, Thor stomped off, continuing on his way to the penthouse on his original quest, his face a dark mask of growing resentment.
How dare his vassals, these mortals, play such games with him. Thor had been absolutely thrilled at the thought of finally returning home to the Tower, back to his nephew and vassals who had been waiting, oh so patiently. He had been looking forward to the magnificent feast that Freyr would provide, to welcome the heroes home. Granted, his Midgardian ale would never quench his mighty thirst, but the mortal provided all that was available to him, and Freyr tried his best. Thor had daydreamed of Eir tending to his wounds, tutting over his sorry state, mothering him as was the healer's want. He had burst to tell them of all of his mighty accomplishments and to hear in turn all that they had achieved in the meantime ... but this? This was sacrilege!
Thor had not been prepared for Freyr to snap at him like that, in front of everyone, and then extensively ignore his entire existence the rest of the day. Nor had he been aware that during his drinking and feasting with the Midgardian Gods, Eir would leave with Loki and their children with Freyr back to the Tower and not even attempt to check on him where he was making merry. Even his mother and the Jotunn had left!
Thor would admit, if only to himself, in a small part, that his quest to get wasted that night after he had found out this fact, maybe why he had been so completely hammered the next day.

And still, even after, though while Thor had waited, showing more patience than he ever had with anyone else before ... they had not come to apologise. Oh, they had smiled at him with their pretty faces and offered him food and rest, but they did not seek him out. They did not ask after his achievements, they did not come to bask in his glory or ask him to regale them with his stories of might and valour. And even as the days passed ... they still had not come.
What was wrong with them? Did the mortals not know the proper procedure? The last few days had left Thor scratching at his head, and with each hour that passed with them not seeking him out ... it had increased his ire. Thor angrily dug into the fridge to find the baked goods that were always kept in stock - growling that they did not have any of his favourite apple muffins. Did these mortals not understand? They were treading a very fine line, very close to turning his not inconsiderable rage onto them.

Of course, they were his vassals, he would never hurt them, such a thing was unthinkable. A God's vassals were precious and irreplaceable, worthy of every respect and his protection and absolutely worth everything he could provide. But he was the God here, he was the one who had returned from a mighty quest, he was worthy of praise! And the fact that there was an obvious lack of appropriate accolades he was due ... Thor must right this situation.

They must show him respect! The All-Father always said, A King, a Prince of Asgard, is nothing without the respect of their subjects. His father was a highly respected ruler ... in Asgard. And Thor will admit, he didn't always agree with how Odin All-Father went about getting such respect. Just seeing the destruction of the land of the Jotunn, the unnecessary desolation and death ... that was not what Thor wanted of his legacy.
He no longer agreed with such forceful methods ... but ... how else was he to claim their respect? All of his royal training and time spent among the mortals had not prepared him for something like this ...

"Is feeding your greedy maw all you are capable of?"

Thor glared at the hateful form of this annoying intruder.
"What are you doing in this place, you worthless worm?"

Hercules scowled, folding his arms over his chest, flexing his oiled muscles. "I am here to avail myself of our dear Midgardian King," the Greek-Roman ancient hero smirked with a harsh line, fluffing his perfect golden curls, "Care to lead me to where my exotic beauty may be?"

Thor almost crushed the fridge door under his hand. "Freyr is not yours!"

"Oh?" Hercules stopped primping in the nearest reflective surface to glare in the thunderer's direction, "And whose exactly, would you say he is? Yours?" the God scoffed.

Thor slammed the fridge door closed, with enough force to make the appliance rock in place. "He is my Vassal, you pest!" the thunderer seethed, "Not yours!"

"Really?" Herc rose a mockingly sceptical perfectly sculpted eyebrow, "Are you sure about that? You have not restrengthened your bond with the mortals ... Maybe there is a new opening?" the hero smirked victoriously.

Thor slammed a fist down on the granite kitchen benchtop, causing it to shatter into cracks. "You are not to approach my vassals. You are not worthy even to look upon Freyr, you gadfly!"

"What?" the hero sneered, all airs of joking leaving his form, "And you are? You're a mess! With your untamed beastly mane, your unshorn face and ungainly attire. Stuffing your face with everything in sight and availing yourself of all the wine. You're a barbarian," Hercules scathed. "You are nothing like your brother, at least he knows how to keep himself presentable. You track filth wherever you go."

Thor reeled back slightly - he'd never been compared unfavourably to Loki before. Also, it had been a fair while since he had heard of anyone refer to Loki as a 'he' without permission. Thor found it irked him something fiercely that this golden pretty boy would misgender his brother like that. Thor had learned that the Jotunn were proud of their gender fluidity between barer and sire - Loki especially was proud of their ability to change their shape to embody any gender. Who was this upstart?

"That fair face, those long locks," Hercules licked his lips salaciously, "If he didn't already have grown children that would definitely emasculate me if I even attempted to, I would approach that dark beauty for an evenings pleasure," the Greek smirked at the completely irked look on the golden thunderers face. "I heard you lay with him once, and he bore you son? And you let him go? Such a waste." Hercules shook his head disparagingly.

"Leave my brother out of this," Thor seethed, eyes slowly swirling into a stormy grey.

"I can see why Tony prefers him over you," Hercules smirked mockingly at the heaving, seething Norse deity in front of him. "You need a carpenters tool to fight your battles!" the Greek laughed, "You have muscles for brains, you have never won a battle on your own ... you honestly think you can measure up to me?" the hero scoffed, "I am obviously a much better option for him than you. In fact, you should be thanking me for taking them off of your hands. You obviously cannot handle them. Especially that delectable little delight," Hercules blue eyes sparked with lust and he licked his lips again. "You have left the little darling practically begging for a firmer hand, I am very willing to lend it."

The sky crashed with a thunderous boom as a flash of lightning struck the penthouse landing outside the glass doors.
"You will do no such thing."

"Oh, I think I will," Hercules challenged confidently.

"I will not allow it," Thor snarled, golden lighting crackling down his arms, his stormy eyes pinned on the threat in front of him.

"You? Fight me?" Hercules laughed, eyes bright with a queer mad light as his golden GodWaves snapped and burned like flames.

An unearthly growl made both golden god's freeze in place as a crawling cold invaded the penthouse, crawling around their ankles like a heavy mist, so cold that it prickled the skin. Thor glanced to the side with a stormy eye.

"Nephew?"

Fenrir stood in the entrance to the kitchen, sub-zero frost crawling from his form, his snarling mouth full of sharp canine fangs, eyes pinning them like prey.

"If you idiots must fight, you will leave."

"Nephew-"

"You will not endager the den!" Fenrir snarled, pupils dilated in fury.

'Of course ... how could I be so stupid?' Thor berated himself, 'Freyr, Eir, and my family are here.' Thor glared at the golden greek god in front of him, the look on his face didn't look like he'd be too bothered to have their throw down right now, despite the dangers. Thor narrowed his eyes determinedly, he must get rid of this threat.

"You heard my nephew. Let's take this elsewhere."

"Running away?" Hercules tilted his head, the queer light shining in his eyes glinted.

"This is no place to have a proper fight," Thor scoffed, stormy eyes watching the danger carefully, holding his hand out to the side, gratified when Mjolnir loyally smacked into his palm, "Why don't we take this outside?"

The hero seemed intrigued in spite of himself, "Where would you suggest?"

"That new land looked like a good place for a fight," Thor smirked, slipping his hand down to grab his hammer by the leather strap, and began swinging it around in a controlled circle, feeding his seiðr through her, "How about there?"

"Do you even know the way to get there?" Hercules scoffed doubtfully.

"Thee of little faith," Thor smirked as he spun Mjolnir faster, surging his golden lightning into her swings, forming a tear in space and time, forming a golden portal opening to reveal the green lands of Isle Midgard. "Ladies first."

------------------- -------------------

"Excuse me, Mr Laufeyson?"

Loki blinked from their deep inspection of the notes left to them by Jord while she was dealing with matters in her lands, sitting in their private rooms, "Yes JARVIS?"

"It would appear that Mr Odinson is picking a fight with Heracles."

Loki gave a long frustrated sigh, though, honestly, they had been waiting for when their brother would finally weaken and snap. "He just cannot help himself," Loki huffed to themselves.

"Mr Fenrir Lokison warned them away from fighting inside the Tower," JARVIS reported dryly, "Whereas Mr Odinson summoned Mjolnir and created a portal in the penthouse?"

"That is the new skill he's developed," Loki nodded reluctantly as they put the notes away and prepared to make themselves ready, "Where did they go?"

"Isle Midgard," JARVIS supplied, to which the dark-haired god had nodded. Thankfully, Thor had used some sense. "However," Loki glanced up at the particularly dry, unimpressed tone the AI utilised, "Mr Odinson did manage to tilt and disrupt the food in the refrigerator that will now have to be replaced, damage the kitchen bench, fried most of the electrical appliances in the penthouse with his lightning, and Mjolnir has made many new holes in the walls and floors from being summoned from the gym level, where Mr Odinson had left it."

Loki could not help groaning a frustrated growl at their brother's thoughtlessness. "Freyr will not be happy about that."

"Indeed," the AI drawled, "Thankfully, Sir is currently out of the Tower on business, and no one was injured. We are having crews cordon off the damage and starting repairs immediately. Mr Laufeyson? The rest of the AI and I wish for you to communicate our displeasure with Mr Odinson when you find him."

"Oh, don't you worry," Loki scowled as they magically summoned and donned their green leathers and repaired golden helm, "I will do more than that."

Chapter Text

A wide smirk was stretching itself across Thor's face as he stared down at his opponent. Thor snorted to himself, if this lump of muscle could rightfully call himself so.
The golden pretty boy in his draperies was down on one knee, covered in dirt and debris from their battle, panting, out of breath, partially scorched - whereas Thor was developing a couple of bruises, a few cuts where the blood barely oozed ... and one of his ribs might be close to broken.

Thor had never had so much fun! Matching blows with a being as powerful as he? Almost unheard of. Thor barely even needed his lightning, though he had slipped once or twice in his enjoyment, hence the smoking god in front of him. Deep down, Thor had been itching for a good fight, something to get the blood pumping. He's had to pull his punches lately, surrounded by mortals or Jotunn's that were weak and sickly that they had actually gone to help - noone he could release his full power onto. Not that there hadn't been a good reason to stay his hand at thoes times ... Now that thoughts were beginning to float up in his consciousness in the lull of the fighting, and the red slowly draining from his vision ... Thor thought he vaguely remembered the weakling complaining about him summoning his lightning? Called it unfair? Thor had merely laughed, full of battle lust and glee, demanding that the God summon his own - make a real fight out of it. Thor vaguely recalled the man spitting out a mouthful of blood and smiling with blood-stained teeth, and calling him a barbarian once again.

They had clashed almost as soon as Thor's golden portal had closed behind them, coming to blows that would have knocked a fully grown tree down. And as the battle carried on, the blows came harder and sharper, building from the strength to dismantle a house to crumbling mountains. The greek had come at him with bare hands ... brave fool.
Thor had remembered Mjolnir slipping from his hand as he fell into that old rage, that forbidden art of the Berserker ... the beautiful battle blood rage that Mjolnir had refused to ever take part in, and Thor had let her go, always abiding by her wishes. The Greeks must have had something quite like it, as that queer light burned in the other man's eyes and he had come at him with no holds barred.

His mind had been a sea of red ... he vaguely recalled fighting on what used to be an open grassy plane ... trying to force one another into lava or the churning ocean ... their blood making beautiful poppies on the crisp snow ... jagged rocks digging into flesh ... Hercules hefting long black basalt pillars he had plucked from the ground and thrown at him like javelins ... the black sand melting and crystalising under the heat of Thor's lightning to surround him in a cage of black glass spikes ... the Greek using the thick trunk of a tree as a club to pummel Thor into the earth ... punching the God's pretty face through a mountain ...

Barbarian was he? Thor barked a laugh. But at least Thor was still standing! Take that worm!

"You ... You really do love it, don't you?" the curly-headed god gasped, glancing up at Thor's towering form, "Battle? Blood? You're insatiable for violence."

'Is he seriously monologuing right now?'

Thor blinked, glancing around. That was Freyr's voice. Was Freyr here?
The red receded a bit more.
No. Freyr couldn't be here! It was too dangerous-

"You thirst for war," the Greek-Roman God jeered, causing Thor to focus back onto his opponent, "You truly are your father's son."

The red surged over his mind again as Thor snapped, charging forward with a furious roar, only for the hero to fling a handful of dust into the Asgardians eyes, and while Thor stumbled, the Greek got his feet back under him and launched himself into a tackle, dissolving into a snarling wrestling match in the dirt, one trying to pin the other.

'You're not really making a case for yourself here,' Thor breathed deeply in shock as he had the curly-headed God pinned, 'If you're trying to refute that you're a barbarian, rolling around in the dirt, are you?'

What the hel? Why could Thor hear Eir in his mind right now?

"What's the matter?" Thor snapped back to the man he had pinned underneath him, smirking up at him with that smarmy expression, "I thought you were going to stop me from getting some action from your vassals? Or your brother," Hercules laughed as Thor pressed him harder into the dirt as he growled, "I'm sure he wouldn't mind if I tapped that fine-"

Thor grabbed the God by the curls and smashed his face into the earth.
"You will not speak of them! Their names should never leave your foul tongue!"

"Thor!"

The thunderer snapped his head up, staring at the vision of Loki, dressed in their green battle leathers and golden horned helmet, a furious scowl on their face.
What was his brother doing here?

Thor felt the God underneath him try to dislodge him, and growling Thor restrengthened his hold, by putting Hercules into a chokehold.

"Thor!" Loki stomped forward, face an angry stormcloud to even match one of Thor's, "Stop this brainless tussle, right now!"

Hercules gagged as Thor tightened his hold.

"Thor!" Loki snarled, showing an irate fang, raising their hands in warning, "I said release him! Before I make you."

Loki's green eyes widened as Thor growled, stubbornly tightening his hold around the ancient heroes neck, blue eyes taking on a light red colour.
Realising what was happening, the trickster scowled as they flexed their hand, directing their seiðr to snatch Thor up off of the Greek God, forcing him to let go of his prey, and slamming the Norse thunderer into the ground a few steps away.

As Thor lay groaning in the crater, dazed from the impact, Hercules sat up coughing and massaging his throat. "My thanks-"

Loki flicked a wrist, using a flash of green seiðr to slap a stretch of duct tape over the ancient Greek's mouth. "Shut up. You have done more than enough damage. You flap that tongue of yours, one more time, and I'll make sure that you lose it."

Seeing the cold glare being sent his way, Hercules wisely kept his mouth shut.

Seeing that the nuisance was taken care of, Loki stalked over to the crater, seeing Thor start to recover and try to sit up. Sighing, Loki slid down into the indent and deftly jumped over Thor so they were straddling his chest, forcing Thor to lie flat on his back again under the trickster's weight. Thor began baring his teeth up at the body above him in a snarl, until Loki snapped their fingers right in front of the thunderer's nose, rising a few green sparks close to his face.

"Don't you snarl at me," Loki warned sternly as they refused to move from their perch, sitting on Thor's chest, "Don't you realise what a mess you've made brother?"

"Me?!" Thor spluttered, the red slowly draining from his vision again, "He started it!"

"It does not matter who started it, you buffoon!" Loki scowled down at their brother under them, "You are not supposed to rise to the bait, every single time someone tries to goad you, Thor, you absolute dullard. You are supposed to be an adult, Brother. For once in your life, try to at least act like it."

Loki appeared to be using a type of magic to make sure the golden thunderer could not dislodge them. "Release me from your spells, Brother," Thor growled with flinty reddish-eyes.

Loki rose an imperial eyebrow, "You think I need spells to be able to pin you down, you halfwit. You lose all sense of self-awareness when you let yourself get riled up, Brother. I do not even need my seidr to keep you underneath me when you're like this," Loki shook their head disparagingly, "You let your emotions take over too easily, and it weakens you. I believe it was a habit Tyr had been trying to train you out of." Loki sat empirically on Thor's chest, like it was the royalist of thrones, arms crossed until the blond's struggles lessened. "I believe we have been over this many times. You do not need to issue offence at every slight," Loki sighed frustratedly, "It is petty and small."

"I am not small!"

Loki shook their head with a sigh, "I see you still miss the point, you nincompoop." Loki leant forward slightly to poke the God's forehead with a slight finger with a harsh jab, "You are not actually this dense, brother. We both know this. Drag that grey sludge you call a brain out of that neanderthalic muck and use your oft-debated higher brain functions," Loki scathed.

Thor's face scrunched into an infuriated snarl - to which Loki responded with another forehead jab, applied with so much force Thor's head smacked back onto the ground, creating a small creator underneath it.

"Think Brother!" Loki scathed, glaring frostily down at the dazed golden god underneath them, "You have been acting like a self-entitled fool ever since we returned from the frozen wastes, strutting around like a fool Cockrel. You strut, and you preen," Loki green eyes narrowed in judgement, "Focused more on your physical physique and a false sense of glory than the people around you. How do you think this makes Freyr and Eir feel?" Thor's eyes lost more of their red as they widened, "You have not even apologised to our vassals yet-"

"How am I supposed to apologise, if they don't come to me first?!"

Loki sat back, staring for a moment at their brother's pleading face. "... I beg your pardon?"

"I cannot apologise until they come to apologise to me first," Thor insisted, misreading the trickster's expression as bemusement, "I cannot seek them out ... that is the actions of a weak man, and I am not weak!" Thor seethed, "I am a Prince of Asgard! A Prince does not grovel."

Loki sat in silence, staring down at Thor, as if they had never seen them before, allowing Thor to continue on his rant.

"I have campaigned and returned victorious, and yet I do not receive the accolades that are my due. I cannot speak to our vassals until they have paid me the proper homage," Thor insisted. "Otherwise, I will lose all pride as a Prince of the Golden Realm Eternal." Thor's face became pained at the thought. "And if we do not have our pride, Brother? Then we are nothing."

Loki stared down at the aggrieved god underneath them with a steely expression. "Do you truly believe that?"

"... What?"

"Are you telling me, that you believe that mindless drivel?" Loki glared, freezing GodWaves manifesting as icicles and frost. "You are telling me, that it only took you 6 months to fall back into old habits, of the swaggering golden Prince of Asgard that would murder the innocent for fun and glory?"

"Loki ... how could you say that?" Thor stared up at his brother's furious face with hurt eyes, "You know I would never-"

"And yet!" Loki pushed forward, till their face hovered above Thor's, "You would sound just as those murderous 3 who you call friends - the Warriors Three who joyfully wreaked havoc and destruction, uncaring who they hurt in their quest for glory? Who would cheerfully condemn mortals to death, for their amusement? The one's you rightfully condemned, along with your conniving wife! You would choose to be like them?"

Thor's eyes widened in shock and a small amount of insult, "Of course not, Brother!"

"Yet," Loki scathed, "the filth dribbling from your lips remind me of the poison that came spouting out of theirs." The dark-haired God snarled right in Thor's face, hands coming down to pin the golden God to the ground, claws manifesting on the fingers that they unrestrainedly dug into the thunderer's skin, "You better be very quick in explaining yourself to me, Brother," Thor flinched at Loki's sarcastic use of the title, and the trickster's familiar green eyes taking on their red Jotunn shine, "Or I will make sure, that you can never approach my vassals, myself, or my children ever again."

Thor's blue eyes swam with conflicting emotions that he struggled to force out of his barrel chest. "I ... I am a son of Odin. I was always taught to take pride in that fact. That ... Asgard is the Golden Realm Eternal ... that we, the Asgardians were the protectors of the Yggdrasil. Now I know ... that is not true." Thor scrunched his eyes closed as he struggled to take breaths. "The All-Father is not the safeguard of the galaxy - in fact, outside of Asgard, he is viewed as a warmongering tyrant! But ... that is not the father I remember. Father ... always had time for me," Thor slightly shook his head, "He would tell me glorious stories of his achievements ... But now I know ... what the consequences of that 'glory' is."
Thor opened his eyes to stare up into their brother's red eyes. "My father doomed the Jotunn to death. An entire people. Your people ..." Thor's breath shuddered, "My people. Our time in Jotunheim ... I learned more than I ever wished to know. My Grandmother ... Bestla, stolen away from her family and her people and forced to marry the son of the Asgardian who murdered their ancestor, Ymir ... whose reincarnation is my mother," Thor screwed his face up in consternation.
"I was taught since childhood that all Frost Giants were monsters," Thor gasped for breath, staring up at Loki helplessly, "But my father's mother was Jotunn! My mother is Jotunn. My beloved brother is Jotunn. As are my beautiful niece and nephews ... and also my own children ... our child ..." Thor's eyes filled with helpless tears.
"I have hated a part of myself, I was unaware that I even possessed ... and my own kind loath me! We both remember how many times we had to stop the very Jotunn we were fighting to save would either go for my throat or scream in fear! Fear, Loki! I am Thor, God of Thunder. Innocent people do not run away screaming at the sight of me ..." Thor's eyes swam with hurt. "Brother ... I grew to resent them." Thor's face crumpled.

"... You were not used to being treated as the monster or the villain, in any scenario," Loki breathed, red eyes searching the golden God's face, "So ... You decided to fall back on what you knew. Fall back onto your royal training ... but that wasn't the answer either."

"The people were so joyous to greet you," Thor scrunched his face up in an attempt to stop the pitiful tears that wanted to escape, "Yet they scowled at me. No matter what I did, it was not good enough. The Jotunn only agreed to give me a chance once you put a good word in for me. They cared not that I was a Prince. They cared not that I was there to save them. They did not even care that I too carry Jotunn blood. They only saw me as a son of Odin ... only cared about my connection to you. Do not mistake me," Thor snapped their eyes open to look up at the trickster above them, "I do not regret saving the people of Jotunheim! And I do not condone Asgard and Odin's actions against them ..."

"You were not accustomed to being treated so completely with such contempt, even as you were working to help them?" Loki rose an eyebrow, "... You do realise you are describing what my everyday life living under Odin was like?"

"You had oft-described your plight to me ... I thought I understood it," Thor shook his head ruefully, "But clearly, I did not."

"So you tired of the Jotunn people, and craved to return to Midgard, where you would be heralded as a hero?" Loki leaned back slightly, giving Thor room to breathe.

"Except I am not!" Thor cried, "We completed our mission and returned victorious, only for Freyr to snap at me! And Eir completely ignores my existence! First, I am not accepted by my ancestral people, then my own vassals turn me aside! What must I do to earn their recognition?!"

"And you refuse to apologise for essentially abandoning my son and our vassals to their own device's for half a year, with no fair warning, and no mode of contact," Loki drawled, sitting up on Thor's chest again, "because you refuse to admit that even though we did it for a good reason, we went about it the wrong way." Loki gave a long sigh, "Thor, you know how to make it right with Eir and Freyr. All you need to do is to swallow your misplaced pride, and apologise to those who mean something to you." The trickster crossed their arms as they stared down at their brother, "Do you want them to keep avoiding you for the rest of time?" Thor erratic head shaking and wide terrified eyes almost made the dark-haired gods mouth twitch, "Then apologise. If you apologise, using words that come from deep in the heart, and explain yourself to them, as you have to me, I can guarantee that our vassals will not turn you away."

Loki watched as Thor huffed and pouted, reminding them of when they were children, and the golden prince would pout like this and stomp his foot when he was forced to use his words, instead of destroying his room in a mighty tantrum when he didn't get his way.

"You cannot be rid of your troubles by hitting them, Brother," Loki smirked wryly as Thor huffed underneath them, "You are over 1050 years old, Thor. I am sure that you know this by now. Which, begs the question," Loki moved their hardened eyes onto the form of Hercules who was still sprawled in the dirt a distance away, "Of why this Midgardian God rose your ire so perfectly?"
Loki watched as the Greek-Roman deity looked up at them with glistening blue eyes, and with a scoff of distaste and a sneer, Loki used their seidr to rip the summoned tape off of the God's mouth, enjoying their exclamation of pain, "I am giving you permission to speak, Earth-Bound, but you better not waste my time. Why did you provoke Thor?"

Hercules took a moment to rub at his mouth with a wince, still lying on his belly in the dirt, before glancing up at the Norse god lying on his back in a creator with another Norse God sitting on his chest. "I was merely fetching what was my due."

"... Excuse me?" Loki growled.

Hercules hurried to explain, "My father is the King of the Olympian Gods. Zeus told me that my aunt Aphrodite had found a new love match for me by consulting the oracle, that was revealed to be Midgard's new King, and gave me his blessings to pursue him."

Loki sat blinking for a moment, a brow slowly rising up their forehead as Thor's growls underneath him slowly rose in volume.

"Zeus bid me to get close to the Midgardian King, and woo him," Hercules explained, the boyish look on his face held a tinge of amusement, "But I did not expect to have competition to literally come out from a tear in space and time."

Loki had to lock their knees down on the body underneath them as Thor snarled and fought once more to get up, possibly to return to smashing the Greek heroes face into the dirt again. He was being so unwieldy, his eyes taking on the red hue again, that Loki was forced to give the god a reprimand, "Thor, no," and jab Thor's forehead to impact the ground again with a cracking thud.

"You mean to tell me," Loki drawled, once Thor lay once more blue-eyed and dazed, "That you provoked my brother into a fight over Freyr's hand?" The trickster was not at all impressed by the hero's smarmy smug expression. "Did you, at any time, ask Freyr how he felt about this?"

"Oh, Tony doesn't need to know about this," Hercules was quick to refute, causing Loki's eyes to narrow in suspicion, "I merely had to defeat the competition, and then Tony would be mine."

"And," Loki smirked, "This is what Zeus told you that you must do?"

"Yes. And auntie Aphrodite," Hercules nodded happily, glad that the Norse trickster was understanding the situation.

Loki's smirk widened, red eyes gleaming in mirth, glancing down at Thor who, once recovered, began staring up at their expression quizzically. "So," Loki huffed with amusement, crossing their arms lightly, "You heeded the bidding of your aunt and father to make a move on the Midgardian King, and upon our return, and upon seeing how close Thor was to Tony, and recognising the feelings he held for the mortal, you decided to issue challenge?"

Thor spluttered denials while Hercules easily nodded his head in agreement to Loki's assessment, "The Norseman was terribly possessive of the mortal, and of you," Hercules' face was full of innocence, "He would not even let me near the curly-haired one - though we both know your son has laid the first claim," Herc smirked, "But he was so protective of both you and Tony."

Thor's face was beet red as he continued to splutter garbled sounds of denial, pinned between Loki's thighs.

"Indeed?" Loki purred, smirking down at Thor coquettishly, freezing the thunderer like a deer in headlights. Loki glanced up at the smirking Greek-roman hero as they asked, "And ... would you say that he has won this issue of challenge?"

"Oh yes, definitely," Hercules nodded with a boyish expression from his position belly-down in the dirt, "As you can see, I have clearly lost."

"And ... you won't be issuing such a challenge towards Thor again?" Loki rose an empirical eyebrow.

"Well ..." the curly-headed god hummed indecisively, until he saw Loki's building churning frost and quickly backpedalled, "No. Nope. I wouldn't even dream of it. Clearly, the Norseman has protected his right to court you and the mortal, and keep his vassals, if he wishes!"

"What?!" Thor choked as Loki burst into laughter.

"Oh, Thor, you sweet fool," Loki purred, leaning forward to touch noses with the blushing, perplexed god of thunder, "How easily you are yanked around by your emotions, and so blind are you, to your own desires. It looks like, once again, I must take care of you," Loki demonstratively licked their bottom lip, smirking as a blushing Thor's eyes followed its trail, "My brother, your head is as thick as stone. And there has only ever been four ways to get through to you." Loki chuckled, laying out a finger each on Thor's chin as they counted, "One way is through food, another is through ale. The third is through battle ... and the fourth is through lust." The trickster giggled at Thor's wide shocked eyes, "And I believe you have had plenty of the first three.
"But first," Loki drawled as they dragged their eyes away from Thor up to the Greek who had yet to pick himself up from his prone position, "What to do about you?"

"If I may?" the God's turned to watch Hades and Persephone appear in a swirl of blue hellfire, "We shall take care of our nephew."

"And if you agree," Persephone purred with a dangerous smile, "We will also take care of the issue of Zeus and Aphrodite, and their meddling."

Loki smirked as they bowed their head to the God's of the Underworld, smirk widening as the colour quickly drained from Hercules' face, "I thank you. And now you, Brother," Loki purred down to the bewildered, blushing Thor, "You and I have some ... talking to do." Loki reached down to grab the golden god by the lapels and ported away in a swirl of green flame and ice.

Chapter Text

That very next morning, a refreshed and bushy-tailed Thor bounded up to the penthouse at breakfast, with Loki following him with a satisfied smirk, watching as the thunderer went down on his knees between where Tony and Bruce were eating bacon and eggs and begged forgiveness. Bruce and Tony's faces took on a rosey hue, their eyes a little shifty as they surprisingly accepted Thor's expressive apologies, very easily. Thor was overjoyed, missing their vassal's strange behaviour and inability to look him in the eye without their faces bursting into flame.
Jor chuckled as he congratulated his uncle on finally gathering the courage to apologise. Bashfully, Thor admitted they wouldn't have been able to get to this point without Loki.

"Yes," Loki purred with a mischievous smirk watching the jittery mortals, "You just needed someone to show you the reins." The trickster burst out in laughter when both men spat out their coffee and tea.

"Hey, hey, Freyr, Eir, are you amiable towards strengthening our bonds?" Thor looked between the mortals as they quickly grabbed napkins to wipe at their faces, fiddling with his fingers a little when they turned to stare down at him, "I ... have missed our connection."

"Of course Thor," Bruce recovered first, brown eyes full of compassion, even as his cheeks were still dusted with pink.

"Yeah, 'course we will, Thor," Tony agreed, sending an irate side-eye at Jor who was barely containing their mirth.

Tony would never tell anyone how comforting Thor energy was when the god was calm, warm and inviting like sunlight, leaving his skin buzzing just a little. Thor looked immensely pleased to be reunited with their vassals - and despite the embarrassment of everyone in the Tower except Thor being very aware of what he and Loki were up to for hours last night - Tony was glad everyone had made up again.

The next month was full of work - Tony, Loki and Jord working on the Uru upgrade for the trans-realm portal, Bruce working in his lab and correspondence, Thor cleaning up the mess he made of Isle Midgard as part of his punishment, and overall re-establishing themselves back as the team and family they had been over 6 months ago.

As part of his continuing apology, especially to the AI, Thor offered to leave Mjolnir with them at the Tower, with another reminder never to summon the hammer while indoors, while continued with his clean up project.
Apparently, now that Tony and the AI could now use seiðr to communicate and feel things around them after Tony updated their scanners, they could now communicate with the ancient hammer. Of course, her 'mind' was as alien as her creation could make her, so it was a lot of trial and error. The AI had found more headway in being able to understand her than Tony had, but he wasn't going to give up.
The inventor was starting to wonder if he couldn't develop a way to connect and communicate with his AI more succinctly, speeding up communications, and making interfacing with alien beings/technology that much more streamlined.

But that was for when he wasn't already busy with trying to build a portal that was strong enough to make it outside their own universe, build infrastructure to take in refugees and people who needed shelter, continue working on green energy and clean water facilities and safe food production. Not to mention keeping the population calm about the Gods returning, and the appearance of other Pantheons slowly leaking out into the wider world to make themselves known, and calm down the politicians and a certain cap fan president who seemed to think now that anything associated with Tony Stark could only be bad news.
It certainly helped that Loki was back and in no time at all, they had swanned back into the U.N and all but asserted their dominance.

Also that Captain Underpants was still encensored in his medical rooms, going through treatments and recovery, with stricter conditions for him to have contact with the outside world after he had injured himself so much last time. Plus, the absolute media and political nightmare that might have unfolded if Steve and Sharon had still been there when possessed-Jane had attacked! At least now President Ellis seemed to realise how delicate Spangles situation was and had proceeded to take a complete 180, from demanding that 'Cap be set free!' to 'Captain America is injured and needs time to heal, please give our hero some time and space.'

How very like him to make it sound like the whole idea of keeping a severely underpowered and weakened man out of time in a medical facility was the President's idea all along. Though Tony was gratified to see that some of the media had decided to call Ellis out on his bullshit and had started covering the completely blatant anti-Stark campaigns the Ellis administration had been spouting - and they had started doing that, completely on their own!
It sort of reminded him of the others who had seemed to be forced to change their tune.

It was Loki who revealed to Tony what Hercules and Thor had done - which explained why Thor was being forced to clean up Isle Midgard, as was Herc ... though he was also apparently demoted to guard dog of the Isle, as punishment from Hercules' wife, Hebe. Tony had ventured to ask why a guard dog specifically, and for how long - and also why the Greek-Roman avoided eye contact with him? But Loki had only smirked and told the inventor he should ask the God himself. Tony had yet to do so ... but he had a feeling it probably hadn't been good, and probably something to do with the golden-blondes overt flirting - since the ancient Greek hero was now basically in the dog house.
Hades and Persephone had visited the Tower for one of their continuing afternoon tea's, to which Bruce, Jörmungandr, Loki, Hela and Jord joined - in which the Lord of the Underworld smugly retold of the punishment dolled out to Zeus, who had apparently been the reason why Herc had been acting so weird, thanks to the 'King of the God's meddling. Apparently, old thunderbolt had still been pissy over Tony pointing out their own rudeness and breaking the God's own rules of hospitality and had colluded with Aphrodite to get revenge against the inventor.

"But ... why Aphrodite?" Bruce blinked as he gently held his teacup, "Don't the Greeks literally have a goddess of revenge?"

"I believe you to be referring to Nemesis, although I hear she prefers to be called Rhamnousia," Persephone smiled as she sipped her tea, "Zeus would not be so foolish as to call upon the Goddess who enacts retribution against those who succumb to hubris, arrogance before the gods."
Hades scoffed, showing that he 100% believed that Zeus definitely would if given half the chance.
"Rhamnousia would not help the King of the God's in this case anyway, if he had asked," the Lady of the Underworld smiled, amused by her husband's antics, "She does not appreciate her time being wasted by being called in to deal with petty godly rivalries ... especially any plots concocted by Zeus," the Goddess propriety coughed into her teacup, "Rhamnousia is more likely to judge the accuser who wastes her time, than the accused."

"Aphrodite, on the other hand," Hades growled, "unfortunately lives for drama. It does not take very much to get Aphrodite to want to get involved in any other God's scheme. Especially if she can make it work for her."

"What could she possibly get out of this?" Jord leaned forward, seemingly intrigued almost despite herself, "And why would the 'King of the God's' need the help of a Goddess of Love?"

"Love, lust, beauty - these are all things that Aphrodite stands for, but also jealousy, vanity, and an almost insatiable need to hook gorgeous people up together."

"Oh," Tony hummed as he placed his teacup down, "She's a toxic shipper."

"... I'm sorry, what?" Loki blinked at the billionaire with a blank uncomprehending face.

"What? I'm on Twitter. I keep up to date," Tony defended, then went on to explain, "She sees two hot people, so she ships them together," Tony shrugged as he explained blithely, "Forcing two people to fall in love or shack up, with no thought to emotional compatibility or possible consequences. She'd force two eternal enemies who had murdered each other's families together if she thought they'd make a cute couple. You know," Tony picked up his tea, unbothered by the stares as he took a sip, "Completely ignoring that they'd be terrible to each other."

"Or possibly murder each other," Bruce murmured into his own cup.

"But if she was helping old grump and stomp with revenge against me," Tony's brows furrowed slightly, "Then that means ... she was trying to mess up my love life?"

"Oh!" Bruce gasped the moment it clicked, "She was trying to match you up with Hercules!"

Tony blinked for a moment, obviously running idea over in his mind, before muttering, "Huh ... Honestly? I've done worse."

Loki threw their head back, chuckling as they covered their eyes with a hand as if they couldn't believe the situation they were in, Hela chuckling along, watching her mother with a mirthfully fond look.

"Looks like we had nothing to worry about," Jor snorted as they doctored their tea with a splash of milk.

"What?" Tony blinked at the chuckling god's with a quizzical expression, "I knew he was flirting with me - I'd have to be blind to not notice that," Tony snorted, "Though, I wasn't aware he was serious. I didn't get that vibe from him," Tony hummed thoughtfully. "He gave me the same vibe as those who used to flirt with me at events but wasn't actually attracted to me, as a person. I was just a means to an end." Tony shrugged, missing Loki's green eyes watching him closely with a flinty hard look taking over their expression. "Don't get me wrong, I still slept with them," Tony smirked flirtily, "But that was years back. Now ... I just don't think I could keep up with that kind of intrigue or drama. I guess," Tony chuffed a self-deprecating laugh "My age and constantly finding myself on the edge of death has caught up with me."

"Are you no longer interested in love?" Persephone leaned forward to gently lay her hand on the mortal's knee in concern.

"Oh, I didn't say that," Tony chuckled reassuringly, "I just think my years of being a playboy might be over if a golden hunk who was drooling after me didn't do it."

"I'm sure Ms Potts will be pleased to hear that, Sir," JARVIS intoned in a dry tone.

"Oh, shush you," Tony chuckled, "Pepper knows she's one of the only women of my heart - along with my Mother, my Anya, and aunt Peggy."

"What about the men of your heart?" Hela smirked, an eye on Loki's fascinated face.

"My Rhodey and my science Bro of course," Tony smirked at Bruce's deep blush, "Plus, you know," Tony coughed after catching Loki's eye and quickly looking away, "All of you are the family of my heart ... so ... there's that."

"Hmm," Jord smirked at the mortal's blush, "It looks like my son has nothing to worry about." The ancient Goddess turned to the smirking Underworld couple and went back to the original topic, "So ... what is being done about the meddlers?"

"The King of the Gods is serving his punishment as we speak," Persephone smiled, her green eyes full of mischievous glee, echoed by her husband's smug chuckles.

"Which is?" Bruce asked in slight trepidation.

"I sent Cerberos up to Olympus, into the King's palace, and my hellhound preceded to drag my brother screaming off of his throne, down out of the palace, through the streets, down Olympus, and down into the Underworld. Screaming, begging, and making a sorry spectacle of himself all the way down," Hades reminisced with obvious relish. "He is now down in the Underworld, serving as my hellhounds chew toy."

"Oh, I was wondering where the pup was," Jor chuckled.

"Are you sure that's safe?" Bruce worried, fiddling with his shirt cuffs.

"The God's of Olympus are powerless in our kingdom of the Underworld," Hades revealed, "Only those of our children, those who work for us, or those given freedom to wander our halls," Hades took Persephone's hand in his and placed a loving kiss upon it, "Can safely travel the kingdom of the Dead."

"It is why any sane God of our Pantheon never want to visit the Underworld," Persephone chuckled, fondly stroking her free hand through her husband's curls, "For it is our domain. Even the King of the God's cannot command death," Persephone smiled kindly down on the scientist, "Our darling pups are not in any danger from Zeus. Nor would anyone dare enter with the thought of harming the guard dog of the Underworld's gates. Do not fret."

"And if you are worrying over my dear brother, save your wasted breath," Hades grumbled huffily with a moue of distaste, "The legends of Zeus still run strong, even in this day and age, with no sign of fading out into obscurity. So there is no threat of Zeus ever fading from existence or finally meeting his death, unfortunately."

"So belief really does still play a factor?" Bruce asked, curious.

"It does not affect our powers at all," Hades admitted, "We do not grow weaker if we no longer have believers, but it does make it easier for death to be a more permanent state, or to fade out altogether if your presence was not all that strong, to begin with." Hades shrugged. "But that fate befell those that were still transitioning to godhood, centuries ago. It is only once your name has entered legend and whispered with reverence from the lips of mortals will you be firmly established as a Midgardian God. Many faded out before their legends ever made it to that point. Hence, why Narcissus is not with us, since his legend tells of his death, suffering from punishment from our dear Rhamnousia no less," the God of the Underworld smirked.

"But, what about Aphrodite?" Jor questioned, snacking on one of the provided tea biscuits.

Persephone sighed, "Unfortunately, the Goddess of Love is a much harder opponent to take down. What with more than half of the Olympians either owing to her a debt or currently acting as her lover," the Goddess scrunched her delicate nose.

"Or Ares still being protective over his mistress," Hades rolled his eyes.

"So ..." Tony drawled, nibbling on a biscuit, "What are you going to do?"

"Well," Persephone quirked the side of her lips up in a playful smirk, sharing a glance with her husband, "We were wondering if you could help with that."

"...Oh?" Loki rose an interested eyebrow.

"Yes, apparently, the Goddess of Love had another reason to mess with the life of the Midgardian King," Hades drawled, a strangely enigmatic amused look playing about his features, "Something we thought you must hear, from the horse's mouth - no offence-"

"None taken," Loki hummed in amusement.

Persephone smiled a devilish grin, her eyes flashing as she summoned a faint black chain to her hand, that trailed up to disappear into a black void. "Well, shall we invite Ms Aphrodite Pandemos, and ask her ourselves?" The Goddesses grin widened, with a shard edge as she gave the chain in her hand a gleeful harsh yank, causing the distant sound of screaming in the distance, muffled by the void, to grow louder, and louder, until a body fell out of the black void in the ceiling and crashed with a terrific crash onto the tea table, smashing the tea set, knocking over the table, and causing the whimpering, groaning lump to thump on to the ground at everyone's feet, in a puddle of wasted hot tea and crumbled biscuits.

"Aphrodite, so nice of you to drop in," Persephone purred.

Chapter Text

Tony stood next to Loki, having unconsciously moved closer to Bruce, Jor, and Loki once the Greek Goddess made frankly one of the most dramatic entrances into the Tower yet. Though ... he didn't think the ancient entity lying on the ground making pitiful noises and overly dramatic sniffles ever wanted to make that kind of entrance. Tony blinked, idly noticing the steadily growing puddle of tea underneath a rapidly staining pile of the most tulle Tony had seen up close since the last red carpet event he had attended ... Which was his own ball that Jane crashed, now that he thinks about it.

The whimpering goddess finally pushed herself up from her prone position on the ground, petulantly sitting in a puddle of smashed priceless bone china, Tony's broken coffee table, tea and biscuits, with a put-upon huff, glaring with eyes only for the smirking Persephone and Hades, looking like the most messed up version of a slutty Cinderalla that had been forced out of her shrunken carriage turned pumpkin.

"Oh Me!" the blond huffed, pursing her puckered lips into an exaggerated pout with an aggrieved groan, "Did you have to be so rough! You brutes!" Aphrodite, even when being petulant, had a voice like a starling, the face and body of a swimsuit model, long blond hair in perfect unruffled curls, perfect make-up and red lips that matched her red nails - which she was hurriedly checking for breaks, and a skin-tight semi-transparent red lace mini-dress, with only a little red lace petals sewn into to protect the Goddesses modesty, with the puffiest long train of red tulle on the back that Tony had seen off catwalks, matched with gold heels and a golden-swan motif on the side of her ample bosom, a gold that matched her furious gold eyes.
"If I had broken a nail, I would ... well," the goddess lost a little bit of her steam as she seemed to remember that she was speaking the King and Queen of the Underworld, who merely smirked and rose mirrored eyebrows at the goddess at their feet. "Even for such uncivilised underground dwellers like you," the huffy goddess sneered, "I can't believe you would treat the Goddess of Love like this! Do you even understand?" Aphrodite indicated to her soiled mini-dress, "This is couture!"

"It's ridiculous is what it is," Hades huffed, unimpressed, "I did not think you would manage in the modern era to find a way to wear something even more revealing than the togas that you constantly refused to fasten properly."

"Oh please, stop being so frigid, you troll," Aphrodite fussed with her golden tresses, ignoring the hardening of the God's eyes, "I was in the middle of a photo shoot if you must know. Turns out, revealing ourselves to the world again was the right call," the Goddess smirked, eyeing the couples distaste in glee. "People cannot get enough of little old me! I thought you were all insane, to begin with, but people adore me! Well ... they've always adored me - who wouldn't? I'm me! But as soon as I revealed my real identity they seemingly desire me even more! Looks like, no matter what time passes, the world still loves Aph-ro-dite," the smirking Goddess gloated, seemingly forgetting her rapidly staining dress and the mess she still sat in, "Whereas they still hate everything about you. How's it feel to be reminded of your unpopularity?"

"It should not surprise me that you would lap up the attention," Persephone sighed, ignoring the other Goddess jabs, turning to lovingly hold hands with an equally unimpressed Hades.

"Please, I'm on Instagram, Twitter, tv talk shows - people are practically begging to get all of this! They are eating out of my palm," Aphrodite gloated, sneering and looking down when she noticed how sticky her stained dress and legs were getting.

"You're not looking that impressive right now," Hades smirked, hellfire blue eyes burning in smug amusement.

"Well, maybe if someone hadn't interrupted me when I was putting the moves on that cute lighting boy," Aphrodite scowled with a huff, pouting her lips again like a tea-stained duck, "And so rudely summoned me like this, or acted like unsophisticated brutes and leaving a Lady like this," the Goddess said leadingly, raising an impatient eyebrow, "I wouldn't be in this situation, would I?!"

"Lady?" Jord chortled, remaining in her seat, unfazed as she rose an elegant golden eyebrow at the soiled blond bombshell making a spectacle of herself at her feet, "Surely you jest?"

The sneer that took over the tea-stained goddess almost seemed to contort her face. "Fine," the blond finally picked herself up off of the ground, pulling at her skirt when it rode up, almost flashing her audience the business, though she didn't seem too concerned, and began busying herself with dusting off wood chips and broken china, "Don't all move at once to help a fallen damsel, boys. I'm fine," Aphrodite swished her blond locks over her shoulder with her nose in the air, "I didn't need your help, anyway." Hades rolled his eyes at their follow Olympian, seeming to have as much patience for the Goddess of Love as he did with the King of the Olympian Gods.
Aphrodite tutted and scoffed as she took in her sticky, stained mini dress and crumpled tulle, with a scowl on her face. "I cannot believe you have done this. Do you understand anything?" the blond scoffed at Persephone, who merely stared back at the huffy guest/summoned prisoner with a blank unimpressed expression. "This dress is a Tony Yaacoub. This is haute couture! One of a kind! Handcrafted for moi!" the tea-stained goddess hissed, glaring at the Queen of the Underworld and her long flowing black silk gown, decorated with small understated blue and pink flowers on the shoulder. "If you'd even bother wearing anything other than the colour of mourning, Kore," Persephone's eyes narrowed while Hades immitted earth trembling rumbles, "You'd understand. Honestly, the moment you married that lug, all your sense of style went out the window. Guess that's what you get, for living in a cave and sticking with a neanderthal."

"Are you truly an imbecile?" Loki crossed their arms, raising an unimpressed brow at the hapless Goddess whose every uttered syllable seemed to be ticking the King and Queen of the Underworld off, "It was they who pulled you here with nary a thought, and it is obvious they who are keeping you here," Loki looked pointedly at the faint black chain and shackle around the goddesses right ankle, "If I had to guess, if the Queen of the Underworld didn't have you on a leash right now, you would have fled the moment you could." Loki scoffed, meeting the Goddesses golden-eyed glare with their own deep green, "You aren't even that much of a goddess if you cannot even mend your own attire or appearance. What a disappointment."

".... Normally, if anyone dared to speak to me like that," Aphrodite scathed, raking her eyes up and down Loki's lithe form in their favoured dark green Midgardian style suite that he wore around the Tower, "I would curse them with ill fortune. But ..." the goddess trailed her eyes admiringly over the trickster's body again, licking her bottom lip, "You're cute. I like a pretty boy now and again." Aphrodite pursed her lips, framed her ample bosom with both arms, squishing her breasts between them to accentuate her cleavage, fluttering her ridiculously long eyelashes at the tall, svelte, dark-haired god, "How about it, stud?"

A sneer of distaste had taken over Loki's face, as a deep mortified blush had taken over Bruce's, while Tony's brows had furrowed with an irritated scowl, but they couldn't even open their mouths before Hela and Jor stepped forward, shielding their parent from the Goddesses lecherous gaze.

"You keep your claws away from our Mother, tramp," Hela intoned with her deep voice, deadly serious, joined by Jörmungandr's faint hissing.

"Oh," Aphrodite blinked in mild surprise, "The dark beauty is a hermaphrodite?" the interested look quickly washed off of the Goddesses face, as her lustful eyes turned to look upon Loki and their children with cold, judging eyes, "Someone actually allowed one to breed?"

"Pandemos!" Hades snarled in warning, voice like tumbling boulders and grinding earth, "Hold your loose tongue, or find yourself losing it."

"Whatever," Aphrodite scoffed, flipping her hair casually over her shoulder, seemingly ignoring the glares sent her way, "I was just stating my surprise, you don't need to get your loincloth in a knot. I just thought they tossed things like that to drown in the Tiber."

"Well," Tony drawled, a dark scowl firmly fixated on the inventors face, "Aren't you delightful?" Tony turned to look towards the leaders of the Underworld with a small lift of a sardonic eyebrow, "Are all the Big Twelve like this?"

"You've met most of them," Persephone sighed as Aphrodite flounced and stomped at being talked over, "I'd like to say the majority of them are not as bad ... but they do have their moments."

"You!" Tony blinked in mild surprise at the Greek bimbo's scathing screech, turning to watch as the goddess pointed a long perfectly painted nail at the inventor, her face a rictus of fury, "How dare you!"

"Uh ... what?" Tony smirked with a bemused lifted eyebrow, glancing at Bruce and the other god's for a clue, "What have I done now?"

"How dare you!" the Goddess repeated, planting her hands on her hips, then immediately regretting it, grimacing at the sticky tea and crumbs now transferred to her hands, "I planned out everything to be perfect, and you ruined it!"

"... You're going to have to be a bit more specific, Dido," Tony huffed a put-upon sigh, with a careless shrug, "I make it a habit to ruin other people's plans for me."

"You," Aphrodite hissed, snapping her fingers to encase herself in a swirl of a pinkish-red cloud of perfume, so thick and overpowering that it almost made the mortal's eyes water, dispersing to reveal a magically clean Aphrodite, who had decided to have a costume change, into an even more revealing attire, that was little more than white and gold straps of cloth. "You ungrateful little -! I practically set you up with everyone's dream man, I practically gift-wrapped Hercules for you!" The incensed Goddess screeched. "All you had to do, was fall into his arms, and everything would have gone perfectly!"

"Ah, that," Tony scoffed, shrugging a shoulder at the Goddess of Love's furious face, "I mean, sure, if this was a few years ago? I would have fallen for that obvious bait - hook, line and sinker. But, you know, thanks and all," Tony fastidiously did not peek in the trickster's direction, deciding to cock a hip onto the nearest counter to lean against, "But I've kinda moved on from all of that. Turns out?" Tony smirked at the Goddesses screwed up face which was quickly turning red, "Pepper and my therapist were right. I don't need to sleep with anyone who offers, just to feel some sort of misguided sense of 'love' or 'acceptance'. I got everything I could ever want, right here," Tony spread his arms wide, to indicate to the group around him and all of the Tower. "So ... thanks? But no thanks."

"Oh, don't give me that touchy-feely crap!" Aphrodite hissed, swiping her hand through the air, incensed. "We all know that Tony Stark is an unashamedly man-whore who will give it and take it from whatever direction it would come from."

"Hey!" Bruce pulled himself up to his full height, cheeks red with rage, green eyes glowing, "That was uncalled for! Apologise!"

"Put a sock in it, gimp," the scathing blond hissed, enjoying the doctor's flinch, "We all know that you were dumped by the only woman who would ever look in your direction and chose a real man," the Goddess smirked cruelly as her gold eyes seemed to dig into Bruce, "No-one could ever love a monster like you. Even that things rippling muscles couldn't get you the girl - because, honey, we all know you were compensating for something-"

Jörmungandr reared up in fury, partially transforming into a snake, lower half transforming into his pearlescent tail that possessively wrapped around the good doctor, as his torso and upper body remained human-shaped, looming over the quickly retreating Goddess as he furiously hissed with dripping fangs.

"You never learned when to stop, Pandemos," Hades sighed, slowly shaking his head disappointedly at the shivering blond in front of him, who for some reason had retreated closer as if he would protect her from an absolutely livid World Serpent.

"Look, it's all fun and games to throw shade at my completely public, past sexual endeavours," Tony drawled, sounding flippant, moving smoothly forward with an easy gait, even with his brow furrowed and his eyes gleaming a dangerous orange, sharing a look with The World Serpent, who with a stiff nod, picked up an unresisting Dr Banner in his coils and retreated from the floor to go lavish the doctor with comfort and cuddles in the Serpent's nest. "But it's really another to attack my science buddy, who has never done anything to you. In fact," Tony scoffed, lifting his chin in challenge, "I can't think of a single thing, any one of us, could have possibly done, to deserve being harrassed by miss Queen Bitch over here."

"Done nothing?!" the Goddess seemed to recover her bravado at the serpent god's retreat, "You! You and your little bitch ruined everything!"

Nonplussed, Tony glanced at the God's with a bemused raised brow, wondering if they had any idea what the dramatic blond in front of them was going on about.

"Get to the point, Pandemos," Persephone sighed, moving the faint black chain in her hand to rattle almost threateningly.

"Don't act like you don't know!" Aphrodite hissed, glaring at the billionaire inventor with gleaming golden eyes, "I know you, your company, and that bitch are doing it on purpose!"

"J?" Tony glanced at the nearest camera, honestly a little lost, and a bit concerned that the Goddess might be threatening his friend and SI's President, "A little help?"

"Where is she?" the Greek Goddess of Love snarled, stalking closer towards Tony, but halted at the threatening aura that escaped Loki and Hela at her approach, "She's the reason I even agreed to help Zeus with his stupid scheme!"

"Uh ..." Tony looked over at the King and Queen of Underworld, hoping for a clue.

"Oh my Gawd!" Aphrodite hissed frustratedly, flourishing her red-nailed hand to summon an obnoxiously pink smartphone to her hand, using her thumb to navigate through the apps to get to what she wanted, then brandishing her phone out into Tony's face to show him what was on the screen. "This bitch!"

Tony was still for a moment, as he stared at an obviously professional photoshoot, of a frankly gorgeous woman, tall and svelte, with a regal face and long black midnight hair, dressed in a vaguely familiar green and gold designer gown. But it was the beautiful woman's eyes that Tony recognised, staring into the camera lens with their piercing, intelligent, green.

Loki choked on a quick inhale in recognition, while Hela snorted, lifting a hand to cover her mirth.

"You mean, Ikol?" Tony blinked at the screen pushed into his face, admiring the photo, then up at the seething Greek Goddess, "What could ... my personal assistant," Tony mentally reminded himself that was the cover story they had concocted, in what felt like so long ago, "have ever done to you?"

"Oh please," Aphrodite huffed as she took her phone back, and started scrolling, almost obsessively through her social media feed, her long red nails clacking against the screen, finding another photoshoot of Ikol in another stunning outfit that Tony hadn't actually seen and shoved it back in the inventor's face, "I know you have been running this publicity campaign as an attack against me!"

Tony glanced at Loki, who blinked back at him in muted shock, though their green eyes seemed to brighten with recognition, causing Tony to curiously bring up a hologram and scroll through the tabloid and social media feeds, pulling up every instance that Ikol appeared. Apparently, going by the many different photos, most professional, but some that appeared candid, of personal assistant Ikol, either doing her job, looking stunning in her business suit, or posing for the camera, that multiple photos had been taken of the trickster in their female form at some point before the God's had left for Jotunheim, which their PR team had been slowly drip-feeding to the public - extensively to make it appear that even though Loki had been currently gone, Ikol was definitely still around.

"Ever since her first public appearance as Tony Stark's personal assistant at the Maria Stark Foundation," Friday's lilting voice sounded smugly amused for the speakers above, "Ikol Magnussen has been trending. She has exploded in popularity, even staying on the top of the main top topics for months."

"That gala was so last year!" Aphrodite huffed, taking back her phone to scowl at the multitude of pictures of Ikol that covered her feed. "I have finally revealed my existence to the world! I should be the new hotness! But," the Goddess growled, a strangely animalistic noise to leave the human-looking diety, "But everyone is still so obsessed with this Ikol bitch!"

"Huh," Tony hummed as he trolled through gossip magazines articles and media buzz, lifting an impressed eyebrow, "Looks like our Ikol is slated to win the people's choice of 'Most desirable woman of 2014'."

"That shouldn't be possible!" Aphrodite screeched, absent-mindedly crushing her phone in her clenched fist, filling the air with the smell of smoke and burning plastic and hot metal, "That should be me! I am literally APHRODITE!"

"Tastes change Pandemos," Hades shrugged, while Persephone watched Jord glance at the hologram image of Ikol then turn and stare at Loki, who fought to keep their face blank of the amused, but secretly pleased, look that wanted to spread across the trickster's face.

"Why?!" The Goddess of Love demanded, stomping her bare feet, "What has she got, that I don't?!"

"Class?" Hela ventured, not even bothering to hide her mirth anymore, quite obviously enjoying the situation unfolding in front of them.

"Whatever," the blond scoffed, throwing down her useless, destroyed phone to smoke on the floor of Tony's penthouse, ignoring the insulted glare Tony gave the action, "All of this, helping Zeus and setting the millionaire up with Hero-boy - doesn't matter." Aphrodite flipped her hair over her shoulder flamboyantly, taking on an air of superiority, "the way to fix this entire situation is obvious. Give me Ikol Magnussen," the Goddess smirked at Tony quickly drawing himself up at her victorious smirk, "and I'll leave you, and your little friend's alone."

"... Have you forgotten the situation you are currently in?" Jord mused, staring at the bimbo goddess as she had suddenly grown another head. "You were dragged here to answer for your crimes. You are quite literally a prisoner," the usually jubilant Earth Goddess blankly pointed at the shackle around The Love Goddesses ankle. "You do not hold the power here. The King and Queen of the Underworld could literally drag you to their domain and lock you away for all time."

"Oh puh-lease," Aphrodite scoffed, "as if these losers could keep me. Lock me away in the Underworld? Honey," the blond fluttered her ridiculously long eyelashes, "I am Aphrodite. I have never needed to flex my powers to get my way. All I would need to do is make kissy-faces at the guards, and they would be practically fighting each other to unlock my cell and carry me back to the surface."

Tony glanced at Hades and Persephone, and going by their disgruntled grimaces, it appeared that the flamboyant Goddess may not actually be lying.

"Men would practically line up at the gates of Hades to come to rescue me," Aphrodite purred with a smug smirk. "These chains mean nothing. I am the Goddess of Love. No one can ever keep me down." The blond turned her smirk on the mortal, her gold eyes shining with a conniving light. "In fact," Aphrodite summoned another, almost identically obnoxiously pink smartphone her hand as her previously crushed one, and began furiously typing. "Not even the notorious Tony Stark can ever stop me!"

With a flourish, the Goddess finished her typing and turned the new screen towards Tony, and watching the millionaire's face rapidly pale as he read a full exposure piece written by Aphrodite, claiming that Tony Stark was a sexual predator, who was cheating on his girlfriend/SI President, Pepper Potts, and claimed that Tony had even preyed on under-age girls.

"That is outrageous!" Loki seethed, stalking forward threateningly, "That is quite obviously falsified slander! You have no proof for such ridiculous claims. What idiot would possibly-"

"Oh, that's where you're wrong," Aphrodite chuckled manically, "The World is full of idiots. All perfectly willing to believe anything they read or hear. Besides, who would they truly believe? A playboy with a laundry list trists a mile long?" The goddess clicked her fingers, transforming herself into a young woman with a teary face, complete with running mascara, "Or a girl who finally spoke out about her oppressor?"

Loki was absolutely seething, stomping past a completely pale inventor who seemed to be frozen in building terror, the Trickster quite ready to snap the Greek Goddesses neck, going by his darkening energy and blazing green eyes, and damn all the consequences. "How dare-"

"Ah ah," Aphrodite waggled an admonishing finger at the approaching Norse God as they transformed back into their previous form, smirking as if untroubled by the dark cloud of absolute murder hovering over them, "You do anything to me, and I'll make sure this article is posted to every magazine, every newspaper, and every social media feed, faster than you can say 'Oh, please, Aphrodite!'." The goddess cackled when the dark-haired God paused.

"You would seriously make yourself the enemy of Freyr, everyone in this Tower, and all of our allies," Hela stalked to the side of her mother, surreptitiously shielding a shell-shocked Tony from sight, "Just to get your hands on one mortal woman. For what? Petty revenge?"

"How many times do I have to keep telling you?" Aphrodite scoffed mockingly, with a smug cruel smirk warping her face, "I am Aphrodite. I Am that Bitch, Sis!" The blond crowed, "And there's nothing you, nor the God's could do about it."

"Hmm, maybe," Tony jolted out of his internal panic at hearing that voice from the direction of the Iron Man landing pad, "But we don't need the gods for this. Edith?"

"With gusto, ma'am."

"What the- Gah!" Aphrodite screamed as a loud piercing shriek emitted from her obnoxiously pink phone, then proceeded to explode with such force that it actually seemed to singe the deities hand.

Tony gasped as he turned and his eyes alighted upon the form of Pepper Potts, in her stunning bluebird business suit, beautiful red hair up in an updo, and her blue eyes glaring at the cursing Greek diety.

"You little bitch!-"

"Butterfingers?" Pepper tilted her head enquiringly with a small smile.

"Wha- What?!" The Goddess of Love spluttered as she heard a victorious beep at her side and the feeling of a strange pair of what appeared to be high-tech cuffs being slapped onto her wrists by a claw robot on wheels.
"What the fuck?" Aphrodite stared at the seamless black handcuffs, covered in strange symbols, then up at the intruding mortal incredulously. "Do you really think your silly little cuffs can hold me?"

Pepper patted the joyously beeping bot for doing such a good job, looking at the seething blond with a small confident smirk, "Friday?"

"You got it, Boss-Lady!"

The Goddess barely had time to examine the strange symbols on the cuffs to burst into orange light - before she let out an embarrassing, panicked shriek, as she felt her powers being sucked dry and being slammed in the penthouse floor, pinned like gravity had suddenly turned against her!

"Pepper!" Tony cried with relief as the SI President calmly clipped up to Tony's side, grateful that she still checked him over even though he wasn't physically injured, "What are you doing here? I thought you were at SI headquarters?"

"I was," Pepper smiled at Tony, hands fixing her friend's sweating messed up hair fondly, "Jarvis contacted me. Let me know about the unfolding situation. I made an executive decision and ordered a Iron Legion suit to pick me up and deliver me to the Tower. Happy isn't too far behind," Pepper shared a smile with the inventor, "He insisted on taking the car."
Ms Potts turned to the whimpering, powered down Goddess at their feet with cold eyes, absently noting that God's once lustrous locks were lank and limp without the constant glitter of her Godly presence.
"I had to come. I might not be your personal assistant anymore, Tony," the redhead businesswoman smirked, "But it still looks like it's part of my duties to take out the trash."

Chapter Text

Tony was man enough to admit that watching Pepper take control of the situation was something he always enjoyed - how could he not? Pep was badass! And she was one of his closest friends, one of the only ex's of his who still remained friendly after they broke up.
Well ... technically, she broke up with him, because Tony couldn't let Iron Man and the life of a superhero go, and she couldn't bear to watch him put himself in danger so often ... As a couple, they just didn't work out. Pepper was fierce and had a heart of iron, but even she couldn't take the constant stress and heartbreak. Tony understood this, after much therapy. It turned out that they worked SO much better as friends than lovers. Pepper was still fierce - as shown by the groaning Goddess currently weeping on his penthouse floor - and still had a heart of iron, though Tony would argue, with her developing a loving relationship with Happy, that Pepper's heart was more like adamantium. And she still had room in her life for a fuck-up like Tony, for which, the inventor was forever grateful.

Tony had stars in his eyes as he watched Pepper stalk up to the groaning Goddess, take out her personal Stark Pad, and read Aphrodite out the riot act. Letting the Greek Goddess know, in no uncertain terms, that she was now in Pepper's arena now, and she had done fucked up.
Pepper Potts held nothing back as she lay into the Goddess, still plastered at her feet. She berated her for her homophobic and intersexual slurs, for her male slut-shaming (and pointing out that Aphrodite clearly did not have a foot to stand on in that regard). For her emasculating slurs (stating that she was adding on extra punishment for her treatment of Dr Bruce Banner, for attacking an innocent party member). For her attempts at ruining Tony Stark's career with falsified claims ... but also, for her insinuation that Tony Stark had ever cheated on Pepper Potts, that they were currently still a couple - even though they had released a public statement back in 2011 to the effect of their amicable breakup.
This also meant that Aphrodite had just insinuated that, if they were still a couple as the diety claimed, then that would mean that Pepper herself was currently cheating on her boss with her fiance, and Tony's Head of Security, Happy Hogan ... thus, slandering their reputations as well. And not only that, but the Goddess had conducted social media attacks against not only an employee of Stark Industries (though technically Ikol did not truly exist), but against SI itself, with unsubstantiated claims meant to ruin the company's reputation. This wasn't even touching her attempts to manipulate Mr Stark into a relationship that she had hoped to control him with.
Pepper stated plainly that if Aphrodite were a mortal, she would be slapping her with so many legal fines and class actions that she would find herself in jail for as long as Pepper could get ... but since Aphrodite was so kind as to remind her that she is technically a God ... then Pepper will just have to get creative.

Persephone, Hades and Hela watched, intrigued as Miss Potts verbally flayed the downed goddess, seemingly fascinated with her modern techniques and ability to take control of the situation. While Loki and Jord had taken a step back to be nearer to Tony, seeming to also admire the mortal's tenacity, but also seemed a bit disturbed.

"Tony," Jord intoned quietly at his side, in an effort not to disrupt Aphrodite's public humiliation at the hands of a furious red-headed mortal, "Am I to take this to mean that you, and the Lady Potts, were once lovers?"

"Hmm?" Tony could hardly bear to drag his eyes away from the magnificent spectacle, "Yeah. We were a couple for a few years, but we didn't work out. We are still good friends though."

"That you managed to keep such a fierce woman close, even after the romance had died, and remain amicable ..." Jord stared at the inventor's proudly beaming face, "Your ability to surround yourself with exceptional people, all of whom are willing to defend you, linked by nothing more than companionship ... is truly frightening."

"Uh," Tony glanced at the golden Goddess next to him, almost drowning in her serious blue eyes, that reminded him so much of Thor's ... "Thank you?"

"I was aware that the Lady Potts could be a fierce opponent," Loki murmured, green eyes fixed on the mortal woman as if she were a predator - dressed in an immaculate business suit and sensible heels, "But I admit ... I had dismissed her. Clearly, I had confused her mortal status and lack of magical affinity as a weakness and classed her as not a threat. I ... am currently re-evaluating that assessment."

"Isn't she great?" Tony grinned, his face almost hurting with how wide his joyful grin had gotten on his face. "There was a reason I wanted her to take over the company. Even from the first moment that I met her, when she personally confronted me in the CEO's office about a numbers error on some projections she had discovered, after being ignored by her supervisor when she reported it and being fired by the general manager when she persisted. But Pep didn't let a little old thing like being fired or being threatened of removal by the security deter her, and marched up to me and told me straight ... I knew she was special. It was why I promoted her to my personal assistant. She was wasted as an administrative assistant in the financial department." Tony chuckled, his chest full of a warm glow.

"And ... the supervisor and general manager?" Jord asked leadingly.

"Oh, immediately fired," Tony shrugged blithely, "Stark Industries has no room for incompetent staff who cannot see past their own genitals."

Tony jumped a little bit when Loki began to emit a strange thrumming purr, that seemed to reverberate in the trickster's chest and proceeded to cosey up to his side and slide an arm around the surprised mortal's waist.

"You are truly a wonder, My Freyr," Loki purred as they snuggled into the hair on top of the inventor's head, with Jord looking on in amusement at the mortal's confused but secretly pleased flushed face.

"I-" Tony licked his suddenly dry lips, "I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything. Pep is the one who saved the day."

"And how glorious she is," Jord agreed with a smug smile, watching the long lost Jotunn Prince nuzzle and subtly scent mark the King of Midgard for their own in the corner of her eye. "I cannot help but wonder at those restraints though."

"Oh, those are the next model of the suppression cuffs, that we developed, based on the Asgardian equivalent," Tony clarified, coughing embarrassedly when his voice had started out a pitch higher than he meant it to. "The Asgardian cuffs were a bit too hamfisted in their attempts at seiðr suppression," Tony went to shrug but halted the motion when the Prince currently nosing in his curls gave a grumpy growl at being dislodged. "So ... we designed a finer model, able to calibrate the levels of suppression needed for the captive. No need to overdo it when you don't need to. Besides, the Asgardian cuffs tended to injure and torture the captive, the longer that they remained active," Tony frowned, "And we are definitely not all about that. These cuffs have been given an allowance for my AI to interact with," the inventor explained. "As it currently stands, my AI have the ability to interact with the seiðr around them, thanks to the recent update, and tweak the power of things to a higher degree much faster than I can technically handle, without my Real-Time Tablet to help me to interface." Tony frowned slightly to himself in disappointment, only to be distracted from his brooding when Loki began trying to comfort him by snuffling at his ear.

"A lack I am sure you will overcome in time," Jord nodded regally, amused at the inventor's current predicament, as well as the Greek Goddess continuing to receive her verbal dressing down. "It warms my heart to see the peoples of Midgard managing to handle themselves so well, without much of any input from the powers that be," Jord's smile warmed. "It makes me glad that I reincarnated on this Realm."

"Tony," Pepper glided over on sure heels to where the inventor and the two gods currently stand, "Sorry to interrupt your ... private moment," Pepper smirked at the inventor's building blush and Loki's rumbling chuckles, "but there remains the issue of where to keep the Goddess of Love during her sentence."

"Right ... well, she can't be kept in the Tower," Tony mused, listening to Loki humming into his curls, "Despite how many captives we've had in recent years, the Tower is still not the appropriate place. Besides, we have staff working here, wouldn't want them subjected to her. Plus," Tony growled, "I don't want her anywhere near Brucie."

"Indeed," Loki murmured in agreement with a small nod.

"I've had the AI ban and delete the Goddesses multiple social media accounts," Pepper nodded as she gave a perfunctory check to her Stark pad, "Had her name blacklisted and had her tagged on Jocasta's watchlist, so there is little threat, that if she were to stay on the mortal plain or get her hands on any technology, that she would get very far."

"You are a terrifyingly capable woman to behold, Miss Pepper Potts," Hades smiled, fire bright eyes positively dancing.

"Thank you," Pepper smiled at the God of the Underworld.

"I'd offer to throw her in our dungeon," Persephone mused, "But even though her charm is much reduced, there is still the threat that she may coerce her way out."

"And if I took her to my Realm," Hela admitted with an uncaring shrug, "With her powers so suppressed, she might actually die from frost exposure."

"Eep!" Aphrodite trembled, crawling on the floor to move further away from the Norse God of Death.

"Plus, she cannot go very far," Pepper reminded, looking to her pad, "As some of her punishment entails attending educational seminars on the dangers of toxic relationships, of manipulating others, social and sexual diversity and acceptance - among others."

"So she'll have to stay on Midgard, within a close enough distance that she can be fetched to attend her training," Tony pondered aloud, ignoring the intermediate whimpers and sniffles coming from the Goddess on the floor.

"Why not Isle Midgard?" Jord posted with a raised brow. "The land is rich in seiðr, so even if she is exposed, she will not die." The ancient Earth Mother shrugged, "And most of the deities who spend their time on the Isle would find another God not that interesting. Just chain her to a rock and be done with it."

"How about one of the desert islands?" Hades purred like a rumbling earthquake, smirking at a trembling Aphrodite, "She would be left alone, and very easily retrieved from there."

"Please! No!" The Goddess scrabbled pitifully to claw at Hades' pant leg, "You know I hate the desert! It's hot and the sun is bad for my complexion! And you know I hate sand! It's coarse and rough, and it gets everywhere!"

"Well, that's settled it," Hela smirked in amusement as the overly dramatic Goddess wailed, as Tony huffed a laugh, much to the Gods bemusement.

"My Love and I will deposit the prisoner to her rock in the middle of a desert island," Persephone agreed with a large smile, ignoring the Love Goddesses continuos wails, "I will make sure our chain remains, lodged into the stone, to make sure that Aphrodite cannot throw herself into the surf in a pointless attempt to escape."

"Are we sure she won't be injured?" Tony questioned unsurely, staring at all of the grimly smirking deities around him, glancing at Pepper for assurance, "We can't very well have it known that we torture our enemies."

"Oh, Pandemos will be fine," Persephone huffed with a careless wave of her hand, "Ignore the bint's wailing. Even though her powers are contained, she is still a Goddess." The Queen of the Underworld shrugged, "A little sun and sand won't kill her. She won't be truly harmed .... except for her ego."

"That works for me," Pepper smiled brightly at Tony, who couldn't help smiling back.

"Sure," Tony chuckled in agreement, as Loki continued to purr into his curls.

"Noooooooooooooo~!"

Chapter Text

"Um ..." Tony utters currently pondering how he made it from the penthouse and all the way into what appears, as he looks around, to be Loki's set of rooms. "When did we get here?"

"Hmm?" Loki purred, still draped over the smaller mortal, nosing into his hair.

"I'm pretty sure we were just dealing with miss Queen Bee," Tony glanced around at the Jotunn Prince's unsurprisingly green but tasteful decor. "How did we get ..."

"To my bedroom?" Loki purred with a sly smirk, "I dragged you here. In the normal way, might add. There was no teleporting or magic involved of any kind. But I can understand your confusion," Loki smirked at the mortal's small pleasured shudder from the Prince crooning into his ear, "As you were a bit ... distracted."

"Uh ..." Tony mentally kicked himself, wasn't he sounding so intelligent right now?! "You wanna tell me why -" the inventor jumped a little a flinch when Loki breathed gently across his ear - they were so close! "- Why we're in your bedroom?"

"I'm not sure, Freyr," Loki intoned playfully, "What is it that two beings do when they go together into a bedroom?"

"... Now," Tony huffed, coughing to clear his throat and swallowing down nervous butterflies, "I know a leading question when I hear one. But I'm not going to fall for the obvious trap here. I mean," Tony turned slightly to meet the Trickster's green eyes in the ambient dim light, "Usually I'd answer that they'd come to do the horizontal tango. But ... we aren't in a relationship like that."

"Hmm," Loki hummed thoughtfully, hugging the inventor close to their chest as they seemingly danced around the room to no music at all, pulling an unresisting mortal along with their steps. "Looks like I'll just have to fix that."

"Wha-Ahh!" Tony gasped as Loki spun them around and playfully pushed the inventor to fall, sprawled onto the Jotunn Prince's deep green silken bedsheets, flourishing a thin fingered hand to magic away their shoes and accessories, and changed their garments into soft comfortable bedclothes, and wasted no time in making their way onto the same large Jotunn sized bed, and snuggled up to a flustered multi-billionaire.

"Must I make it clearer?" Loki purred with a small indulgent chuckle, plastering themselves to the mortal's side, thin arms gently wrapped around the mortal in a loose arm hug, not restraining at all, smiling at the side of the inventor bright red face.

"Eh ..." Tony stared up at the bedroom ceiling, brain almost fizzling at the situation he had found himself in, "Actually ... yeah. That might help me a bit."

Loki huffed a gentle laugh, and moved to prop themselves up on an elbow, lying next to the inventor on the large silken sheets, and gently reached out a gentle hand to turn the mortal's face so his eyes found theirs.

"Then, Freyr, I will speak plain. I admire you. I find my thoughts constantly circling around you. I care about your comfort," Loki soothed their hand down Tony's chin, down to his shoulders, unconsciously calming the inventor into releasing the tension in his shoulders and neck muscles, soothing the mortal to relax into the bed underneath them. "I care about your happiness. I worry about your safety. I find myself enamoured by your mind and the wonderful things that it does. I am enamoured with your hands and the many wondrous things that they build and create. I am enamoured by your strong and kind heart, a heart that shows an empathy that feasibly shows no bounds," Loki smiled at the inventor's glowing blush, but pulled back with an easy smile, "But I care too much about you, to try and force myself onto you if that is truly not what you wish. I merely ask for you to consider," Loki gently took one of Tony's hands and laid a kiss upon it, "That I hold genuine feeling for you, and wish to court you if you would permit me." Loki smiled gently like a tension had been finally released from their chest, gazing down at Tony Stark, who laid in their bedsheets, staring up at them. "I and at least one other that I know of," Loki smirked with a quick glance towards the bedroom door, "Have been carrying a flame for you Freyr, and it has been growing in all of these past years that we have been able to spend with you.
"Do not feel obligated to accept my feelings," Loki purred gently, holding a finger to the inventor's lips, as he had been about to open them with a look of panic on his face, "If you truly do not return them. I will still be your friend, and you, my vassal, if that is what you wish. I just could not contain my feelings for you within my breast anymore, I'm afraid."

"Well," Tony gulped, hyper-aware of the feeling of his lips brushing Loki's finger as he spoke, "That ... has got to be the most eloquent confession I've ever gotten."

"I realise that my actions and request are selfish," Loki chuckled as they lay back down on the bed, gazing at the mortal next to them with kind green eyes.

"No! No, no," Tony quickly refuted, fumbling on the bed to lay on his side, to face the smiling god, "I'm not put off by it at all! I ... just wasn't expecting it, is all."

"Freyr," Loki drawled with heavy-lidded eyes, bopping the inventor softly on the nose, "We have been anything but covert with our flirting and expressing our feelings for you. I would like to state for the record," Loki chuckled at Tony as he scrunched his bopped nose, "That you are surprisingly dense, for a genius, when it comes matters of the heart." Loki smirked at the mortal muttering under his breath. "Did you think me of the habit of touching and cuddling every mortal that I see?"

"You do with Brucie," Tony attempted to argue.

"Hmm, yes, that is true," Loki nodded thoughtfully. "We noticed when we took you into our power that both of our vassals were hovering on the very edge of being touch-starved and craving companionship. We were more than prepared to offer you both the skinship and comfort that you so clearly craved. Though I will point out, Freyr," Loki smirked dryly, "That it is not Eir that we drag into cuddle piles or make eyes at, nor is he in my bed right now. Though, I wouldn't hesitate to guess that Eir would currently be taking up space in my son's nest." Loki smiled, a proud edge sliding along their thin lips. "We care for Eir as our vassal, make no mistake," Loki gently shook their head, long loose black tresses softly swishing and shushing against the silk and bedclothes, "But his heart lies with another, while our's lies with you."

Tony lay, pondering in the quiet for a moment, Loki allowing the inventor space and time to think - but a mischievous smirk grew on their face when they saw the confused expression spread on the mortal's face, having clearly caught onto something they had said.

"Wait ... what do you mean we?"

"Brother!" Tony jolted as the large form of Thor burst through the bedroom door, body haloed by the bright outside light.

"I -" Thor froze, bright wide smile still stretched across his beaming face, as his bright blue eyes adjusting to the semi-darkness and witnessed the tableau before him on Loki's bed.

"Oh, Oh God. Thor," Tony panicked, limbs slipping and sliding in the silky sheets, unable to get his arms and legs under him, "T-Thor, I-"

".... YES!"

Tony flinched with a small eep at the golden god's bellow, arms up in the ar, cheering, like his racehorse had just won the grand derby. Thor beamed, GodWaves practically dancing as he quickly flared his power to clean him of the dust and mud from his efforts of cleaning up the Isle of Midgard, shed his clothes in short order, till he was down to a pair of light blue boxers, with tiny yellow lightning bolts on them. Loki just huffed a laugh as Thor made short work of stripping down and quickly crawled his way onto the bed, and up over the shocked body of Tony, who he framed with his thick arms as he leant over him.

"I have been waiting for this moment, my Freyr!"

----------------------------------

Meanwhile, in Stark Industries headquarters across New York, Pepper sighed as she retreated to her office, locking the door, kicking off her heels, and walks over to sit at her desk.
She spent a moment, just sitting in silence, breathing, staring at nothing, until, with a shuddering breath, she planted her elbows on the desk, rested her face in her hands and allowed herself to fall into a delayed panic.

She, Virginia Potts, had just stood up to a God! She was very lucky that she had talked to Tony's AI and Butterfingers and had them on her side to help her with taking the hissy Goddess down, and was finding herself grateful, all over again, that Tony's tech IS as amazing as she always knew it to be. That technology, handcrafted by her boss had saved her skin, once again. And that they all bought her bluff.

Pepper's body was taken over by uncontrollable shivers, mentally reliving her absolute terror in facing off against an ancient being, with nothing more than Tony's bots and her wits. What the hell had she been thinking?
Pepper took a moment to mentally kick herself, and remind herself that she knew exactly what she had been thinking. Tony had been in danger. It didn't matter that Pepper had nothing but her own two hands, she would charge ahead and do whatever she could, if it meant protecting her friend. Though ... Pepper shuddered as she silently wondered if she had the kind of courage to face down another powerful being like Aphrodite again.

This was a whole other league. This wasn't business deals and boardrooms. This was all-powerful beings and magic, things Pepper was 100% against getting involved with. Pepper had already clearly stated her objections to Tony, about involving himself with superheroes and superpowers, constantly putting himself in danger. It was not the kind of life that she wanted - it was partly why they could never have worked out.
Pepper wanted a normal life - as normal as being the President of SI and best friend of Tony Stark could be, that is. She had already turned down the chance to gain superpowers and asked to be completely cured of Extremist, no matter how much Tony whined. Pepper did not want powers or any of the responsibilities that came with it. She wanted to be a completely normal human being, and spend whatever time that would be permitted with Happy and her loved ones.

... But, how could she protect Tony, Happy, Rhodey, their friends, their co-workers, their company ... when the fantastical and insane still kept coming? What could she possibly do?

Pepper shivered harder as a gust of cold air trailed over her skin, causing it to come up in goosebumps. Damn that aircon, she told Happy not to mess with the temperature gauge. Her office, her temperature.

The president of SI froze as she heard a quiet shush, like long draping fabric brushing against the carpet, and soft footfalls ...

Pepper wasted no time in reaching under her desk and grabbing the small but devastatingly powerful self-defence laser pen that Tony had crafted and gifted to her, and whipped it up to point unerringly between the intruder's eyes.

"... Well met again, Miss Pepper Potts," Hades purred from his position, standing on the other side of the office, a pleased smirk crawling along his pale lips, "It warms my heart to see that you are still fierce, when the moment calls for it."

"Lord Hades," Pepper gasped, panting slightly as she tried to slow her racing heart, "What ... brings you here?"

"Please," the God of the Underworld waved a gentle hand, "You have no need for formalities with me. You are not a worshiper, nor a priestess of my shrine. I have come to speak with you, eye-to-eye, so to speak."

"What do you want?" Pepper intoned warily, slowly lowering the laser pen slightly, but keeping it in her hand, even though she knew it probably would be useless against a God.

"I am here," the pale god purred as they slowly walked just a bit further into the office, but still keeping a polite distance, "more along the lines to find out what it is that you want." Hades pale blue eyes shined as they met Pepper's stern blue, "I wish to offer you a solution to your problems. A deal, if you like?"

"... ..." Pepper breathed in the silence. "... I'm listening."

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Thor was so full of joy! His energy blazed like a miniature sun ... until he noticed that Tony was stiff as a board beneath him, staring up at him as if Thor were a hunter, and Tony were a deer. And at the inventor's side, their brother was glaring at them with unimpressed glowing green eyes and showing the tip of a fang.

Thor quickly sat up, legs bracketed around Tony's hips as he held his hands up guiltily and professed, "I wasn't going to ravish Freyr immediately, Brother! I swear!"

"What?!" Tony's voice did not squeak. It didn't!

Thor turned back to the inventor underneath him and began explaining himself.

"My heart bursts with joy when you are near! I would like nothing more than to be able to hold you in my arms, and be able to call you mine! Please," Thor begged, eyes bright as he looked down at the shell-shocked millionaire, "Allow me to bear my heart's desires to you, and allow me the honour of being able to court you!"

Loki slapped a hand over their face as Thor beamed down at Tony, covetous blue eyes racking over Tony's form on the bed beneath him.

"I daresay, that you already have, you bumbling oaf," Loki sighed, dragging their hand down to stare resignedly, but also helplessly fond of the thunderer, "Though inelegant, I believe you did get your point across."

Tony was stuck, spluttering as he tried to process having a golden God's feelings being blasted in his face at full volume for a bit, until JARVIS piped in from an overhead speaker.

"If Sir's Laufeyson and Odinson would permit," the AI posited dryly in their serious butler tone, "But what exactly is required for such a courtship?"

Loki and Thor took a moment to look at each other, then, taking turns, they explained to the AI that the courtship will expect Loki and Thor to promise to care and protect Tony, escort him on dates, showering him with gifts - essentially an agreement to spend time together, in the hopes that they will find each other compatible and get to know each other better. And explaining that the courtship ends once they are all in agreement, or, for some reason, they decide to call it off.

"But I promise," Thor intoned seriously, although his blue eyes held a mischievous shine as he glanced back down to the gaping mortal between his knees, "there will be no major hanky-panky - unless Tony wishes it, of course." Thor meaningfully wiggled his eyebrows.

"But," Tony choked, shocking himself out of his stillness, eyes frantically switched between the slim dark-haired trickster, who's bed they were currently lying in, and the hulking blond over him, "What about-?"

"Us?" Loki smirked, flashing a fang in amusement, sliding across their silken sheets to drape themselves over one of Thor's muscled shoulders, "We have since ... worked out our differences," The god crooned into Thor's ear, causing the blond to turn his head slightly and lay a chaste but loving kiss on Loki's cheek.

"We courted each other centuries ago," Thor purred in agreement, blue eyes lowered in lazy contentment.

"Although it must be said that we called off the courtship after a time, due to ... outside interferences," Loki admitted, but smiled fondly when Thor began to growl grumpily in remembrance, and quickly calmed him by planting their own quick kiss to the blonds cheek. "But we have, quite recently, worked out our differences, and quickly redefined our agreements on what we want and expect out of our relationship," Loki purred, peeking down at the stunned mortal below them with a smug flirty smile, "I assure you, adding you to the mix, Freyr, will not be a hardship."

"But I -" Tony nibbled on his lips in a rare show of nerves, "The longest relationship I've ever been in was with Pepper," Tony admitted rather shamefacedly. "Before Pep, all I had were one night stands, if that. I think my history with relationships has shown that," Tony shrunk down into the bedding a little, "I'd be ill-suited to -"

"Freyr," Thor rumbled at the mortal he had bodily pinned under him, allowing Loki to roll off of his shoulder and onto the bed, as he lowered himself down to stare, eye-to-eye with the beautiful mortal underneath him, "You are worth so much more than just a quick one-night tryst," the blond slowly lent down and began nosing at the inventor's hair, unconsciously mirroring Loki's earlier scenting, "I hope you will allow me to show you that."

"Allow us to show you," Loki interjected, sneaking their way in under one of Thor's trunk-like arms to press their cool body up against the inventor's back, and nose behind his ear, arms hugging him around the chest, "Freyr, you deserve to be spoiled, coveted and adored. And I certainly have no qualms about being able to wine and dine you." The trickster smirked then carefully took the inventor ear into their mouth and gently bit, both gods enjoying the mortal's tremors between them, "I believe," Loki breathed against the mortal's ear, enjoying his shivers, "That tasting you may come later."

Tadashi took this moment to cut in from the same speaker, "I'm afraid, Mr Laufeyson, Mr Odinson, that I will have to ask you to hold off on any penetrative sex, until I have finished tests to determine whether sexual congress with a god, a Jotunn or an Asgardian, would be harmful to my Number One Patient."

A strange high pitched croaking sound escaped Tony's throat as he stared, bug-eyed up at the speaker, feeling that he would die of embarrassment.

The other AI took this moment to plainly ask that they be kept up to date on their relationship, for security reasons, EDITH insisted. And Loki, with a completely serious expression, agreed, stating that as they are Tony's children, both they and Thor would have to make sure Tony's family were in agreement with the union.

"Wait!" Tony coughed, staring at the God's who he was sandwiched between, "Does this mean ... That I have to ask all of your kids for permission too?!"

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Hades stood, holding out a pale hand to Pepper, who stood leaning on the front of her desk, face to face with the Greek God of the Underworld, watching him with shrewd eyes.

"I have explained all of the terms and conditions, and I have agreed to your amendments." Hades hellfire eyes were practically luminous in the darkening office, as the sun was quickly setting. "Do we have a deal?"

Pepper stared at the god, her expression shadowed by the fading light, until she firmly stood and walked up to Hades, his unearthly blue light lighting up the woman's face in harsh relief, and after a moment of seemingly searching the immortal's eyes, Pepper reached out and took the God's waiting hand in her's in a firm shake - filling her blue eyes with a swirl of blue flame for only just a moment.

"Perfect," Hades smirked into the office's darkness with an earth rumbling purr.