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Chapter Text

"Witch!" Malekith screamed at Frigga, his rage at her deception almost palpable. "Where is the Aether?!"

"I will never tell." The queen of Asgard smirked at him, seeming not at all concerned with the sword pointed at her back.

Malekith weighted her words for a second, then gave his verdict. "I believe you."

And so Algrim drove his sword straight through Frigga's back. A single breath was all she took, her blood corrupted and her body mauled, so fell the All-Mother and never rose again.

Thus Odin found his queen, no life left in her, only a soul with a broken vessel it could no longer inhabit. He fell down beside her, hoping that somehow she could be saved, but all he saw in her eyes was death, for there was nothing behind them to gaze back at him.

His queen, his love, the meaning of his life. Here she lay, killed by the enemy he had foolishly thought was defeated. It was all his fault, and he had no means to fix it this time.

He, Odin All-Father, had failed.

He shed no tears, but oh, how he wished he could.

The only thing he could do was escort her to Valhalla, as was befit of a warrior queen. He cracked Gungnir on the floor, and the wave of power it sent separated Frigga's soul from her immortal flesh, and so she went to Valhalla as the gatekeeper bid her farewell.

So fell the All-Mother, never to rise again.

But as she fell, another rose in her place.

Deep in the bowels of Asgard, a place no one dared to venture in centuries, bound and tethered slept a beast of horror and myth. He was bound by a ribbon forged from six impossible things, tied together by the All-Mother's magic. But as the magic's hold on the world of living immortals waned so did the knot that held the beast prone. As it weakened the monster of a frightening name stirred, breathed deeply, and opened his eyes.

Fenrir Lokison was awake.

He moved his legs, still strong even after so long, and rose to his feet. As the ribbon and its binding magic fell away he could feel his own power bubble to the surface, return to his limbs and his fingertips. He breathed and exhaled steam, and with a glimmer of gold the fur receded, his shape condensed and folded through laws unknown to those without seiđr and he stood on two legs once more.

Having broken from his chains the magicless walls posed no obstacle. Absently he called upon the magic his father and mother had imparted him with and moved the matter that comprised the stone enough to shift his own through the gaps, with just a hint of magic bleeding around the edges.

He found himself in a hall, unsure where he was and where he was supposed to go. He had slept for such a long time, it felt like centuries. "Might anyone be there!?" He called into the abyss that stretched before him. The abyss didn't answer back. He heard no heartbeat other than his own, and smelled nothing but stone and moisture.

The last thing he remembered was anger, the taste of God-Blood in his mouth, and then he felt seiđr, stronger than his own, pulling him under. And just like that, memories assaulted him with such a force he tore at the fur still atop his head, crumpled to his knees and screamed.

The farce of a trial, the accusation their mere existence.

His father's rage and then his pleas.

His siblings' screams as they were held down.

His brother and sister!

Fenrir surged to his feet and howled his rage for no one to hear. They were taken from their father and separated from each other! Imprisoned each on a different world, cursed to a miserable and lonely existence.

And Odin dared to call him a monster.

Realizing he was bare he enchanted armor for himself and stepped through the inky black. He came upon the stair and ascended in a spiral, the coat of his armor swishing quietly behind him. And so he came upon the barricaded door, held closed with enchanted chains wrought of iron. He grabbed a single link in his fist and squeezed with both magic and strength unmatched by any mage or warrior left in the realm. He became aware what it meant that his chains broke.

The queen that cursed him had met her end.

As the heavy gates opened his stomach rumbled at the scent that reached his nose. Blood. The amount that only war produces. No, not war; slaughter. Something very wrong indeed had taken place in the golden palace.

The star that gave Asgard its golden warmth had descended upon the horizon, and its much farther siblings glittered in the night sky. Fenrir felt sorrow among these halls, an entire realm caught in mourning for its queen. Fenrir sneered. No one had mourned when his mother was killed, only her children and her husband left who would shed tears for her departure.

Fenrir breathed deeply, looking for the scent that would always register as 'Father' to his nose, but he found none. He exhaled his relief, knowing father was not among cut down by the unknown enemy. He felt a scent he had never smelled before, but reminded him of brimstone and rot. Whoever the burning corpses were, they managed to overwhelm the Einherjar. Fenrir dismissed the thought to be wary of them.

He came out of the palace without being seen. In the cool night air that he hadn't felt nor breathed for longer than he could remember, he felt another scent in the wind. Familiar somehow, and yet not. It was the blood of his father's blood, but not of his mother's blood. He followed the scent-path and came upon the stable. The more skittish of horses must have ran in the commotion, for there was one stallion left, with the most unusual number of legs.

T'was a most wonderful creature, long and strong, grey in color but with a slight golden sheen that seemed to permeate throughout the realm, with dark spots upon his flank. He turned when he heard Fenrir approach, attuned his ears to this stranger that watched him so familiarly.

Fenrir came to stand in front of him, looked him in the eye turned to him, and saw the strangest color a horse eye could posses, the emerald fiery green. The color that had cut itself vividly into his memory as the color of his father's eyes.

"Hello my brother," Fenrir greeted with an easy smile, "I cannot claim to know you yet, but my nose that is sharper than any else claims that my father is your father as well. Might you take shape of a man so to tell me the name he gave you?"

His brother looked at him strangely and nosed at his chest. Fenrir's heart warmed that his new brother accepted him so readily and studiously ignored the demon of regret that said he had not know of this brother for so long already.

But his brother didn't cast the spell that could change his shape, and let his head hang in defeat. Fenrir cocked his head. Maybe he could not. It had always come easily to him, the first spell he had cast on his own even, but Jormungandr had always struggled and fought with his magic instead of guiding it and letting it guide him. Perhaps his new bother struggled similarly.

"Will you let me cast it for you, if you wish to change?" Fenrir asked and when he was given affirmation he laid his hands to rest on the sides of his head, below the ear. He pulled at the well of power inside him and channeled it to his brother. Instead of shaping him he gave it to him, let it flow throughout and assume whatever form it was meant to take.

When he opened his eyes his hands were on the cheeks of a boy, at the entrance of manhood, who stood level with his shoulder. He was thin but strong, built for running and leaping, a build their own father had sported. The grey fur and golden mane transformed into ashen yellow hair, spiked in tufts on his head. The spots on his flank turned into sunspots on his cheekbones, and his still green eyes looked at him in astonishment.

"My… Thanks…" His brother gasped out, not used to using his words. It occurred to Fenrir that if he had been trapped in the Asgardian stables he might have never stood as a man nor spoken as a man, and no one had taught him the magic needed to change forms.

"'Tis no problem." Fenrir assured, and decided to inquire further later. He saw that his brother was nude so he waved his hand and produced leather armor, such as he had seen hunters wear. It was inconspicuous enough to let them walk out of Asgard.

"You have not yet given me your name."

"Sleipnir." Sleipnir cleared his throat and flexed his hands, hands he had always longed to have that were forbidden to him. He looked up at his brother, so much bigger and older than him, but his raven hair and eyes reminiscent of Mother gave truth to his claim. Besides that, no one other than Mother ever treated Sleipnir as someone who understood the speech of immortals, and this brother who he had never seen before had given him the form he had so desired yet he did not even know his name yet.

"Words cannot describe my pleasure at meeting you, my new brother." Fenrir smiled. Sleipnir noted that he had fangs much longer than the Aesir but he felt no fear towards him.

"I was given the name Fenrir, first son of Loki." Brother, now named Fenrir, said. He turned to leave. "Come, we must find our other brethren, beyond this realm, and our Father."

Sleipninr made to follow, but he lost his balance and nearly fell forward. But his brother was quick, and he caught his arm to put him back upon his feet.

"I do not- I have never walked on so few legs." Sleipnir admitted. He thought he would be able to stand on only four legs, but two was not even enough to hold proper form! How the Aesir walked with such grace in such a perilous position, he knew not.

"'Tis no problem either." Fenrir assured him. He stuck his elbow out for Sleipnir to hold onto. "I shall lend you my support. You need only follow the steps I take and you shall learn quickly."

So Sleipnir held onto his brother, and mimicked the movements of his legs. As they walked, step by step, away from Asgard and no one even thought to stop them and ask where they were going, Sleipnir dared to ask his question.

"Fenrir," Sleipnir looked up at his dark brother, "You have said that we share a father. But I have been told that my father was a stallion Svađilfari, and I can tell you are not a horse. How can that be?"

Fenrir looked so startled for a moment that he stopped walking. He turned to his younger brother and leaned forward to sniff at his hair. Sleipnir held still as Fenrir thought and mulled his idea. Then he smiled.

"And what is your mother's name?"

"Loki." Sleipnir readily replied.

"He is your mother, but mine and our siblings' father." Fenrir explained as he started walking again. Sleipnir matched him. "He is a great mage, changing his form to suit his purpose poses no obstacle to him. It does not surprise me that he was a man when he laid with my mother and was a mare when he knew your father. Perhaps that is why I was born a wolf, and our brother a serpent. But our sister was born in Aesir form only by half, for half of her body was taken by death and her flesh rotted. 'Twas why we were decreed monsters, for we were born of trickster magic."

"Please, tell me more about our brother the serpent and our sister who defeated death." Sleipnir pleaded. He remembered now, that mother had said he had children before him, but he spoke of them with such sorrow he had thought they were gone from the realm of the living. Now that he knew that was untrue he wished to know more.

"I was the first son." Fenrir began. "Born in the high ice-forests of Jotunheim where mother and father played in a wolf pack. I took from both mother's and father's magic, and loved it as the thing dearest to me. Father said one day I would take from him the name of a Trickster God, that my magic would be among the strongest in the nine realms, that even the Vanir could not match.

Second was Jormungandr, whose was the only egg to hatch from a clutch mother had laid near the spring Hvergelmir. When he hatched he was so tiny father could wrap him about his little finger. But he devoured the monsters that roamed Yggdrasil and grew long and strong. Father said that one day he would be big enough to coil around a realm and crush it with his might."

Here Fenrir's face became grim.

"And our sister Hela was born when mother died. She was cut down and slaughtered as she carried our sister. Father descended into Helheim itself, but was not permitted to enter. He found our sister on the steps before the gate and knew our mother had left her there before she entered. As such is our sister forever on the precipice of Hell, belonging half to the realm of the living, half to the realm of the dead. Father promised her that one day when she had to return to it he would sit her on the throne of the Hell."

"Do not be sad brother." Sleipnir soothed. "When Odin rode on my back he went to Niflheim, and I saw the queen of the dead sitting high on her throne. Odin bowed to her. She is truly all our mo- father had promised her to become, for even the king of Gods kneels before her when he rides to her realm."

"Ah, but 'tis a cold comfort, my brother, for she is a Thrall Queen. She, and only she, rules the realm even Odin cannot overtake, but she is imprisoned there as surely as you or I were in our own prisons." Fenrir breathed the cool night air and the hot steam of his breath colored it. "Niflheim has forever been without a ruler, even though the Gods and Giants battled endlessly to rule realms. It is the first realm, the one that waters the World Tree, and the biggest there is. But to rule it one must also sit on the throne of Hellheim, which lies underneath it and where those that died the undeserving death go to forever suffer. And to rule death means to be the God of Death itself. It means an eternity of darkness, of judgment of souls and inflicting torment. It is as much punishment as it is power."

"A cold comfort indeed." Sleipnir frowned. "Can we not help her?"

"To free her would require cutting down Yggdrasil itself. For that, we need the power that created it in the first place." Fenrir turned thoughtful again. "Has father perhaps imparted you with the tale of the Infinity Stones?"

"Father was not allowed to visit me by Odin's decree." Sleipnir replied. "As much as he could he would steal into my stall and read to me, but less and less as the years passed. Odin's punishments for disobeying his laws are great. I have heard stories from him, but not the one you ask for."

Fenrir's hand tightened around Sleipnir's almost painfully before he remembered his strength and loosened his grip. "Then I shall simply have to tell it myself." He cleared his throat and began, his voice a smooth and soothing baritone:

"In the beginning there was Nothing, only the Void itself. But then from the well of Nothing flowed Reality, and it filled the great Nothing and made it real. Then two fragments of a Gem that broke apart before it could become whole collided, Space and Time, and created their namesakes. From that collide came a spark, this one of Power. This spark resonated with the darkness and turned it to light. That light condensed and took shape, and so created Souls. These Souls were flighty, wispy, and sought to distinguish itself from its very own existence, so a fragment of Soul twisted and reshaped itself rather grotesquely and so became the Mind.

"The Mind could reason, could shape things other than itself. It is by far the weakest, and yet the most capable power. The Mind mixed Time and Space until they were indistinguishable from one another, and that was its soil in which it planted the Soul. Then it took Reality and watered the Soul, then it placed Power high above that place, so it may turn darkness into light and so nourish its creation with its rays. And it was the will of the Mind that thus coaxed the sapling of Yggdrasil to sprout, and grow into the World Tree that carries all the realms today.

"But the Mind was too ambitious. To make Yggdrasil it used all the energy it carried, until only fragments were left. And so it crystallized these fragments, into Gems. The Aether, the water of Reality, the Tesseract, the cube of Space, the Eye, the fragment of Time, the Orb, the shape that holds the spark of Power, the Soul Gem, from which the Souls flow and finally the Mind shaped itself and made a cocoon on consciousness for itself, the Mind Gem."

Fenrir paused for breath. Sleipnir was so absorbed in the tale that he hadn't even noticed they had arrived to a rocky pass, barren of anything living. Sleipnir didn't know why they were here but he trusted his brother.

"These fragments are now scattered all throughout the branches of Yggdrasil." Fenrir continued without ever breaking a step. "And though they have only wisps of their former power all together they would be enough to break the root upon Niflheim sits and release Hela from her prison."

"Do you know where they are?" Sleipnir asked.

"Even if I had known before, I know not how much time has passed. They could be anywhere, possessed by anyone. It will take us a long time to find them all."

Sleipnir hung his head a bit. "Then what do we do now?"

"First we shall find our brother, Jormungandr." Fenrir said as he took a turn. The rocky pass now led into a cave and became darker and narrower. Despite himself Sleipnir felt a sliver of fear start to worm its way up his spine. "When Odin cast us into chains he also trapped us in our animalistic forms. As Jormungandr grows there will be only one realm big enough other than Niflheim that could support him. Here is one of the secret passages to that realm that even Heimdall remains blind to. Father had used these many times while we were running from Odin."

"Oh," Sleipnir squinted in the darkness, trying to find shapes, "so where are we going?"

"Midgard." Fenrir said just as he suddenly wrapped his arms around his little brother. "Hold onto me!"

Sleipnir didn't have time to ask why because in the next instant they were devoured in golden light.

Chapter Text

There came a point at which even Tony Stark, the King of Denial extraordinaire, couldn't deny the obvious anymore, and you can be assured he had tried.

His tower had turned into a frat house.

Oh, it started innocently enough. He had actually invited Bruce, who got the Best Science Bro mug before he even chose a room. Granted, pretty much every room in the tower was destroyed but the ground levels remained intact enough. A few equipment hauls and it was a good and proper lab. Well, good and proper for him. The way Bruce had looked at it when he first saw it you'd think he had died and went to Heaven.

He hadn't so much invited Steve and Natasha as he had sent movers to their apartments and informed them they were now living with him via post-it notes tacked to their bare walls. He told them it was payback for not even telling him that SHIELD went tits up, his brand new Hellicarriers were almost used as weapons of mass destruction (Fury got photoshopped into a Hello Kitty eyepatch for that, Tumblr went nuts), ex-sergeants who were supposed to be dead were walking around with bad eyeliner and the world had almost been taken over again. And that was just during the span of one week. Nu-huh, he was not letting them out of his sight. No way were they getting into that much trouble without him again!

Steve had sputtered, of course, but Natasha just smiled in that knowing way of hers and went to her room without even asking where it was. Tony wasn't surprised she already knew, he was still secretly sure she was some kind of a mutant, or magic in some way. And once Steve finally accepted that Tony was not budging on this matter he gave his oh-shucks smile and asked Tony to lead the way.

Maybe he was just lonely after Pepper broke up with him, but it somehow felt a lot safer living these people. Less like the darkness would swallow him whole.

Thor made quite an entrance. They had seen him on TV in London and were ready to load the Quinjet (another one of Tony's toys, and no, he wasn't preening about it, don't listen to Steve) but by the time they were over the Atlantic ocean the battle was already over. So they dragged their asses back sullenly, hyped on adrenaline with no outlet for it. So when Thor appeared on the roof in all of his combat-ready glory and suggested they spar they didn't say no.

Clint didn't really move in. Tony just stumbled into the kitchen one morning on the quest for coffee and saw the archer sitting cross-legged on top of the fridge, eating Captain Crunch. And telling him that he really needed to upgrade his taste in cereal because he was tired of eating the same thing for a week straight.

Tony looked at him for a second and for once decided to forgo coffee and actually went to bed. He figured that once he started hallucinating he'd hit a limit at which he wasn't supposed to operate weaponized suits anymore.

So he found himself living with a pair of super spies, a giant green rage monster, a Norse god and Captain America. If he told twenty-year-old Tony this the kid would invent a time machine, laws of physics and dimensional continuity be damned.

Of course, it wasn't all fun and games. There were still rogue Hydra facilities to hunt down and destroy, and that actually occupied the better part of their work schedule. But it was all in the work of an Avenger, and the post battle parties never got old. It was only once they were sent to Sokovia that things got weird. JARVIS had informed them of the sudden surge of power that was very similar in nature to the one he registered during the Chitauri invasion. It was a perfectly clear sign of where Loki's Scepter was.

Or rather, had been.

"Guys, I don't like this." Clint muttered as he drove a stolen tank through the flattened forest, destroyed bunkers and mauled corpses. "Doesn't anyone get the heebie-jeebies that we just got here and it looks like ten of us went through already?"

"Ironman, JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?" Steve called into the comm line.

"Like these guys took Hulk's favorite toy." Tony replied. "Seriously, I'm above the base right now and I can see a wall missing. Something very big and very angry forced its way through and unless Hulk's been sneaking out at night and not telling us we might have a really big problem on our hands."

"What about the staff?"

"The Scepter's energy signature is still prominent in this area." JARVIS piped in. "But my readings indicate that the source itself is gone."

Thunder rumbled in the distance. Thor was obviously not happy that they had been so close to finding his ticket back to Asgard only to miss it by less than a day. No matter how much he liked it here on Midgard he was getting homesick, but he had promised his father he would bring the scepter back.

"I'm going in. I think it's pretty safe to say that whatever did all this is gone, or we would have seen it already." Ironman hailed and flew through the opening.

"Report what you see, and if you find hostiles call for backup immediately." Steve ordered and revved up his bike. Clint was right, everything about this place didn't sit right with him. SHIELD had been brought down over three months ago. That gave Hydra three months to play with the power of the staff and create whatever caused this damage.

Considering it was the organization that was once led by the likes of Red Skull he could only imagine the monster that came out.

Tony followed the path of destruction into the base itself. It was pretty easy as whatever bulldozed its way through left a rather clear tunnel. He walked through cautiously, as quiet as a man encased in metal could walk, but not daring to leave the armor. Finally he came across a computer terminal that was only slightly damaged. It managed to boot up so he went rooting through the records Stryker hadn't even had time to erase.

"Sonova' bitch." He cursed vehemently.

"Language." Steve admonished on the other side of the comm. "What is it?"

"First, so not the time play the kindergarten teacher." Tony bit out. "Secondly, these fuckers have a seriously one track mind. They were doing experiments on humans, trying to use the staff's power to produce effects similar to the Super Soldier Serum." He paused talking to bring up other folders. "So far no subjects survived. They've- Jesus, that's gross… They've been pumping power straight into their bodies, then measured how long they had before they disintegrated."

"Please tell me you're being metaphorical." Clint pleaded without much hope.

"Actually, it's an understatement. The fuckers even have videos." The genius scowled through another couple of folders until he came upon one that caught his eye. "Fucking hell… They ran out of test subjects, and without SHIELD they started running out of low ranked agents. They've been snatching locals. There's even a list of volunteers. Who the Hell volunteers for something like this?"

"Sokovia's on the brink of war." Steve informed him tightly, which meant he was barely keeping himself from swearing as well. "If he's been promising them super powers I can guarantee you volunteers weren't hard to come by."

"Not everybody's as patriotic as you, Cap." Natasha added coldly, meaning she was pissed as well. "And people as desperate as these hardly knew what they were signing up for, as long as they were in a secure fortress away from bullets and bombs, even for a while."

"Captain," Thor suddenly called, "Are you familiar with horse tracks?"

"Sorry, no. Why?"

"I am." Clint answered. "It was back in my circus days so I might be rusty, but I know them. Don't tell me you found some."

"Aye, and I think I know what horse left them, but I cannot be sure unless it is confirmed. I pray that I am wrong."

"Well that doesn't sound ominous at all…" Clint muttered under his breath. "JARVIS, lead me to Thor."

JARVIS did, and when Clint and Natasha came to his position he was crouched in the snow, lightly dragging his fingers over hoof imprints. Clint jumped off the tank and jogged next to the Asgardian. Thor stood up from his crouch with a deep scowl on his face. "Tell me what you see."

Clint sat back on his haunches and examined the hoof prints. They were large, with horseshoes, deep and spaced widely apart. The strange thing was that they were grouped. "For a start, it's a damn large horse." After a moment more of looking he corrected himself, "Actually, two very large horses, and here's where things get weird. Look how evenly spaced they are here. It's like… Like one horse ran over this path, and then ran over it in the exactly same way only a few inches behind. My old ringmaster would have killed for a pair of horses that synchronized."

"Is it possible that it really was one horse?" Natasha tilted her head as she looked at what Clint was showing. Clint snorted.

"Yeah, if he had eight hooves." The sentence, meant as a joke, barely left his mouth when suddenly Thor roared and struck a poor unsuspecting tree with Mjolnir. It exploded into a million splinters in every direction. Clint and Natasha barely managed to shield their faces in time.

"Thor, what happened?" Steve's voice came over the line. "Have you engaged the enemy?"

"Well maybe if we pissed off some shapeshifting hippies." Clint said a bit breathlessly. "What did the tree do to you?"

"Your Hawk eyes confirmed my fears." Thor rumbled. "It is indeed a horse with eight legs, the only one in all the realms. It is Sleipnir, Odin's war steed."

"What would your dad's horse be doing here? Shouldn't he be, like, in the palace stables or something?" Tony asked.

"Sleipnir is Loki's son."

Suddenly there was dead silence.

"I think I'll quote Tony on this one." Steve sighed. "Sonova' bitch."

~*~*~*~*~*~

With JARVIS' help Bruce landed the Quinjet on a relatively flat outcropping. As nobody had called Code Green, a first since they had started their hunt for Hydra, he thought the mission had either gone very well, or very badly.

Judging by the frowns on everybody's faces, he assumed it was the latter.

Everybody was silent and pensive. If the fact that both Tony and Thor were actually boarded instead of flying and nearly getting themselves caught in the turbines hadn't worried him, the fact that Clint actually sat in the co-pilot's seat literally gave him goosebumps.

"Anybody care to fill me in?" The scientist asked, aiming for casual and missing by a mile.

"Maybe not until we're not in a million dollars worth of aircraft." Tony pulled his helmet off and slumped next to Steve. "Your neighbor's not gonna like it."

Bruce wisely decided not to think about it and revved up the arc-engines. JARVIS was actually the one flying the jet since their only qualified pilot wasn't interested in doing it himself, so Bruce's job was pretty much just to sit there and take over in case JARVIS lost connection. Not that it was a likely scenario, considering both JARVIS' remote satellite and the Quinjet were made by Tony. The man had an almost unnatural attachment to his inventions but at least it meant that they were the best of the best.

Beside him, Clint was fidgeting in his seat in a way that sent Bruce's two psychology semesters on high alert. As a sniper Clint was capable of sitting almost perfectly still, not even blinking, for ridiculous amounts of time, in ridiculous positions. And now something had upset him so much he couldn't even trust himself to steer the Quinjet. Behind him Tony still didn't take his armor off, Steve still had a tight grip on his shield and Thor was stroking the top of his hammer, occasionally shooting sparks between it and his hand.

Something was very wrong indeed.

In respect to Tony's tech Bruce didn't ask any questions until the jet was safely parked on top of the Avengers Tower. The rest of the team went off to shower and change clothes, or in Tony's case to disengage the armor. Bruce followed him to the workshop and waited until the suit was stored to start probing.

"The workshop's the most reinforced area of the tower." He reminded the genius. "You might as well tell me now."

"Remember how Thor spun the glorious tale of Loki's honorable fall when they fought the Dark Elves?"

"It would be hard to forget." Thor had shown up at the tower in full battle gear and asked to spar. The rest of the team versus him, no weapons, just fists, like the battle rings on Asgard. It ended up with Steve and him going toe to toe for three hours and the rest of them watching in astonishment and horror on the sidelines. Tony filmed it, commenting how he was going to make another fortune on pay-per-view.

Then Steve finally managed to jam an elbow into his ribs, grab him by the arm and throw Thor over his hip and into a wall hard enough to leave a foot deep dent. Tony and Bruce heaved Thor up and dragged him to the common room while Natasha helped Steve limp after them.

That's when the whole story came out. Thor had spun a great ballad about how Loki had redeemed himself with his heroic death, and then died in Thor's arms. He nearly cried when he expressed his regret that he had not even given his brother a proper escort to the gates of Valhalla and that was the point where Tony brought out his best liquor. He poured just about everything he owned into Thor as the big Asgardian recounted the tale mostly to Steve's shoulder. It was a good thing that Clint hadn't been there because he might not have managed to keep a sad face in the wake of Loki's death.

"Yeah, turned out to be another prank." Tony tossed Bruce the flash drive he had downloaded Stryker's files onto. "We found the place where the scepter's supposed to be but someone managed to get there before us. And according to Thor that someone is some kind of mutant horse who is, shocker, Loki's kid."

"You mean Sleipnir?" Tony looked at him in surprise and confusion. Bruce sighed. "Am I the only one who bothered to pick up a book on Norse mythology? Sleipnir is the eight legged horse Loki gave birth to in the form of a mare. Then he gifted that horse to Odin, which is actually disturbing considering he's riding his grandson."

"Loki gave birth?!" Tony apparently completely missed the point. "Holy shit, so he was as mad as a bag of cats even back then!"

"So you found its prints in the snow, what else?" Bruce stirred him back on topic. Tony sobered up immediately.

"Yeah, and according to Thor the horsie shouldn't even stick its nose out of its pen without Odin around, much less be visiting other planets. Another big clue that things are not as they should be is that we didn't detect any Einstein-Rosen bridges anywhere on the planet. Thor says Loki knows his way around without the Bifrost though, so the most likely theory is that he faked his death, got his kid out of Asgard and came back here for the staff to finish what he started."

Tony went digging into one cabinet to look for some scotch then frowned when he remembered that it ended up down Thor's throat. All for nothing in the end. This is what he got for being nice.

"What if he didn't come back to finish what he started?" Bruce mused. "He doesn't have an army anymore, and it doesn't sound as if he's gathering one either."

"What are you getting at?"

"If he returned to Asgard to free Sleipnir he might be going around freeing his children."

"And how many of those does he have anyway?"

"Well, if I remember the stories correctly, there's Sleipnir." Bruce counted on his fingers, "Then there's Fenrir, the great wolf, Jormungandr, the Midgard serpent, Hela, the goddess of death, and there was one tale where he ate a witch's heart he found near a fire," Tony made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat, "but it made him sick so he threw up and from that digested heart Ogres were born, and there was also the story in which one of his twins killed the other then turned into a wolf-"

"Does he have any children that aren't fit for a horror movie?" Just listening to Bruce was making Tony seriously consider getting a vasectomy. Thank God Howard had beaten it into his head early on to 'glove up or give up'. One of the rare things he was actually grateful to the old man for.

"Well, actually no." Bruce shrugged. "He seemed to be making children left and right but they were almost always something the other gods feared."

"Shit, then he might be assembling an army after all, but this one might actually be worse than the Chitauri." Tony swore. "Never thought we'd get to fight something worse than the alien invasion. Although, they are technically aliens…"

"Tony, focus."

"Right, right." Tony waved his hand in dismissal. "Let's go see what Point Break thinks about all this."

Thor listened to their theory with an increasingly thunderous expression. Once they were done he leaned with his elbows on his knees and his chin in hand. Finally he gave his verdict.

"Your thoughts are sound, Loki indeed has many monstrous offspring that could be used for battle." Then he sighed and looked down with regret. "He was always a mischievous one. After Father found out that the giantess Angrboða seduced him he had her slain and the beasts caged. I argued that they should have been destroyed as well, but Loki, in his madness, pleaded with father to let them live."

"Well, they are his children." Steve grimaced. "Monsters or no it's not that weird that he didn't want them dead."

"You are mistaken, friend Steven." Thor shook his head, remembering. "T'was the witch's magic that clouded his mind. But even with her gone the curse never truly left him." He gave a gusty sigh. "At times I wonder if perhaps that had been the time I started to lose my brother. His pranks became more and more harmful, and his lies intended to harm. It seemed that whenever I went to war I came back to find him in yet more trouble."

"Jeez, he sure started young." Clint muttered bitterly. "Right, so he fucked and birthed himself an army and now he's blowing the clarion call. Any idea where he might be going next?"

"Well, we have a pretty big clue." Tony brought up one of the holo-screens up open to a Wikipedia page. "One of those is Jormungandr, and check this, he was called the World Serpent because he was literally big enough to wrap himself around the Earth and was still able to bite his tail." Tony snorted. "Obviously a hyperbole, but still, if I was a mad god coming back for revenge this is the kid I'd pick to be on the front lines. It's just convenient that he's already somewhere in our oceans, probably fueling fishermen's tales."

"Right, where and how do we find it and how many explosive arrows would I need to bring the fucker down?" Clint was already standing, looking very gung-ho about the hunt.

"Now that I know what I'm looking for I should be able to modify JARVIS' scanners to get a close enough look underneath the sea-surface." Suddenly the Wikipedia page morphed into blueprint indecipherable to anyone without a PhD in engineering. "Somehow I doubt a whale-sized snake is going to be hard to find."

Chapter Text

Tony was right, it was definitely not hard to find him.

The genius staggered into the kitchen the next day around lunch looking slightly crazed. Steve, bless his goody-two-shoes heart, slid a soup mug full of coffee towards him and Tony took it as if it was a sacred offering.

"J, bring up the screens." Tony said once the mug was over three quarters empty. "Anyway, remember when I said I'd modify JARVIS' scanners? Turns out it wasn't necessary. This guy's core temperature seems to be -2 degrees Celsius, and on the bottom of the ocean it's constantly positive 4. We only had to make one sweep with the geothermal energy scanner to get a clear picture."

JARVIS dutifully brought up the holo-screens and projected a 3D image of Earth. Tony gulped the last of his coffee before continuing.

"The Vikings said that the Midgard serpent was big enough to wrap itself around the Earth and still have enough leeway to bite its own tail. I thought it was impossible because you literally can't draw a straight line around the Earth at any point." On the globe projection suddenly appeared a thin yellow line. "So it decided to fold itself a bit."

The assembled Avengers looked at the miniature Earth in horror and disbelief. The thin yellow line representing Jormungandr stretched from the North pole, passed through the Bering Strait, then continued in a wavy line through the Pacific ocean, getting precariously close to New Zealand at one point. It circled the entire Antarctic continent and returned through the Atlantic Ocean, passing in between Iceland and Norway back to the North pole. The line was continuous, without a beginning or the end, but it was a little bit thicker in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

"It's literally circling the Earth." Tony emphasized in case anybody missed it. "And biting its own tail to fit. It's actually longer than our planet at its widest. Like, a lot. I don't know what the fuck it's been eating because this thing could swallow the Hulk and probably not even get indigestion. If anybody has any idea how the fuck are we supposed to fight something this big, please, put your foot forward because I'm still reeling."

So were the rest of the Avengers. Even Steve's ever-tactical mind was drawing a blank. Natasha looked at the projection, then at the knives she's been sharpening, then back again. Clint was doing something similar and muttering how he'd need bigger arrows.

Natasha cautiously turned to Thor, who was by far faring better than the rest of them. "Would your strongest blow from Mjolnir do anything?"

Thor frowned again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I am not certain. The last time I saw the creature it was no bigger than a Niflheim dragon. One blow to its head would have crushed it. Now… I am not certain."

There was more pensive silence. Then Steve suddenly looked thoughtful. "Why didn't he get it the first time?"

"Huh?" Tony mumbled.

"Loki." Steve clarified. "The first time around he had both the Tesseract and the Staff. It wouldn't have been so hard to find Jormungandr and order it to fight for him. We certainly wouldn't have been successful if we had to fight the Chitauri on one front and this," he gestured to the still spinning projection, "on the other. We would have lost so badly it wouldn't even be funny, and he definitely would have had the intimidation factor down if he wanted to rule the Earth afterwards."

"So why didn't he?" Clint caught on. "He didn't want it dead on the first go? The government was ready to nuke New York."

"I don't think they would have made much difference." Bruce chimed in. "I studied some herpetology while I was in India, mostly poisons, but anyone with even a basic degree in biology can tell you that a normal snake that size would be crushed under its own weight, never mind the hydrostatic pressure at those depths." He waved at the projection and the picture changed to a snake model. "It must at least have a reinforced skeleton, and even if the scales are made of keratin monomers like a normal snake's, at that thickness, nothing short of an H-bomb would penetrate it."

"And that makes the question of why he didn't summon it the first time even more pertinent." Steve was already switched to his Captain America mode. "We need to figure out what stopped him."

"Maybe he thought it was overkill?" Tony suggested. He got blank looks for that and rolled his eyes. "Okay, yeah, Reindeer Games wouldn't know overkill if it bit him in the ass, you're right, any other suggestions?"

"He already had an army." Natasha suggested. "He was sure he was going to win until the moment where he couldn't do anything anymore. Maybe he simply hadn't had the opportunity."

"That does sound plausible."

"But it doesn't help us." Tony sighed in frustration. "We still have no idea how to stop this thing, much less kill it, and Loki could summon it any day now."

"Sir," JARVIS called urgently. "I'm reading the staff's energy signature. It's very strong."

"Shit, where?"

"Norway."

As soon as he said it, the entire tower started shaking heavily enough that the furniture started moving. Steve caught Tony and Bruce and lifted his shield above their heads as Thor dived for Natasha and Clint.

"JARVIS?!" Tony yelled.

"It's not the staff Sir." Even JARVIS' voice sounded shaky and full of static. "My geothermal scanners indicate that Jormungandr is moving. Over a third of its length is shifting closer to the Eastern coast and it appears to be the cause of the earthquake. It seems to be moving very slowly though."

"Let's hope it's slow enough." Steve yelled over the noise. "We'll have to come up with a plan on the way. Everybody suit up!"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Are you sure he's here?" Sleipnir asked. He and Fenrir were standing on top of a fjord that overlooked the sea. Fenrir had already uncovered the staff and now seemed to be sending some kind of beacon out to the sea.

"No." Fenrir grunted with effort. "But this is the place where we were when we lived on Midgard. It's worth trying."

As if on cue the ground started rumbling, lightly at first then so hard that Sleipnir had to kneel down or risk falling off. Fenrir held onto his shoulder to stabilize himself. "JUST HOW BIG IS HE?!" Sleipnir screamed over the thunderous noise.

"BIGGER THAN I REMEMBER HIM!" Fenrir on the other hand, was grinning like a maniac. "BUT HE'S DEFINITELY HERE!"

The rumbles were getting worse. Sleipnir noticed that the rock formation they were standing on was starting to crack. "We have to go back!" He grabbed Fenrir by the arm and quickly dragged him away. Fenrir went as smoothly as possible while not lowering the staff.

"We have to get inland!" Sleipnir yelled. "He saw the signal, he'll get here, but we might be crushed if we stay! Let's go!"

Fenrir wasn't budging. Sleipnir stomped his foot and grabbed the staff instead. They ended up in a ridiculous game of tug-o-war, Sleipnir using it to pull Fenrir along and Fenrir resisting. Finally the elder brother relented when they started losing ground. The rocks crumbled and sank into the sea rapidly, crashing into the high waves Jormungandr's emergence was causing.

"Father used to say Jormungandr would one day be big enough to coil himself around a realm and crush it with his might." Fenrir recalled with an astonished expression. "I must have slept a lot longer than I thought."

"He's been here for centuries." Sleipnir reminded him. "That's long enough for anyone to grow up."

Fenrir nodded absently. The earthquake was calming down, even if by slow degrees, but their brother was nowhere in sight. Fenrir checked to make sure that the beacon was active. It was still glowing strong. "What's taking him so long?"

"He probably needs to reorient himself."

"Well he should hurry! Somebody is going to notice if we stay here for much longer."

They ended up waiting for over an hour. The earthquake had lightened enough that they could stand without the danger of falling down but still persistent. Fenrir was pensive but determined to wait it out. He hoped they wouldn't have to wait much longer because Sleipnir was starting to look a bit seasick.

Suddenly he heard a strange whistling sound. His ears twitched and he looked up in the air. The noise was coming from over the sea, and it was getting louder. Beside him, Sleipnir looked up too. He scrunched his face up and covered his ears. "What is that?"

"I don't know." Fenrir dearly wished to cover his own ears but he couldn't let go of the staff. "But it might be a problem. Get ready to fight."

The sound suddenly started to quiet down. It was still getting closer though, so it created a strange effect Fenrir didn't really know how to describe. He gripped the staff tighter. There was a great possibility that Odin had found them out. He was using cloaking spells to shield himself and Sleipnir from Heimdall's sight but the amount of magic he'd been throwing around with the staff might have clued the mad king in that he was no longer in his prison under Asgard.

He found himself growling in the back of his throat. Let Odin try to take them now, just let him try. They weren't helpless children anymore, too scared to even think about fighting back. They got stronger, bigger, more powerful. They even had one of the Infinity Stones. It had to be enough. Fenrir couldn't bear the thought that it wouldn't be. He would rather die than be taken again. He couldn't go back to that dark cell again, not after finally being reminded what freedom tasted like.

He was sure his brothers felt the same way.

About a hundred yards away from them something crashed into the still shaking ground, leaving a great crater in its wake. A dust cloud rose with the impact, shielding whatever fell down from their sight. Fenrir strode over, staff gripped tight, and looked at the crater.

And from it rose Thor Odinson, the hammer in his hand crackling with thunder and a fierce anger in his face.

Fenrir bared his fangs in rage. "So, he sends his favored son to slay monsters in his name. How pitiful."

"Your disguise fools no one, wolf." Thor thundered. "Now tell me where is Loki!"

"Do you really think," Fenrir raised the staff, poised to strike, "we would tell the likes of you?"

Thor raised Mjolnir, Fenrir's eyes glowed gold and they clashed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Come on Stark, can't this rustbucket go any faster?"

"Shut up birdbrain, we're literally at Mach 4! Not my fault Thor forgot to mention he could exceed it!!"

"Quiet, both of you!" Natasha barked. "There's something moving down there!"

As one everybody flocked to the co-pilot's side. The sea below them was raging as if there was a great storm above but the skies were mostly clear. Far up ahead though, they could see thunderclouds start to form. Thor had obviously found Loki.

"LOOK OUT!!!" Natasha screamed and Clint manically steered sideways in a way it shouldn't have been possible to do in a jet going at the speeds they were going. It was a good thing he did or they would have collided with an island.

An island with dark silvery scales, rapidly rising above the surface.

The team looked on in mute horror as the 'island' continued rising and undulating towards the same way they were going. Bruce suddenly giggled a bit hysterically.

"Guys, I just remembered something." He was already green in the eyes. "The Vikings believed that the end of the world, the Ragnarok, would come when Jormungandr lets go of its tail and rises to the surface."

"We averted one end of the world." Steve said. "We will avert this one too."

"But it gets better." Bruce continued. "Thor and Jormungandr are supposed to battle each other and both die in the end. But Thor was actually poisoned. According to the myths that thing also had acid-like poison. And since myths have been turning out to be disturbingly accurate…"

"Great." Clint muttered. "Are you sure we can't go any faster?"

"Quite frankly, I don't know what the hell we'll do once we do get there." Tony growled. "Am I the only one who noticed that we're going to fight something the size of a continent without any plan?"

There was suddenly a strong boom and a wave of blue light exploded towards them. "Hold your knickers!" Clint had the time to warn before he was fighting to keep the jet in the air through the unexpected turbulence. The rest of the Avengers, except Natasha who literally climbed onto the equipment rack and buckled in, ended up in various positions on the floor. Then Clint did a sharp turn upwards and they all ended up in a pile at the back of the jet.

Not a favorable position to be in with a metal man and a potential Hulkout.

After a minute the turbulence eased. Clint was panting. "Everybody okay back there?"

He got an affirmative from Natasha and various grunts from Bruce, Tony and Steve. Clint interpreted it as 'okay enough'. But then he noticed something else.

"Hey, where did the snake go?"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Sleipnir did his best to stay as still and as unnoticeable while his brother fought the Thunderer. He dearly wished he could help but he had no idea what you were even supposed to do in battle without a rider on your back. He would only get in the way and he knew it, but it still ate at him.

Fenrir fought the way he always imagined Father might (and it was Father now, because that's how Fenrir called him); continuous movements interspersed with strong and accurate blows. The scepter had at some point transformed into an actual staff and Fenrir was fighting with it like he'd been born to it.

But the Odinson was strong. Fenrir was barely managing to duck every time he whirled the hammer at him. But those few moments before Mjolnir returned to Thor's hands were crucial. Fenrir used the gaps to get in under Thor's guard. But it didn't work every time.

Finally Fenrir's luck ran out. Thor swung the hammer in an upwards arc and it hit the staff head on. It flew in a wide arc and ended up imbedded in the earth far behind the combatants but only a dozen yards away from Sleipnir. Fenrir was knocked to the ground on his back, Thor's boot on his chest.

"I ask one more time." Thor's voice boomed. "Where is he?!"

"I will never tell." Fenrir looked smug even with blood running down his lip.

The Aesir prince sneered. "So be it."

In the next moment, three things happened.

Thor raised his hammer to crush Fenrir with a single blow.

Sleipnir dived for the staff.

And Jormungandr exploded from the sea.

Thor froze with his hammer in the air to look up at the gigantic snake. Actually, saying it was gigantic was the understatement of the century. It was as thick as the base of the Avenger's Tower, and its head alone looked about the size of a Hellicarrier. Its head was covered in silvery scales, dark metallic on the back and almost pure white at the belly. It undulated slowly from the sea depth, searching with emerald green eyes for the one who interrupted its slumber.

"Jormungandr!!!" Sleipnir yelled. When the giant head turned towards him he pointed the staff at it and prayed the spell would work.

Fenrir had told him that Jormungandr had never been able to transform on his own, and to change the shape of someone his size they would need the help of the staff's magic. Sleipnir had only just learned how to transform on his own but it wasn't like Fenrir was in any position to do it himself. So he chanted the runes in his head, told them to the scepter and prayed that it would understand his plea.

The Mind Gem heard him.

A beam of blue light shot out from the staff and into Jormungandr. In a moment it engulfed him whole, then exploded. It spread as a sonic wave fast and strong enough to knock both Sleipnir and Thor off their feet. Fenrir took the opportunity to wiggle free and make a break for Sleipnir.

He got away just in time as Jormungandr's feet hit the ground and sprinted at Thor.

The Aesir didn't even have time to get to his feet before a strong hand wrapped itself around his throat and actually lifted him. His kicked his dangling feet and clawed at the arm holding him aloft but it was for naught. He strained to look down and was met with murderous green eyes, so much like his brother's.

"Pathetic." Jormungandr boomed with a voice pitched far higher than Thor would have imagined it. "Helpless now that you do not have an ox head on a hook and a giant to save your life."

Thor suddenly found himself swung into the ground, Jormungandr never easing his grip. "Not so brave now, are you?" He sneered. "T'was easy to holler for our deaths when we were weak, wasn't it?" The serpent in humanoid form lifted him by the neck again and slammed him down into the ground twice as hard. "How do you like feeling weak for a change?!"

Thor was rapidly turning blue in the face from the lack of air but Jormungandr didn't care. He remembered Thor. Remembered him from the false trial when he, Fenrir and Hela were huddled together in the middle of the auditorium chamber, fearfully looking around themselves at the adults surrounding them. He remembered how they sneered and jeered at them, called them monstrous and waved their weapons. Their spells had been taken away from them so he and Fenrir were in their snake and wolf forms.

But Hela had taken it the hardest. She always took care to cast the illusion on her face, to hide the rot creeping from her neck to the corner of her eye, and to have it so brutally torn away and then exposed like a freak on display shook her deeply. She hid her face in Fenrir's fur, just tall enough to reach her brother's neck back then. Jormungandr had wrapped himself in a circle around them, back then just the size of a Nifel dragon hatchling but still much bigger than even their Father, both to shield them from sight and to shield their sight from their surroundings.

But he saw everything.

He saw Odin hatefully glaring at them, saw Frigga's pensive stare. He saw Father next to the throne, trying to plead for his children's' lives. And he saw the golden haired man he recognized as their Father's brother, keeping him back. He had never seen him before but Father had told them many tales of their adventures, tales they never went to sleep without hearing. He knew it was Thor, their uncle.

When Odin gave his verdict, to sentence them to death, Father had fallen to his knees and begged him to spare their lives. Jormungandr had never seen his proud father lower himself so, and obviously neither had Odin. But it was Frigga who turned to her husband and in the end swayed his mind.

Odin relented. Instead of death, they were sentenced to be caged for however long they might still live. Under one condition.

Father had screamed, tried to run to them but Thor had stopped him. Pleaded with him to stop his madness. He wrapped his strong arms around Father and didn't let him go even as the Einherjar came to lead Loki's children away.

Jormungandr remembered. He remembered how Father had looked at them with tears in his eyes, then turned in his brother's embrace and sobbed on his shoulder.

And then there was pain.

Much later, perhaps only decades or maybe even centuries, Jormungandr saw Thor again. He had smelled fresh blood in the water, a delicious scent and went to hunt the injured animal. He saw an ox head and thought nothing of swallowing it whole. But it turned out to be speared on a hook, and that hook pulled him to the surface. He emerged and saw Thor, a little older, standing on a boat with a Giant.

He remembered looking at him and feeling hope. Had he come to save them? Was he going to free them and bring them back to Father? Were they going to be a family again?

But then Thor glared at him and raised his hammer. That was when Jormungandr realized that Thor was far more like his father than his brother. That he hadn't come here to save him, but to carry out Odin's original order.

Jormungandr truly thought he was going to die by his uncle's hand.

But the giant he had gone fishing with panicked. Thymir took his axe and cut the line of the hook that tethered him to Thor. As soon as the line was cut Jormungandr dived back, the giant hook still piercing his upper jaw.

And from that moment on, he hated Thor.

Now, as he looked down at the traitor god, weakly struggling under his hand, all that hate emerged as anger. He wanted to kill Thor as the Aesir had once wanted to kill him. Crush his skull, splatter his brains and destroy any memory of his existence.

"There they are!" Clint hollered when they approached the coast. "Shit, one of them's got Thor! Main guns on line!" He took aim and fired at the person he saw holding Thor to the ground.

A strong blast of something hit Jormungandr in the chest. If he still had his scales or even enchanted armor he would have barely felt it but as he was bare it was enough to make him stagger backwards. He kept his grip on Thor's neck, though it loosened enough to let him breathe. Jormungandr snarled and lifted him in the air once more.

"Damn, that was full power and it barely grazed the bastard!" Tony swore. "Bruce, get ready to get angry!"

The jet was barely over the ground as Ironman blasted out of the cargo door and shot towards Thor's assailant. Arms out and thrusters at full power he bodily knocked into him.

It felt a lot like being minced by the Hellicarrier's turbine jets again.

Fortunately he got the other guy to let go of Thor and slide backwards with the impact. They quickly got their bearings together though and turned their murderous intent towards Tony.

It took a lot to surprise Tony Stark but this one managed. Of all the people he expected to see lift Thor by the neck with one arm it was not the tall, naked woman with floor-length white hair and more muscles than Captain America standing before him.

Chapter Text

Steve hit the ground just a step behind the Hulk, but instead of charging at the biggest threat like his berserker friend he stood on the side for a moment to assess their odds.

Thor was down, but Ironman was already crouched over him so he wasn’t a priority. Hulk had immediately engaged Thor’s assailant, and the fact that the pale woman was holding her own was worrying. Steve studiously ignored the fact that she was naked, and resolved to ask how she came to be that way later. And preferably get Natasha to do it.

There were two others. A tall man with shaggy raven hair and a teenage blond boy. They were both dressed in a manner that Thor and Loki favored so Steve figured they were Loki’s lackeys. They seemed to be fighting over something the blond was holding. When Steve spotted a glimmer of golden and blue he charged.

Who knew what kind of damage they could do with the scepter.

“-can’t get it off- Look out!!!” Sleipnir spotted the charging soldier just in time to push Fenrir out of the way. Steve’s shield whirled so close to Fenrir’s head that it actually left a cut on his cheek. The wolf immediately turned to the new threat and engaged in hand-to-hand combat, both their strength and speed almost evenly matched.

The beach soon became an absolute melee. They were outnumbered two to one, or rather three to one because Sleipnir couldn’t do anything. He viciously looked at the damned wrist bracer that wouldn’t come off! When he had cast the spell on Jormungandr he had been knocked out for a few seconds and when he opened his eyes the scepter had reformed itself into an elaborate wrist bracer with the blue gem in the middle. It covered his entire arm from wrist to elbow but there was no latch to take it off. Fenrir had tried to help but no amount of force would get it off and he hadn’t had the time to try magic.

The worst part was that it was useless on him. He could transform on his own but that was about the extent of his applicable magic. He had never been taught in any way, and magic was nearly impossible to learn from scratch on one’s own. Fenrir had been teaching him the basics, such as elemental, light and levitation magic but they were completely useless against fully trained soldiers they were fighting. For Hela's sake, they seemed to have two Asgardians, a berserker Giant, an elf and a golem on their side!

As much faith as he had in Fenrir and Jormungandr it was painfully obvious they were merely bidding their time until they lost. All because Sleipnir was too useless to help even the odds.

He grit his teeth and clenched his fists. No, he thought, there is one way I can fight.

“Holy shit, look out!” Clint screamed and dived out of the way when he saw a rampaging horse heading straight for him. It missed him by a bare inch and ran straight for Natasha. The assassin was in the process of trying to stab Fenrir in the eye and by the time she turned Sleipnir hit her with his head straight into her front. She flew back like a ragdoll, rolled the last few yards on the floor and didn’t get up again.

Clint saw red.

He almost fired an explosive arrow straight at the eight legged bastard but he was aiming to knock himself into Steve. He returned the arrow to his quiver and took out a tranquilizer one but it was already too late. As nobody expects to see a gigantic horse running straight at them at full speed Steve froze for a single crucial second, and that second was enough for Fenrir to knock his elbow into his jaw. Then he grabbed the super soldier by the back of his uniform and threw him straight into Sleipnir's path.

Steve suffered a similar fate to Natasha, but that just meant Clint had no more obstacles in his path. Fuck tranq arrows, he thought and shot a sharp tipped arrow straight into the horse’s neck. Startled with pain he neighed and rose to his back legs. He took another arrow, this time an explosive one and shot it at the other bastard.

Predictably, he caught it. And just like Loki, he didn’t know that explosive arrows were a thing. It blew up straight in his face and even further startled the stallion in the process. Just to be safe he fired another one right in between them. Like the old adage said, divide and conquer.

And divided it did.

On the other side of the beach the battle wasn’t so one sided. Even against the Hulk, Thor and Ironman the Midgard serpent was holding her own. Tony was running scans trying to determine just how strong she was but so far all his scans yielded was that she was almost completely resistant to repulsor blasts, could meet Hulk’s punches one on one and could block Thor’s hammer.

Under any other circumstances Thor’s face would have been priceless. He threw his beloved hammer at Jormungandr and she literally caught it by the head. It shook almost as much as the earlier earthquake as she took it by the handle and threw it back at him. In the back of his mind Tony was still throwing a fit that Thor could have informed them more than three seconds in advance that the biggest creature in existence could transform into a human and still retain its strength. Hulk was actually getting visibly frustrated, which was a frightening concept all on its own. Ironman hovered over the battle area, trying to plan.

Their only viable option seemed to be to tire her out. “JARVIS, how long do you estimate she can keep this up?”

“According to Mr. Odinson she is a snake. Reptiles extend their metabolic energy reserves at a lower sustained output rate for longer periods of time, unlike mammals who rapidly accumulate and burn their reserves in one powerful surge.” JARVIS informed him. “As her body temperature does not correspond to any living being on this planet it is difficult to give a baseline, but this seems to be her average energy to heat transfer rate.”

In translation, they were maxing out and running out of power fast, and she was saving her juice till the end of the race. They would get tired long before she did and when that happened she could simply punt them out of the run.

It was not looking good.

They needed another plan, and they needed it fast. Tony mentally reviewed his high school biology lessons: snakes were divided by two types, venomous and constrictors (according to Bruce theirs was venomous), they were carnivorous (didn't bode well for them), they were poikilothermic- Wait!

"JARVIS, you said her temperature was -2 degrees Celsius as a snake. What's it now?"

"Scanning…" JARVIS intoned. "21 degrees. Reptiles have a wider temperature range at which their bodies are able to optimally function but hers is below even that."

"And what happens if we overheat her?" Tony was already forming a plan. Yes, it just might work…

"As gigantothermy doesn't seem to apply to her… A regular reptile would first become lethargic, their blood circulation would slow and enter the estivation state, then there would come dizziness, nausea and as her neurotransmitters coagulate-"

"Death." Tony finished. "We're gonna need a lot more power than we have. Thor!"

"Aye, Man of Iron?" Shit, even Thor was starting to sound exhausted. They'd need to hurry.

"I need you to hit me with the strongest lightning shot you have, and keep it up until I say stop. I have a plan to take her down."

Thor nodded briefly and raised his hammer to summon lightning. It shot from the sky into the hammer, and then he swung the bolt at Tony. He staggered as the suit was suddenly overflowing with power.

"Capacities at 250%." Jarvis intoned. "300. 350. 400. Sir, we cannot sustain this for long."

"We don't have to, we just need over 500." Tony yelled over the crackle of thunder.

"Sir, 600."

"Thor, stop!" Tony turned his chest towards the spot where Hulk was still entertaining their nemesis. "Big green, move away!" And then he blasted that power outwards.

It hit her straight on. It was actually enough to knock her back several yards until her back hit the ascending cliff. Tony couldn't see much from the whole lightshow but she wasn't moving. Tony grunted with the effort, and distantly he heard explosions, but if he could just keep this up for at least long enough to render her unable to fight they might have a chance at this.

His reserves ran out with one last kick. He actually staggered when his autocue-servos shorted out for a second but Thor caught him under the arm and straightened him up.

Their adversary didn't have such luck. She was still standing, which was nothing short of a miracle, leaning heavily on the rock behind her. Tony actually grimaced when he saw the state she was in; second degree burns all over her chest, torso and neck, and- Holy shit, her hair was actually molten hot red, the kind iron turned at high enough temperatures. Maybe Thor would let Tony study it while he waited for Big Daddy to pick them up because Tony seriously needed to know how the hell hair can be literally made of metal.

There was a loud snap and a vicious roar right behind them. Tony turned just in time to see the shaggy haired one toss Clint's broken bow (God, Birdbrain's not gonna shut up about this for a week) and lunge at him. Thor reacted first: he swung Mjolnir with startling accuracy straight at the hand aiming to tear out the archer's throat. Clint dived in the opposite way just as they heard a sickening crunch of bone. The wolfman turned on them, covered in sot and blood, looked around at his 'siblings' (Tony was still doubtful on that one, they weren't even the same species), one probably dead on the floor with an arrow sticking out of him and the other half-collapsed against the cliff, her molten hair still burning her skin.

To be fair, they gave as good as they got. If Tony fired another repulsor shot his arc reactor was going to shut down, Natasha was down, Clint was disarmed, Captain America was just managing to get up and Thor looked exhausted the way he didn't even after his spar with Cap.

Even the Hulk seemed reluctant to go in for more.

Still, Fenrir realized they were beaten. He straightened his back and squared his shoulders, somehow managing to look dignified even with half his face black from the explosive arrows. He even managed to look like he was not in pain, despite the obvious way his hand was broken.

"So, you won." He conceded. "What do you want?"

That was almost too easy. Tony was about to say so until Thor cut in; "Tell us where Loki is."

Fenrir snorted, but it came out as more of a frustrated sigh. "We do not know."

"Do not lie, trickster!"

"It is the truth." Fenrir cut him off coldly. "When the queen of Asgard died there was nothing left to bind me. I found my brother by his scent, but I found no Father's. We came to Midgard to find our other brother, and found the staff through scrying. We took it on our own. We don't know where Father is."

"Do not call him that, beast." Thor snarled at him. Tony actually had to hold him back from hurling himself at Fenrir. "T'was that witch's magic that ruined my brother! That made the madness overtake his mind! His descent began with you!"

Now even Cap had to hold Thor back. Tony had no idea when he got up and came over but he was definitely glad he did. The rest of the Avengers, including Natasha who was standing with Clint's support, were watching with caution but in curiosity.

"Is it so wrong to love one's children?" Fenrir retorted. "Your parents love you. Our father loves you. Why would you begrudge your own brother for something you take for granted?"

"Because his delusions brought him to his death!" Thor screamed. "Had you not turned him on his own family he would still be alive!"

Fenrir's eyes widened and he froze where he stood. Father was… dead? It couldn't be. Odinson was trying to provoke him. Fenrir clenched his unbroken fist and growled. That was a low blow, even for one as dishonorable as the son of Odin.

"Father is dead?" Every head in the clearing suddenly turned to Sleipnir. The blond was fighting to get up from the ground, one of Clint's arrows still poking out from between the junction of his neck and shoulder. He was struggling to speak through the blood in his mouth.

"Sleipnir, don't move." Fenrir ordered as he glared at Thor. "Father is not dead. He would not let himself be killed by the likes of him."

"But-" Sleipnir coughed and spat blood on the stone ground. Tony winced. Maybe they'd hold still long enough to at least let the Avengers stitch them up. "But we haven't seen him. I haven't seen him since the trial."

'Trial' seemed to be the magic word with these people because Fenrir turned to look at his younger brother in horror and behind them Jormungandr was getting up as well. Her hair was no longer molten hot and her second degree burns faded to first, which meant she also had a healing factor. Great.

"What trial?" Fenrir growled through clenched teeth. When Sleipnir didn't speak he actually roared. "Sleipnir, WHAT TRIAL?!"

"Yeah, your mad-hat-daddy tried to take over our world." Clint chimed in from the other side. "He lost, so we gift-wrapped him with a muzzle and sent him back to Asgard. Believe me, it's better than the treatment he would have gotten here."

One of these days, Tony was going to split Clint's skull open and install some self preservation routines in his brain. He understood that for Clint, Loki's mind control was still fresh. He'd just barely started trusting himself again and even mentioning Loki was sometimes enough to make him doubt his own sanity. But provoking highly volatile, recently orphaned children of said madman was a simply idiotic move.

Underneath the sot Fenrir was white as a ghost. He looked at Thor in horror. "Is that… true?"

Thor took a large breath and looked down. "Aye."

"You monster." Jormungandr spat. "You claimed to love your brother, and you let him die." She rose to her feet with alarming steadiness, tense and shoulders hunched. "Here you are, laying the blame at our feet, calling us monsters, when you are the one who could have prevented it. You are far worse than anything Odin could have accused us of."

"There was nothing I could have done." Thor snarled back at her coldly.

"Then you did not try hard enough." She bared her teeth and Tony felt a chill go down his spine. She still had a snake's jaw, open far wider than a human's could go, with curved fangs longer than Dracula's and a long forked tongue. Her gums were full of small, sharp teeth, pointing inwards.

So the prey couldn't escape, Tony's mind supplied less than a second before she shot at them, quick as the viper she was.

It all seemed to go in slow motion. She charged through the air towards them at such speed they didn't have time to tense. But Hulk was faster, if only by a millisecond. His arm shot out to catch her barely three feet from Thor's neck, so instead of Thor she sank her venomous fangs into Hulk's arm.

The green giant roared in pain and flapped his arm to get her off. She fell and landed on her side, but got up quickly and ran towards Fenrir. The elder brother didn't even have time to react. Jormungandr rammed her shoulder into his stomach and heaved him over her shoulder, not breaking her run. Still not stopping she scooped up Sleipnir by the waist with her other arm and before anyone had the time to even think about chasing her she leaped over the cliff in an arc only Hulk was capable of achieving and disappeared into the waves.

"Shit, we need to go after them!" Clint swore. "I'll get Nat to the Quinjet, you guys-"

"RAAAAHH!!!" Hulk cut him off. He seemed to shake his head in an effort to clear it, stumbling forward and barely catching himself. It was a ridiculous sight to behold, and Tony sincerely hoped he would never have to see it again. They got the hell out of the way as Big Green tried to go after them, but it looked like gravity finally got the better of him and pulled him down. He fell to his knees, tilted a little and finally collapsed, splayed out on his belly like a starfish.

And on his arm Tony saw the swelling bite, oozing pus and blood.

"Holy shit," he ran over to inspect it. "JARVIS, scan it and tell me there's an antivenin for this thing!"

"Scanning," JARVIS intoned. After a second the blue light beam retracted. "It doesn't contain any immediately recognizable compounds. We will have to take a sample and synthesize it ourselves."

"It is of no use." Thor said beside him. "Jormungandr's venom is enough to stain the skies and soil with every breath it takes." He hung his head. "Our friend is a formidable fighter, but this bite was meant for me. And Jormungandr would not have let me live."

Tony barely restrained his urge to punch him and yell that Bruce wouldn't die, dammit! But this thing was strong enough to actually knock the Hulk out, something SHIELD still hadn't managed to concoct. If she had bitten Thor he probably wouldn't have had a chance to take a step before he died.

That thought jarred something in Tony's brain. He mentally reviewed what he saw from the moment Hulk was bitten and when he realized what it was he felt cold sweat beading on his back.

Nine steps, he thought, remembering Bruce's words from the jet, he walked nine steps before he collapsed.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jormungandr resurfaced again only when he was certain they weren't followed. He could breathe both under and over water, but he knew his brothers couldn't. Neither of them were moving anymore so he couldn't stall much longer. He had to get up for air and hope the Odinson wouldn't be there.

He swam towards an inlet in between two cliffs, where the sea was calm and the Thrunderer's storm was receding. When he was certain nobody was waiting for them there he walked out of the water, heaving his brothers along. He laid their unconscious bodies on the ground. Fenrir coughed out water and groaned, but was otherwise breathing strong and steady. He would be fine.

Jormungandr was worried about the other one though. While he couldn't boast a nose as strong as Fenrir's he could still recognize scents in the air and water with his tongue. And though he couldn't be sure until Fenrir confirmed it, this boy was their brother.

But he wasn't breathing. Jormungandr pulled out the arrow from his neck, hoping it wasn't poisoned. He knelt beside him and snaked an arm under his new brother's chest and thumped him on the back slightly, trying not to break anything with his massive strength.

A few more taps and the blond started vomiting seawater. Like a newborn kitten he gave a few coughs and started breathing again, weak but steady. Jormungandr sighed in relief. The arrow hadn't hit anything important it seemed, or at least nothing Fenrir couldn't fix with a few healing spells. He would be fine as well.

Sleipnir still cradled in his arms, Jormungandr turned to Fenrir, who had propped himself on his elbows and was staring at the sea with dead eyes. Jormungandr knew how he felt, but the time for grief had to wait. They had been through this before and lived. They had to make sure to do so again.

They had promised Father.

"Brother, " he called, "enchant me an attire then tell me your story. 'Tis a tale I am most anxious to hear."

Chapter Text

Natasha had never been a woman of many words.

As a spy and an assassin it had served her well. All you had to do to get a target to talk was keep quiet and look interested and they would reveal all of their darkest secrets whether they liked it or not. People revealed far too much of themselves when they thought they could trust her.

The Avengers were no different.

It had been five days since the incident in Norway. Five days since they had struggled to load the Hulk into the Quinjet, and four and a half days since anyone other than Steve had seen Tony. The genius had locked himself in the workshop with his samples and his specs and Bruce's hulked-out body, working fanatically to try and find the cure. Only Steve, as the team Captain, had the override codes for the workshop, and he was forced to use them frequently to get Tony to at least eat, if not sleep for a few hours.

Finally, on the afternoon of the fifth day Steve called a team meeting. She, Thor and Clint gathered around the common room's kitchen table, pensively waiting to hear the results the resident engineer had to offer. Thor was in civilian dress but still pensively caressing Mjolnir's head. Natasha heard what happened, how Jormungandr was able to catch it and hurl it back at him. It was a disconcerting discover for all of them, but it must have been horrifying to Thor, that someone he had always been told was a monster could wield his weapon.

Clint was already in his tac vest, new bow and two quivers already on his back. Natasha was actually mildly surprised they hadn't had to stop him from stealing the jet and going after Loki's offspring himself. Part of the reason for that might have been Natasha's own injuries. When the eight legged horse ran into her he shattered her breastbone, broke her collarbone and cracked four ribs. She got off lightly, with only a tight wrap around her chest and torso and a shitload of painkillers, considering the damage he could have done if he ran over her. But it was a cold comfort knowing they were still out there and she was effectively benched for at least six weeks.

Not that it would stop her from hauling Clint's stubborn ass back if he got any stupid ideas in his head and he damn well knew it.

Finally, their leader appeared with a freshly showered Tony in tow. The genius looked horrible, grey in the face and dark circles under his eyes. Natasha actually spotted a few grey hairs among the black curls. But when she looked at his face, she knew. He hadn't had to utter a word, and she knew with as much certainty as he did.

Bruce was going to die.

Others either refused to pick up on it or were still holding out hope. Steve sat Tony on the barstool and went to make coffee while the genius rubbed his forehead, looking for a way to break the news.

Clint finally ran out of patience. "Well? What do we need to get you to make the antidote? I don't care if it's illegal, this is Bruce we're talking about, he'll forgiv-"

"I can't do it." Stark finally bit out. "I- I can't do it."

"What?!" Clint shot up from his seat. "What do you mean you can't do it? Do what?"

"I can't make the antidote." It was a testimony to how broken about it Tony was that he didn't even notice when Steve put the coffee cup in front of him. "I don't know how."

The room fell silent, finally realizing what Natasha had already figured out. Steve, bless his heart, rubbed Stark's back comfortingly and actually took his hand to wrap it around the mug. Stark took a few sips absent-mindedly, more out of reflex than actually desire for caffeination.

"But- You're a genius." Clint stuttered. "You made Ironman with a box of scraps. You regularly become an expert in fields of science that didn't exist two hours before that moment. You- OW!"

Natasha rammed an elbow into his ribs to shut him up. It shouldn't have been possible but Stark looked even more broken than before. Even Steve was glaring at Clint now.

"T'is not Man of Iron's fault." Thor rumbled sadly. "Jormungandr's poison is legendary. The Völvur of Odin's court foretold that the day Jormungandr rises shall be the day it poisons the skies, the fertile soils and the abundant waters. If left on its own it shall crush realms until Yggdrasil is left barren, then poison its roots to break the bonds of Hellheim, unleashing all horrors imprisoned therein."

"After seeing this thing work, I can't even say for sure anymore that's an exaggeration." Tony rubbed his temples. "J, bring up the screens. I'll try to keep this brief and high-school-level."

Without a word, Jarvis dutifully activated the holo-screens and projected a model of a complex molecule. Natasha couldn't even begin to make heads or tails of it. Probably nobody could except Bruce, but the one they relied on the most for these things was now the one they needed to save.

"Generally, snake venom contains several chemicals." Tony started explaining. "Peptides, proteins, but mostly enzymes. These enzymes usually kill by attacking cell tissues and red blood cells, literally disintegrating the prey from within. If a venomous snake bites you, you die from internal bleeding rather than poison.

"Luckily for us, enzymes are usually easy to figure out. They work on a lock-and-key principle; one type of enzyme takes apart only one specific substrate while remaining unchanged. For that, they have one or two binding sites, the 'key' that corresponds to one chemical compound, the 'lock'. The point of a wide range antivenin is to change the chemical structure of the enzyme to render it unable do that. Basically you change the key so it doesn't fit into the lock anymore."

Tony paused his lesson to take another gulp of coffee.

"And this is where things get really weird." He waved towards the holo-projection. "I present to you, the Frankenzyme."

"What are we looking at?" Natasha questioned when others just stared blankly.

"Exactly that, the Franken-enzyme." Tony threw his arms up in frustration. "By all laws of chemistry and quantum physics, this thing shouldn't exist. Quite frankly it looks like someone glued together active bases together randomly. It has, and I wish I was kidding here, nine binding and catalytic sites for nine different substrates! It's held together in places that shouldn't be able to form covalent bonds!" Tony was actually shouting and waving his arms around in renewed disbelief now.

"It's literally the skeleton key of organic chemistry and it looks like a pre-schooler with absolutely no knowledge of atomic bonds went to town with colored Styrofoam balls and toothpicks! It's actually so reactive I'm not sure if it has anymore binding sites because it's an allosteric enzyme! It's a fucking multitasking motherfucker! It does one job then actually folds to do another one at the same time, and with its trifold structure brings it up to twenty fucking seven active sites! Whatever inhibitor I throw at it fails! It has no defined pH range, no temperature amplitudes, and no saturational competition!!! This thing is an insult to every single law of nature! If I actually presented this model to any science board I would be laughed out of the field! It shouldn't exist but it does and I have no fucking idea how to stop it!!!!"

He ended his rant by slamming his hands against the kitchen counter hard enough that the mug turned over and shattered on the floor. Even Steve was startled by Stark's violent rant.

"It's taking him apart molecule by molecule." Tony continued quietly, hanging his head in defeat. "Bruce's healing factor is the only thing keeping him from literally falling apart. But he can't keep it up forever. The rate of decay it's going at… If we don't find something by tomorrow evening there will be nothing left to save."

He stood there panting for a minute, letting his words sink into their minds. Natasha clenched her jaw as she looked at him. Here he was, the man who owned everything but had nothing worth actually having. It seemed like every time he turned around he lost yet another thing he had dared to hold precious, like the universe itself opposed to him finding any scrap of happiness. And yet he kept getting up again. When he lost his heart, he built himself another one. When he lost his freedom he made himself a flying suit that could free him from his prison. When parents of lost soldiers accused him of his deaths he became a hero. When the woman he loved left him he assembled himself a team of friends.

And now he was losing that too. Natasha knew more than anyone that men had limits that, once crossed, could never be uncrossed again. There was only so much a man can lose before he lost himself as well. As frightening a thought as that was, if Tony Stark lost himself the world he would leave behind would no longer be worth saving.

"Now that we're on the same page," Tony got up and turned to leave, "I'll be in my workshop."

For a second Steve looked like he would go after him, but forced himself to relax back into his seat. And that was another thing. Even Steve himself didn't realize what exactly it was he felt for Tony Stark, but Natasha recognized it. Steve saw how much of himself Tony was giving away to everyone and everything, desperately trying to make things right that were wrong through no fault of his own, and his solution was to give back whatever the paranoid man would accept. Quiet companionship while he worked, meals sneaked to his table and regular movie nights, to remind him he was not trapped alone in his tower. To make sure his guilt did not become his prison.

Steve was trying to give Tony back what the genius had unknowingly provided him: stability. Friendship. An anchor in a world so shallow it thought there was nothing beneath the surface worth looking at.

It was a hard truth to accept, but if Tony Stark went he would not only take Ironman with him, but Captain America as well. And with Captain America gone they would all fall apart, and the world would follow soon after.

Natasha didn't know if Tony had enough strength to get back up if they lost Bruce, and she wasn't going to sit around to find out.

If you want something done, Natasha thought as she suited up in her warmest stealth suit, ignoring the pain in her chest, you have to do it yourself.

She slid a note under Steve's door, to have Thor and Clint out of the tower the moment she sent him the signal. By the time he found it she would already be on the jet.

JARVIS, perhaps the only other person who truly understood what was at stake here, had already shown her an article at a Scandinavian news site. Several moose had been found mauled by a very large animal, little more than hooves and bones remaining in a bloody spot. One of the local hunters swore he had seen a black wolf standing at over eight feet. The animal hadn't attacked him but any paw prints left had been erased, making everything look like a hoax.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who the wolf in question was.

And so she found herself over the Atlantic Ocean yet again, bantering with JARVIS to try and figure out the angle she needed to play. Because she was the spy of spies, and if she wanted her team, her fledgling family to remain whole she would have to do what nobody else wanted to.

It gave her a cold feeling in her stomach to realize Fury would be proud.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Three hours later found her hiking through the snow covered forest. She had left the Quinjet on a large enough meadow, and opted to go to the site cited in the article on foot.

For three gigantic creatures they were surprisingly hard to find. At one point she found wolf tracks, but by the time she figured out they were false leads she had nearly gotten completely lost. JARVIS was scanning from the skies but the coverage of the wintergreen forest and the cold winds were preventing him from finding anything useful.

Natasha was getting tired and frustrated. Of course they were good at hiding and covering their tracks, they were Loki's kids. God only knew how many hours they had to sit through as Thor regaled the tales of his brother's proficiency at this sort of thing. Loki had obviously taught them well, and they had days to familiarize themselves with the territory. They could yank her around by the nose for days, days Bruce did not have.

Her frustration and impatience were making her careless, and the fact that her torso was practically in splinters was not helping one bit. She dug out a bottle of industrial strength Vicodin out of her belt pocket, the kind Phil would have frog marched her to get her liver checked if he had seen it. But Phil wasn't there thanks to the very madman whose spawn she was chasing through the frozen woods, so she swallowed three pills dry and continued looking.

Somewhat depressingly, it reminded her of her days in the Red Room, where the only law was 'survive by any means necessary'. It was far from her first time being stranded knee deep in snow while injured and hunted. But at least it meant sleeping without being chained to the bedframe, even if she was risking hypothermia.

Stop thinking about it.

She stumbled upon yet more tracks, these ones shaped like a crescent moon. Eight of them in one stride. Definitely her target then. But instead of going after them again she followed them in the opposite direction. Sure enough, going backwards hooves turned into footprints barely a hundred yards away. Smaller ones intermingled with bigger prints. A lot bigger, and a lot heavier. Natasha was betting Jormungandr.

Natasha hoped she that meant she was getting closer. She determined the direction they were most likely to have come from, puffed out a breathful of mist, and continued on her way. The clavicle brace limited her arm movements and disrupted her balance, forcing her to abandon her usual graceful walk.

She could almost hear Yelena mocking her in her head. Here she was, the world's best assassin, stumbling around drugged to the gills and looking for people that could kill her with their pinky fingers like a fucking recruit. All because little Natalia had developed feelings that were supposedly beaten out of her, because she was stupid enough to believe she was doing all this to save a friend.

Somehow, those with a deathwish always last the longest.

Right, not thinking about it.

She heard a branch snapping behind her and abruptly turned around, just barely managing not to reach for the gun tucked in her holster. She wouldn't exactly be showing good faith by shooting people she came to ask for help.

It was the wolf, Fenrir. Like the first time, she was careful not to let it show on her face how startled she was when she saw him. He was definitely Loki's son, with his green eyes and raven hair, but it was also in the slope of his nose and the shape of his brow. The main differences were that he was shorter and a bit bulkier, and his cheeks rounder, making him look younger. He had his hair slicked back in the manner Loki favored, but his hair was more of a mane. No amount of hair product, magical or not, could tame it for its sheer density.

"You are startlingly persistent." He said, his tone mildly curious. "You came here all alone, clearly injured and in pain, yet still searching for us with unfailing patience despite it all. I admit, my curiosity got the better of me."

The other two were nowhere to be seen but Natasha had no doubt that they were near. Fenrir's posture was tensed, poised to react at the slightest cue, as only a born predator could. One wrong move and she was dead. Do nothing for too long, and she was dead. If she so much as twitched in a way that could be interpreted as threatening she probably wouldn't even see Fenrir ripping her throat out. Considering all that, she unholstered her guns. Fenrir tensed but before he could do anything she threw them sideways without breaking eye contact.

The wolf raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Face blank and eyes straight on his she unbuckled her utility belt and whirled it to her other side. Next she unsheathed her various knives and tranq shots and threw them as far away from her as she could with both broken clavicles. She didn't allow herself even one knife, no matter how much comfort it would have given her pressed against her body.

Natasha wasn't stupid. There was literally only one scenario in which she came out of this alive, and that was to complete the mission objective. She had to do everything in her power to shift the odds in her favor. All the weapons in the world wouldn't help her against the three of them in the state she was in, and completely disarming herself, leaving her more naked than if she had taken off all of her clothes, was as much a sign of good faith as it was a plea.

She was standing in front of the enemy completely disarmed. By his very nature, he had no choice but to hear her out.

He didn't disappoint.

"Well, well, well." He grinned at her, arms clasped behind his back, suddenly completely at ease. "I admit, I was not expecting that. Nevertheless, you now have my undivided attention, for however long it may last."

Her next words would either make or break her.

"Our friend is dying." She said, her voice steady. "I have been sent by the Midgardian King to offer you whatever you may ask for in exchange for his life."

It was a gamble, a far greater risk than Russian roulette, in which she was only gambling with her life. She was making a lot of assumptions based on her observations of Thor, Loki and whatever she gleaned from Thor's stories about the Asgardian king. But most of her chips were balanced on one instance that happened after the attack on New York.

After the shawarma but before he and Loki were beamed back to Asgard Thor had taken Steve aside to properly express his gratitude as a Prince of one realm to the King of another. Tony had to stuff his fist into his mouth to stop himself from laughing like a hyena as Steve had to stutteringly explain to Thor that 'Captain America' was not analogous to 'King of America'. Then it spiraled into an explanation about the concept of Democracy, which Thor had trouble grasping, much less understanding.

It wasn't hard to imagine Loki's offspring coming to the same conclusions.

Sure enough, Fenrir's eyes widened a fraction before narrowing at her. He circled her like a wolf would a wounded prey and it was taking all of her willpower not to tense, to not try and jump after her discarded knives. He finally came to stand behind her and moved to the side if she tried to turn her head to keep him in her sight.

It was an intimidation tactic, and unfortunately it was working.

"I remember you." Fenrir murmured, less than a foot behind her. If she snapped her head back she could probably break his nose but the smirk in his voice told her quite clearly she would be signing her death warrant if she tried that. "The flame-haired Valkyrie. You were quite a formidable opponent. And yet here you stand, defeated and begging for help."

He strolled leisurely back into her sights. "He must be truly at the gates of Hell if you are this desperate."

Natasha said nothing. Be quiet, look interested, and they would spill all of their secrets, one way or another.

Fenrir was no different. After a minute of quietly observing her he tilted his head in consideration. "What makes you think you have anything to offer us worth the bargain?"

Phase one was a success. The fish was lured in. Now to dangle the bait.

"From what I understood, you flee from Odin, the Allfather." She began. "He does not rule this realm. As you said, he sent his son as an ambassador, hoping to broker an alliance with the Human King that had broken eight centuries ago." That was about the time Christianity started replacing all 'heathen religions'. It was relatively safe to say it was also the time Asgardians stopped vacationing on Midgard.

"But our realm is autonomous, and Allfather holds no real power over us." Now to see if the fish wanted the bait at all. "Should you help us we would be indebted to you. You could stay wherever you wish on this realm, and so long as you do not cause trouble we would see no reason to tell Odin of your whereabouts."

Fenrir now raised both eyebrows. "You would defy the will of Odin himself to save your shieldbrother? My, my, I had forgotten how truly foolish you mortals could be. What makes you think you could defend yourselves against Odin's army when you couldn't even defeat us?"

The fish sensed a hook in the bait and was prodding at it cautiously.

"The King of Midgard had given orders that no lethal force may be applied in our battle with you. I admit we have underestimated you, but we are fully aware of the power the Allfather wields, and I can assure you we have the means of matching it."

"I find that hard to believe." Fenrir snorted. "I must applaud you for your attempts at trickery, and had you not come here in the state you are in I might have believed you long enough to heal your friend." His expression abruptly turned cold. "As it is, I shall allow you to leave with your life. Tell your Midgardian King if he sends any of you after us again there will be nothing left to send back."

Natasha gritted her teeth as she struggled to keep a blank face. He wasn't supposed to call her bluff. The fish wasn't supposed to decide it was better off without a worm than with a worm on a hook. She wasn't supposed to fail this mission!

Her chest felt like she was being stabbed with molten hot knives as she struggled to breathe evenly. She never once moved her eyes from the wolf's, as if her sheer force of will would make him reconsider. But he just narrowed his eyes and straightened his back, towering over her. "Go back to your king, little mortal, before I change my mind about letting you live."

She didn't move. Because what was the point? If she went back empty handed Bruce would die, and his death would finally send Tony over the cliff of depression along with Steve. Without the two of them the Avengers would fall apart, and with SHIELD either splintered or infected by HYDRA the world they had narrowly escaped during WWII would become a reality.

Quite frankly, Fenrir would be merciful to kill her then and there.

"You mortals truly don't know when to quit." Fenrir bared his fangs. "So be it. Maybe with your death your King will realize how powerless he truly is."

As a clawed hand wrapped around Natasha's throat, she remembered something Clint had once said, before a mission in which survival seemed impossible. She had been prepared to die for her mission even back then, but he had grinned at her with all the cockiness of someone who had escaped impossible odds before.

When you look death in the eye and death blinks first, nothing seems impossible.

Natasha closed her eyes.

Chapter Text

"Brother, wait."

Natasha's eyes snapped open as the new voice made Fenrir remove his hand from her throat. Jormungandr dropped out of the tree onto the snow and turned to look at her consideringly.

Unlike Fenrir, the only thing that marked her as Loki's child were her eyes. The color and the shape, the same as that god's who had the gall to ask for a drink after trying to take over their world.

Jormungandr stalked slowly towards her, as much of a predator as her brother. Standing straight in front of her she now realized how tall the albino woman was. Almost as tall as Thor, and she looked the way Natasha imagined a woman would if she had been given the Super Soldier Serum, every single muscle enhanced to its limit. Her face was fairly androgynous and her shoulders as wide as a man's. If it wasn't for the curve of her hips and the swell of her chest it wouldn't have been hard to assume she was a man.

Unlike the last time she saw her, Jormungandr now sported armor similar to Thor's, except hers was pitch black with metallic accents and lacked a cape. Her silver hair was woven into elaborate braids to stay out of her face and behind her back but it was no shorter. She wondered if she even could cut it, it Tony's claims it was made of metal were true.

"The friend you speak of…" She asked Natasha, "…is the green Berserker?"

"Yes." Maybe the plan hadn't failed. Maybe she had simply been playing the wrong player.

Jormungandr frowned at her slightly. "He was a truly worthy opponent. Stronger than I assumed even, if he is still alive enough that you hope he can be saved."

"Our healer said he could still be saved by the eve of tomorrow." She has getting the hang of this Alltongue formulation. "But your venom is too strong, and time is running out. I assume you have heard the offer I presented your brother. Will you take it?"

"Jormungandr, are you mad?" Fenrir cut in. "Even if she is telling the truth they are allied with the Odinson. They cannot be trusted."

"Many others have said the same thing about us," Jormungandr tossed back, "and after a while we stopped trying to prove them wrong. Father said to learn from the mistakes of others, because those foolish enough to make them all themselves do not live long enough to become wise."

Bringing up their father shut the elder up quite effectively. Natasha was getting the feeling that, for all of Loki's misgivings, raising his children had not been one of them.

"Your friend fought formidably. He deserved to fall honorably and be escorted to Valhalla by the strongest Valkyries and sat next to kings." Jormungandr tilted her head down slightly, either in apology or regret. "It was not my intention to grant him a coward's death, to rot on a healing bed and find himself at our sister's gates. T'is not a death worthy of one such as he. Had I known it would be him and not the Odinson I would poison I would have strengthened my venom, and he would have died on his feet, before he had even fallen. For that I can offer only my apologies… And my help."

She paused for a moment and turned to Fenrir, whose frown said all that needed to be said about his opinion of the matter. She ignored it. "Brother, you know that to save him I will need your seiđr. Will you come with me to grant him a second chance to fall as a warrior?"

Natasha was actually startled at her morbid reasoning. To save a man only to kill him again differently? There seemed to be too little difference between their ideas of honor and cruelty, but it sounded so much like something Thor would say that she had to wonder if this weren't Loki's words she was repeating, but merely Aesir ones. If these were the lessons both Thor and Loki had been imparted with, it spoke volumes of the King of Asgard and his parenting skills.

She didn't know how to feel about that.

"As I have said, we would be indebted to you." Natasha repeated. "Do you wish to state your price now?"

"Price?" Jormungandr cut in before Fenrir could utter a word. "Honor has no price, and if it does it's worthless. My brother is right to distrust your intent, and the intent of your 'King'." There was a slight intonation at the word 'King' that Natasha wasn't sure how to interpret. "My help is warranted so long as you are willing to accept it, under the condition the Thunderer is nowhere in sight so long as we are there. If you want to bargain further do so with my brother, for I have no wish to with those that lack understanding."

Fenrir was glaring at Jormungandr so hard Natasha got the feeling he would have smacked her upside down the head if he wouldn't be risking breaking his hand again on her skull. She could understand why, especially considering the positions they were in. What worried her was the fact Jormungandr was willing to barter away something as valuable as a favor for the high horse she was sitting on. She clearly thought they wouldn't need the Avengers' help, that they were powerful enough on their own, and after what she witnessed at the beach Natasha couldn't claim it was arrogance anymore. The albina went toe to toe with three of their strongest right after being woken up and abruptly transformed and nearly won.

The redhead was uncomfortably reminded these guys were basically gods, no matter how they dressed.

Fenrir sighed in frustration, glared at Natasha some more, then slumped his shoulders in defeat and crossed his arms. "Fine, but I reserve the right to blame you when Hela asks what are we doing in her realm so soon."

"I would expect nothing less." Jormungandr acquiesced with a nod. "You may lead the way."

"Oh, one more thing." Fenrir stopped her before she could turn around. "To return your gesture of goodwill…"

Natasha instantly tensed at his tone, but before she could even raise her hands to defend herself Fenrir's hand sparkled with golden magic then shot out with lightning speed at her chest, hitting her breastbone with the flat of his palm.

The pain knocked her out even before her knees buckled.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Was that truly necessary?" Jormungandr hissed at his brother upon catching the falling woman. Fenrir shrugged.

"I healed her injuries and gave us some privacy to talk. And while we are on that subject, have you completely lost your ability to reason?!"

Jormungandr sighed in frustration. Fernir's paranoia wasn't exactly unwarranted but it could be tedious at times. "I refuse to let this be yet another thing I lose sleep over."

"You only sleep every three days!"

"Which is little enough, I think you will agree." Jormungandr's tone brokered no argument. He curled his other arm around the back of the redhead's knees and lifted her up. Her head lolled backwards limply so he shifted to make it rest on his shoulder. "I hope you know the way because it doesn't look like she will be forthcoming with that information anytime soon."

"The flying boat is that way." Fenrir waved his hand in the desired direction. "I could smell it even before it landed."

"Good, then you can lead the way."

Fenrir glared at him like he wanted dearly to set his brother on fire but Jormungandr wasn't concerned. If his wolf sibling had that power he would have demonstrated it by now.

"Is it safe?" Sleipnir poked his head out from his hiding spot behind the wintergreen shrubbery. Jormungandr nodded so the younger boy warily came out, eyeing the Valkyrie in his brother's arms as if she might wake up any moment and attack him.

"Sleipnir, would you collect her weapons? I do not know how valuable they are to her."

"A most excellent idea!" Fenrir barked sarcastically as the blond hastened to comply. "Let's arm an already dangerous adversary who is no longer handicapped just as we are entering her territory. Is your life no longer dear to you?"

"Do you really believe puny mortal weapons could harm us?"

"They did a good job of it the last time we faced against them!" Fenrir growled deeply in the back of his throat. "If you were anyone but my brother I would have refused immediately. But your continued stupidity in this matter is making me seriously consider it!"

Jormungandr glared back at him. "Be careful with your words, brother. Besides, is the offer of a safe haven not even a little tempting to you? You liked it the last time we lived on Midgard."

"We were children, and in case your memories are faulty father had to take the shape of a woman and marry the chief of the village to let us stay. Are you saying you are willing to do the same?"

Jormungandr didn't reply. The female form he had found himself in upon waking up had been odd at first, but not that much different from the male one he was used to. Besides, adjusting to having a different gender was far easier than adjusting to having legs. He could hazard a guess as to why he was like this, but he was far from comfortable enough in it to attempt what their father had done.

"And she is clearly lying." Fenrir continued. "Midgard is far too big and splintered to ever be united under a single king. She is taking us for fools, and you are absolutely determined to prove her right!"

"Um…" Their heads abruptly whirled towards their youngest brother. He had buckled the Valkyrie's belt around his own hips and put as much of her weaponry in it as he could. The rest he was cautiously balancing in his arms, trying not to nick himself on the various and pointy edges. "Should I keep these or…?"

Jormungandr looked at Fenrir expectantly. The elder didn't even look at him, so he gentled his voice and said, "Alright. If you have a better plan than forever hiding in these woods like common beasts, I would like to hear it. But if you don't then it seems this is the best option we have. Isn't it at least worth trying?"

Fenrir didn't have anything to say to that either. Jormungandr and Sleipnir just looked at him, holding the flame-haired Valkyrie and her weapons in their arms respectively. He thinned his lips and looked down, half in defeat and half in frustration. "Fine. We'll go." His eyes sharpened. "But we get in, mix the potion, make them swear they won't come after us and we get right out."

"That was my intention all along." Fenrir clearly didn't believe his words but didn't call him out on it either. With a blank expression he simply started walking in the direction of the flying boat. Jormungandr followed, Sleipnir close behind him.

"Are you sure they will keep their word?" Sleipnir asked quietly.

"You can never be sure of anyone's words until they have proven them." Jormungandr repeated one of father's lessons. "But we fought them once and prevailed, even though we were unprepared, and they will not dare to attack until their friend is saved. We will be fine."

Sleipnir's expression was wrought with worry still. "Why does everybody hate us so much?"

Jormungandr's chest ached at his brother's words. "I have always wondered the same. But there has never been any answer other than that we are the children of a trickster god. That was always reason enough."

Sleipnir didn't say anything more, just continued walking quietly behind him, as if trying to hide in his brother's greater shadow.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Natasha experienced the strange sensation of someone mentally shaking her awake. It was like Clint had come into her room and was lightly shaking her shoulder and whispering her name, trying to wake her up gently. But Natasha was far too light a sleeper to have ever really experienced such a thing. She could feel something was wrong, but it was like going through a milk-thick fog: no matter how much she wished she couldn't wake up faster.

When she finally managed to force her eyes to open, she saw three pairs of nearly identical deep green eyes staring at her, golden sparkles still dancing around the ravenet's fingers. It was a testament to her profession that she found it only mildly disturbing.

"We don't know how to drive your boat." Fenrir told her flatly.

Upon seeing her awaken Jormungandr set her on her feet, and held onto her arm until she was sure Natasha had regained her balance. She was actually so disoriented that she wasn't sure how she came to be in the position she was, namely unconscious in her enemy's arms. That kind of carelessness would have cost Natasha her life in any other circumstance. But before she could even ask what exactly they were hoping to accomplish with knocking her out when they didn't even know the way to New York she realized she could no longer feel the painful pull in her chest.

'A gesture of goodwill', Fenrir had called it. A rather unconventional way of showing it, but Natasha was willing to take it if it meant not having to wear a brace for her whole torso for two months.

"Here," Sleipnir approached her with a cautious smile, holding her weapons out to her. "I think I got all of them."

Natasha was honestly surprised about his gesture. Either they actually decided to trust her, which was doubtful, or they had really low opinion of her fighting skills.

"Thank you," She nodded and started taking Sleipnir's load off his arms. The two elder siblings were watching her like hawks, ready to react at a moment's notice if she made one wrong move, but didn't say anything. A lesser man would have folded like wet tissue under the pressure. Natasha mostly found it annoying.

"The trip back lasts about an hour and half." Natasha told them as they boarded the jet. "If you'd please sit down and buckle up."

They walked around the jet looking like three lost puppies. Their faces were all a mix of confusion and curiosity as they cautiously sat down and wondered what to do with the seatbelts. It was… disconcerting to watch them, knowing what they were and what they were capable of.

Natasha prepared for takeoff while they still argued. She wasn't sure how they'd react to JARVIS as Thor had many times equated him to Heimdall, a watchman that sounded exactly like someone they'd need to avoid if they didn't want to end up imprisoned again. They were spooked easily enough as it was, until they saved Bruce Natasha couldn't afford to scare them off.

JARVIS had the same idea apparently because he took control of the jet without uttering a word. With a quick glance to make sure her passengers were preoccupied (Fenrir was showing something that looked like magical holograms to Sleipnir, Jormungandr appeared for all the world to be napping) she took out her phone and opened Steve's contact.

Subjects acquired, back in 1h 20min. Make sure Clint and Thor are gone by then and don't bring them back until Bruce is cured.

Are you sure this is a good idea? What if it's all a trick?

They are more worried we'll be the ones to trick them. If we don't they are very likely to do their part of the deal and leave.

I can't believe you succeeded. Are you okay?

Natasha debated for a second what to tell him. Steve was not going to take the news they had knocked her out under the pretense of healing her injuries well, but she still didn't know why they'd done that. Maybe they put a curse on her or maybe they just wanted ten minutes of privacy so Jormungandr and Fenrir could argue some more, but unless she asked them she couldn't know.

Right now, saving Bruce was more important.

I'm fine. They fixed my bones as 'a show of goodwill'. They say they can save Bruce.

Alright, I'll keep Hawkeye and Thor occupied. Will you need help?

They aren't hostile, I can handle them. Maybe take Stark with you too.

I'll see what I can do. Natasha almost rolled her eyes. Only Captain America could make a short text message sound utterly disapproving.

She turned back to check on them every ten minutes. So far she only saw Fenrir and Sleipnir play with magic lights. She noticed the colors were different though. Fenrir's magic cast a golden glow she had seen far too much of already, but Sleipnir's was cyan blue, the same color as the staff. Incidentally, he was also wearing a golden bracer with a blue gem in the middle that was suspiciously reminiscent of the scepter they took. She hadn't known the staff could change shapes but it didn't take a genius to put two and two together.

Jormungandr had never so much as opened her eyes during the entire flight. She sat closest to Natasha, Sleipnir wedged in between her and Fenrir. Another thing of note in their interactions. They were almost insanely protective of the young blond, as if they thought he would be harmed the instant they let him out of their sight. She hadn't had a chance to observe the way they behaved around Sleipnir because every time he was anywhere near her they were more focused on making sure they were ready to pounce at the slightest hint of danger. It could just be the Elder Sibling Syndrome but something in Natasha's gut was telling her it was something else.

As promised, they arrived right on time. One hour and thirty-five minutes after boarding Natasha landed the jet on the roof of the Avengers tower. "We're here." She announced and got out of the seat in a hurry. Bruce had one day left and who knew how long it would take them to make the antidote?

They followed her obediently enough, walking in a single file with Fenrir in the lead and Jormungandr guarding the back. They paused before they even got off the ramp, their eyes wide in astonishment as they saw the impressive size of New York that could only be seen from the heights the tower provided. Natasha supposed the sprawling Metropolis surrounding the tower was good support for her 'King of all Midgard' claim. She debated letting them gawk a little but they were on a schedule.

"I'll take you to our healing chambers." She said mostly to get their attention. They snapped out of their goldfish imitations and followed after her with mildly disturbed expressions. Good, anything that would dissuade them from the very bad idea of double-crossing the Earth's mightiest heroes.

But there was a line of too much intimidation, and it seemed she had crossed it.

The second Jormungandr set her foot on to the roof of the tower she gasped and fell to her knees, then pressed her palms flat against the metal surface of the roof.

"Brother! What is the matter?" Fenrir hurried over to her.

"I feel a pulse." Jormungandr's voice was faint, just above whisper. When she looked up there was genuine fear in her eyes, something Natasha realized she hadn't seen yet and it looked absolutely wrong to see it. "A heartbeat. Reverberating through the walls. Fenrir… This tower is alive."

So much about not telling them about JARVIS.

Chapter Text

It wasn't an exaggeration to say that Fenrir had known Jormungandr for as long as he could remember. Literally the first memory he had was of his brother, just a tiny snakeling back then, looking at him curiously from where he was wrapped around Father's fingers. Fenrir had leaned forward to sniff him, then had been startled into sneezing when a tiny forked tongue flickered over his snout. Both Mother and Father laughed at Fenrir's offended look, but it didn't take him long to forgive his new brother.

They lived on Jotunheim back then, and would for some centuries still. Fenrir holds many memories of that frozen realm dear because that was as close to a happy childhood they had ever gotten, him running over icebergs with Jormungandr swimming in the sea next to him. He remembered his first kill, and his brother's. Remembered that time they brought down the great Icecrusher whale, how proud Mother and Father looked.

He remembered that time, not long after they had started learning magic and rose up on two legs, when the royal guard of Hrimthurs found them. They were alone and weaponless, not knowing how to transform back into the forms they stood a chance of defeating the ice giants in.

Fenrir had been frightened but Jormungandr, back then so small Father could pick him up one-handed, his brother whose shimmery white hair had only just started growing, had stood as tall as he could and coldly informed the giants if they left now they would get to keep their lives.

The Jotuns laughed. And then attacked.

That was something didn't remember. He was knocked out by a baton from the giant that attacked him first. But when he woke up Father was looming over him with his face wrought with worry. Fenrir had shot up from the floor, belatedly realizing that the reason the fur under him felt familiar was because they were home.

He bolted up and towards the place where he could smell his brother was. He smelled so much blood his stomach had sunk to the level of his heels. Ignoring Father's yelling he nearly tore down the fur at the entrance of the kitchen and found Mother wiping off blue Jotun blood off a grumpy Jormungandr. He sported an impressive bruise over his eye and shoulder but none of the blood appeared to be his.

When he saw Fenrir he turned around and grinned, his two long fangs just as bloody as the rest of him. "I said I could take them, have I not?"

Jormungandr had managed to fell every single one of their attackers with his venom, then had heaved Fenrir over his shoulders and carried him home. It was the very first time Jormungandr had saved his brother from whatever trouble he had gotten himself into but it was far from the last.

Fenrir had never seen his brother scared. Not when they were surrounded by Hrimthurs, not when their pregnant mother was cut down right in front of their eyes, not when Father left to descend into the depths of Hellheim, not even at the trial. Jormungandr had always glared at whatever adversary they faced, not an ounce of fear or hesitation in his eyes and he never backed down. Fenrir would go as far as to say his brother didn't know what fear even was.

Until today.

He could not remember a sight more terrifying than Jormungandr's startled fear as he knelt on the top of their enemy's tower and claimed it to be alive. Fenrir didn't know what he meant but at that moment he was far too terrified himself to contemplate it.

"That's JARVIS." The Valkyrie said. "He… is the building, I guess you could say. Our King created him to run his tower."

Jormungandr visibly collected himself with great effort. Fenrir felt Sleipnir grab onto his arm, obviously spooked himself, so he wrapped his arm around his thin shoulders. No, he couldn't show how afraid he was now, not in front of his brothers and certainly not in front of the enemy.

Jormungandr rose as calmly as he could, his face looking like it was carved from marble. "I see. Lead us to your friend please."

The flame-haired warrior looked at Fenrir's brother with narrowed eyes for a moment but then turned around and entered the living building. Fenrir's eyes cut towards Jormungandr sharply.

"What was that?" He hissed.

"Exactly what I said." Jormungandr whispered back, looking pensive. "I can feel a pulse of a giant heart through the walls of this tower. I can feel some strange power, similar to that of the red golem we fought at the shore. This… Jarvis, as she called him, might be a spirit able to take possesion of things that are not alive."

"But that's impossible." Sleipnir whispered back. "You said souls cannot take anything that didn't have the breath of life in them. How can one breathe life into an entire tower?"

It was a very good question, and the implications it rose were too frightening to even contemplate. "Whoever this Midgardian king is," Jormungandr said lowly, starting to walk after the Valkyrie, "I think you'll agree it would be wise not to make an enemy of him."

Fenrir would rather face down the Hrimthurs in battle as a stripling child again than enter that door, but his brother was unfortunately right. He shuddered to think what sort of retribution would have come upon them had they really refused to help. Jormungandr's sense of honor might have actually saved them that frightening future.

Still, he nudged Sleipnir along to walk right behind their brother with Fenrir guarding their backs. They were led down metal stairs shined by a blue glow. Fenrir covertly ran his fingers along the walls as they walked, probing with his magic to try and feel exactly what sort of entity this ‘Jarvis’ was.

But no matter how deep he probed there was nothing. As if the entire living tower was absolutely devoid of the touch of magic. He couldn't even feel any concealment spells, not even the lingering remnants of dissipated spells.

Now Fenrir believed the Valkyrie of flame, that a King powerful enough to preside over the whole of Midgard existed. A lot of things Fenrir had seen on just one floor of this tower not even Odin could accomplish on his own. Fenrir wondered if the King in question was even mortal at all or another divine being descended to this realm with the intention of conquering it.

He had been asleep for far too long.

"JARVIS," The Valkyrie called out. "Is he still in the workshop?"

"Not at the moment." A disembodied voice sounded from everywhere and yet nowhere at once, and it was all Fenrir and his brothers could do not to flinch. "Captain Rogers has escorted Sir to his rooms. I will alert you if he comes back."

"Thank you JARVIS."

A pair of glass gates slid sideways in a way Fenrir had never seen before without touch or prompting. He could see Jormungandr tense but their escort walked in without hesitation. They had no choice but to follow after.

On a metal slab and with various tubes running into his flesh laid the green Berserker. He was more gray than green now, with Jormungandr's poison ruining him from the inside. Fenrir could see veins that looked more black than blue, could see his chest rising and falling with difficulty. His suffering was clear on his unconscious face, desperately battling an enemy he stood no chance of winning.

It had been centuries since Fenrir had last seen his brother's poison at work, but the sight of its effects was still a startling one.

"Here are some things you might need." The Valkyrie gestured to another metal table, almost completely overtaken with strange devices of metal and that strange white material he couldn't place. "JARVIS will tell you what everything is and provide you with whatever you might need. You just need to call his name."

Fenrir nodded and cautiously approached the table with the strange bottles. They had labels on them that meant nothing to him, but he could touch the ingredients inside with his seiđr and it would tell him far better what the contents were than names in an unfamiliar language.

Fenrir turned around. The Valkyrie was standing at the entrance with her arms crossed, supervising them. Sleipnir had been sat on a strange ottoman with a cushioned backrest and Jormungandr was standing by the side of it, deliberately blocking the redhead's view of their brother. It was yet another reason Fenrir hesitated in calling him over.

"Sleipnir," He called. "Stay there and do not touch anything. Jormungandr, I need you here."

His brothers looked at each other. Sleipnir nodded at his silver haired brother and made a show of sitting on his hands. Jormungandr looked very much like he wanted to roll his eyes but he did walk over to Fenrir with only one backwards glance.

Fenrir handed him a glass beaker. "Do you remember how much you injected him with?"

"Yes."

"Then you remember the process?" Jormungandr nodded and accepted the glass container. But as soon as it left Fenrir's hand and Jormungandr's fingers closed around it, it cracked and shattered in a shower of tiny shards.

For a moment they just looked in complete bafflement at Jormungandr's hand. That… was unexpected. Jormungandr was ridiculously strong, that much was a given, but he usually had better control of it than that. Fenrir had handled it and it didn't seem that fragile to him. Maybe he was more rattled by the whole 'living tower' thing than Fenrir thought.

A quick check confirmed that the Valkyrie guarding them didn't seem mad. She wasn't even startled, just looking at them with a raised eyebrow.

"No matter." He swiped his foot on the floor and pushed the shards under the table. Selecting another beaker, he reached into it with his magic, all the way down to the bonds that bound matter together and strengthened them. The transparent glass turned opaque white, interspersed with tiny veins. "Here, this should be stronger than the other one."

Jormungandr took the beaker more cautiously. When it stayed whole in his hand he opened his mouth and extended his fangs to bite at the edge of the glass. A second later clear fluid started dripping down, drop by drop.

While Jormungandr was busy he took the time to scan every tube and container on the table. Most of the things he recognized but what surprised him was that a lot of the ingredients he needed were actually in their desired form. He wouldn't have to perform any extractions it seemed, merely take the proper amounts of what he needed. Well it certainly made the job easier; he thought he'd have to hunt a dragon and take its liver to make the potion but one of the compounds he needed was already in a bottle labeled 'ethylenediamine tetraacetate'. Humans had a really strange language.

So, under the watchful eyes of the Valkyrie of flame and a spirit of the darkest magic, Fenrir worked to save a Berserker warrior from his brother's poison.

'We should stay on Midgard' he said, Fenrir thought grumpily, 'The Aesir don't even come here anymore', he said, but did he even wonder why they didn't come here anymore? Of course not! Next time, we're going to Niflheim. It's can't be any stranger than this.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Jormungandr once said that Sleipnir was far too innocent for the lifestyle his siblings led. The only world he had seen was as Odin's steed, and even on campaigns his food and shelter were provided for. He had servants to groom him and take care of him, and no one in the whole of Asgard would dare to harm a horse of Odin's.

The life his brothers had lived when their mother died was far harsher. They'd told him how many times people slammed doors in their faces, how many others who were supposedly indebted to Father pretended to give them shelter only to call for Odin the moment they fell asleep. Only Father's scrying had saved them those times, and it was one of the very first skills he had taught his eldest child, knowing they would not survive without it.

They knew hunger, they knew pain, they knew despair and loneliness and no matter how much they wished to they couldn't spare Sleipnir the same fate now that he was free. The moment Fenrir cast the transformation spell on him he knew what he was damning him to, but Sleipnir didn't regret a moment of it.

He was free.

The thing about being a horse is that people treat you like a horse, and no matter how much you wished you couldn't tell them otherwise. Even Father had at first been doubtful, for he had never gotten the chance to teach his youngest child magic, or to give him shape of his own. If Father had never figured it out Sleipnir would have forever been considered a beast of burden, never even thought of as anything else.

But now. Oh, how wonderful it was to have a voice! He hadn't been sure he wasn't dreaming that first night at the stables, but upon waking on the icy Midgardian ground it hit him that all of it was real. Now he could talk, he could read on his own, he could even learn to write! Upon seeing his brother's fascination with the written word Fenrir had sneaked into several human establishments to find the small but holy places of knowledge: libraries. People looked at them strangely before they figured out how to imitate human clothes, but once they did nobody even looked at them twice.

They never stayed in once place for long, constantly on the move and they never came back to the same place twice. They had no Midgardian currency so they could only read books in the establishment itself. Fenrir had wanted to steal several of them but Sleipnir balked at that. Books were precious, and they hardly had the dry conditions to keep them in. Besides, libraries were abundant on this wonderful realm. They could always get more.

It was in these holy places that Sleipnir was taught how to read. When he learned how, Fenrir would just plant him at a table in whatever library they were at in some secluded part where they wouldn't be bothered, then he'd take out the crystal ball they stole from a traveling gypsy and scry, looking for anything that might aid them in saving their siblings. Sleipnir remembered many hours spent in such a way. Remembered the textbooks, the fairy tales, the encyclopedias, the science fantasies, every single book was precious to him, and more than once he nearly gave into Fenrir's offer to steal them for him.

But no. The books were safe here, and Sleipnir would be selfish to leave other people depraved of their wonders.

He had been without them for too long to do that to anyone.

He would forever be grateful to his brother for freeing him, for giving him hands and teaching him to read. He owed him more than he could ever comprehend, and he would trade the warm stables for the cold ground and the starry skies, and trade all the sugar and oats in all of Asgard for the wild-grown grass just to stay on Midgard with his brothers and be allowed to worship in the holy libraries.

Now that he had gotten the taste of the life Fenrir warned him about, he hoped with all his heart that his brothers would save the green giant and that the King of Midgard would be a man of his word. They didn't come here with any intention of causing trouble but it seemed the exact second people found out their names they expected them to become bloodthirsty monsters.

Sleipnir had never even been in combat on his own and even that was rare in the peaceful times of Asgard. He had never been taught how to throw a punch, how to break bones, how to block attacks and how to fight to survive. On the run nothing was guaranteed, not food, not water and definitely not survival. But if the King of Midgar really kept his word they would be able to stay without fear, maybe even earn money to build themselves a house, somewhere warm and dry they could live and keep books. Where they could be a family without others wanting to tear them apart.

Sleipnir's greatest wish came true once. Perhaps this one could too.

He was cut out of his musings by a strange beeping noise. When he turned to the source of the noise he was met with the strangest creature he had seen in all of the nine realms. It had a tubular metal body with a strange clawed hand extending from the top joint. Instead of legs it had tiny wheels. It chirped and bopped at him inquiringly.

Sleipnir didn't know what to do. "Um, hello?" The creature chirped back at him and clacked its claw. Sleipnir tilted his head. "Can you understand me?"

The creature whirred and moved its claw up and down. Sleipnir's eyes widened. It could! "I'm Sleipnir. What's your name?" He asked with a wide smile.

It whirled around on its axis, waving the metal hand everywhere. Sleipnir laughed slightly. It was so cute! But it still hadn't told him its name, only beeped and chirped at him. The blond noticed something written on the side of its arm. He leaned sideways to look at it.

"DUM-E?" He said out loud and frowned. "Dummy? You don't look like a dummy. You seem very smart."

Sleipnir got the feeling DUM-E was preening at the praise. It suddenly shot off into another part of the laboratory so fast even Fenrir and Sleipnir turned around to see what the noise was about. They blinked at the strange metal creature in confusion and looked at each other in question. The unnamed Valkyrie seemed to think it was perfectly normal though.

Left alone Sleipnir once again sat on his hands and looked at his siblings as they worked. Jormungandr tore out the vein in his wrist to squeeze the blood into a beaker. Sleipnir was a bit surprised it was blue but they said their mother was a Jotun so it made sense that his blood was blue and Fenrir and Sleipnir's was red. Fenrir was walking around the table, hand glowing with seiđr and hovering over every strange dish and bottle on it.

He was once again interrupted by whirrs and clicks. It seemed DUM-E was back, and in his claw he held a glass filled with some kind of green liquid. He pushed it into Sleipnir's hands and the horse boy had no choice but to accept it.

"Oh, thank you." He smiled. DUM-E chirped. Behind him was another creature like him, peering at him curiously. Sleipnir leaned to the side. There was only a white 'U' written on the side. What strange names they had.

Sleipnir looked at the glass mug in his hands and curiously sniffed it. It smelled fine, kind of grassy actually. He took a sip and then a big gulp. It was actually very tasty!

"Mmm, thank you very much!" He handed the mug back with a smile. "It's the best I've had in a long time. You're a great cook."

DUM-E was positively ecstatic. But he still offered no actual words in answer, and Sleipnir was a little confused. But then his eyes widened in horror as he watched the two metal creatures beep and chirp at each other, when he realized something.

What if they couldn't?

What if they were like Sleipnir? Able to think and reason like any intelligent being but trapped in a shape that forbid it. What if they were imprisoned here just as Sleipnir had been in Odin’s stables?

What if this was their cry for help?

Sleipnir chanced a look at his brothers. They were preoccupied with making their potion and were paying no attention to anything else. The Valkyrie guarding them had all of her attention on them as well, hardly sparing Sleipnir a glance. But that would change in a heartbeat if Sleipnir attempted to cast the transformation spell.

DUM-E must have felt his tumultuous thoughts for it nudged him in the shoulder. Sleipnir turned to him and petted him along his arm. DUM-E’s single purple-black eye focused in on him and gave a long but quiet ‘wheee’, as if sighing in pleasure.

And that cemented it for Sleipnir. No matter what, even if he had to oppose the King of Midgard himself to see it done, he would free DUM-E and U and give them forms they could talk in. He was sure at least Fenrir wouldn’t mind.

As soon as nobody was in the laboratory rooms, he would set them free.

Chapter Text

When Steve had read Natasha's note he'd been fully prepared to run after her and haul her back, possibly by her ear. He had expected something similar from Clint, but Natasha was supposed to be the sensible one, and on top of everything she was injured.

They were already on the verge of losing Bruce, his nerves couldn't take another team member dying by the hands of Loki's children.

Of course, she knew him far too well to be anywhere near the tower by the time he found the slip of paper. And without the jet he had no means to go after her, not unless he wanted to ask Thor to go instead, but sending Thor anywhere near those three was just asking for an even worse earthquake.

And perhaps, a part of him was hoping she would succeed. If there was anyone in the world who could make even the worst monsters repent for what they'd done, one way or another, it was Natasha.

So when she sent him the text that she was on her way back with them and needed Thor and Clint out of the tower, Steve got Thor and Clint out of the damn tower.

"Tony said he has an idea, but he needs some stuff to make it, and he needs someone to get it." He came before his two teammates and looked them straight in the eye.

They believed him, because Captain America would never lie to his them.

"Gimme the list and gimme the address, I'll have it here by dinner." Clint unsnapped his bow. "Nat already know? She'll wanna come with."

"Natasha already took the jet, she didn't wait for me to find you and give you the rest of the list."

"Great," Clint just rolled his eyes, "fine, I'll just take Thor, see how she likes that."

"Captain," Thor nodded solemnly, "I know how great the temptation to come with us is, but one must stay with Anthony, to ensure he does not perish alongside our friend. You have that duty."

Steve looked away and nodded, feeling like he just betrayed his friends' trust. Here he was sending them on a wild goose chase while he let dangerous and possibly insane individuals in the tower, on the off chance they would do as promised and save Bruce. He felt like a Trojan horse, assuring the Avengers there was no danger only to open the gate to let the enemies in.

If only they was another way… But time was running out, and sometimes it was easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

ETA in 10, Natasha sent, and Steve went to get Tony.

If anything the genius looked even worse than the first time Steve managed to pull him out of the lab. He'd barely gotten a few twenty minute naps for five days with only an occasional sandwich Steve managed to stuff him with.

Steve really hoped Natasha knew what she was doing.

"Hey," he greeted. Tony didn't even notice him, staring intently at a holo-screen next to some kind of a machine that hooked up to the various veins in Hulk's body. "Time for your twenty minute nap."

"Not a fucking kid, Rogers." Tony grumbled then  typed something on the virtual blackboard. The insanely complex molecule was combined with a slightly less insanely complex molecule, created an abomination, fell into two pieces and flashed FAIL in bold red letters over the screen. Tony cursed extremely creatively and with gusto.

"Sir, if I may," JARVIS intoned, "You've already tried combination twice. Perhaps sleep is in order."

"Can't sleep." Tony whispered as he rubbed his bloodshot eyes. "Don't have time to sleep. If I go to sleep Bruce won't wake up."

Steve's heart just about broke to hear that. They were all afraid that Bruce was going to die, but Tony was terrified. Steve knew about the nightmares, how Tony woke up screaming about the abyss and dying alone. Knew only because he'd been wandering the halls in a daze after his own nightmares forced him out of bed, and as he'd been checking his teammates' floors he heard sounds of distress on Tony's level. He'd barged his way in before JARVIS could stop him and instead of an enemy found Tony flailing around with his eyes closed, screaming.

He remembered how his blood had run cold. He'd ran to his friend, yelled at him to wake up, shook his shoulder, anything just to save Tony from his own mind. When Tony finally snapped awake, panting and covered in sweat, he looked wide eyed at Steve as if he couldn't believe he was really there. "Steve?"

Hearing his name whispered so brokenly broke something in Steve as well. He'd hugged Tony as tight as he dared, whispering things like 'you're alive', 'you survived' and 'you're not alone, it'll be okay, Tony'. And the genius clung to him like Steve was a lifeline he'd been desperately searching for.

They'd fallen back asleep after that, and when Steve woke up next Tony shot out of bed like it was on fire and never spoke a word of it again, no matter how many times Steve tried to broach the subject. Before he could decide on a new course of action JARVIS had sent them to Sokovia to get the staff, and instead they found chaos.

Now, maybe they won't even live to talk about it.

"Come on," Without warning Steve hauled Tony up, one arm around his back and one under his knees. The genius flailed for a second then just wrapped his arms around the soldier's neck in resignation. "Fine. Wake me up in twenty, not a minute longer."

"Fine." Steve conceded but Tony was asleep before he even heard it. Steve sighed.

"Captain," JARVIS sounded, "Agent Romanoff is coming to this floor. She'd bringing guests."

"Thanks JARVIS." Steve nodded and went towards the elevator, Tony perfectly oblivious. It still surprised him how much Tony trusted him, to literally fall asleep in his arms.

And Steve was letting monsters into his home.

He took the time to take Tony's shoes off and pull back the covers to actually get him under. The resident genius barely grumbled, only to mutter 'tw'nty mintz' softly. Steve sat on the edge of the bed for a minute, just watching him. God, Tony always tried so hard and the only thing he got in return was more heartbreak, yet more things he lost forever and someone betraying him whenever he turned. Steve honestly didn't know how he held himself together sometimes. But now he was ripping at the seams.

They had to save Bruce, or they would lose far more than the Hulk.

He stayed there for the mandatory twenty minutes to make sure Tony's internal clock didn't wake him up and send him back to the lab. After a few more minutes of quiet snoring he got up and went towards the workshop. "JARVIS, alert me when he wakes up."

"Acknowledged."

He debated with himself for a minute then took a detour to his own room. If he was going to be there to supervise the three siblings he wouldn't be much use unarmed. Granted, he wasn't much use armed either, the last time they fought them. But darn it all if he would go down without a fight!

So he made his way down the lab, in full uniform and with his shield on his back, prepared for just about every possible sight to greet him.

But a blond teenager sitting atop Butterfingers whirling around the lab was decidedly not one of them.

"WHEEEEE!!!" He screamed, waving his hands in the air excitedly. Or perhaps trying not to fall off.

"Sleipnir, quiet down." The one with long white hair- Jormungandr, his brain supplied- said without looking up from the test tube she was mixing. The other one, Fenrir, had several ingredients floating around engulfed with golden magic, his face scrunched in concentration in a way Steve regularly saw in Tony and Bruce when they were deep in an experiment.

"Don't worry, he hasn't collided with anything yet." Steve turned to Natasha in bafflement, but she was just sitting on the arm of the couch and watching the three of them with an expression of mild amusement, which for Natasha was as good as outright laughing. "Butterfingers has surprisingly good maneuverability."

"What's going on here?" He leaned over to whisper.

"You can talk at normal volume, it doesn't make much difference to them." Natasha shrugged. "Far as I can tell those two know what they're doing, they're just using terminology even JARVIS can't make heads or tails of. The kid met the bots and became fast friends. Good luck trying to stop them."

The youngest one, Sleipnir, was sitting on top of the spinning bot laughing manically like he was on a mechanical bull. The other two were mostly ignoring him, but Steve noticed the silver one tense when she saw Steve watching him. He looked straight back at her, eyes narrowed, and she glared back just as hard. Who knew how it would have ended if Natasha didn't elbow him in the ribs.

"Don't." She ordered. "They're more paranoid than Fury, and coming from me that's saying something. Don't give them a reason to be. Ignore the kid and let the other two work and they'll be out of our hair in an hour."

The order was a bit hard to follow since Sleipnir wasn't exactly quiet, no matter what Jormungandr ordered. To be fair, the bots were causing more noise with their cheeps and beeps than he did laughing, but it was still a feat of willpower to not immediately snap his attention towards them. When he noticed Steve looking at him he sobered up some, but the bots yanked his attention back to them.

"Um, why is he-"

"He was supposed to sit on the couch, but then DUM-E wanted to be friends and gave him a vegetable smoothly." Natasha shrugged, unconcerned. "He asked me if he could play with them. I saw no reason to refuse. If they're keeping him occupied he's less likely to get bored and wander off, or try to play with something he definitely shouldn't be playing with. He's harmless enough."

Steve couldn't help it, he stared at Natasha in complete bafflement. "Less than a week ago he broke half your ribcage."

She shrugged one shoulder again. "Exactly, a week ago. Besides, that was in battle, and they fixed it afterwards."

Steve was slowly getting a clue that something wasn't as it should be. Not even Natasha was that unflappable, no matter if her assailant was now behaving like a kid at a fairground. He chanced a look at the two elder siblings. Fenrir was still preoccupied but Jormungandr was looking at them suspiciously. Assesingly, Steve realized, she's determining how much of a threat I am. How much of a threat we pose. Natasha said they can hear us no matter if we whispered or talked normally, and that they're more paranoid than the Director of SHIELD. That's why she was so quick to forgive: she's trying not to give them a reason to be afraid of us.

It was a little jarring to realize your opponent was more frightened of you than you were of them. But Natasha was right, in the Avengers Tower they were effectively backed into a corner and hoping that those keeping them there would move out of the way if they did what was asked of them.

Steve mulled how to ask his question. "What did they agree to in exchange?"

"As the King of Midgard promised," Natasha answered just a little pointedly, "they would get to stay on this realm without our interference so long as they do not cause any trouble. Also, if Odin comes looking for them, we have never heard of them."

Steve boggled a little at Natasha's genius. He'd dismissed the whole 'King of Midgard' spiel Thor had spouted off after the battle with the Chitauri as another Asgardian thing, but he'd neglected to consider that Loki was also a prince of Asgard, and would have raised his children accordingly. The very fact that they were here in the first place attested to that. They believed that the 'King of Midgard', which in this case was probably Tony, even if Natasha never specifically said their teammate's name, held the power to let them stay if they saved his friend in exchange.

Steve wasn't sure it was such a good idea. They were very powerful children of a certified lunatic, who knew what would happen when they found out about how Loki had led the Chitauri army and the Avengers defeated him. But, to be fair, in the months between the Dark Elf apocalypse and the theft of the staff they had probably been Earthside the entire time, and yet there hadn't even been a local police report on them. Now that they found out Loki was dead, it could be quite possible they just wanted to live in peace without the threat of imprisonment looming over their heads.

The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children, he remembered the saying. But what to do when the children weren't even aware of their father's sins? When they had no intention of following in his footsteps?

"I'd like to ask them a few questions myself, to see what exactly they consider 'trouble'." Steve told Natasha, knowing full well at least Fenrir heard him from the way he tensed. "Just to make sure it matches with our own definitions."

Fenrir and Jormungandr glanced at him briefly, then looked at each other in a wordless debate. It went on for almost a minute, then ended with both of them looking at Sleipnir where the youngest was showing the three robots something that looked like magical holograms. They exchanged yet another meaningful glance, then went back to work. Steve had to admire the synchronicity they displayed if nothing else.

So Steve and Natasha stood there observing the two. As he watched them Steve was suddenly struck by a memory of Thor and Loki standing next to each other as Thor offered his fallen brother one handle of the cube's container. It was striking to see the similarities in Fenrir and Jormungandr. Fenrir looked almost like a carbon copy of his father, except younger and maybe a bit more muscled. He even wore the leather outfit with the green coat similar to the one they had seen Loki wearing. From a distance it wouldn't have been hard to mistake him for the mad god.

Jormungandr, on the other hand, looked almost nothing like her brother and their father. If anything, she was more similar to Thor, standing at his height and boasting a muscle mass even greater than Steve's own. Even her armor was similar, and her floor length white hair fell down her shoulders much like Thor's cape, only in silver rather than red.

It was a jarring reminder that Thor was technically their uncle, and yet he was of the opinion they should have been put down the moment Odin found out about them.

Exactly how much of Loki's madness was his own fault, and how much was the fault of his circumstances?

Steve’s thoughts were interrupted by a strange 'POOF' sound and a plume of bluish smoke coming from the container Fenrir was holding. To make an already strange situation stranger Jormungandr inhaled deeply, sucking in all the residual smoke. What was left was a single glass of a transparent blue liquid that reminded Steve of the vials of the Super Soldier Serum, the blue strikingly vivid in his memory as the Serum fixed his colorblindness.

"It is done." Fenrir nodded. "It will be enough to dilute it with some broth and have him drink it.”

"That won’t be necessary." JARVIS piped up. "On the table to your left you will find a syringe. Intravenous injection might be the better option in this case. You merely need to fill it with the antidote, pierce the skin with the needle into a vein and press the plunger. It would be more direct and start working quicker."

"That… would work faster, true." Fenrir said hesitantly. But Jormungandr only shrugged and located the desired object. The Hulk sized syringe was enough to make even Steve queasy, easily as long as his entire forearm, but Jormungandr examined it curiously then, under JARVIS’ instructions, dunked the needle in the blue liquid and pulled the plunger. The two watched in silent fascination as the antidote rose with the plunger. Fenrir smirked and scoofed something that sounded like ‘clever mortals’ under his breath.

Syringe filled, Jormungandr turned to Steve. “Do you prefer to do it yourselves?”

Before Steve could say anything Natasha cut in. "We are warriors, not healers. If you feel more qualified to do this then we will not protest."

It was a carefully selected answer that avoided telling them that they couldn’t. The Hulk’s skin was far too thick to get a needle through it. The time Tony wanted them to test his Hulk-tranqs the first obstacle wasn’t getting the sedative to work but getting the dart to pierce Hulk’s skin. So that time Bruce completely lost control of the Hulk, Steve had to wrap his legs around the Hulk’s neck in Natasha’s signature move and hold the dart like a nail so Thor could hammer it in.

It was a great feat of teamwork and coordination, and it amounted to absolutely nothing. The sedative made Hulk a little woozy, but five minutes later he was back to clear-headed rage and madder than ever.

But Jormungandr had already proven capable of getting under his skin, no pun intended, even if it was with her teeth. She actually stood a chance of getting the antidote into Bruce. Not for the first time Steve wondered exactly how strong a giant snake capable of crushing a planet actually was.

Following JARVIS’ instructions Fenrir palpitated a stark vein in Hulk’s elbow as Jormungandr pressed an air bubble out of the needle. They worked in quiet coordination, efficiently, like they were in a battle back to back, only they had to save the enemy in order to defeat him.

Fenrir held the arm still as his sister worked the needle in at an angle. As Steve suspected she had a bit of difficulty actually getting the needle in but she managed to pierce the skin on a second try. That done, one hand holding the syringe and the other on the plunger, she slowly pressed it down.

The effects started showing even before the giant injection was empty. The grayish green became the trademark Hulk green once again, and by the time the plunger had hit bottom it started giving way to faint pink. The two siblings took a step back as Hulk spasmed randomly and started shrinking back to human size. Slowly, bit by bit, the Hulk gave way to Bruce, the various tubes falling away from him as his size could no longer support them, for the first time in days breathing without his lungs trying to disintegrate themselves.

Steve and Natasha walked over and leaned over to look into Bruce’s face. He was still pale, with quite a bit of stubble covering his jaw, but he was alive, and betting better. With a flutter of lashes he blinked his eyes and blearily looked at the four pairs of eyes watching him.

“Am I dead?” he croaked, his throat parched.

“Not quite.” Natasha gave a smirk in response. “Close call though.”

Bruce groaned some more, muttered something about feeling ‘dead enough, thank you’, when Fenrir turned sharply towards Steve.

“We completed our end of the bargain, now it’s your turn to complete yours.”

Steve nodded. They had indeed held up their word, and so long as they laid low the Avengers would have no quarrels with them. In fact, Steve debated if he should offer to make them secret identities, make them fit in with the crowd of average humans, maybe start their life anew, safe in the knowledge their debts were repaid and there was nobody after their heads anymore.

Of course, just as so many times that day, before Steve could utter a word the doors of the workshop swished open and Tony stormed in, hair going in every direction and with murder in his eyes.

“STEEEEEVE!!!” He howled. “I told you twenty minutes! Why am I waking up after a-“ Then he noticed there were people in his lab that distinctly shouldn’t be there. It was hard to tell who was more startled, Tony or the siblings. Steve hoped Tony would let them explain before-

“WHAT THE HOLY MOTHERFUCKING HELL?!”

Nevermind…

Chapter Text

"WHAT THE HOLY MOTHERFUCKING HELL?!"

Fenrir had tried to imagine what a mortal capable of ruling the second biggest realm of Yggdrasil would look like, but all his mind could conjure was the image of Odin. This version had grayer hair and more age-lines, but was equally cold and viciously cruel.

This bedraggled mortal man with messy short curls and a shorter beard was the complete opposite of that. Instead of finery and subtle jewellery with a staff that signified his might, he wore loose trousers and an odd black vest with no buttons. Honestly, he looked and smelled more like a common metalsmith than a king. Fenrir thought for a minute he was mistaken.

But then he looked at the center of his chest and his blood ran cold. He reached for the knives he had kept from the Valkyrie's arsenal and bent his knees in a fighting pose. Distantly he was aware of Sleipnir bolting across the room and pressing himself in between Jormungandr's hair and back. For his part, the silver brother widened his stance as well and subtly inhaled in such a way that made his chest and shoulders seem wider.

There in his chest, instead of a heart, the King of Midgard had a star.

"Tony, we can explain." The warrior in blue that reminded Fenrir uncomfortably of Thor rose his hands placatingly and subtly came to stand in between Fenrir and the king. "They came here to help. See for yourself."

He waved at the transformed berserker who looked at them all blearily from where he was propped on his elbows, alive but clearly still too drugged to comprehend much of what was happening around him. The king of Midgard's eyes widened, darting between Fenrir and his cured warrior.

"I'm okay," the Berserker assured him. "Little dizzy, and hungry enough to eat a cow, but fine." He swung his legs down from the edge of the metal platform and sat up, but suddenly groaned and clutched at his forehead. The redheaded Valkyrie came up to support him but he straightened again in a second.

Fenrir still didn't lower his stance, peeking over the Aesir-like warrior's shoulder at the Midgardian King. He at least didn't look enraged anymore, merely wary but that was an adjective that could be used to describe the whole room. Even Sleipnir's strange metal friends had fled out of the way.

"They did exactly what we asked of them Tony," the warrior in blue continued. "They gave the antidote to Bruce as requested. Nothing wrong."

"You've obviously forgotten who poisoned him in the first place!" the King shouted at him in renewed anger. "And why the hell wasn't I informed of this?!"

The warrior went on to explain but Fenrir's blood was pounding in his ears too hard to hear anything. The King didn't know. The Valkyrie had tricked them after all. They had been unwittingly led into the belly of the beast, literally, and brought to the mercy of a ruler much more powerful than them.

Jormungandr figured it out as well because he reached and squeezed Fenrir's shoulder, whether in reassurance or in warning Fenrir didn't know. He forced himself to listen to the conversation between the king and his warrior. He was obviously in on the joke the Valkyrie had pulled on them, but he was… defending them?

"…been going mad!" he yelled at the king, and Fenrir briefly wondered how he hadn't lost his head yet for such disobedience. "You haven't slept in almost a week and you barely heard every third word I said! Would you have listened if Natasha had proposed this plan to you?"

"I would have made a better plan than just marching injured after them!" the King yelled back. "And when I pull a stupid stunt like that in battle I get reamed!"

"As much as I appreciate you admitting some of those were excruciatingly stupid, that's not the point here! Natasha brought them here to save Bruce, and they've kept their word. Other than Norway they hadn't done a single thing wrong the whole time they've been here, and even then we attacked them first."

"Have you forgotten their dad tried to off us last year?!"

Fenrir's eyes widened at the King's exclamation. Their Father was here?

"Not to mention the bit where be brought an alien army with him!"

"Loki's dead," the warrior, who must have been the General himself to speak to the King in such a way, shot back.

Fenrir did his best not to flinch.

"And they hadn't been there when he attacked New York. You of all people should know not to blame the child for the mistakes of the father."

The King flinched at that and looked away. The General looked contrite at his words but made no move to take them back. Fenrir wondered what sort of grievances a man like that could have with his own father. But then again, their father had been very powerful too and Odin had never hesitated to hurt him in the worst ways possible.

Finally the King sighed and brought his hand up to rub at his eyes. "I don't have enough caffeine in me for this conversation." His hand dropped and he looked back up. "Or alcohol. Or both, actually, and I guess I shouldn't be making these decisions sleep depraved."

He looked straight at Fenrir and the wolf tensed but didn't raise the knives again. They were in an extremely perilous position here, and while Jormungandr could probably grab them and jump out of the nearest window they had no idea where the archer and the Thunderer were, nor did they know the reach this palace-creature, they were inside of, had. Fenrir detested being at the mercy of a mere mortal, but there was nothing mere about this mortal.

If they had to stay calm and quiet and do their best to assure them they were no threat… Well, they had been in worse positions before, and this time it at least looked like they were actually willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

"We mean no harm to you, or your realm." Fenrir made sure his voice was steady. "We only came to that shore looking for our brother, not to cause discord. If you let us walk out of here you need never see us again."

"Yeah, that's actually part of the problem." The King raised his eyebrow in mock disbelief. "I know I sound like Fury here, and if anyone mentions this to him they're not getting anything from me ever again." He glared briefly at the Valkyrie."But setting you three loose on our planet makes every single paranoid brain cell I have light up like an arcade. You can thank your daddy for that one, by the way."

Fenrir got the gist of it, and he didn't like the point he was making. But diplomacy channels hadn't broken down yet. "If you require proof of our goodwill, name it. If it's within reason we will be glad to provide it."

Jormungandr's hand squeezed his shoulder again, this time in restrained anger. Even though he was turned back to him Fenrir could tell he was glaring at the King. They had already proven their good intentions, and if they were anyone else they would have probably not only been let go but thanked. All of their actions so far had been within the code of honorable conduct, admittedly thanks to Jormungandr, but they had no reason to be so hostile towards them.

None other than the fact they were Loki's children, of course. But that had always been reason enough.

"Well for a start you can return the staff to us." The King crossed his arms. "Don't think we haven't noticed the little accessory Barbie over there is wearing."

Fenrir grit his teeth and prayed to the Norns for strength. This was not going to go over well. "We can't. For an unknown reason it has attached itself to my brother’s arm. No amount of magic or force has been able to get it off."

"Then you won't mind if we try a few things of our own." The king raised an eyebrow in challenge, but Fenrir would not have Sleipnir within a thousand leagues of him if he could help it in any way.

But before he could tell the mortal King to go straight to Hellheim, Sleipnir extracted himself from their brother's back and came forward. "I agree to this."

"Sleipnir!" the eldest hissed at him. Had everyone in this family gone mad?!

"Maybe they can take it off!" Sleipnir insisted. "And if they can, we can stay on Midgard. Isn't that what you wanted?"

Honestly, Fenrir had been mentally reviewing the passages that would take them to Niflheim the quickest from the moment they stepped foot in the palace-beast.

"Please Fenrir." Sleipnir looked at him imploringly, and the thing was, Fenrir couldn't do it to him. To Sleipnir Midgard was the realization of every single dream he had since he could understand what the stablehands around him were speaking of. There were only two realms they would be even remotely safe on, and in the fogs of Niflheim only monsters far worse than them dwelled. There was a reason no civilization had ever developed on it, and while it would be ideal for hiding it was perhaps the last realm Sleipnir would be able to survive without their constant supervision.

Jormungandr's hand was still on his shoulder, relaxed and uninfluencing. In the short few days he had known Sleipnir he too came to understand how dear Midgard had become to their youngest brother. He wanted to stay as little as Fenrir did, but if Sleipnir wanted to stay this much they at least owed it to him to make an effort.

And honestly, Fenrir wasn't too keen on returning to the land of eternal mist either. Jormungandr might be able to breathe in both air and water but Fenrir preferred his atmosphere dry.

"Attempt what you will." Fenrir finally looked at the Midgardian King. "But if you hurt my brother in any way, shape, or form we will raze your tower to the ground."

"See, that's the kind of talk that makes me uncomfortable about letting you go." The King glared back. "Don't worry, I'm not going to saw his arm off or anything."

"And once it's off," the General added, "you three are free to go. And as long as you don't cause trouble for us, we will do the same."

Out of all of them Fenrir had to admit he was the most inclined to trust the Aesir-like mortal. He seemed to have a code of honor he was determined to follow, much like Jormungandr, and if he said they would be allowed to go free if they handed the staff over then the chances were high that he intended to keep his word.

The King and the Valkyrie were the ones they had to watch out for.

"Right, let's get this party started." The King turned to the Berserker who had, in the meantime, put on a coat of white cloth. "Bruce, you good enough to give me a hand at this?"

"I think so." The Berserker, Bruce apparently, stood straight and walked over to the King. "But I think I'd rather go put on some pants first."

"You do that, I'll start the scans."

Bruce the Berserker and the Valkyrie left with hardly a backwards glance. Fenrir was actually hoping the General wouldn't leave, as he seemed to be the only one capable of standing up to the King.

"C'mere kid." The King waved at Sleipnir and walked over to some strange glowing platform. "Up on that, I need to scan you to see what we're dealing with."

Sleipnir had gone whiter than Jormungandr, his face nearly bloodless. But the brave boy still took a shaking step forward, determined to appear as unshaken as possible. Fenrir had honestly never loved him more. He put his hand on his brother's back and gently provided assistance and stability as they were waved over to the platform. It was round, the edges glowing with that blue magic that didn't feel like magic, and it was surrounded with four metallic horns, each of them with a strip of blue light at the top.

"Hop on." The king waved at it absentmindedly. He didn't even notice that Jormungandr had a clear path to jump on him and break him in half if need be. There was a lazy, or perhaps tired, slouch to his shoulders that meant he was either completely oblivious to the danger the Lokisons posed, or he was simply assured enough in his power that they really didn't pose any kind of threat to him.

Fenrir didn't know what boded worse for them.

Sleipnir was shaking like a leaf but desperately trying to hide it. Loosening the death grip on Fenrir's hand, he stepped up onto the platform, doing his best to imitate the color of Jormungandr's hair. Fenrir grit his teeth and used every ounce of willpower he had not to jump on that platform himself, grab Sleipnir and jump out the window. There was water outside, and Jormungandr would catch them; anything to get his brother back to safety.

"You don't have to worry." The General obviously noticed their discomfort since he addressed Sleipnir with a placating expression. "It's just a scan. You might want to close your eyes because it will be a bit of a lightshow, but it's not invasive."

"It's a form-scan, it's the least invasive piece of scanning equipment I have," the King grumbled under his breath.

He called up magic screens, adjusting things for the scan with little flicks of his fingers. Fenrir's fingers itched with the need to see what in Father's name that magic he couldn't feel was.

"It'll just give us a 3D model, radiation statistics, material composition, things like that. Hopefully we'll find a latch you 'missed.'"

Fenrir didn't know how to feel about the emphasis on the last word. He was hyperaware of every single one of the King's movements and only slightly less conscious of the General's, but every shake and shiver Sleipnir gave sent a needle through his heart. The only thing keeping him in control was Jormungandr's rock-solid presence at his back. He didn't need to look to know that Jormungandr had that stone cold expression on his face, his arms at his sides in mock stance of relaxations and every muscle poised to strike if he even caught a whiff of danger.

Thank the Norns for little brothers, always watching your back when you needed it the most.

The horns suddenly each emitted a cluster of light rays. Sleipnir tensed and closed his eyes in fear, but the lights focused solidly on his arm. They engulfed the bracer in blue, gave a strange high pitched noise and then simply turned off. Sleipnir opened his eyes, startled that it was over.

"There we go." The magic board in the King's hand turned into an illusion of the spinning bracer. Every single detail was meticulously shown as if he'd already taken it off Sleipnir's arm. "J, run diagnostics and wait for Bruce. Steve, make Jacob and Sephiroth over there stop growling at me. I need my sacred caffeinee."

And with that he simply tottered out of the room.

Fenrir really didn't know what to think.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Tony rubbed his eyes on the way to his room. Usually sleep deprivation hallucinations hit him after six days, but Hell, if hallucinations helped him cure Bruce, he wasn't complaining. A lesser man might’ve believed he was going nuts but this was Tony Stark; if his brain expected him to believe Loki's kids just came back to help out of the goodness of their hearts, it needed to up its game.

That said, he really needed to sleep and keep his fingers crossed that Bruce being cured wasn't part of his demented mental imagery as well.

"J, is Bruce really okay?"

"Doctor Banner has indeed nearly back to his former health," JARVIS' soothing accent came over the speakers. "He has dressed and is currently being filled in by Agent Romanoff. They are in the kitchen if you wish to see for yourself."

"Nah, Brucie-bear in a feeding frenzy is a sight my heart might not be able to take in this state." Tony shook his head lightly, trying to clear it. "I'm going to bed and sleeping until my imaginary guests stop visiting."

"Sir?"

"Nevermind. Tell Captain Worrywart I'm fine, he'll probably be glad I'm finally getting conked out for a few hours." Tony just shucked his shirt off, kicked his pants to a corner of the room and collapsed onto his $500.000 king sized mattress complete with silk sheets. Hey, if he had to get some sleep to avoid insanity, he might as well do it on a bed that felt like it was made from clouds. He was a billionaire, sue him.

As he drifted off to blessed dreamland he absently wondered why he didn't remember how he found the antidote to the Super-venom. Meh, JARVIS would have the footage. As much as he couldn't trust his brain he could always trust JARVIS' cameras. They would tell him what really happened in the workshop.

Chapter Text

Steve and the sibling trio were left to stare after Tony's retreating back in bewilderment. Because, honestly, what in the world had just happened? From the moment Tony made a comment about needing coffee and alcohol for that conversation it was like he'd done a 180. He didn't even notice that the kids were scared to death of him, God only knew what Natasha had told them, something he shouldn't have been able to ignore.

A few moments later he turned back towards the siblings. Fenrir was staring at him expectantly as he stood in front of Jormungandr. Sleipnir was once again hiding behind her back, covered with long white hair. They reminded Steve a little of soldiers preparing to fight a battle they knew they couldn't win.

"Look," he started a little hesitatingly, "I get the feeling we've given you a very wrong impression of us. We're usually more hospitable than this but it's been a bad week around here, and you came at a rather bad time." He offered an apologizing smile. "You're free to go as soon as I talk some sense into To- the King. If you'd like we can offer you dinner in the meantime."

Fenrir blinked in confusion a few times, then narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "You don't need to pretend. I can smell poisons and Jormungandr is immune to every single one of them." It was as much a refusal as a threat, but Steve ignored the hint. After the whole disaster he rather hoped they would at least leave the tower without plotting revenge on the Avengers.

"Then you can be certain it's safe to eat." Steve said stubbornly holding his smile. "Like I said, we've made a bad first impression. I'd rather you at least left without thinking we're the bad guys. We might not have demonstrated it the best, but we do have manners on Earth."

Fenrir was still looking at him like he was waiting for him to reveal what the trick at their expense was. Steve knew he probably shouldn't, but he felt really bad about their situation. There was a lot of pieces of the story missing but he'd gathered from what Thor told them and what Natasha had found out that there was a reason they were as paranoid as Nick Fury.

Apparently they'd been living on Jotunheim with Loki and their mother when Odin caught word of them, killed their mom, and then spent the next few centuries hunting them across space. When he finally caught them he imprisoned them each on a different planet in their animal forms. And taken the youngest as his war steed. And Thor saw absolutely nothing wrong with that, because they were "the worst of monsters, who shall bring about the end of the worlds, Ragnarok", Thor's exact words. They went through all that on the assumption they would one day do something horrible, and imprisoned to stop it from happening, before they even did anything.

Steve knew he shouldn't be sympathizing with the enemy, and he wasn't, not really. But he was starting to understand why Loki had gone mad.

"Listen," he sighed, "Thor has told us enough to figure out you guys aren't exactly welcome in most places, but here on Earth we have the concept of Asylum. That means you have immunity from being prosecuted by other… realms unless you do something worth prosecuting right here on this land's soil. Also," Steve's voice hardened just a notch, slipping more into Captain America than Steve Rogers, "we don't believe in preventive punishment. We don't imprison anybody before the crime has actually been committed, and since you've already fixed what you've done we actually can't keep you in this tower either. You're free to go right now if you wish, and we can't stop you. I can only ask you to stay long enough to clear up any misunderstandings, so that if we do run into each other again we're on good terms."

All three looked baffled now, as if they had never heard the things Steve was talking about. To be fair, they probably hadn't. Thor still had trouble seeing any kind of merit in Democracy and he couldn't imagine the other realms having much different policies. If they were used to the type of monarchy where the King's every whim became law it would explain why they were so terrified of Tony.

He suddenly really regretted going along with that deception.

"From what I've seen of you, you are a man of honor." Jormungandr suddenly spoke after a weighty silence. "I understand you are also a man of high rank in your King's employ, and your words, if they be true, can carry a lot of weight. You are saying if we left right now you would not stop us?"

"No." Steve confirmed. "Like I said, we would prefer you stay a little while longer just to make sure we've all understood each other, but I hold no right to stop you. So long as you're in America you are free people. You don't attack anybody, nobody attacks you, and vice versa. You don't make trouble and you never have to see us again if you don't want to."

"The words your Valkyrie of Flame spoke were much different." Fenrir injected. "We were led to believe we would be prosecuted unless we cooperated."

"Her name is Natasha, actually." Steve said. "And I'm aware her wording might not have been the most… accurate, but now that you have undone the damage done to our friend we have nothing to prosecute you for. Had he died it would have been a much different matter, but from what I understood as soon as you were told of the situation you immediately came back here and amended the damage that's been done. You've righted your wrongs. You don't have to answer to anyone for anything else."

It had been a while since Steve had had to be this eloquent, but hanging around with Thor for over a year meant it came smoothly enough. Asgardians reacted well to eloquence, he noticed, he hoped it worked on- well, whatever they were as well.

Fenrir still appeared skeptical but Jormungandr soon offered a small smile in return. "Then it would not be a hardship to stay for peacetalks. I believe nourishment was offered?"

Steve smiled in relief. "I'm sure JARVIS already has something ready."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Bruce was pretty sure he should have been panicking. He'd woken up from a poisoned coma with the woman who poisoned him looming above his head. That alone should have been enough to make him Hulk out, but instead he felt like he'd eaten a few a few too many pot brownies on top of anti-anxiety medication that actually worked on him.

In short, it felt like all was right in the world.

He knew Natasha was looking at him a bit oddly as he stuffed his face with the veritable feast JARVIS had ordered in. There were primarily Chinese and Indian dishes, but Bruce spied a pizza (that was next on the list) and a fettuccini alfredo too.

"You're commendably calm." Natasha noted. She was nibbling on a breadstick she took from somewhere among heaps of food, something Bruce glared at her for nearly half a minute but she just nonchalantly continued as if she wasn't stealing food from the Hulk. "Saving the Hulkout for after you've eaten, or…?"

Bruce shrugged, his mouth too full to answer. It confused him as well actually, and he knew that if there was any time in his life to be ready to smash at a moment's notice then this was it. But it was like the other guy took a look what was happening on the outside world and decided he wanted no part in it. It was like, for the first time since he'd been irradiated, that constantly simmering anger and fear of losing control we simply gone. He felt like he was at peace with the world.

It created a strange case of cognitive dissonance. Emotionally, he was in LaLaLand. Intellectually, he was trying to slap himself into at least some semblance of situational awareness beyond the pie he was devouring.

He must have cleared at least a third of the table, and it was a large table, when suddenly Steve walked in with the terror trio in tow.

Natasha tensed across from him and subtly leaned back, already reaching for her weapons. Bruce took one look at them, looking more awkward than he felt in crowds, and turned back to his Fettuccini Alfredo. As far as he was concerned, choosing between Sesame Chicken and Pad Thai was more important than the issue he could pawn off on Natasha.

"Steve, what are they doing here?" Natasha asked tersely.

"I invited then to dinner." Steve returned in kind. "They came here in goodwill, it's only fair we show the same amount of faith." His voice hardened a notch. "And while we're on the subject, I'd like a word with you. Alone."

Uh-oh, Nat was in trouble. Bruce was actually mildly curious what she'd done to warrant Steve's 'you have no idea how much trouble you're in' tone. It was usually reserved for Clint or Tony when they decided it was a good idea to prank a god with a hammer, super soldier with PTSD and an assassin who played Tetris with knives. At least they had enough self preservation instincts not to put green dye in Bruce's showerhead.

Natasha got up cautiously and followed Steve out of the room, not once taking her eyes off the siblings. The one that looked like Loki, Fenrir, followed her with the same ice in his gaze. It was like an entire battle being fought with only eye contact. Even Bruce, who hadn't felt this stoned since his freshman year, could feel the tangible drop in temperature.

But even the livingroom of Tony Stark wasn't that big. Eventually Natasha had to follow Steve out the door, and then Bruce was left alone in between a man-eating wolf, a gigantic snake and an eight legged horse and a spread of the Earth's tastiest foods.

Bruce was no fool, unlike some people he could name, nor was he heartless. He took one look at the awkward god-monsters, looking like three lost kids from an Andersen story, and waved a hand at the table. "Help yourselves."

They all looked at each other for a moment, as if conferring whether or not it was a good idea. Then Fenrir finally stepped forward and sat down one seat to the left opposite Bruce. The white haired one, Jormungandr, pushed the blond forward and sat him down in between the elder two. When it became obvious that they weren't going to just 'help themselves' Bruce selected the meatiest item on the table, which happened to be steak because Tony was the pickiest eater on the planet and JARVIS was far too used to ordering for him, and pushed it forward in front of Fenrir. Then he located a fruit and walnut salad and plonked it in front of Sleipnir.

Jormungandr was trickier. While logic dictated a wolf needed red meat and a horse would essentially be vegan Bruce's knowledge of Herpetology was woefully lacking in the snake diet department and he doubted mice would be enough to sate her, even if they had any on hand. Still, a carnivore. Couldn't be that much different from a wolf. He located a plate of grilled chicken breasts slathered in barbecue sauce and figured it was a good start.

It was only when he returned to his own food that they began to eat as well. Fenrir found a knife and stabbed his ribeye steak in the middle then started eating it like a kebab. Bruce was far too used to seeing Thor eat when he was too hungry to use manners Jane beat into his head to even blink. But Sleipnir attempting to eat his salad without hands was definitely new.

"No Sleipnir, use this." Jormungandr tapped her brother on the shoulder and handed him a fork. Sleipnir looked at it in confusion before accepting it, then looked back at the elder as if asking what in the world this was and why would he need it to eat.

To her credit Jormungandr didn't even blink. She quietly adjusted her brother's grip on the fork so he wasn't holding it like he expected to stab someone with it. "Now you pierce the food with it, and bring it to your mouth." Jormungandr advised. "That's how civilized people eat. And no, Fenrir is not an example to be followed."

As if to live up to that claim Fenrir, already done with the steak, Bruce was impressed, leaned over and stole the plate of chicken from his sister. "Case in point." She simply said and again adjusted Sleipnir's hold on the fork.

Even feeling as drugged as he did, the scientist in Bruce was curious. The fact that Sleipnir didn't know how to eat with cutlery suggested that he never had to before. According to the myths he was born and raised a horse. Could it really be he'd never been human long enough to learn how to eat like one?

"Sorry." Sleipnir muttered and looked down dejectedly when he noticed Bruce looking. "I'm not really used to eating like… this."

"That's okay." Bruce waved his hand in dismissal. "At least you eat off an actual plate, unlike some people I could name."

Fenrir paused in his perusal of the dishes on the table to look at Bruce a bit suspiciously, but after a second concluded the jab wasn't aimed at them. He had already finished an entire platter of chicken, then followed his nose to a plate with meatloaf. Bruce wasn't entirely sure where exactly that came from. Then again, it seemed JARVIS had ordered a bit of everything, only Bruce overlooked it all in favor of more oriental foods. At least that meant there was something for everybody. As long as nobody touched those eggrolls that managed to hide behind the roasted duck Fenrir just took with him.

Finished with the salad Sleipnir moved onto the sautéed vegetables and creamed spinach. The boys ate like they hadn't seen a decent meal in weeks, which was entirely possible if they'd been living in the wild. Which begged the question of how in the world did they manage to keep their armor and leathers clean? Though as much as Bruce hated to admit it the answer was probably magic. Even Thor, who couldn't tell a microwave apart from black magic, when he took up Mjolnir could simply manifest his armor onto himself.

He was a little confused that Jormungandr hadn't even looked at anything on the table. It should have stood to reason she'd eat the most with how big she was.

"Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"No need." She replied calmly. "I ate less than a fortnight ago."

Considering a fortnight meant two weeks last time Bruce checked that should have meant she was starving. Especially with that amount of muscles, she should have been putting both Steve and Thor at their hungriest to shame. But she looked more like she was standing guard while her brothers ate their fill, as if she was there to fend off any predators that wanted to steal their kill.

Then Bruce wanted to smack himself. Of course she wasn't hungry, she was a snake. Snakes ate only periodically and when they did they eat they swallowed prey that was sometimes three times bigger than them, then they had to rest while they digested them. The scientist could almost feel the cold sweat start beading down his back; what exactly did the biggest creature in existence eat?

"If you don't mind me asking, what do you eat?"

"Krakens, mostly." Jormungandr shrugged. "A few whales and sharks. And the sea dragons I come across sometimes."

"Krakens?" Incredulousness seeped in Bruce's voice. "Gigantic octopuses that sink the ships of sailors in the open sea?"

"They are squids, actually." The snake woman was actually amused. "And they don't venture close to the surface anymore. They used to swim in the warmer currents back when I first came here, but they've been going deeper and deeper since."

"And the…" Bruce had a theory forming in his brain, and it was so incredible he could barely voice it. "…sea dragons?"

"You may know them by a different name." Jormungandr just shrugged. "They look like dragons with fins instead of wings. And some look like cross breeds of dragons and whales."

"Dinofauvs!" Sleipnir suddenly shot up with his mouth full. He quickly swallowed and continued. "Dinosaurs! I found a book on them in a library once. When I showed Fenrir the pictures he said the same thing!"

"They do." Fenrir nodded around the bone he was crunching. "What Midgard lacks in ground monsters it makes up in sea beasts. But the book said they all died out."

"There's not much of them left, true." Jormungandr frowned slightly. "But I would hardly call them extinct. They hunt the smaller sharks and some of the bigger ones also eat krakens. "

"That… does sound like dinosaurs." Bruce couldn't believe what she was saying. But it was pretty much the only explanation that fit. A predator so large it could only eat other giant predators. The ultimate apex predator.

And she was sitting across from Bruce watching her siblings eat with mild amusement. Sure, she was sated now, but what would happen when she did get hungry? Not even Tony had enough money to buy her enough fish she would devour in a single bite. And now that she was no longer in the sea to keep other predators at bay it was likely they would start rising closer to the surface and the beasts the Earth hadn't seen in millions of years would roam it once more. And while Bruce knew marine biologists that would do some very morally questionable things to get to study them, they could disrupt the entire ocean ecosystem. If they started eating humans there would be chaos.

Some of that panic he should have been feeling earlier was slowly starting to surface, and it wasn't even aimed at the people sitting across from him. Jormungandr was far too big to consider humans as a food source, but some of those dinosaurs she was apparently keeping in check weren't. Hell, she was apparently single handedly responsible for the decrease in kraken stories! If those things rose to the surface again, or worse, attacked an oil tanker…

Bruce swallowed uncomfortably, suddenly no longer hungry. One way or another Jormungandr would have to go back to the sea to reassert her position as the boss predator. But for that she had to actually stay on Earth. Steve had told them they were free to go as long as they didn't cause trouble, but he hadn't considered that their leaving Earth would cause trouble all on its own.

And then Bruce had to ask the hardest question of all: how to keep them on Earth? Because he sincerely doubted one of them would leave without the other two. And worse, how to get Thor to agree to it?

Oh God, where was Thor anyway? Did he even know they were here?

"Berserker Bruce," Jormungadr's solemn tone brought him out of his musings. "I wish to formally apologize for causing you harm. It was not my intention."

"Huh?" Bruce could only blink. "Uh, nevermind that, I've been through worse. I actually don't even remember any of it, I just now found out it's been almost a week. And hey, you fixed it, so no harm done."

All three of them were looking at him in such astonishment that Bruce couldn't help but squirm. He just wished to avoid getting on the bad side of someone who could swallow Hulk whole and still be hungry afterwards, but now they were looking at him like he'd grown three heads.

"You Midgardians are so strange." Fenrir tilted his head slightly. For a moment he reminded Bruce of a confused puppy. "Your Valkyrie Natasha is as devious as our father, your General is as honorable as the Aesir claim to be, your King is an enigma in and of himself and I can honestly say I've never met a Berserker like you. Humans don't seem to follow any pattern of behavior whatsoever."

Bruce couldn't help but laugh at that. "Yeah, we're pretty diverse. You have to actually meet the individual before you can expect any sort of behavioral pattern. There are good humans and there are bad humans, but most of us are somewhere in between. I think you are too."

They kind of deflated a little at his words. "You are the first person we've met that thinks like that." Fenrir said absently. Bruce's heart went out to them. He knew that feeling.

"Well I doubt I'm the only one." Bruce shrugged. "You'd be surprised how many people would get along if there weren't prejudices involved on either side. I daresay we might achieve world peace if we manage to get to that point. But in the meantime, we'll have anger, fear and judgment of other people to contend with."

"Eloquent words to say we are considered monsters." Fenrir said. He seemed to be the wordiest of the three, but there wasn't any megalomania Loki's voice was rife with. They could still be helped, and maybe Bruce could offer them a hand with that.

As someone who had desperately needed that help himself, he couldn't not offer that hand.

"Well most people would consider me a monster as well." Bruce smiled sadly at that. "I can't really blame them, I considered myself a monster for a long time. I get angry and turn into a big green rage monster that doesn't stop destroying everything in its path until that anger passes. For a long time I thought I couldn't be around people without endangering them. So I fled to poor countries to hide away. But people there struggled, with illness and disease, and I realized I could help with that. I wasn't really a medical doctor but I did what I could and learned along the way. I thought I could make up for all the pain I'd caused by doing some good, but it was a lonely existence. Constantly living in fear of losing control kind of ruins any interpersonal relationships you might try and establish."

He looked up from his plate to see them watching him with painful amounts of understanding. Bruce wondered how old they were. Loki was younger than Thor, who didn't seem that old in the first place. He knew Aesir basically stopped aging after a certain point, but that made it impossible to say how old they'd be in human terms at any given point. Centuries for them barely translated as a few years.

"Anyway," he cleared his throat to continue. "It wasn't until there was a crisis they needed my help with that they sent Natasha to get me. I couldn't exactly refuse since the fate of the world was hanging in the balance." He thought it prudent not to mention that their father had been the cause of that danger. "And then I came to be surrounded by these incredibly strong people who not only didn't fear me even a little bit, they actually wanted to fight alongside me. After it was all over I thought I'd have to go back to obscurity, but Tony took me aside to offer me a place to stay."

He chuckled at the memory. "He said, and I quote here, 'Hey, I'm gonna Hulk-proof the tower and already have all the best toys. You wanna come be my roomie? It'll be like college again.'" He could the three siblings got maybe every third word at that so he elaborated. "Basically he said he not only wasn't afraid of me, but that he wanted me around for more than just my ability to smash things. I haven't even realized how much I needed that until it was offered.

"I guess my point is, a lot of people are afraid of what they don't understand, and fear often leads to 'kill it before it can kill us' mindset. But there are people out there who don't hold those prejudices and are willing to get to know someone before judging them. And those people are worth looking for."

"You are lucky you have found such people." Jormungandr said. "But I fear we aren't. You are perhaps the first not to fear us."

"Well I was afraid at first." Bruce admitted. "I had never met someone who could stand up to me when I Hulk out before. But then I sat down at the table with you and actually talked to you, and now that fear seems silly. To me, you seem perfectly sane and civilized, and you haven't been violent without a reason before, something I can't say for myself. And you're even interesting to talk to. I know Steve said you don't have to see us ever again, but I for one wouldn't mind if you dropped by for dinner sometime."

They looked at each other briefly, each considering it on their own terms. Then Fenrir looked at Jormungandr questioningly and when she nodded lightly he turned to Bruce. "We would be happy keep in touch with you, Berserker Bruce."

"Just Bruce, please." He smiled and finally resumed eating. "We're all friends here."

But of course such peace couldn't last. The words hadn't been out of his mouth for three seconds before the doors swished open and Clint and Thor came thundering in.

"Hey Stark, we got the stuff you aske- HOLY SHIT BRUCE GET DOWN!"

Pure instinct had Bruce ducking as Clint nocked an arrow and aimed it across the table.

Chapter Text

Clint was exhausted. Breaking into a secret lab that may or may not have been run by some two bit supervillain wannabe wasn't exactly new, but it didn't get any less tiresome every time he had to do it. But if Tony said he needed a cocktail of some unpronounceable chemicals to save Bruce, then Clint was going to put on his best tac vest and fucking own that motherfucker.

Thor was actually a lot of help. Clint thought he'd have trouble staying quiet as they sneaked around but the big guy could be surprisingly quiet when he wanted to be. And when the whole thing went tits up because some minion decided to actually be atentive it was always useful to have someone to smash the roof and shoot out of it like a bat out of hell. Clint's ribs were still protesting the manhandling, though. It was true that Thor was ridiculously fast with his hammer (no pun intended) but traveling at rollercoaster speeds with only Thor's arm wrapped around his chest while he clutched at their acquisition for dear life was not Clint's idea of a smooth ride.

So yeah, Clint was exhausted. It turned out Stark wasn't in his lab, but neither was the Hulk. Clint wasn't sure why but that meant they probably just relocated to another lab.

"Hey Jarv, where's big green?"

"Doctor Banner is in the common room, but I'd advise you not to go in at the moment."

"Shit, Tony's doing experiments in the kitchen again, isn't he?" Clint just sighed and turned directions. "Well let's hope they didn't get far along, or Steve's going to kill him if he blows up half the floor again, or maybe just maims him if Bruce turns out okay."

"Agent Barton, it would be best you didn't enter." JARVIS' voice sounded cautious.

"Don't worry, I'll stay out of Tony's way, I just need to give him this thingamajig he needs." Clint waved him off. Thor, upon hearing Clint might be putting himself in danger by making his delivery, followed behind him like guard dog.

"Agent Barton, stop-"

"Hey Stark, we got the stuff you aske-" Clint suddenly stopped when he took in the scene in the kitchen. Immediately going into agent mode he dropped his container and reached for his bow, classifying Bruce as civilian and the people opposite him as Alpha level threat in the span of a heartbeat.

"HOLY SHIT BRUCE GET DOWN!" He yelled and let an arrow fly.

But Jormungandr was faster. She shot up and leaned forward so the arrow intended for Fenrir ended up in her chest. Or rather, it bounced harmlessly against her chest and plonked down to the table.

Strangely enough, Bruce didn't Hulk-out but looked on in horror as Jormungandr vaulted over the table and shot straight at Clint. The archer didn't even have time to draw his bowstring back when Thor suddenly pulled him away so Jormungandr collided with the Thunder God instead of Clint. She jammed her knee into his breastbone and wrapped both her hands around his throat in less time than Thor had to take a breath. Clint grabbed an explosive arrow and didn't even bother drawing it with his bow, just took it in his hand and aimed for her eye.

Then Fenrir appeared out of fucking nowhere and twisted his arm hard enough Clint could have sworn he heard his bones creak. The arrow fell out of his hand and for one hysterical second Clint thought they were both going to be blown up, and unlike the wolf he wasn't wearing blast-proof magical armor. But Fenrir apparently also wasn't fond of having arrows explode in his face because he caught it by the stem instead of letting it blow.

Of course, then he grabbed Clint by the collar and slammed him into a wall. Clint held onto his wrist for dear life as he was dangled a foot off the ground. In the background he could see that Thor had managed to turn the tables around and was now fighting to keep Jormungandr on her back without getting bitten in the process. He'd obviously learned his lesson with Mjolnir because it was nowhere within her reach but that made his job that much harder.

"Fenrir, wait!" Bruce suddenly grabbed Fenrir's shoulder. "Don't kill him! Clint, stop fighting him!"

Clint had absolutely no idea what the Hell got into Bruce but he redoubled his struggles, managed to get leverage against the wall and shot both his heels as hard as he could into Fenrir's stomach.

It worked, sort of. Fenrir was knocked back into Bruce but he didn't let go of Clint so he ended up taking him with them. Fenrir pushed Bruce out of the way so he didn't land on him and used Clint's momentary disorientation to put him in a choke-hold. The archer dragged his heels on the ground, fighting to get his much stronger assailant off, but to no avail. Next to them Jormungandr and Thor had actually gotten up and were doing some dirty wrestling.

Of course, that was when Steve and Natasha walked in.

"Tasha!" Clint yelled and was promptly released as Natasha's foot sailed over his head to knock Fenrir into the forehead. The wolf let go of Clint but grabbed her ankle and pulled. She ended up tumbling over him, but rolled and flipped back onto her feet. Now that she had seen him fight she actually stood a decent chance of winning, no matter how stupidly strong he was.

"Guys, you need to stop!" Bruce ran up to Clint. What the Hell? "They don't mean harm!"

Clint just blinked at him as Steve flew over their heads and crashed into a wall. The stubborn idiot that he was, he just bounced back and shot back into the fray, not even noticing the Captain America shaped dent he left in the wall.

"Right." Clint said doubtfully. Then his eyes widened as he realized something. "Why the Hell haven't you turned green yet?!"

"I can't!" Bruce screamed back. Clint didn't have time to ask why before Natasha was screaming his name. He turned towards her where she was pressed into the ground, Fenrir straddling her back to keep her low. Before he could reach her Bruce wrapped his arms around his waist, stopping him.

"What the Hell man?!"

"You need to calm down!" Bruce yelled. Clint had never seen him look so scared. "Before they-"

"STOP!!!!"

There was a sound not unlike an explosion and a blinding wave of blue magic washed over the entire room. The same blue magic that had taken control of Clint's mind, controlled his every thought and bent it to the will of a mad god. He stood there, one hand extended towards Natasha and one hand trying to loosen Bruce's arms from around his waist, frozen on the spot, unable to move even a muscle.

He could just barely move his facial muscles, enough to blink and look around the room without turning his head. The others were in the same situation he was. Fenrir was frozen while straddling Natasha, one of her arms held twisted behind her back and the other wielding a knife that the spell had stopped inches from his thigh. Steve got stopped in a ridiculous ballerina pose, wedged in between Thor and Jormungandr, his back against Jormungandr's chest as he held her wrists and his foot on Thor's chest, trying to push them away from each other. He looked like he was in the middle of yelling at them furiously.

Finally, Clint looked at the cause of it.

Sleipnir was still standing behind the table, hands fisted at his sides and panting furiously. The blue gem in the staff-turned-accessory was almost white with how much it glowed. And his eyes, previously the deep forest green he and his siblings shared, were now a brilliant cyan blue, the same color Clint was still terrified of seeing in the mirror.

"I've had enough!" Blondie yelled and riveted all of their attention back to him. "Even since we've gotten here we've been trying to figure out where we stand with you! First you tell us we need come here or you would hunt us down, then that we are free to go, but not unless we hand over the staff, then you say we can part on good terms, but then you attack us!" The kid looked ready pop a blood vessel.

"Make up your minds! Do you want us to go or not? Do you want to be on good terms or not? We've done nothing to you, the least we deserve is a straight answer! Your king should at least be decent enough to give his verdict and stick to it!"

Before Clint could wonder what goddamn king was this kid now blabbering about the doors to the common room slid open and revealed Tony looking as bedraggled as the last time Clint saw him but at least a bit more aware. He had his usual Captain America coffee mug and was just taking a sip when he noticed the state his teammates were in and stopped in the doorway. He took one look at the nine of them, all frozen mid-motion like they were in a paused action flick, looked down at his cup and then gave a sigh of absolute resignation.

"J, I changed my mind, I'm going back to bed." He turned back around, poured out the coffee in a trash bin in the corner, and then simply marched out of the room without a backwards glance.

Next time he saw him, Clint was going to strangle the idiotic genius.

Sleipnir was doing his best impression of a goldfish, and Clint had the feeling he wouldn't be the only one if any of them could move. As it was, he gaped after Tony's exit for a few moments more, then buried his face in his hands with a groan of absolute despair. He peeked through his fingers at them, looking balefully at them as if he wished there was anyone else to deal with them. Finally, he sighed again, this time in resignation, and looked at them stubbornly.

"Alright, here is what we will do. I am going to release you all, then we are going to sit down and come to an understanding, whatever that might be." He paused to glare at Clint and Thor specifically. "And if anyone starts fighting I'll freeze them again! Does everyone understand me?"

Obviously, nobody answered. Sleipnir looked down at the bracer in slight confusion and for a horrifying moment Clint thought he didn't know how to unfreeze them. Fuck, even Loki could barely control that shit when he had it, and he obviously knew a lot more about magic than his kid.

His fears turned out to be thankfully unfounded when the gem gave a sort of… blink, Clint didn't know how else to describe it, and simply stopped glowing. As soon as it returned to its normal luminescence Clint nearly fell forward under Bruce's weight, Fenrir caught Natasha's wrist before she could cut his femoral artery and the muscleheads all collapsed into a pile.

A few minutes of groaning and elbows in uncomfortable places they were all seated around the kitchen table, except for Sleipnir who decided to play kindergarten teacher by standing at the head of the table with his arms crossed. It may have looked ridiculous but it worked. Nobody wanted to be frozen again and thus give the other side an advantage.

In the end, it was Bruce who raised his hand to ask for permission.

"I stand by what I said earlier." He told them, then clarified. "I would like to be on good terms with you, if not friendly. Natasha has led me to believe Steve told you you can stay on Ear- Midgard," he stumblingly corrected himself, "and we wouldn't bother you. Did I misunderstand something?"

"What?!" Clint shot up in an outrage. What the fuck was Bruce talking about? "These guys poisoned you less than a week ago!"

"It wasn't my intention to bite your Berserker." Jormungandr cut in.

"And as soon as they heard what happened," Steve added, "they came and offered their assistance. Considering we were the ones who attacked them first they didn't have any reason to, other than decency." Steve glared at all of them at once, something Clint was sure only Captain America could. "Something the Avengers have apparently forgotten."

Clint spluttered with indignation. Steve was on their side? He turned to Thor for support but the blond was looking pensively at the siblings, who were doing their best to ignore him.

"Wait, so why were we supposed to get that super-closely guarded cocktail of drugs? Didn't Tony say he needed it to cure Bruce?" At that Steve looked guilty and Natasha looked down at her nails. Clint understood far too quickly. He slumped back in his chair. "You just wanted the two of us out of the way because you knew we would be against it."

"If we didn't do it Bruce would have died." Steve retorted with steel in his voice. "Is your revenge more important than your teammate's life?"

It wasn't, but that didn't mean Clint had to like their solution. He glared at the offending triad. "And why did you come here? Out of the goodness of your hearts?" He was aware sarcasm was oozing out of his pores but he didn't care. Fenrir looked haughtily back at him.

"We were told we would be free to stay on this realm without any interference if we fulfilled your demands. The only condition was to not cause trouble for the locals. It is not our fault a link had broken somewhere in your chain of correspondence."

Clint really wanted to punch him in his stupid high nose.

"Can we please go back to the part where we come to an agreement?" Bruce asked in an effort to steer them back on topic.

"An agreement about what exactly?" Natasha asked. "Whether or not they can disappear somewhere on Earth? Or choosing to make Loki's career path a family business?"

"We came here with the intention of freeing our brother." Fenrir responded and crossed his arms. "While staying here was an option it isn't the only one. There are eight other realms to choose from. Simply saying whether or not we are welcome here is enough."

"Fine." Clint bit out. It wasn't a solution he was exactly happy with but it was better than the alternative. "You pack up your stuff and leave and we never have to see you again. Sounds good enough to me."

"No, wait!" Bruce exclaimed before anyone else could cast their vote. "There's something you don't know."

Then Bruce launched into a whole lengthy lecture about dinosaurs, food chains, ecosystems, krakens invading and stuff that would have sounded straight out of a trashy science fiction novel written by a demented teenager if it wasn't for JARVIS corroborating with him and supplying evidence to support his theory. Basically, what it boiled down to was that Jormungandr was a big ass boss predator in the Earth oceans, and without her hunting regularly or even being there regularly would mean other, lower predators would breed in bigger numbers, and without anything keeping them in the deep unknown they would start rising to the surface in search of alternate food sources, and some of them were still big enough to devour entire ships in a single bite.

If that happened the Avengers would be too busy playing monster slayers to actually focus on HYDRA, and what it would spiral into from there was not worth mentioning.

Clint didn't like where this was going one bit.

"So, from where I'm standing…" Fenrir had an uncomfortably contemplative expression on his face, "…you are the ones who need us to stay here."

"Yes," Bruce sighed and lowered the Starkpad he'd been using to show them his theory, "I'm afraid that's exactly what I'm saying."

Clint looked at Steve and Natasha to try and gauge their reactions. Steve looked mildly disturbed, though that might have just been because of finding out that there were dinosaurs older than him on Earth, but he didn't seem worried. Natasha had a neutral expression on her face but Clint could see the hints of clammy paleness in her cheeks. She was downright freaked out.

Thor still hadn't said anything, and it was really starting to worry Clint.

"There is no need to be so worried." Jormungandr said calmly. "I had intended to return here to feed as long as we were not outright banned. Keeping your fauna in check was not something I had been aware of but it would be no hardship to continue." She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. "That is, of course, if we are still welcome."

"I already said what I thought about this even before we found out there are dinosaurs involved." Steve shrugged. "From what I understand you've been on this planet for centuries, right?" Jormungandr nodded. "If this arrangement's worked for that long I don't think we should change it. I still have no problem with letting you stay here. It just turned out to be a mutual benefaction."

"I concur with Steve's vote." Bruce pitched in. "We'll ask Tony later, since we can't exactly decide this without him and he really needs to sleep. What about you guys?"

"I say the less they're on this planet the better." Clint nearly growled. "If they have to come here to hunt, then fine. I drop by the grocery store for food but I don't live there. They can do the same."

Natasha pursed her lips slightly. She took the longest giving her answer, as if mulling it over. Clint didn't know what she had to think about, she should have been the most against them. Then she sighed and gave her verdict. "As much as I would like to agree with Clint, despite his comparison of Earth to a butcher shop, I stand by my previous words: in exchange for saving Bruce's life they can stay here on Earth without our interference."

Clint openly gaped at her.

"Well, that's half the team in favor." Bruce said when nobody else spoke up. He turned to his silent teammate hesitantly, as freaked out as Clint about the fact that the thunder god hadn't said a word the entire time. "Um, Thor? What about you?"

All heads turned to the blond. He was sitting back in his chair, muscles bulging in his crossed arms and it was rather obvious he was gritting his teeth.

"When a viper wishes to enter a bird's nest, it doesn't come as a viper." Thor began.

"It comes dressed in the feathers of its previous prey." Jormungandr finished. She tilted her head again in that freakish way, like she was considering whether or not the person speaking was tasty or annoying enough to bother eating him. "Something Father used to say. To caution against trusting the untrustworthy, no matter how honeyed their words."

"I had not listened to his advice when I should have." Thor glared at them, and boy, if looks could kill… "And I paid the price, many times over."

Nobody said anything.

"Captain," Thor continued, "I admit I still see no advantage in your 'democracy', but I respect that is the way of your people. As my words otherwise would make no difference, allow me a suggestion."

"By all means." Steve nodded.

"If they need to stay, then stay they shall." Thor leaned forward again, and thunder cracked in the distance. "But they shall stay here, at the tower, so when they break their word they can be stopped in time."

"They are not prisoners, Thor." Steve tensed along with the siblings. "Nor do they deserve to be. We don't practice preventive punishment, remember?"

"A fool's gamble on your part." Thunder crackled again. "But that is not what I meant. Should they choose to stay, they stay here, where they can be prevented." Even Clint shuddered at the emphasis on the last word.

"And what makes you thing that is a good argument for making us want to stay?" Fenrir glared back just as hard.

"Because this is the one place in all the realms Heimdall will not find you." Thor said tersely. "I am familiar with Loki's spells, and so is he. While he cannot see you he can see that there is something missing in the place you are standing, and that is cause enough for suspicion. Friend Stark's tower is perhaps the only place in all of Yggdrasil in which he would not find that strange."

All three of them looked freaked out. Clint was vaguely aware that this Heimdall guy was some kind of watcher or something who reported to Big Daddy. He did sound like someone they would want to avoid at all cost, but he didn't understand why Tony's tower would be the best place to do that. There was no magic in the Avengers' Tower.

"We've been on Midgard for many moons now." Fenrir quickly composed himself, but he was leaning with his arms crossed on the table now. "We have not been found yet."

"It has been five days since you awoke the World Serpent." There was a hint of threat in Thor's voice. "My friends say you need to stay on this realm, so I am honor bound to them to tell you: it is only a matter of time before the Einherjar come. You have been throwing far too much magic around carelessly not to be noticed anymore, no matter how good your cloaking spells are."

Fenrir paled and grit his teeth in anger. His freakish white sister put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down, and he visibly forced himself to relax. It was a dynamic formed from years and years of being and working together, and Clint was almost too busy staring at them to notice the regret and pain that momentarily shot across Thor's face.

Almost. He wasn't called Hawkeye for nothing.

"That is all I have to say." Thor suddenly stood up and turned around. "Whatever you decide, you choose your own fate."

With that, he picked up Mjolnir from where it had been discarded and exited the room with a melodramatic swish of his red cape.

Chapter Text

When the doors to his rooms closed behind him Thor slumped against them and slowly slid down to the floor. Mjölnir fell beside him, heavy in his hand, signifying all the might he wielded and how useless it was.

History was repeating itself, and he was yet again helpless to stop it.

Thor remembered Angrboða, half Elven half Jotun sorceress of the Ironwood. He and Loki met her as unproven youths, thirsting for adventure and looking for it in places too dangerous for them to venture, but to which they ventured nevertheless. She was beautiful in a sort of exotic way the brothers were unused to. She had ice-pale skin with long, black hair falling like a river down her shoulders, a single lock of silver interwoven within. Her eyes were poison green, and Thor remembered thinking how similar they were to Loki's, as red paint on her smiling lips hid a thousand sins.

Loki had been instantly intrigued.

Thor could hardly remember the quest they had embarked on that had led them to Ironwood, but he remembered watching his brother and the witch from across the fire, talking about things that gave Thor a headache just by listening. But as callow a youth as he had been he could not begrudge his brother likeminded company he had so craved and not found in Asgard. The witch made Thor uncomfortable, a feeling he could neither prove nor explain, but he quashed it down. Loki was a better judge of character than he, and he was completely at ease with her.

Thor smartly went out hunting when their glances became more heated, and then even more tactfully turned right back around the moment he heard sounds of passion coming from the fire. After all, one Erlenelk would hardly be enough after their activities. Right, better go hunt another one, that should take another hour.

On second thought, he had thought it better to return with two more.

Thor remembered how he had felt proud of Loki, that his little brother had finally found company he enjoyed. They'd been little more than boys back then, but Thor had already had his share of conquests while Loki was just beginning to explore his tastes. Angrboða wasn't exactly what Thor had had in mind when he tried to set his brother up, if he were honest. Now at least he knew what type Loki preferred. Thor had already started making a list of elegant, raven haired beauties he knew.

Of course, all of his planning went up in smoke when Loki decided he wanted to stay in Ironwood.

"What are you thinking, brother?!" Thor hissed, for once showing tact as their host was only a room away. "We weren't supposed be here in the first place! What will father think if I return without you? He will have the whole forest razed to the ground!"

"Don't you think I know that?" Loki had sullenly replied behind his tea cup. They were in Angrboða's home, sitting on the furs in front of the fire, trying to keep quiet enough that she wouldn't hear them. "I had thought to return, then tell father I had decided to pursue magic with more intent. He would think nothing of a scholarly quest. Besides, I wouldn't even be lying." His expression turned dreamy for a moment. "She is… remarkable."

Thor had grit his teeth and nearly crushed the cup in his hand, but he refrained, which for him back then was the ultimate show of restraint. He wanted to shake Loki, maybe even throw him over his shoulders and haul his smitten behind back to Asgard because how could he think of staying in this Nornsforsaken place?

But as he watched his brother watching the sorceress, he couldn't do it. No matter how much Thor wished it, his little brother didn't really fit into his own group of friends. Oh, they got along well enough of quests, but the moment they returned to Asgard Loki locked himself into the library as Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three celebrated. And Sif had never really forgiven him for turning her hair black… Though, looking at it now, maybe Loki had been trying to tell her he liked her?

And Thor remembered the whole fiasco that arose when he fell in love for the first time. It had been one of Mother's handmaidens and while she had been a good sport about a teenage boy trying to woo her, her father, a lord of the nearby land, had been far to adamant for her to get pregnant and secure him an heir to the throne. Had Frigga not heard and intervened Thor was pretty sure Odin would have sent him to work on Nornheim until the moment of his coronation while he sorted out his son's mess.

They had all had their follies of youth, and they made it out wiser and more cautious, but still well and alive. And Loki would be no different.

He gave a gusty sigh and placed his hand on Loki's shoulder heavily. "Brother, I of all people know the power of your first love. To stand in its way I would be more foolish than you often claim I am and more callous than Tyr." He patted his brother's shoulder again. "Stay with her all you wish. If it comes down to it, I will give your excuses to father. Should you need my help in anything else, you know you only need ask."

"…Thank you Thor." Loki smiled after an astonished silence. "I must admit, I had expected more of a fight from you. Who will save your behind the next time you get a curse cast upon it?"

"Now, what kind of big brother would I be if I did that?" Thor laughed. "And that only happened once. But," he conceded, "should it happen again, now I have two sorcerers to ask."

"Of course, that's why you're agreeing." Loki rolled his eyes but he was smiling.

"Just," Thor suddenly turned serious, "be careful, little brother. And stay safe."

"Thor," Loki smiled reassuringly "after centuries of getting you out of trouble I think I have enough practice at it to apply it to myself. I will be fine. I promise."

It was perhaps the first promise Loki had given to Thor and broken. But it was far from the last, and it only got worse from there.

Loki indeed returned to Ironwood shortly after giving his excuses to Odin, and other than an occasional letter assuring him his little brother was still hale and whole Thor barely heard from him. Granted he was busy with his own campaigns but there were times he found himself sitting at the fire, or alone and looking at the stars that he missed his brother, his little shadow trailing his every step and offering sarcastic commentary along the way.

Thor didn't realize how much his brother meant to him until he wasn't there anymore, but even then it had not been enough.

In his next letter, Loki had asked him to visit, saying he needed to talk to him urgently. Unfortunately Thor had been in the midst of battle at the time, and by the time he had even received the letter, much less read it, far too much time had passed. When he realized how much Thor didn't even bother redressing from his bath, he had simply taken up Mjölnir and rode a horse through the realms in only his tunic and boots, praying to the Norns that Loki would be alive when he found him.

He was alive, thankfully. What Thor didn't expect to see was Loki holding a tiny wolf cub in his arms.

"Thor, what are you doing here?" Loki had been just as surprised to see him. "And why aren't you wearing trousers?"

"I came as soon as I read your letter." Thor marched towards him, looking him over. He appeared tired, but otherwise unharmed. "The eagle had been injured and nearly lost. What have you needed to say to me? Am I too late?"

Loki laughed sadly at that. The cub in his arms squirmed and whimpered and he shushed it back into calm. "Of course you're too late, you oaf. What happened to your promise I could ask anything of you? Or is your memory for promises as short as your memory for history lessons?"

Thor had winced but stayed where he was. "This isn't about me, Loki. Tell me, why have you summoned me here? Is there anything I can help you with?" He put his hand on his shoulder and cupped the back of Loki's head, a gesture he didn't use often anymore. Thankfully Loki didn't pull away. "Please, little brother."

Loki had sighed and once again petted the cub in his arms. "Nothing that hasn't already been resolved. I apologize for my temper." He perked up suddenly. "But now that you're here, you might as well greet your nephew."

Thor still hadn't really computed the word 'nephew' when suddenly he had a squirming bundle of fur and tiny but sharp baby teeth in his arms. The pup was a lively one, one second trying to end up on the floor and the next trying to climb Thor's shoulder and bite him on the nose. Loki was of no help either, just standing there and laughing at Thor's attempts not to drop the tiny creature.

"Oh look, he likes you." Loki didn't even try to hide his smile when the pup bit Thor's finger and gnawed on it like it was a bone. Thor bore it stoically but his left eye was twitching a little.

"Nephew?" He finally asked.

"We've called him Fenrir." Loki gestured to the black pup. Thor stared back at him.

"Loki, that's a hound."

"Wolf, actually."

"…How?"

"You see, when two shapeshifters lay together-"

"I see, I see." Thor sighed. "I should have known your children would be tricksters like you."

He had to admit though, the puppy really was adorable now that he wasn't trying to murder Thor in the only way he knew how. His eyes were still that cloudy gray all newborns had until their sight cleared but Thor would have bet the throne that his eyes would be as green as Loki's. His fur was softer than feather down, and his tiny pink paw pads were just begging to be squished. He made high little whimpering noises that would one day become fearsome barks and howls, but now were simply endearing.

Loki sat there next to him, and smiled.

"And where is Angrboða?" Then Thor had to open his big mouth and ruined it all. Loki's face abruptly turned stormy and he looked away.

"She's…" Loki sighed. "Let's just say we're having a lovers' spat."

"Is that why you called me here?" Thor asked, some tension leaking out of his shoulders. "Trust me, you yourself know I have had many experiences with slighted lovers. Let me be the one to give you advice for once."

"I'm afraid this is a bit out of your realm of experience, unless you have some bastard children squirreled away that I don't know about."

"Is this about the claim to the throne?" Thor frowned. "But you are the second prince. Your children would not inherit unless I perished without leaving a legacy."

"Angrboða knows that, and thinks it unfair." Loki sighed again and leaned against Thor's shoulder. "I don't even want the throne. I can deal with financial and governing responsibilities, but having to deal with the actual people in the kingdom… I may be called silvertongue but that title does not entail patience for fools."

"Well, considering how often you've called me a fool I would disagree." Thor released one hand and threw his arm around Loki's shoulders, so he sat tucked into his side like they were children hiding from Jotuns under the bed again. "But that is precisely why Father wants you to be my advisor. I will be the one to bring the glory to Asgard and you will be there to make sure I don't burn it to the ground in the process. Even Father has Mother and the Thing to help him make tough decisions, all Kings do. But I will be better than them, because I will have you."

"Nice to see you've actually been listening in our poetry lessons." Loki rolled his eyes but even from his vantage point he could see Loki was blushing. "And when did you get so wise?"

"I've always been wise." Thor replied haughtily. "You're just so clever you've never needed it before."

They sat in silence for a while, broken only by Fenrir's quiet snuffs as he dreamed.

"Thor?"

"Aye?"

"Do not worry about me. I told you I would be fine. Angrboða and I will work this out."

"…And If you don't?"

"Then you're helping me house-train Fenrir."

Thor had laughed and so jostled his nephew from his nap, which he was very unhappy about. Loki just barely managed to scoop him off his brother's lap before his tiny but sharp teeth found their way into Thor's delicate bits.

They said their goodbyes, and Thor rode off back into battle.

It would be more than a century before they would see each other again.

Loki had told him in one of his letters that he had cast a concealment spell upon himself and his newfound family, to hide him from Heimdall's sight, and if the watcher saw Thor leaving for Ironwood and then disappearing he would be suspicious enough to report it to the Allfather, who would most definitely not approve of either of his sons having bastards. So Thor could not visit Loki nor his nephews, though he read about them in Loki's very detailed descriptions. Loki had told him to burn the letters, but there were select few Thor had kept. Namely, the ones with the most descriptions of Fenrir and Jormungandr.

It was one of those letters that a servant found and brought to the Allfather's attention.

"That foolish boy!" Odin had howled and paced through his study as Thor stood nearly petrified at the spot. He had never seen his father so angry. "So eager to think with his head in every instance but the one he should have!!!"

"Father," Thor cautiously said, "It's not so horrible. Loki is-"

"It is nothing short of a disaster and you know it boy!" Odin cut him off. "You will gather the men. We leave for Jotunheim within an hour."

Thor had paled.

"Father, wait! We can't do that!" He ran after him but Odin still had mass and years to his advantage. He spun around and backhanded Thor so hard the blond saw the stars only visible from the Rainbow bridge as he collapsed to the marble floor.

"You know nothing of what your brother has gotten himself into!" Odin had roared. "And if you have any care for him you will come with me and save him from his foolishness!"

"Why would he need to be saved?!" Thor had screamed after him but Odin was already gone. "Father!!!"

It was Frigga who helped him to his feet, healed his bloody nose and told him the truth. Angrboða was of the royal line of Jotunheim, though from the branch not seen to inherit. In the war of Jotunheim Odin had slaughtered her mother, along with most of her cousins. Only Laufey had remained, and he had shunned her for being a half-breed. She fled to the Ironwood and was raised by the Troll-women there, taught magic and wizardry, and sworn to destroy Odin's dynasty the way he destroyed hers. Asgard's informants had known of the sorceress seeking to bring down the king of Asgard but they had not found out who she was exactly until recently. And to hear that she had taken up with the prince of Asgard and had borne him children, monstrous looking ones no less…

Thor's heart had stopped beating for a moment.

His little brother was in more danger than he could hope to realize and it was all Thor's fault.

Not waiting for the Einherjar to assemble he grabbed the nearest fresh horse from the stables and rode to Jotunheim as hard and as fast as he could. Loki had told him where he and Angrboða were living in case of an emergency, and this most definitely counted as an emergency.

Unlike Loki who had spellwork to protect him from the cold, and Angrboða who had the blood of the native species, Thor had only his strength of will to protect him from the crushing cold. He hadn't even paused to throw on a simple cloak to shield him from the icy winds. In the end he had to leave the horse and continue of foot.

But none of that mattered. He had to go and warn Loki that he was sleeping with a traitor, that their father was coming to slay them all. He had to protect his brother.

He finally came to the cliff Loki and the sorceress had built their home on. It had a triangular crack down the middle, and inside that crack they had hollowed out the cliff and built their house. Thor had been there only once, back when he and Loki had first found it in their exploration of different realms, when Loki had told him he was going to build a home here, away from the tediousness of court and the stifling Asgardian summers, someplace where he and Thor could rest at ease when they grew weary with the world. Loki had been so excited about it, speaking much like he and Thor were mere children again, building a wood castle atop Mother's favorite cherry tree.

Loki hadn't needed to tell him where his home was. Just saying they were on Jotunheim was more than enough.

As he had suspected, he found an elaborate wooden home, built with polished wood likely taken from Alfheim and decorated with ice crystals. He barged in without even knocking on the doors, nearly breaking them off their hinges.

"Loki!" Thor bellowed. "Loki, this is urgent! You must come at once!"

"Thor, what is it?" Loki came nearly flying down the stairs. He was already fastening his cloak over his shoulders. "What's the matter?"

Thor almost didn't hear him. He was staring at Angrboða, standing atop the stairs in her house robe, a dozing silver snake wrapped around her neck and her belly swollen with yet another child. She rested a dainty hand on top of it, looking drowsy and confused at the man that had suddenly barged into her home.

Even Thor was almost fooled.

"Thor?"

"Please Loki." Thor grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him away. "I must speak with you alone, this is most urgent!"

"Dear?" Angrboða cautiously waddled down the stairs. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, but I'll be back as soon as I can." Loki tore his arm out of Thor's grip and walked forward to embrace her and lay a chaste kiss on her lips. "Relax, it will be fine."

Thor averted his gaze. He wanted to scream and tear his brother away from the conniving witch but he couldn't do that without alerting them that her ruse has been blown. But the least he could do was not have to look as Loki ran the back of his fingers down her cheek, how her pale lips smiled, for the first time seeing her without her lip paint.

Norns, this was going to break Loki's heart.

"Go on, this looks important." Angrboða finally said, a platitude to Loki's worry, frowning at Thor lightly. "I can take care of the children for a few days, if need be. Go with your brother."

Loki finally nodded and turned to follow Thor out of the house. Thor just marched forward, heedless of the biting cold that returned with a vengeance. He was just a hair's breadth short of running away from that house, a home Loki had envisioned for himself and his loved ones that he had unknowingly turned into a viper's nest.

"Thor, stop!" Loki yelled as he ran to keep up with his brother. When he finally managed to catch him he frowned. "Norns, you're not even wearing warming charms. Here."

And just like that, the pain biting at Thor's skin dissipated, but the horrible stabbing pressure in his chest that he had attributed to the icy air didn't. Finally he realized it wasn't his lungs that were hurting, but his heart.

"Thor, you're starting to worry me." Loki gripped his shoulders and turned him to look him in the eyes. "What is the matter? I haven't had an opportunity to scry for a while now, I don't know what happened. Please brother, tell me."

Thor couldn't. Instead he wrapped his arms around Loki and cupped the back of his head in his hand. Loki returned the gesture and patted his back comfortingly. Finally, Thor distanced himself to look his little brother in the eye.

"Loki," Thor began haltingly, "it's about Angrboða. She's not what you think she is."

He did his best to repeat what Frigga had told him word for word. Loki had tried to throw in his input several times but Thor stopped him, fearing he wouldn't be able to continue if he didn't finish it.

"I'm so sorry, little brother." Thor demurred. "I know you have loved her but it has only been a trick all along. I have just found out myself and rushed here as fast as I could."

"Well, at least this time you are fully clothed." Loki cracked a small smile. Thor couldn't understand how he could be so calm. "And you are late yet again, brother. All of this you have just said, I have learned shortly after the birth of my son. This exactly is what I wanted to talk to you about that day I had called you to the Ironwood."

"You've known?" Thor couldn't believe it. "But- Why have you stayed?"

"Because I love her." Loki smiled. "And she loves me. It hasn't been easy, but we have come to an understanding that family is more important that revenge. So we have stayed here, where we might establish that family. It hadn't come easy, but it has been forgiven."

Thor stared in confusion, then shock, then horror. His brother knew of the betrayal and he still defended her? It could only mean one thing. "Brother, you have been enchanted. We must go to Mother at once, she will lift her spells from you!"

Loki rolled his eyes. "The only spellwork I have on me is my own, but if it will convince you I am of sound mind we can go to Asgard right now. I haven't seen Mothe-"

He was abruptly cut off as the Bifrost opened right in front of the entrance to the hidden house. From the rainbow bridge stepped Odin Allfather in his full armor, along with an entourage of Einherjar. Without even a pause, they rushed towards the entrance.

Loki screamed and tried to run towards them but Thor enveloped him in his arms, literally taking him off his feet in order to stop him. "Loki, you can't! She is a traitor, you cannot be seen defending her!"

Loki had trashed like a wounded animal in his grip and had finally gotten one arm free. With a snarl Thor had never heard his brother direct at him, his hand flickered with green magic and the last thing Thor saw were his brother's eyes, glowing a horrible poison green and filled with rage and betrayal.

That was the last thing he saw for a long time.