Chapter Text
A chilly breeze tumbled down the slopes of the Hessdalen valley, ruffling the scrubby grass. An observer with the right abilities (there were a few, even on this planet) would have detected a change in the atmosphere; depending on how they had refined their sensitivity they may have perceived it as a subtle alteration of the electrical charge of the air, as a sudden waft of the scent of somewhere else, somewhere other, or simply as a feeling of difference, as though the axis of the world had shifted slightly and then stuck in a new position. For a moment the fabric of the universe held its breath. The connection had been made, now with infinite delicacy something was prizing apart the warp and weft of space time, inching through while trying to cause the least possible disruption.
Now even a casual observer, unattuned to the secret currents of the universe, would have noticed that something was happening. Sparks of purple fire spat and cracked over the edges of the stones and the rough grass beat against the wind. The network of light spread from its origin, reaching, seeking, before collapsing back in on itself to a point of impossible brilliance. This then exploded into a cascade of glowing orbs which rolled down the hillside, leaving two figures standing on what had previously been bare rock.
The drama of their arrival was rather spoiled by the way that one let out an impressive string of scatological curse words and started chasing the balls of light down the hill while the other toppled forward onto his hands and knees.
The woman chasing the lights down the hill was demonstrating remarkable speed and agility, far in excess of anything even an enhanced human could manage, but still had to throw herself face first onto the last one to capture it. "Audhumla's pendulous teats, we were supposed to arrive quietly!" she growled as she drained the magic from it. It vanished with a sad little pop.
"I am fine, by the way." said her companion, who was now lying facedown on the ground. "The effort of channeling more power than I have ever attempted before then holding it while you took your thrice Norns-cursed time casting the runes was really not that great."
The woman's face softened into concern as she raced back to him. "You are unharmed?"
"Just give me a moment." he rolled over with a groan. "And some of that Dwarven honeyed fudge you've been hiding in your pocket."
She grinned and punched him in the shoulder, a blow that would have killed a human, but gave him the fudge anyway. He sat up to eat it, looking around curiously while she consulted the flickering runes scrolling across the ornate bracer on her wrist.
"We are exactly where I predicted." she said with more than a hint of smugness.
"I know. The atmosphere is contaminated, bloated with trapped heat. All the currents are distorted." he looked up, still chewing. "It is somewhat uncomfortable."
"Will you be alright?"
He nodded briskly. "Of course. We have a job to do. It is that way." He stood up, brushing the crumbs from his tunic, then leapt thirty metres into the air. The outline of his body flickered as he ascended. By the time he hit the top of his arc he had taken the form of a sea eagle. He splayed his wings to catch the air of his descent then flew east with powerful wing beats.
The woman rolled her eyes. "Yes, because that form will not attract attention in central London." she muttered, then followed him as a greylag goose.
***
Heimdall lingered for an astonished moment in his mothers' garden, then remembered the scythe he was holding and lowered it slowly. "I need to use your scrying stone to call Sif!" he shouted to his third mother, who was eradicating a nest of hornets from the side of the hall.
His mother adjusted her grip on the queen hornet, who she had in a head lock. She shifted her legs around the giant insect's abdomen, immobilising the stinger, before replying. "Have you pruned the copperwood yet?"
"Mother! This is urgent! I saw something most bizarre on Midgard!"
"Well remind her that she shall be taking us to Yrva's feasting hall next Day of Victory!"
"I am certain that she knows that Mother."
"And tell her to call her mothers more often!" she called, drawing her dagger and slicing off the queen hornet's head in one fluid motion. "And when you have finished come and help me get this onto the compost heap!"
***
"Leave!" snapped Natasha, slapping Tony's hand away from the Quinjet control panel.
"Just one little diagnostic? To check how the updates are performing?"
"Fine, as long as it really is a diagnostic and not playing AC:DC."
"Please. The music's on vocal control anyway, I could turn it one from here."
"Just drop me out of the hatch if you're going to play that. I'll change before I hit the ground."
"We haven't even taken off yet Bruce." said Jane, not looking up from her tablet. "Darcy I've messed it up again, all the text appears at the same time as the graph."
"Well if you will insist on using weird open source software that isn't compatible with anything." Darcy grumbled, reaching for the tablet.
"It's compatible!"
"Most people don't have to spend the first twenty minutes of their lectures tweaking the code so their slides display properly!"
"Once! That was once! And I think the students learned a lot from it anyway."
"But not about astrophysics!"
"It's Frontiers, Darcy. Ten to one everyone else will be running something even worse." said Bruce.
"That's...not reassuring actually."
Jane buried her head in her hands. "Maybe it'd be better if they can't see my slides. The whole thing's a mess."
Thor put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I have no doubt they shall all be greatly impressed with the quality of your work."
Darcy nodded enthusiastically. "Let's face it, most of them are there to see you this year."
"That makes it so much worse!"
"When you're all done torturing Jane we have a problem." Tony called from the cockpit over Natasha's muttered "No we don't." "We're over weight, we're going to have to weigh everyone's luggage."
"Is that really necessary?" asked Darcy. Tony and Natasha said "Yes" and "No" at the same time. There was a period of confused shuffling around the weighing platform at the back of the jet, followed by a moment of shock when it was discovered that Darcy's suitcase weighed more than Darcy herself. ("Seriously, how?" "No baggage limit and Thor said he'd carry it for me, okay?") before Tony announced that even taking Darcy's luggage into account the jet still weighed more than his calculations suggested it should.
"I could get out and fly?" offered Thor.
"No!" squeaked Jane. "Sorry, I'm just really nervous about this talk. I hate conferences. Um, and you help with that. Somehow."
"It doesn't matter anyway! It won't make a difference to the flight! It's a tiny discrepancy, we have plenty of fuel, Tony's just sore that his calculations don't add up." exploded Natasha. "But if we don't take off soon we'll miss our landing slot in London and I'll miss my cocktails in Helsinki with Jess and I promise you" (she turned to glare at Tony) "you will regret that more."
"Fine. Buckle up, let's get on our way but don't blame me if we drop out of the sky before we get there!" said Tony.
"We can only hope" mumbled Jane as the vertical takeoff engaged.
Below them Peter Parker stretched out, as far as he was able to around the Quinjet's landing gear, and consoled himself by thinking about physics. It was going to be a long, uncomfortable journey.