Chapter Text
Special Agent Audrey Sommers wiped the beaded sweat upon her brow as she took a step back from the punching bag. Arriving early to Avengers HQ to train was a usual Monday morning for her, usually fighting off the restless sleep from the night before. An empty training hall allowed her to access FRIDAY for aux privileges, featuring some of Kendrick Lamar’s latest, music that would make Nat raise an eyebrow, or make Steve pause and listen for a minute, and then continue on his merry way.
Natasha. Steve. She often got lost in thought about those two. After the events with the council and Barnes, she was certain they would return after being in hiding for a small amount of time. Natasha trained her upon arriving at SHIELD, with Audrey being the acclaimed FBI agent who made the transfer after meeting Tony at a charity ball. And Steve, whom she would always catch up with in the library, would always have questions about current events or political systems. They were kind, hardworking individuals... and they were gone.
Audrey found herself stepping up to the plate in spite of their absence. With two women that were used in combat now missing, "Ree" (her unshakable and effortless nickname that Tony had gifted her) was trusted to stay, and seemed like the only logical choice to stick close to Tony in these unpredictable months.
She paused, breathing in before throwing up her hair into a loose bun. Her earpiece beeped suddenly, “Morning Sommers,” her superior officer, Spencer Trembley, spoke softly.
The music dimmed, “Mornin’, Trembley,” Audrey responded, grabbing her water bottle from the bench and taking a quick swig,
“Hey Ree, um, Stark says that he needs you in the West Meeting Hall,” Trembley stammered, sounding surprised... or questionable.
Audrey shook her head, knowing that he would want updates on her work with Erik Selvig, “Tell him I’ll be there in 10.”
“You better make that 5, it's urgent,” He answered.
***
Audrey entered the West Meeting Hall after walking as fast and as professional through the halls of the building as she could. Tony stood at the end of the meeting table, holding his hands out in a welcoming gesture, “Sommers! Knew you’d be here. You always are this early, ungodly early actually. Speaking of which-”
She folded her arms, “Tony, if this is about Thor again, I told you last week. I’ve spoken with Selvig and he lost the whereabouts of the God of Thunder months ago and we haven’t been able to find him sinc-“
At that moment, her mouth fell open as two individuals walked sheepishly into the room from the side door beside Tony. These two men, gods rather, dressed impeccably marvellous and courteous, were standing in front of her. They were figures that she had read about in novels, and even after New York proved their existence, she still couldn't seem to fathom that they could be walking amongst humans, let alone greet her at half past six on a Monday morning.
"Lady Sommers," Thor, the God of Thunder and King of Asgard begun, booming towards her with an incredibly confident smile on his lips, "Thor Odinson. It is truly an honour, Erik has told me so much about you." He bowed his head politely.
She shook her head, "Please, please, Agent Sommers is fine."
He grinned again, "Excuse our sudden arrival upon Earth, the people of Asgard needed a place of refuge-"
"I'm sorry," she interrupted, "People? As in, plural?"
"Asgard has been destroyed," a voice spoke, with Audrey looking behind Thor to find his younger brother with a look of disappointment upon his face. Loki, God of Mischief and Prince of Asgard, moved towards them both, "It has been disintegrated to nothing more than debris floating in the galaxy. Unhabitable. Untraceable. So yes, plural." He spoke, with a hint of judgement, before crossing his arms, "Loki Odinson."
Tony approached the clique that seemed to form, "Forgive me, all three of you, I'm not entirely a genius with your whole... Norse thing."
"Oh?" Loki seemed amused.
Tony ignored him, "Asgard, your whole planet, has been... blown up?"
Thor turned to him, "Yes."
Tony raised an eyebrow. "And, are you going to share how that happened?" He pursued.
Thor clenched his fists, "Our banished sister returned and wanted to take the throne and rule the nine realms to satisfy her own greed and hatred. So, Loki and I had to unleash Sutur to destroy the planet and ultimately her."
Tony nodded, shooting a glance to the younger brother who once threw him out of his own tower towards the streets of Manhattan below, "Seems like wanting a throne to sit on runs in the family."
Audrey rolled her eyes at Tony's petty banter, "Thor, you said sister. Who is she? Or, was."
"Hela, she was the Goddess of Death," Thor replied, smiling softly, "Fitting now, she won't be bothering us anymore."
"Okay... so," Audrey began, "Where are your people now?”
***
Thousands of people stood in the hangar in front of a large, unfamiliar ship. In case Audrey had doubts about Thor and Loki, their mode of transport surely proved something in the back of her mind. With them, stood Banner who had been previously missing in action, a woman Thor had described to be a Valkyrie and two alien creatures. Her Monday morning only got more and more unusual.
"Oh," Sommers remarked, staring over the people, "That is definitely plural."
Tony leaned in, "Hey," he whispered in Audrey's ear, whistling quietly, "Ree, can I grab a quick timeout?" Both of them hurried over to the side to speak together, away from Thor, Loki and Banner. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Audrey sighed, "No Tony, I don't think I got it, what are you seeing?" She asked sarcastically.
"I'm seeing thousands of people from a foreign planet, a couple of Pokèmon, two God's, a vampire-"
"Valkyrie."
"Gesundheit. There's an alien ship in my garage-"
"Where you keep all of your ships, Stark."
Tony sighed, "Sommers, what am I supposed to do?"
Audrey paused, looking over amongst the Asgardians. These people from legend were now refugees. They had nowhere else to go in their Nine Realms, "The emergency housing you had for the people of Sokovia, relocate the Asgardian's there. Have Thor use the ship to take you there. Make a call out, recruit more ex-SHIELD agents and dispatch them there. They look just like us, but they need to learn the walk and talk." She stared over to the main group of them, "Banner needs to rest, get Rhodey to check up on him. The girl, aliens and God's stay here. And when you get back, the ship stays here too. It's nice, could come in handy."
Tony snapped his fingers, "Sommers, this is why you're my Asgardian brain."
She shrugged, "Not the first time you've told me that."
"Wait, Ree, what are you going to do?" Tony asked hurriedly.
Audrey looked over at Loki, "Someone's gotta watch the God of Mischief."
Tony shook his head, "Wrong answer," he responded, "That man, over there? Six years ago, he tried killing everyone you currently work with. I don't think-"
"I can take him?" Audrey interrupted with a smirk, she laughed softly, "Please Stark, without Selvig, you're hopeless with the Asgardian's. You had plenty of time to do the reading, while in the meantime I did. Leave it to me."
Tony clenched his jaw, "Fine... fine! But, if I come back to find your intestines as tinsel on the Christmas tree in my quarters, then that's on you." He warned, hurrying away.
"Stark, it's March, can you take that down already?" Sommers called out, shaking her head.