#a chunk of them involve loki and jane

[wildcxrds]

10 & 11 for thor

10.     believe negatively shaped them into the person they are today. 11.     believe positively shaped them into the person they are today.

(warning: long ass response ahead because I'm so bad with NOT WRITING A FUCKTON OF SHIT LMFAO)

10 - His ego had always been a problem. Always. Even in these days, Thor gets too into his own head over his capabilities, overestimating himself. Believing it's he who needed to solve the problem. That only he can do it. Even the God of Thunder has his limits.

It was a day in his youth - akin to young adult years for human years, but to Thor, he'd already been a young man for hundreds of years. And Odin had called a meeting for just him and Loki. His quarters overlooked the whole of Asgard and the young princes arrived with anticipatory butterflies in their stomach for what they knew was an important discussion with their father.

"You will be faced with challenges and responsibilities someday," Odin began, pacing before them by the balcony, "There is much to expect from the young princes of Asgard. Only one of you may be a leader in my stead, once my time has passed, and it is not something that should ever be taken lightly." Odin's eye gazed on Thor, lingering upon him and Thor swelled up with pride. His father had been training him all his life, for him to take the throne. Thor knew this would come to pass, it was guaranteed. He was destined to be King of Asgard.

He would fail to notice his brother's small scowl in the absence of their father's attention. Notice the way his emerald eyes hardened slightly, before his expression cleared in favor of intentional ignorance to the favoritism.

"When this time comes, I know you shall make me proud." Odin strode to a sealed casket nearby, brushing his fingers lightly over it. The casket glowed with Norse runes, followed by the sound of a latch unlocking. Odin opened it carefully, and Thor felt the air escape his lungs.

Mjolnir's steel shone beautifully from the golden Asgardian sunlight pouring into the room. Odin took it by its handle, supporting the head of the hammer with his other hand and carried it to Thor.

"You have great ability, my first-born." Odin said. "With the support of your brother, you have demonstrated great strength and power. This will be but a channel for you, a symbol for our people and any who oppose or support you. I entrust this to you. I know you will never fail us."

"Thank you, father." Thor said as firmly as he could, taking the handle. There was weight to the hammer, but he immediately felt the connection. The prickling extended from his chest through his fingers and blue lightning crackled around the steel. He pulled his gaze to look at Loki, beaming with an 'I told you so' sort of look.

They knew of Mjolnir's existence, knew that one day one of them would be entrusted to it, but Thor always believed it was destined to him. And this confirmed it. He was always powerful, strong - physically and mentally - and Mjolnir being bestowed to him along with Odin all but confirming that he was to be King of Asgard told Thor he was the absolute fucking greatest. (One of too many situations that he, in retrospect, now saw as blatant favoritism and flaunting in Loki's face that he was never truly and Odinson. Which was never the truth. Blood never made them brothers, their bond did.)

But this was also one of many situations that solidified in Thor's head that he was great, and always strong, and could never show any weakness or failure. He was always on a pedestal. It doesn't manifest anymore in brutishly running into battle without care for his companions, or being selfish anymore. But it manifests in never asking for help for himself. In extremely high expectations and a crippling fear of failing. In a determination and unhealthy manner of pushing to physical and mental limits.

---

11 - It's that momentary respite where he can finally breathe. He's deep in his grief because in the last couple years alone, he'd become orphaned and fully believed he lost all his family. And just moments ago, Asgard.

And even though that deep annoyance and resentment to Loki still lingers, his relief that his brother had survived and, seemingly, was on a better path. He wouldn't expect a lack of mischief, or suddenly a completely good moral compass..

But watching his brother catch the object physically in his hand, proof that he'd shown up and hadn't absconded off the ship somehow, gave Thor hope. Hope that there was a better future on the horizon with their time to relocate.

The smile on his brother's face made Thor feel like they were kids again. With no pressure of the throne on Thor's shoulders, and no favoritism flaunted in Loki's face - at least not completely. They were brothers, joyfully running through their mother's gardens trying to catch one another. They are brothers, now older, standing across from one another, with nothing but their now reforming bond. It gave Thor a deep appreciation for those he still has in his life, and to his own growth to becoming a much better leader than he'd once envisioned. There was no more power, there was just reliance. Community. Family.

[bedlamsbard]

Ah, now I remember, the last time I sent you the ask about the Hydra Cap AU you said the same thing about Thor, haha. If you posted more about potential routes you could take I’d be super interested.

@ Tony I didn’t want to come off as someone, like, Angry at how you’ve portrayed him previously; I’ve liked it, and I’d be SUPER interested in swing the Hydra Cap version of him. I didn’t actually make the connection that the Chessmen suits were the divergence point, that’s interesting as hell to me. The way that other characters’ portrayals depend super heavily on point of view is a big chunk of why I keep coming back to your writing, tbh, and it does make sense that Tony in particular gets the short end of the stick a lot for that, haha.

I just read the marvel fandom wiki page about the Chessmen and this is fucking hilarious, oh my god.

With Thor I think it really just comes down to what the hell Hydra does when it rolls up to Mjolnir in Thor. The thing I definitely don't want to do is get Thor captured by Hydra and still being held by Hydra when Steve gets defrosted; that's certainly a potentially interesting plot and I know that there are a couple of fics that have done something similar with Loki getting captured by SHIELD/Hydra, but I personally don't want to go there. I think ultimately it has to get to a point where either the Chitauri don't attack in 2012 or Loki doesn't attack in 2012 (with Thanos's involvement, these two aren't mutually exclusive; there could be an offworld attempt at the Tesseract even without an Asgardian involved, but it's way less likely). And in this context that has to be related to what SHIELD (a.k.a. Hydra) is doing in Puente Antiguo, which doesn't offer a whole lot of options to affect what Loki is doing in Asgard.

Thor is kind of interesting because SHIELD is portrayed antagonistically for the first time in Phase 1, since we're seeing them being very high-handed from Jane's POV. Hydra would be even more high-handed and aggressive -- instead of just confiscating Jane's equipment and research, maybe they also take Jane and Selvig into custody, leaving Darcy behind because she's "useless" for those purposes, meaning Darcy is the one who takes Thor out to the Mjolnir site. Say at this point Coulson is still undercover with Hydra, rather than already having been outed as one of Fury's SHIELD loyalists; after Thor is captured too, Coulson makes the decision to break his cover and break Thor, Jane, and Selvig out, where they meet up with Darcy and he spirits them off to one of the realSHIELD black sites. In retaliation, Hydra trumps up accusations of academic dishonesty/treason/etc. for Jane, Selvig, and Darcy, meaning they can't go back to their real lives; that puts all of Team Thor with realSHIELD. This also gives us an "unworthy" Thor who doesn't have Mjolnir and who thinks he doesn't have his powers, meaning that he probably goes through his Ragnarok "what were you the god of?" arc four movies early, with Mjolnir at the site of what later gets built up as a permanent Hydra base. (This also means that, depending on whether realSHIELD or Hydra kept the Tesseract, that Selvig isn't there to fuck around with the Tesseract, thus gaining Thanos's attention and bringing the Chitauri down on them, which also solves that problem.)

Except that still leaves us back with Asgard. If Thor is thrown immediately into a cell or a more secure holding place than in the film, maybe Loki doesn't come to visit, because to him this appears like a more likely way to keep Thor out of the way than in canon, especially because it now looks like Thor is never going to get access to Mjolnir again. Maybe it means that he panics less than he does in canon and looks generally less suspicious -- the problem here is that, being a Loki fan, I am also turning cartwheels to keep Loki from immediately leaping to genocide as his best option. (Normally I am all in favor of letting Loki keep culpability for all the horrible shit he does, but the goal here is NOT to set up interplanetary warfare.) It looks from the film like Loki visits Thor on Earth and Laufey in Jotunheim on the same trip, or at least that it can be interpreted that way; if he doesn't do the one, then maybe he also doesn't do the other, and thus doesn't immediately arouse Heimdall's suspicion to the same extent as in canon, meaning Heimdall is not going to send Sif and the Warriors Three to Earth, meaning Loki isn't going to send the Destroyer after them because he's panicking. This gives him more space to figure out a less fucked up way of dealing with the Jotunheim problem, which could even be "wait until Odin wakes up," which was always the goal even in canon. If Loki's not on a panicked bad decisions spiral, things on Asgard don't go as badly as they do in canon; the political situation is probably still very tense, but assuming Odin wakes up fairly soon anyway, to his point of view Thor is going on his intended character arc the long way round and he won't give Heimdall, Sif, and the W3 the opportunity to try and expedite that the way it does in canon. They can deal with the Jotunheim problem with politics, the Bifrost is still intact, Asgard is keeping a more watchful eye on Earth to see what Thor's doing but is under strict orders NOT to interfere.

...okay, that actually solves the Thor problem with this AU. (and gives everyone a good idea of how my AU development train of thought works.)

The Chessmen suits aren't the divergence point, but the outcome of Stane keeping hold of the Iron Monger armor and mass-producing similar suits, which he says he wants to do in IM1. I've just borrowed the Chessmen name from the comics, rather than going 1:1 to transfer the comics characters over. The divergence point is the Tony-Stane fight on the roof of Stark Industries at the end of IM1.

I get a little tetchy about Tony because Steve is my favorite character and as a result I get accused of not being a Tony fan -- it really is just the time period and POVs I mostly tend to write in! He's obviously fine and not negatively portrayed in Yonder! (Though if I'd known later that I'd be rolling around in that universe for a while, I'd have started Yonder a chapter earlier to actually introduce Tony as a potential "willing to work with this particular team" -- I might still do this as a one-shot prequel at some point, but I'm really wary about working in the Yonderverse right now because Horizon was not popular.) (I cut multiple scenes from Horizon where he appeared in order to keep the impact of that last sequence.) I do think Tony is consistently making spectacularly bad decisions from AoU onwards; that doesn't mean I don't like the character, it just means it's interesting to interpret why and how he goes there. Blame the Russos and the rest of the MCU PTB for those decisions, not me for having fun with the consequences. (Generally meant, not aimed at you.) I try really hard not to dislike characters, because getting to that point never ends well as a fic writer or even as a fan in general. (When I got there in Star Wars, it was probably the end of the line for the fandom.)

[roxashighwind]

Mighty Deeds | Darcy Lewis/Mjolnir

Relationship: Darcy Lewis/Mjolnir

Characters: Darcy Lewis ; Mjolnir (Marvel) ; Jane Foster (Marvel) ; Sif (Marvel)

Additional Tags: Human Mjolnir (Marvel) ; Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence ; Fix-It ; Canon Divergence - Thor: Ragnarok (2017) ; Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Spoilers

Words: 4362

Summary:

When Mjolnir is destroyed (in Norway, she finds out later), Darcy isn’t even sure what’s going on. She’s in the lab with Jane (nowhere near Norway) and her vision goes weird. She doesn’t really have any other words for it, and she looks up from her laptop, frantically trying to spot Jane.

- Set in a world where Mjolnir can take an Asgardian shape, and has been involved with Darcy Lewis since the first Thor film. A fix-it of sorts for Mjolnir being destroyed, and also an answer for "Where's Sif?"

{also on ao3}

When Mjolnir is destroyed (in Norway, she finds out later), Darcy isn’t even sure what’s going on. She’s in the lab with Jane (nowhere near Norway) and her vision goes weird. She doesn’t really have any other words for it, and she looks up from her laptop, frantically trying to spot Jane.

“Darcy, do you have the -” Jane stops short as she turns away from one of her and Erik’s homemade devices. “D… Are you okay? Why are you crying?”

Her hands go to her face, laptop balanced precariously on her knees, and oh. Oh her face is really wet. “Oh.” Smart.

Jane grabs the box of tissue from the table nearest Darcy as she hurries over. “Hey. Hey. What’s going on? I’m the only one that’s supposed to be spontaneously crying in the lab.” She yanks out a few tissues, crumples them a little, and starts dabs at Darcy’s face.

“Thanks. I…” She takes the wad of tissues from Jane when she gets too close to poking her in the eye. “I don’t know. Everything just got really weird looking and then you told me I was crying.”

She frowns and awkwardly pats at Darcy’s shoulder. “Well that’s not weird at all.”

“You’re telling me! I’m not even sad.” Her words get caught in her throat and oh. Maybe she is sad. “That’s… weird.”

“So you are sad?”

Darcy shrugs, but the more she thinks about it the more it feels like something is really wrong. Her chest hurts, and her head is starting to hurt, and her eyes won’t stop leaking. “I think so? I think I read something online about this kind of thing.” She types one handed, and pulls up a blog post that someone had made.

“‘Randomly assigned to mourn someone,’” reads Jane. “I mean. I don’t think that’s true but stranger things have happened to us.” She grabs a few more tissues for Darcy, takes away the soaked ones and drops them into the trash.

“It feels like part of me is missing?” She’s not sure, and she keeps prodding at that ‘wrong’ feeling in her chest. “Like… like when Pop Pop died last year?” It’s the closest comparison she can make to the feeling that’s starting to really weigh on her, though it feels like she’s still in that denial ‘it hasn’t hit me yet’ stage from when she’d first gotten the call about Pop Pop.

Jane’s frown deepens, and she pulls up her rolly chair. She sits on it, and turns Darcy toward her, scooting forward until their knees are touching. “Hey. Whatever’s going on… We’ll figure it out.”

Darcy nods, and suddenly she’s sobbing. Well, that’s unfortunate. She manages to close her laptop and set it aside before it can slide off her lap and hit the floor, and then Jane is gathering her up into a tight hold as she falls apart.

--

Sif shows up nearly a week later, while Darcy sleeps off her latest round of crying.

“Lady Jane. I am sorry for showing up unannounced.” She looks harried, hair a mess (shorter than the last time Jane had seen her) and a frown creasing her brow. “Is the Lady Darcy here?”

Jane steps to the side to let the Asgardian in before Sif can push her way past. “She’s sleeping. What’s up?” She closes the door and follows Sif as she moves toward the hall to Darcy’s room.

The Asgardian stops and takes a deep breath. “Something happened.”

“I got that already.”

“The Allfather is dead. Mjolnir is destroyed. I have no contact with Asgard, nor any of the Warriors Three.” The words fall from her mouth in a rush. She pulls a pack from her shoulder and moves toward the living room table.

“Um… Oh my god, what?” Jane’s heart sinks. She didn’t like Odin, but he was Thor’s father and she can’t imagine how terrible he must feel. “Run that by me one more time?”

Sif drops the pack onto the living room table. It makes a lot of noise and she sighs before taking a seat on the couch. “The Allfather has died. We should have expected it. After Frigga... It was only a matter of time.” She starts to open the pack, releasing its drawstring and stretching the opening until it eventually lays flat on the table.

There are chunks of metal and a handle and it’s with dawning horror that Jane realizes that she’s looking at Mjolnir, shattered, on her coffee table. “Oh. My. God.”

“She can be repaired.” Sif touches the handle. “I think.”

It takes Jane almost a minute before she can say anything. She tears her eyes away from the table and looks at Sif. “And the rest of it? You can’t communicate with Asgard? Not even Heimdall?”

She nods. “That is right. Whatever is going on… There is nothing I can do to help my realm. I suspect that Loki is involved, but… I cannot prove it if I cannot contact anyone. And so I am here.” She takes a shaky breath. “It seems only right to bring her here,” she says with a nod to the shattered hammer.

“Jane?” Darcy’s voice is small. She sounds exhausted, and like she’s about to start crying again. It had been coming in waves since she started. “I heard… Sif!”

Sif pushes herself up from the couch and turns toward the mouth of the hallway, where Darcy is standing looking uncertain. In a few long strides she’s got Darcy wrapped in a tight hug. “Lady Darcy. I’m so sorry.”

The firm hold, the fact that it’s Sif that’s doing it, has her crying again. Her arms rest loosely around Sif, unable to hold tightly. She wants to sleep again, just for a break from the overwhelming sorrow that weighs on her like a bunch of blankets in winter.

Jane lets them hug, lets Darcy cry, and turns her attention to the pieces of hammer. What had caused the damage? The myths, and fights that Jane had seen with her own eyes, lead her to believe that the hammer was indestructible. Evidence in front of her contradicts that, obviously, and Jane wants to cover the chunks of metal to not have to look at them anymore.

Instead, she picks up a two pieces, each with a smooth side that would be one of the hammer’s faces if it was in one piece. “This has to suck for you,” she murmurs to the pieces. She turns them over in her hands, trying to find the way they slot together.

It takes nearly a minute to find the perfect way that the two pieces sit together. She makes a soft triumphant sound, pleased, and then frowns. How are they going to stay together? Something inside her jumps, as though reaching out to the pieces of Mjolnir in her hands. For a moment, Jane thinks that her vision goes red, but that’s silly.

“...Jane…”

“Lady Jane…” Sif echoes Darcy.

Jane looks up, startled at the voices so close. “Hmm? Oh… I was just…”

Darcy slides to her knees next to the table. She reaches for the handle and cradles it careful to her chest. “Myuh-myuh.”

Sif’s short sword is in her hand, and Jane’s not sure where she was hiding it when she came in. “Lady Jane. Are you well?”

She blinks up at Sif, then looks down at the pieces of hammer in her hands. Or… well, there is certainly a piece of hammer in her hands. There is no noticeable seam, and Jane nearly drops it. She’d been holding two pieces just a bit ago, hadn’t she? “I’m fine, Sif.”

“You got all glowy and red.” Her fingers stroke the handle absently. “Pretty weird.”

Jane looks between the metal in her hand, Darcy, and Sif, and chews on the inside of her cheek. “I… Weird, yeah.”

“Lady Jane,” repeats Sif. “Are you still affected by the aether?” She’s wary, sword still in hand but less aggressively held.

“I don’t… I don’t know?” But she does know, doesn’t she? Jane sets the piece of hammer with the rest and scrubs her hands against her thighs. “I mean…”

“She is,” Darcy replies, and she’s cradling the handle to her chest. “It doesn’t do anything very often, but sometimes when she’s really focused she moves things.”

“I do?” This is the first time Jane’s heard about it.

“Yeah, and that guy who tried to touch you on the train last week? You zapped him but really low-key.” Darcy shrugs, unbothered. “Thought you knew.”

“It’s not like it was when it… possessed me or whatever,” she assures Sif. “I don’t lose time or anything.”

Sif finally puts her sword down, but keeps it within easy reach. “I shall trust that you know yourself,” she says, and lets herself sink to the floor next to Jane. “Can you do it again?” she asks, gesturing to the pieces of Mjolnir on the table.

Jane sucks her lip into her mouth for a moment. “I think so.” She looks at the pile of metal chunks, then at Sif, then Darcy, and back to the table. “Help me find pieces that go together?”

Darcy is the first to pull more pieces from the pile, and compared to the others she has the best lucky at getting pieces to fit together quickly. She hands her snugged together pieces to Jane, and with a swirl of red energy the pieces fuse together. She and Sif trade off handing pieces to Jane, and Jane ends up with a lap full of hammer in a surprisingly short amount of time.

She has three pieces in her lap, and Darcy holds the last - the handle - protectively to her chest for a few long moments before slowly offering it to Jane.

“Do you need help holding her?” Darcy asks, scooting closer to Jane.

“Yeah.” She hands the largest chunk to Darcy, one almost complete half of the hammer. “Sif?” she offers one of the other pieces to the Asgardian, and shifts around to let her get close. “Okay. Hold everything steady.”

Jane positions the handle with one hand, fitting her other piece in against the handle and Darcy’s bit. “Okay. Okay.” She takes a deep breath as Sif pushes the remaining piece against the rest, and concentrates hard as she breathes out.

There’s a bright red flash, followed by a blue-white one, and a startled scream.

“Myuh-myuh!”

“Thank you, Lady Jane.” The voice rumbles through the apartment. A dark skinned woman, clad in a simple shift dress of pale blue, shimmery fabric, sits in Darcy’s lap; she smiles at Jane. “Being whole again… I owe you a debt.”

Darcy has her face buried against the woman’s shoulder, arms tight around her. “I missed you,” she murmurs like a mantra.

Jane shrugs. “I didn’t even know I could help until it happened,” she replies.

“Mjolnir.” Sif bows her head in greeting, and looks up again with a pleased - if watery - smile. “It is good to see you again.”

“Thank you for finding me, and bringing me here.” Mjolnir reaches out a hand, and smiles when Sif grabs it. She gives a gentle tug, pulling Sif to her for a tight embrace. “I did not think… Thank you.”

Awkwardly, Jane stands and makes to move in the direction of the kitchen. “Can I, um. Can I get anyone anything to drink? I’ve got water on tap, some questionably old soda in the fridge, booze...” She eyes the line of liquor bottles on the kitchen counter; she could really use a drink.

“Water please,” mumbles Darcy, face still smashed against Mjolnir’s shoulder.

“I would not be opposed to a glass of ‘booze.’” Sif separates herself from Mjolnir and takes a seat on the couch. She rubs her hands on her knees. “The recent days have been rough.”

Jane nods. “Mjolnir? Do you…?” She trails off, relatively certain that she’d never seen the Asgardian consume anything.

The hammer-woman shakes her head. “Thank you, but I am well.”

“Myuh-Myuh doesn’t really need to eat or drink unless she wants to,” adds Darcy.

She continues into the kitchen, busying herself with trying to find the higher proof alcohol she’d stashed away when she and Thor broke up; if she can find it, she can give it to Sif instead of the Midgardian booze that did nothing for her.

Mjolnir looks up at Sif. “Odin is -”

“Dead. I know,” Sif interrupts. “Whatever destroyed your form has also cut any communications with Asgard.”

Mjolnir’s shoulders slump. “That does not bode well.” She rubs a hand over her face before linking fingers with Darcy. She sighs. “Hela shattered me, and she seemed quite intent on taking up the throne with Odin passed.”

“Who’s Hela?” Darcy squeezes Mjolnir’s fingers between her own.

Jane stands from her crouched search of the cabinet next to the fridge so quickly that her head knocks against the edge of the counter. “Did you say Hela? Like Hel? The ruler of of the land of Asgard’s dead?”

“You’ve heard of her?” Mjolnir asks. “She is Odin’s first born, and wielded me before Thor was born.”

Jane makes a face. “Uh… That’s not what Erik and I read in the mythology books we could find, but… I mean, they’re not perfect reflections of Asgard. Obviously.”

Sif clenches her hands, fingers digging into the fabric of her pants. “Odin had a child before Thor? What other things were we not told?”

“The Valkyrior were sent to fight Hela back, after Odin banished her for being too bloodthirsty. It was only his life that kept her from being able to escape her imprisonment. If she’s made it to Asgard… The horrors she could unleash…” She swallows hard and leans more heavily on Darcy. “Hela wants to rule the universe, and she has the violent ambition to do it.”

“That’s…”

“Terrifying,” Darcy finishes for Jane. “So Thor’s got another sibling that wants to rule over a bunch of people? That sucks for him.”

“But explains why I cannot contact the Warriors Three,” sighs Sif. “I only hope that they are surviving.”

Mjolnir tips her head slightly to one side. “Have you attempted calling for Heimdall directly, Lady Sif?”

She nods, and forces herself to stretch her fingers. “He did not respond.”

Jane turns her attention back to the cabinet she where was sure she’d stashed the harder alcohol. Her chest hurts, and her head hurts from where she hit it, and all Jane wants to do is get smashed and pretend that she didn’t somehow magically repair her best friend’s hammer girlfriend. The others’ conversation fades into the background as she crouches to hunt through the cabinet.

It’s dusty, and she takes out a surprising number of pot lids that she is relatively certain she didn’t have the pots to match. With a triumphant noise, her fingers close around the neck of a dark glass bottle. “Yes!” She pulls it, and two more just like it, from the very back of the cabinet. Careful not to hit her head again, she stands with her prizes and sets them on the counter.

“-back. Ragnarok is likely to come to pass, and I do not think it wise to return only to lose your life.”

Jane blinks. “Who’s losing their life?” What had she missed? She pulls down glasses from their cupboard, but keeps looking over at the living room.

Mjolnir pulls one of Darcy’s hands up to her mouth, gently kissing her knuckles. “I am advising Sif that she should not ask Heimdall to return her to Asgard if he is able. Thor and I defeated Surtur, but I fear that the end of Asgard shall still come to pass, and I would prefer it if as few people lose their lives as possible.”

“Oh.” Jane pours from the dark glass bottle, filling a plastic cup with a Ninja Turtle on it nearly to the top. She takes a sip, and nearly gags; the burn is far worse than she remembers, and she muffles her coughing into the crook of her elbow.

“I am a sworn protector of -” Sif begins, only to be interrupted by Mjolnir.

“You were exiled.”

“By Loki!” she exclaims in return. “That hardly counts.”

“Loki exiled you?”

Darcy’s soft question cuts through Sif’s frustration. She sighs, and explains, “He stole the throne from Odin via trickery and deceit, and cast me out so that I would be unable to expose him.”

“How did you know?” Mjolnir asks the question, genuine confusion in her voice.

“Odin died on Midgard. Thor has been taking care of the nine realms for quite a while. Only Loki has the gall to pull off such a plan, and while I had suspected that it was the trickster and not the Allfather that cast me out, my suspicions were only confirmed with the Allfather’s passing.”

Jane carries two cups of the strong alcohol into the living room. She holds them out to Sif and Mjolnir. “Thor left this. I know you didn’t… but everyone needs a drink sometimes.”

Darcy pouts a little as Mjolnir separates their hands to take the glass. “That’s not healthy thinking, Jane,” she reprimands, though there’s no heat to it.

She rolls her eyes and heads back to the kitchen. “And yet, I’m going to have something to drink anyway.” She runs cold water through the tap until it nearly freezes her wrist, and fills a cup for Darcy. Before returning to the living room she snags a hard cider from the fridge for herself. “And I’m not drinking anything hard, even though I want to.”

“Proud of you,” Darcy murmurs, a touch sarcastic but mostly once again muffled against the back of Mjolnir’s shoulder.

She settles on the couch next to Sif after setting the water on the table next to Darcy. “What I’m getting from all of this is that bad things are happening and there’s nothing that we can do to stop it. Is that right?” She twists the cap off the cider and takes a swallow. “Well that sucks.”

“Unfortunately, that does seem to be the case,” Mjolnir says with a sigh. “I do not think that even the lingering aether in your body would allow you to send us back to Asgard.”

Sif’s fingers slacken on her cup, and it falls to the floor, splashing deep amber liquid on the carpet.

“Oh shit.” Darcy nudges Mjolnir and points to the roll of paper towels on the far end of the coffee table. She looks back at Sif, about to ask something  but she stops. Frowning, she nudges Mjolnir again as the woman leans forward with the paper towels. “Uhh… Sif?”

Jane slides off the couch, taking the paper towels from Mjolnir to begin mopping up the spilled liquor as best she can. She looks at Sif at Darcy’s unsure question. “Um… Her eyes aren’t normally that color, are they?”

Mjolnir heaves an annoyed sigh, not liking the way Sif’s eyes have gone Heimdall’s bright gold. “Heimdall is showing her what he is seeing on Asgard. I doubt it is good.”

“He can do that?” Jane and Darcy ask in unison.

“It is not a power he uses often.” She waits for Sif’s eyes to return to her usual hazel before asking, “What did you see?”

She gasps, and leans forward until she’s practically got her head between her knees. “Hela has raised an army of slain warriors. She seeks to rule Asgard and destroy anyone in her path. Heimdall is protecting those he can. I do not… He says that I am to stay safe on Midgard, that I am more needed here.” Her voice shakes, and when Jane looks closer she can see she’s crying.

It’s scary, because in the time that she’s known Sif - which admittedly isn’t a long time if compiled into consecutive in-person minutes - she had never seen her this distressed. “Sif…”

“Than stay on Midgard we shall. If Heimdall, the All-Seeing, has told you that you are needed here,” starts Mjolnir.

Sif groans. “For a weapon, you are very content to stay away from the fighting.”

“Hammers are not just tools of destruction, Lady Sif.” Mjolnir’s voice is hard, cold, and lightning sparks along her hairline. “While I could conceivably make my way back to Thor’s hand, the time and energy it would take to get so far across the cosmos is not worth it. If Heimdall has said that you are more useful here, than Midgard is where we shall remain, to be as useful as we are able.”

“‘So far across the cosmos...’” Darcy echoes. “What does that mean? Are the realms or whatever so spread out that it would take you ages to get anywhere without the rainbow bridge?”

The lightning dissipates as all eyes turn toward her. “Thor is not on Asgard. He is not in any of the nine realms.”

“You know where he is?” Jane asks, still attempting to get the liquor out of her carpet.

“Not by name, but by distance, yes.” Mjolnir looks at Sif. “We should offer our assistance to the Man of Iron and his team.”

“Anthony Stark…” Sif begins, but stops herself and finally moves to help Jane clean up the mess she’d made.

Darcy frowns. “Tony’s not that bad to work with, is he?”

“Thor is not entirely fond of him,” Mjolnir answers for Sif. “He is not a bad man, he is just… somewhat difficult. Yet I do believe that we should offer our assistance in any way he may need, as an authority in the protection of this realm.”

Sif sighs, and slowly nods as she presses a wad of paper towels against the carpet. “You are wise, Mjolnir. I just wish that I could do something for my people.”

Darcy wiggles out from under Mjolnir, presses a kiss to her shoulder in the process. She scrambles around the couch and down the hallway, and the others watch her go. She returns quickly, phone in her hands. “I knew I had Tony’s number!”

Jane stares at Darcy as though she’s grown a second head. “When’d you get that?”

“A lady never reveals her sources.”

“Darcy.”

She rolls her eyes. “Maria gave it to me in case anything ever happened, okay? It updates in my phone on its own. Which seems really sketchy, but…” Darcy trails off with a shrug, and folds herself down onto the floor next to Mjolnir. “Who wants to call him?”

Mjolnir and Sif exchange looks, and Jane has to admit that she shares their unease about actually going through with it. “Right now?”

“Now’s as good a time as any!” She leans into Mjolnir’s space, rubbing the side of her face against the woman’s shoulder. “I’m doing it.” After a quick swipe of her thumb, Darcy puts her phone to her ear and waits.

“Is that AC/DC?” Jane asks with a frown.

“Custom sound thing, yeah.” Darcy holds up a hand a moment later. “Hey Tony! This is Darc- Oh yeah, caller ID is cool, isn’t it. I know you’ve probably got like meetings or something going on but I’ve got two Asgardians here that want to meet with you.”

It takes Jane a surprising amount of restraint to keep from face palming. “Darcy,” she reprimands softly, but she’s already talking again.

“Uh, yeah. Okay.” She listens in silence for a few moments. “I mean, I’ve got access to Hill’s - No, we don’t need - Hey, let me talk! We can get there on our own, just. Let us stay in the tower or something.” She brightens. “I’ll let you know when we get in. And if you’re really so upset about me having your personal number, talk to Maria! Okay bye!”

“He was displeased by your call?” asks Sif.

“A little, but mostly because I interrupted a meeting and he didn’t know that there were any Asgardians here at the moment. I feel a little bad about interrupting, but the meeting was with Pepper - who totally says hi, Jane - so it wasn’t anything super major. Or at least he wasn’t completely upset about the interruption.”

Jane smiles; Pepper Potts is nice, and it’s really good to see Darcy back to her normal self after the last week. “I take it we’re going to New York?”

Darcy nods and nudges Mjolnir. “Yup!” She pops the ‘p’ and smiles. “Now I just have to text Maria and Sharon and see which of them can actually get us to New York. Otherwise I’m gonna have to dip into savings to get us flights.”

Mjolnir frowns. “I do not have Midgardian documents of identification.”

“Mjolnir.” Sif rests a hand on Mjolnir’s leg. “You can retake your hammer form.”

She shifts, but does not pull away from Sif’s touch. “I… would prefer to remain in this shape for a while.”

Darcy nudges her again. “I mean, I would too if I had been in pieces for a while.” She links her fingers with Mjolnir’s again, and taps out a text message with her other hand.

The others make noises of agreement, and Jane pushes herself up from the floor. “Anyone hungry?” she asks, leaning back down to scoop up the liquor soaked paper towels. “We’ll probably be waiting a while, and I know Asgardians need to eat.”

As Jane carries the mess to the kitchen trash, Sif manages a small smile. “Thank you, Lady Jane. I do believe a small feast is in order, to celebrate the returning of Mjolnir to one piece. It would be a pleasant distraction as we await word from Lady Maria or Lady Sharon.” A soft flush colors her cheeks as she says Sharon’s name.

Jan grabs the stack of takeout menus they keep on the counter near the fridge. “Then let’s pick dinner.” She smiles to the others and spreads the menus out on the coffee table.

Darcy sets her phone within reach and curls herself more firmly into Mjolnir’s side as the debate over food begins. She shares a smile with Jane before launching into a detailed explanation of the merits of one pizza place over another.

{if you like what i do here, consider buying me a coffee, and thank you so much for reading!}

[piratekenway]

ALL THE QUESTIONS FOR STAR WARS

[wunderlass]

Smoke & Mirrors Chapter 30: The Heart of Battle

His captors think him defeated, but even Odin doesn’t know the secrets Loki holds. Before long, he’ll be free, events set in motion by Frigga’s best intentions and Loki’s worst instincts. He’s seen his future, and nothing is going to stop him from stealing it. Loki/Darcy, M rated

You can also read on AO3 or FFNet.

Stunned silence reigned in Thanos’ wake, but not for long.

“This better not be the end result of whatever you’ve been cooking up,” Fury said to Loki.

That prompted activity in the room Darcy remained in, with Steve, Tony and Clint making a break for the war room. She shared a glance with Nat, who shrugged, and they followed.

“Big help you were there,” she caught Tony saying to Loki as they filed inside. “Very effective.”

“I did my best,” Loki replied through clenched teeth.

“What now?” Steve asked Fury, trying to cut through the impending conflict to the real problem.

“You heard Thanos. We’re going to war.”

There was pandemonium after that; through the open doors agents poured in, bringing with them screens on wheels to line the room. It was being turned into a command center around them.

“Jane’s beeped me,” Nat murmured, “and we need to fill her in on what just happened.”

Darcy clung to Nat as they were left to find an elevator that would take them down to the lower levels of Stark Tower. Loki was swallowed up by the crowd; the last Darcy saw, Thor had a meaty fist around Loki’s bicep, preventing him from slipping away in the chaos.

Hush descended when they stepped into the elevator. Frigga had remained behind. She had a role in all of this, as queen and emissary. A role that Darcy didn’t. This wasn’t her world. Except…

“I need to be in there,” she said to Nat.

Nat didn’t respond in words, merely raising her customary questioning eyebrow.

“Nat, you’re an Avenger. Surely you should be involved in whatever they’re planning.”

The elevator slid to a stop, the doors opening to the floor all the labs were on. The other woman stepped out, but Darcy remained planted.

Nat shook her head. “I’m a spy, not a soldier. Soldiers are what they need right now.”

“Okay, but I need to be in that room. There’s no other way to make sure they listen to Loki. And they do need to listen to him.” She tapped the door hold button to keep the elevator in place.

“Why?”

“Because Mistress Death has promised to help him. Help us.”

“I don’t know who she is,” said Nat, “but I know that right now, we can’t rely on her to come through. She doesn’t exactly sound like the kind of person who worries about civilian deaths.”

“No,” Darcy agreed. “She’s the embodiment of death, I think, so those aren’t high on her list of concerns.”

To Nat’s credit, she didn’t blink at the description. “Then it’s up to us to prevent them from happening. We have to rely on help from other places.” She nodded in the direction of Jane’s lab.

“Darce, we got the bridge working!”

Jane came running down the corridor, taking Darcy’s hand and tugging her out of the elevator. Darcy allowed herself to be led.

“You did? Holy shit, Jane!”

“It took a lot of work—Erik repressed a lot of his memories so we were having to fill in blanks as we went, and it would have easier with you there to help—but we got the device that Loki used to open up the portal last time. It was the missing piece to make my machine work, so we can call for help.”

“And the help we’re getting is-?” They stepped into the lab, Jane holding the door open so that Darcy could pass without having to provide her identity.

“From Asgard. Right.”

The machinery they’d been working on before Darcy’s arrest took up most of the room. It was in better shape than it had ever been, thanks to generous funding and materials from Stark Industries, but underneath it were the bare bones of the repurposed machinery parts Jane had cannibalized from other things in the facility. In the very center of it all waited a spikier contraption, not unlike the pole stuck in the field that had opened the bridge to Jotunheim. This one was silver, and portable, judging by the way it was set on a trolley.

Erik waited on the far side of the lab, not looking at the machinery, his arms folded and every inch of his body language screaming that he didn’t want to be there. Darcy didn’t blame him: it was a necessary evil to involve him, since he’d built the device originally, but he’d done so under horrific circumstances.

“All we have to do is set the machine up on the roof and open up a portal,” he said.

“Tony’s gonna love it,” said Nat. “He only just finished remodeling and we’re inviting an army to use the tower as a landing pad.”

“I thought that thing was powered by the Tesseract?” asked Darcy.

“It was, but Stark Tower is powered by the arc reactor Tony built,” explained Jane, who was already unbuckling straps that held it in place. “We’re going to switch the Tower to pulling power from the grid, and use the arc reactor to power this instead. Hand me that wrench.”

“Are we sure Thanos isn’t going to see us up on the roof with a big chunk of machinery?”

“I can arrange back up,” said Nat. Somehow Darcy suspected cover amounted to Clint and a hoard of arrows.

But what else was she meant to do? Sit around waiting for Death to do something and watch people die in the process? New York was pretty empty but there hadn’t been enough time for everyone to get out. Besides, there was little chance that Thanos would keep the destruction to Manhattan, or even to the five boroughs. He’d promised planetary destruction, and that meant she had to help minimize the damage.

So she switched her brain off for a few minutes, following Jane’s instructions to carefully prep the machine and wheel it to the service elevator at the back of the lab. It was a tight squeeze, but Nat refused to let them be separated when chaos could descend any moment. Erik waited behind, preferring to run the rest of the machinery down here.

The elevator took them directly to the roof, and they maneuvered the device out onto the concrete.

What was this thing even called, anyway? Had Jane had the time to give it a name, during all the months she’d spent creating it? Or was that going to be something that fell to someone else, after it had been proven to work? It wouldn’t be beyond Tony to steal the glory and name it himself, elevating his role in the creation and reducing Jane to a footnote.

Well, not on Darcy’s watch. Not if they made it through this. The whole world was going to know that Dr. Jane Foster had created the means for intergalactic travel and saved the world to boot, with her brains, her tenacity, and more than a little duct tape. Tony and Erik had played vital roles, but Jane had been the driving force, the one who’d never let go of the possibility until it paid off.

The warship still hung above them, creepy in its stillness, and the city was quieter around them than it ought to be. The constant barrage of horns and sirens that made up the New York soundscape was silent, and it felt like the city was holding its breath, waiting for the next step.

The last time Darcy had been on a roof this high, she’d been walled in. Stark Tower wasn’t like that—she had a full, breathtaking view of the soaring skyline and rooftops, most of them far below. If she looked hard enough, she could probably find that roof garden. But she didn’t want to look. She had work to do.

From behind them, a figure stepped away from the wall. Not out of the shadows—it was too bright a day for there to be many up here—but he looked like a shadow in and of himself, tall and dark against the concrete and glass.

Darcy yelped when she caught sight of him. “Loki!” Because no matter how much time she’d spent in his presence, or how much she’d seen of his worst hours, he still unnerved her a little. He’d been through so much, but that just might make him capable of more, and she hadn’t forgotten his capacity for illusion. Or for violence.

“Mother told me of the bridge. I thought you would come up here.” He nodded towards the machine.

Above them, another figure appeared, casually draped across a steel beam as if he was lounging on a sofa. Yet nobody missed the way Clint’s arrow tip was aimed at Loki’s heart.

Loki nodded to Clint, and stayed very still. “You are vulnerable up here, but I will mask you.”

The others acknowledged this with cautious nods, while Jane kept Darcy busy for a few minutes, connecting the device to the power supply. When she was satisfied with the connection, she waved them all backwards.

“I need to test it, but we should stand back to be safe.” She pulled a walkie-talkie from her back pocket. “Erik, light her up.”

There was a nothing for a moment, then a crackling sound, before the center of the device began spinning. Slowly, at first, and then faster, until it was a blur of motion.

“Do you have the coordinates Frigga provided?” Jane asked, and the muffled reply indicated that Erik did. “Okay, here goes.”

A beam of light erupted from the spiked end, blasting skyward and into the atmosphere. It missed Thanos’ ship—which struck Darcy as a shame—and disappeared among the highest layer of clouds.

Darcy hadn’t been in New York for the first Chitauri invasion, but she’d seen photos—it was hard to miss them when they’d been headline news for weeks. The beam of light that had opened the portal last time had been a brilliant, cyan blue, but this time it was pure white.

“Is it working?” she asked. “It doesn’t look like it’s the right color.”

“It’s because it isn’t powered by the Tesseract,” Loki answered. “There is only one way to know for sure if it truly works.”

He clapped his hands as he had in the field, and Darcy held her breath, searching the skies for his messenger. It took a while, but a raven descended to his outstretched arm. A moment later it was gone, following the beam upwards into the sky where it would breach the portal.

“The bird carries a message to Asgard,” he told them all. “So Asgard may come to our aid.”

There really wasn’t anything they could do now except wait. It might take some time for Odin to muster his forces, but Darcy knew they wouldn’t leave Earth undefended if they knew it needed Asgard’s help. She only hoped they would not come too late.

As if in answer, a dark shape descended above them. At first it was small enough that Darcy thought it was the raven returning, but it grew larger until it appeared more like a zeppelin, except impossibly large. It docked beside Thanos’ ship, and similar shadows began to appear in the sky behind it.

More of his army was arriving.

Below them, Darcy could see the streets filling up, this time with bodies in camouflage gear and body armor. The military and police alike, armed with every weapon that Earth could get its hands on at such late notice.

There were other alternatives. Darcy had heard—probably against Fury’s direct orders—about how the World Security Council had planned to nuke Manhattan to defeat the Chitauri the first time. They’d evidently been less keen on that solution when they sat on the island themselves. The problem was, none of them were sure how large Thanos’ fleet really was, so they’d probably run out of missiles before they ran out of targets for them, and to bomb a ship out of orbit would just bring it crashing to Earth, radiation and all.

She wanted to trust Death, she really did. But as more ships descended from the atmosphere, the twisting in the pit of her stomach only grew more intense.

“Our hour is up,” Nat murmured beside her.

They all glanced at the beam of light, and the point where it vanished into the sky, but nothing had changed. If Asgard was coming, they weren’t going to make it before the attack started.

Hatches began opening in the bottom of the Chitauri ships, their soldiers dropping from them on smaller, one-man crafts that sped downward toward the city. Leviathans, small in comparison to Thanos’ ship but easily the size of a Subway train, also began to flow out.

The humans were impossibly outnumbered.

But they weren’t defeated yet. Something glinted in the corner of Darcy’s eye, and she turned to see Tony Stark rushing past in his Iron Man suit, blasters on full as he took down as many Chitauri as he could. In the distance, the darker suit of Iron Patriot was following a similar tactic. On the ground, Darcy caught sight of Cap stood on top of a bus that was being used to blockade one street, directing orders at SHIELD agents. Further away, Thor, Sif and the Warriors Three were charging the first Chitauri to reach the ground. On a rooftop, Bruce tangled with one of the leviathans in his less-friendly form.

So the resistance had begun, but even the Avengers had only won last time against a smaller invasion force. Chitauri ships continued to amass above them, fanning out until they shadowed the city.

“Clint,” Nat yelled. “Get me one of those.” She pointed at a Chitauri speeding past on one of the smaller crafts. Clint nodded, aimed, and brought it tumbling down onto the roof of Stark Tower.

Loki was on the alien before he’d finished rolling, tossing him off the edge of the helipad with a casual flick of his hand. Nat leapt onto the speeder and was away, yelling “Stay safe!” over her shoulder.

The door opened behind them, and Loki turned to face the intruder with a dagger in each hand—heaven only knew where he’d got them from. Frigga stepped out, and they all eased, as much as they could with the chaos occurring around them.

“I saw the portal,” she said. “It might be prudent for me to be here to greet Odin.”

“If we last that long,” said Jane.

“Have faith.”

It was easier said than done. The Chitauri swarm now carpeted the streets, engaging in open battle with the human soldiers. Darcy was glad that she her eyesight wasn’t that great even with her glasses: blockades were falling, pushing their troops back, and as they retreated she was sure they left bodies behind. The Chitauri also covered the rooftops, filing inside buildings through maintenance doors. Darcy hoped everyone had got out of the city instead of staying to hide: it looked like that wasn’t going to be a possibility.

A leviathan flew past at the same level as the helipad, writhing through the air like it was moving underwater instead of above the earth. Jane clung to her, but it did not turn in their direction, aiming instead for the higher floors of another tower.

“I can’t believe we’ve not had any try to land here yet,” Darcy said.

“I’m masking the helipad, not just the people on it,” Loki explained. “As far as they are concerned, there is no space to land, and no way to get into Stark Tower. The beam is projected from the lightning rod at the apex instead.”

“You’re protecting the War Council as much as us,” Jane observed.

“Yes. They’d make useful hostages.”

Three blocks a way, an explosion rocked an apartment building, the low boom followed by shattering glass, then billowing smoke.

“Shit,” said Jane.

“Was that them or us?” Darcy asked.

“There got to be more we can do.” Her eyes were on the ships above them. “We know they’re coming through a portal of their own, so why can’t we find a way to close it?”

“The portal will controlled on Thanos’ mothership,” said Loki. “And even if you did find a way to close it, you would only trap their army on this side of the breach. With Thanos.”

“Is there no way of getting onto his ship? Or getting him off of it so we could get to the portal?”

Loki shook his head and turned away. Darcy swore she could hear him mutter, “Would that I were brave enough.”

“I gotta go,” Clint said. “Nat says a bunch of soldiers are being herded into one block, they’re trapped on all sides. She thinks the Chitauri are going to blow it up and we have to give them an opening to get out of there.”

“I can protect them,” said Loki, gesturing to Darcy and Jane, making it clear who he was talking about.

“As can I,” confirmed Frigga, unsheathing a pair of swords which had been strapped to her back, hidden by her long hair.

“Mother—”

“Don’t you ‘Mother’ me.”

Darcy thought Clint might have rolled his eyes before firing an arrow at the roof of the closest building, many storeys below, the rope it left behind creating a zip wire for him to fly down. A moment later, he was gone.

“I can see them,” said Jane. She was pointing in the direction Clint had headed, down the avenue to an intersection. Nat had been right: more soldiers were being pressed in from all sides. Chitauri gathered on the buildings around the intersection, leviathans looping around the area but out of sight from street level. They might not be planning an explosion, but it did look like they intended an ambush. “They need more help. Where are the other Avengers?”

“Fighting their own battles,” replied Frigga. For the first time, Darcy noticed the tightness around her eyes. Her son was out there, in the midst of the hoard, and there was no guarantee he’d return unscathed. How many times had Frigga watched him ride in battle and wondered if he would return? Was this the first time she’d been present at the battle herself, watching the worst unfold?

More Chitauri emerged on rooftops, leaping from one to another towards the intersection. There were easily a hundred soldiers crushed into it now, some being cut down as they fought to defend the front line. They were doomed.

Jane grabbed her arm.

“Look at the light!”

Darcy followed Jane’s gaze to the beam, which was slowly becoming multi-colored, the white separating into stripes of color. A rainbow.

“Asgard has extended the Bifrost to your portal, to ease the strain on your resources,” said Frigga. “They will be here soon.”

They all turned their gazes skyward again, and watched as the colors spread down its length, until all the white had vanished and the spectrum touched the tip of the machine.

“Stand back,” Frigga urged, pulling them back to the edge of the helipad. There was a rushing sound, a blast of color, and then…

A man on horseback. A giant, black horse, which barely fit on the helipad, with eight legs, and Dumbledore in its saddle.

Okay, maybe he wasn’t quite as old as Dumbledore. And his beard was nowhere near as long. Plus, Dumbledore never wore an eye patch or a fancy golden helmet.

“My queen,” he greeted Frigga. “We have heeded the realm’s call for aid.”

“And not a moment too soon, my king,” she replied. “The battle is already turned against Midgard.”

“So Heimdall told me. Leave the bridge open, the army is following.” Odin—because who else could it be?—looked beyond Frigga to the dark figure skulking in the background. “What is he doing here?” he said sharply, pinning Loki with a distrustful stare.

“Assisting,” Frigga replied.

“Oh my God,” Jane breathed, distracted by movement below them. The Chitauri had fallen, en masse, on the trapped soldiers. Darcy had to look away and close her eyes.

It caught Odin’s attention too. He turned, single eye narrowed in the direction of the ambush, and observed it for a second. “Bid the soldiers follow me,” he ordered Frigga, then with a sharp tug of the reins, guided the horse off the rooftop.

“You cannot mask this place for much longer,” Frigga said to Loki. “Not when the entire Asgardian army will soon pass through.”

“I know,” he replied. “But their arrival will ensure Thanos’ attention is diverted away from here anyway.”

This time, Darcy was prepared when the distant rushing sound began, although it still made her jump when a trio of soldiers appeared on the roof in a blur of color. These men were on foot, but heavily armed nonetheless. They saluted to Frigga and turned to survey the chaos below them. Odin appeared to be charging into battle on horseback, which scattered the Chitauri and seemed to unnerve the human soldiers too. The Chitauri which didn’t get out of the way fast enough got crushed underfoot.

Darcy noticed that Loki had, once again, faded into the shadows while the soldiers were on the roof. She supposed all would recognize him, and none would take kindly to him being there.

Odin’s appearance had provided sufficient distraction for Clint and Nat—Darcy saw the petite figure of her friend speed past the rooftops the Chitauri were gathered on and toss something down at each of them. What it was became apparent a second later when the grenades exploded, sending chunks of alien spiraling out across the concrete. Clint was picking other groups off which his own incendiary arrows. Meanwhile, the human soldiers had regained some spirit and begun to fight back, clearing a good portion of the road in front of them.

It was a small start. But it was a start.

Another figure came speeding up the side of Stark Tower, his billowing red cape identifying him long before there was cause for alarm. It appeared that Thor had commandeered one of the Chitauri speeders too.

“Mother!”

Despite everything—despite the overwhelming danger, despite the fact that there was a strong chance their side would be obliterated, and despite the sour mood Thor had been in since he came back to Earth—Thor seemed to be in good spirits. Something about battle put a smile on his face.

“I see Father has arrived,” he continued. “This place will not serve as a refuge for much longer. You should seek shelter in the Tower.”

“Someone has to be here to guide our soldiers as they arrive,” Frigga replied, “and it cannot be your brother.”

“Jane is vulnerable. If Thanos learns that she is the one who created the bridge—if he comes to know how brilliant her mind is—”

“I agree. She must go somewhere safer. But I cannot leave. I must also protect this portal.”

“No—you go. Take her, and Darcy.” He seemed oblivious to the fact that he was including Darcy in his mandate for protection once more. “I will remain here.”

“Thor, I know you better than anyone, and I know this is not where you wish to be in the heat of battle. Nor is it where you are best placed.”

“I will protect them.”

The voice which spoke these words astonished all of them. Including, it seemed, the person who spoke them, judging by Loki’s already regretful expression.

“You?”

“Yes.” Loki’s chin jutted upward in defiance. “I will keep them safe from harm. I swear it.”

Thor looked not to Loki, but to Frigga, who gave a slow dip of her head. “He means it.”

Thor didn’t have much choice, not when it was clear Frigga was willing to vouch for Loki, and unwilling to leave her post. “Very well. But understand this—”

“You do not need to threaten me, brother. If either are harmed, I will already be beyond your reach for punishment.”

“Then go. Into the residences, where Lady Pepper already waits. Mother, we can use this flying contraption to ferry the soldiers to ground level. I will capture more to make the process faster.”

That was the last Darcy heard; she and Jane were ushered back through the door and into one of the elevators.

Loki took them, as instructed, to Tony’s living quarters, where Pepper waited with Happy, anxiously watching the melee on the streets. She yelped when the elevator doors slide open, yanking a gun from Happy’s hip holster and taking aim.

“He’s not going to hurt you!” said Darcy, shuffling out into the room. To his credit, Loki held his hands in the air and attempted to look harmless. “He’s here to keep us safe.”

“To keep us safe?” Pepper repeated incredulously. “He threatened to hurt me earlier!”

Jane glared at Loki with the revelation, but Loki had the grace to look contrite. “I apologize. It was crass and unnecessary. If it helps, I did not expect to actually have to hurt you, as I knew Stark would not allow any harm to befall you.”

“Doesn’t help, dude,” Darcy muttered.

“Oh, that’s okay then!” Pepper replied. Not for the first time, Darcy decided she and Tony were a match made in sarcasm.

“You may keep the weapon pointed at me, but I intend only to observe the battle, and protect those I have sworn to.”

“There’s a little too much glass in here for my liking,” said Jane. “Couldn’t the Chitauri smash through like they have in other buildings?”

“Not if the window appears to be a solid wall from the outside,” replied Loki, “…as it now does.”

That made them all feel safe enough to gather at the glass and stare downward, though Loki took a spot a few feet away, trying to still appear aloof. Happy stayed facing the elevators, alert to danger, but Darcy had no doubt that if trouble came looking for them Loki would be the quicker to react.

“I haven’t seen Tony in so long,” Pepper said. “I wish we had a way of communicating with them while they’re out there. Even JARVIS is out of reach for me—all resources have been directed towards the battle. I know it’s important, but I just want to know he’s okay.”

“Even if we could communicate with them,” said Darcy, “we’d probably just be a distraction.”

Something brushed her hand, and she glanced down to find Jane tentatively trying to hold it with her own. Now she wasn’t able to focus on the portal anymore, deep worry had etched itself into her friends’ face.

“Hey,” she whispered, lacing their fingers together, “it’s going to be fine. They’re all tougher than we think, and that’s pretty damn tough.”

“Do you think other cities are already being attacked?” Jane asked.

“I tried to get into the War Council’s communications,” Pepper said, “to find out, only they’ve gone analogue. But the last we knew, this where the fleet is docked.”

“They probably want to wipe out New York and move on, city by city,” said Jane.

“They’re going to have a fight on their hands,” Darcy vowed. “Just you watch.”

The tide did seem to be turning a little in Earth’s favor down on the streets—more Asgardian warriors could be spotted on the speeders, using their swords to cut down earthbound Chitauri by the dozen. But there always seemed to be more Chitauri to replace the dead ones, whereas the Asgardians has stopped arriving. There were several thousand of them out there, but from what Frigga had said Asgard’s population wasn’t as large as Earth’s.

“Is the entire Asgardian army here?” Darcy asked Loki.

“The majority, yes. There will only be a small force left behind to guard the Bifrost and the Palace. The citizens will be capable of depending themselves, if they need to.”

“I can’t keep watching,” said Jane. “I can’t keep standing here and not doing anything.”

“What can we do?” asked Darcy, gesturing at the battle outside.

Jane turned and pointed at the computer system which spanned one of the walls: it was Tony’s own, configured so he could entertain, work, or relax in this room. “Can we try to communicate with the Chitauri fleet’s systems? Give them a virus, or something?”

“Janie, this isn’t Independence Day.”

“It’s worth a try, isn’t it? You’ve hacked things before, you could give it a go.”

“I’m good, but I’m not that good. We don’t know what language their systems will be running, or if it’s compatible in any ways with the way we code, or if we can connect with them.”

“JARVIS could,” Pepper ventured. “I don’t know how, but he was good at finding vulnerabilities and backdoors.”

Jane nodded fervently. “And if their ships are communicating with each other, they must have Wifi or something up there. Some way we can get in.”

“Except JARVIS is too busy,” Happy reminded them.

“Except Tony has a back-up program—FRIDAY,” said Pepper. “She’s not used as much, so she hasn’t had chance to learn the same way that JARVIS has, but she’s newer. Surely that means she’s better?”

“Maybe.” Darcy chewed her lip, turning towards the curved glass screens that comprised the body of the computer. “But this is Tony’s baby. I can’t hack Tony; he’s too good.”

“You don’t need to.” Pepper stepped forward, brushing her palm against one of the screens. “He trusts me. I have full access. Mostly because he knows I’ll never use most of the things I have access to,” she finished with a wry smile.

It took Darcy ten minutes just to understand the operating system: the computers they’d used in the tower when she’d worked and lived here had been designed for people more used to conventional OSs, but Tony hadn’t worried about that for his own use. Once she was in and comfortable, locating FRIDAY and coaxing her into action was a simpler task. Coding the request was easy: it was up to FRIDAY to find a way to complete it.

“I’ve done all I can for now,” she said. “She’ll alert us if she does find a way into her systems. Then we’ll have to see if it’s even possible to manipulate them.”

That left them back beside the windows, although Darcy did pull a few news feeds onto the screens to give them a different view. Not that the feeds told them anything different—it didn’t seem like any news crews were on the ground in Manhattan, either through choice or by order.

The battle rarely came close to the upper levels of Stark Tower, and it was easy to see that the fight was being corralled away from it. No wonder: the War Council still sat in one of these rooms, and the portal had to be protected to ensure the Asgardians could return home.

Some needed to return home sooner than others. They were ferried past by comrades on speeders, grisly wounds making it apparent why they were being transported back. Darcy noted that Loki was cataloging the ones he could see, recognition creeping across his face when he knew a passing soldier.

One speeder flew by and seemed to be struggling under the weight of its Asgardian passenger: he was easily bigger than Thor, even crumpled as he was. Darcy wasn’t sure if his cloak was black to begin with, or if it was blood which stained it that way, the same blood that coated all visible skin. The craft was being steered by a smaller-than-average Asgardian, who also seemed to be covered in the same blood, and dwarfed in a cloak that shrouded most of his body. Or was it hers? They were so small…

Darcy’s compassion shifted to unease.

“Thanos knows the Tesseract is on Asgard.” She spoke aloud as her mind connected the pieces, already backing away from the window towards the elevator, which had been held at the residence since their arrival. “Most of Asgard’s defense is here on Earth. What’s to stop him using the portal to get to Asgard and stealing the Tesseract while he has the chance?”

“Using the battle as a distraction,” Loki finished. He took a step towards the elevator too, then paused, torn. “But I swore to protect you, and taking you towards Thanos is not doing that.”

“Come on!” Jane urged, pressing the button to close the doors. It only gave Loki a moment to throw himself through before it departed. “I’ll leave a note for Thor absolving you if I die.”

Loki didn’t laugh. “We may be too late.” There was a thread of panic in his voice, and no wonder—Frigga was the sole line of defense keeping Thanos from getting to Asgard. If she had a moment’s doubt about him being a wounded soldier, he would go through her.

Loki was the first to step out onto the helipad, and Frigga stood alone, swords drawn before the portal, vigilant as ever.

“Mother, there is a great danger. Thanos is approaching under the guise of a wounded soldier, intending to seek passage to Asgard. We need to prevent him—we may even have to shut down the portal—”

Only Frigga had blanched, her horror-struck expression stopping Loki’s words.

“I thought it was strange. His companion abandoned him immediately, but there was so much blood—”

“Big guy, black cape, most of him hidden?” Darcy asked.

“Yes. He passed through, only moments ago.”

“Then we are too late,” said Loki. “Thanos is already on Asgard.”