Chapter 21
“Thor, why is Loki wrapped up in such heavy chains like that, so severely? You didn’t hurt him, did you?”
“No, Mother.” Thor said.” Loki glared at the children of one of my companions on Midgard, and his wife did this to Loki.”
“There is a sorceress on Midgard?”
“Midgard is strange in that regard. I do not know what or whom there I might find.”
Firgga sighed, but undid some of the chains, instead wrapping Loki’s magic with her own, only possible because she was the stronger, magically, of the two, instead of the gag.
Thor led Loki into the hall for judgement by Odin, not that Loki struggled that much. When he had awoken from the curse the Midgardian sorceress had sent at him, he had seemed to deflate and stop arguing against anything. Thor was surprised by the transformation more so than any.
When Odin glared at Loki, the latter did not move, he did not wilt under the disappointed and harsh aze like most would. But when Odin passed sentence, he did not seem to argue either.
“Thor, did you see what the sorceress cast?”
“Mother, I got the feeling she was more of a Mage than a sorceress or an enchantress, but there was also this feeling about her. Different from the latent energies of everyone else, strane, but not wrong.”
“So you did pay attention in your lessons.”
“Yes, Mother, I did. Most of them.”
Frigga chuckled.
Thor continued, “however, she also mentioned an interesting fact. On Midgard, full magical maturity does not take seventeen centuries, but a mere seventeen years.”
“So the theory of why there are no mages on Midgard due to them not living long enough has been cut out.”
“Yes, I thought that as well.”
“So what did the energy feel like though? I am curious, for though everyone’s should be slightly different, I have yet to feel one that feels so very much so you would notice it. Even Loki’s Jotun blood or my Vanir ancestry instead of Aesir did not get noted by you.”
“It felt as if it were the opposite of any I have yet seen. As if it were an anathema of magic and life yet it still worked flawlessly. As if it were the opposite of the energy of the tesseract.”
“The tesseract is an infinity stone, Thor, and there could only be one reason behind that which you describe, but I had not thought it possible, nothing beyond that of a mere myth.”
“What is it, Mother?”
“Death’s Hallows, Thor, and likely more than one at that.” Frigga said, cautiously but excited. It was not often something this new happened.
“The myth Father told us of?”
“The myth that has always been suspected to be true, Thor, and now I am nearly certain it is.”
“Good news, the Avengers supporting her in the elections have Julia Brant certain to be elected for her first official term in a landslide.” Lilith said, walking into the lounge of the Stark Tower penthouse, now nicknamed Avengers Tower, and therefore, the Avengers lounge. Given there was always an Avenger or two there at any given moment, it was a fitting nickname.
“That’s good. Why do you like Brant again? She’s so controversial. She’s the independent version of the candidate the Republicans were trying to put up for this year, Trump or something.” Clint said.
“Bingo.” Lilith confirmed.
JARVIS cleared his throat, or rather crackled the loudspeakers, seeing as he didn't have a throat. “Mrs. Stark, there is an entourage at the base of the tower here to see you and Sir.”
“Let them up, there will likely be guests and it’s not like hostels would make it that far.” she said, as Tony came swaggering out, Ron asleep, bouncing in an orange-hued bubble next to him.
“Ron.” Lilith said, and the bubble came to her. “Bed.” still sleeping, the toddler popped away, not bother to disagree.
The elevator dinged, and out of it came the one and only President Julia Brant. “President, welcome, please.” Lilith greeted, getting up from the couch and standing up to greet the woman. Tony followed suit.
“Thank you, Tony, Lilith, as I’ve said, friends call each other simply by their names, no titles necessary.”
“Please, Julia, come on in.”
Julia waved her hand, and the Secret Service bodyguards stayed by the wall of the elevator, seeing as this was likely the safest place in the country for her.
“Thank you. I have some news to deliver for you.”
“Oh?”
“There’s a lot, and I thought I’d do it personally. First off, the invitations for my Inaugural Ball for each of the Avengers.” It was a poorly hidden secret Teddy Stark was Ed the Avengers, and everyone knew it anyways, though it remained unconfirmed and would remain so until he was 18.
“Thank you. I will make sure all of them get it.”
“Then there are also two I will have to deliver personally, to Mister Barton and Miss Rushman.”
“I’m here.” Clint said, and Natalie walked out of the back at the same time.
“Presidential pardons, for anything you might have done as SHIELD agents ro before that, so nobody can hold it over your heads.”
“Thank you, President.” Clint said honestly, and Natalie nodded in agreement, voicing her own ernest Thank You.
“The Invitation for Thor, the extraterrestrial, I wanted to confirm what you said about him being a prince?”
“His planet is significantly smaller than Earth, about the size of Texas, we think, though it may be as large as the total area of Australia. Given they don’t use acres, miles, kilometers, or the like, we really can’t tell. But his planet is united and has a constitutional monarchy, and he is frist in line as soon as his parents retire.”
“That is excellent news. As my first act as President, elected in my own right, I wanted to start foreign relations with his world, Asgard, it’s called?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I wanted to start official contact with his world, given he seems to have a way of regularly going back and forth, so there is an official invitation for an ambassador or ambassadorial committee to be sent here from his world, as well as a request for some of ours to be sent there. And then there is a government contract. I know you are much stricter about weapons selling now, but it is for a piece of technology that may be able to allow contact between there and here for the ambassador.”
“That, I am afraid, Doctor Foster has beat me to. She has a mix between video conference and holographic projection that latches onto a person's energy signature.” Tony said.
“I will make sure to offer it to her then, thank you. And would it be alright with you if I started such talks?”
“Please, be my guest. It’ll only benefit all of us, and seeing as the United States are the first ones and you at the helm, well, you'll go down with the greats like Presidents Washington and Lincoln for sure.”
“That would be wonderful. On that note, I wanted to ask about an unofficial matter.”
“Oh?”
“Your eldest son, Teddy, is the same age as my niece, and I wanted to send Betty to a SciTech school here in New York, given her parents are off on Military duty it’s up to me, but I was unsure about security and the Secret Service will tell me about just how unsafe everything is.”
“Well, they’re good, and of course, we want to make sure we don’t have two vice presidents in a row come into office.”
“No, of course not. However, your security has always been above par, and I doubt there would be any cause for concern if both of them attended the same school, sharing security for higher effectivity.”
“I personally know the principal of one of the elite scitech high schools here in New York, of course, it’s half normal admission and half scholarship students, but surely you don’t mind either?”
“Of course not. I attended Culver on a scholarship, I’d be a hypocrite if I were to deny anyone else the same.”
“Of course. Midtown School of Science and Technology, the principal is Jim Morita, I met him through one of the Captain America squad’s kids reunions. Well, Jim Morita Junior, officially.”
“Of course, I’ve heard of the school. Very good curriculum.”
“Yes, that it is. Teddy’s going there this year, so if you want to send your niece there for added security..”
“Of course. That sounds excellent.
Betty Brant Hated bodyguard, capital H Hated. Not that she’d ever argue, she understood why exactly they were necessary. She was sixteen for goodness sake, she understood her safety was important, logically, especially to her aunt, but she also knew that she really didn’t like the invasion of privacy. And of course, she was only beings sent to this SciTech school because Teddy Stark was going, and they were supposed to have joint security. But she was nevertheless jealous when she saw him security equalled simply himself and something weapon-like and very not bulky peeking out of his pocket.
“Betty.” He greeted her. At least he had enough sense not to call her Elizabeth or she would bring out the ‘Edward Stark’ card.
“Teddy. You seem very much lacking any sort of privacy invasive protection detail.”
He tapped her on the shoulder, and shifted his face to match hers. “Why would I need one?”
‘So it’s true then? You’re an Avenger?”
“Technically, I’m back up, but yeah. Not like I need a protection detail, and either way, I could get rid of it just as easily.”
“Well, some of us weren't trained in professional invasive maneuvers by the Avengers.” Betty said snidely, nodding at her two stoic bodyguards.
“I wasn't either, though to be fair my mom has the equivalent of special forces training, so… If I need to ditch someone I just go into a crowd and shift.” Teddy said.
“Lucky you.” Betty muttered. “What's your first period?”
“AP Chem. You?”
“Same. If it gets boring though I will bring out a microscope and see if your hair can shift after it's not on you.”
“My poor hair!” Teddy exclaimed over dramatically, clutching at his hair, which was an extremely tame honey dirty blond shade.
They got to the right classroom through their teasing banter, and plopped into seats as far in the back of the room as they could, Teddy to avoid unnecessary attention, and Betty because her guards ordered her to go into the most strategic point in the room. Thankfully, the teacher was of the no-nonsense style, so there was no “come up to the front of the class and introduce yourself.” Instead, it was a straight jump into the curriculum, which neither of the two teens had a problem with, and true to her word, Betty plucked a hair from Teddy's head and placed it under the microscope.*
“So you're the jerk who shot me.” Darcy said, the first time she was in the Avengers lounge and he was also there. She had just dropped Jane off for her date with Thor, and was relaxing with one of Tony's best Chardonnay she could find.
“Are you even old enough to drink?” He demanded.
“I'm 22 and I asked you a question.”
“Sorry.” He said sheepishly. “Orders.”
She chuckled. Have you read our files yet to see how wrong you were?”
“Which files?”
“You were granted access to a very good group of information when you chose the Avengers over SHIELD. I would have thought you'd read it.”
“How do you know so much? I'm surprised you're up here, you're like Thors girlfriend's assistant, right?”
“I'm Jane’s research partner, full-time scientist wrangler, part time stark-sitter, and also your boss’ sister.”
“You're Lilith Stark’s sister. Technically Tony's my boss.”
“Don't fool yourself, he's the scientist, she's the brains. Anyways, this is for being Sniper McJerkface.” Darcy stated firmly, as she landed a solid slap on his face. “Be glad you missed.”
“Fair.” He conceded, rubbing his face, “though that feels more like a super soldier punch than a slap. Where did you get such technology though?”
“I don't trust you enough to tell you. Anyways, bye Robin Hood, I have my own supernaturally muscular boyfriend to go get.” She said with a parting smirk and a flash of a smirk and vibrant emerald green eyes.