Chapter 22
“Why does the new girl have bodyguards?” Flash Thompson asked, the first lunch period. Midtown High School was immensely proud of its gargantuan cafeteria, so much so that all four years had lunch at the same time, instead of staggering it like any normal high school.
“Move.” Demanded Betty’s bodyguard number one. If she had no privacy, she might as well make the most of it. Her second bodyguard was getting lunch, for both Betty and both guards.
“Look, I don't know how much she paid you, but things don't work that way around here.” Flash demanded.
People were turning around to watch. “It doesn't really matter how much my utter and complete lack of privacy costs, it's coming from your parents tax money. Or am I not allowed to have lunch at a table, as things work around here?” Betty asked. She wasn't trying to be a haughty spoiled brat, but really, he was just asking for it.
“What do you mean?” Flash demanded, feeling the eyes, and likely cameras (because everyone conveniently ignored the no filming on school property rule) on the back of his neck, knowing not to explode, and stepped aside, but kept his somewhat piercing gaze on Betty.
“Betty Brant.” She stuck out her hand. “And the secret service stoic unnamed bodyguard number one and two.” Number one's mouth twitched a little, but didn't step in to correct it.
A snap echoed across the hall as the students realized the president's niece was in their school, and so were two professional secret service agents. Betty turned in its direction and saw Teddy, nodding and heading in his direction.
He was sitting at the Senior valedictorians table and the senior valedictorian wasn't happy.
“That seat is supposed to stay empty.”
Teddy shrugged. “Well now I'm here.”
“You're obnoxious.”
“Hate to break it to you, but that's in my DNA.” Teddy said, kicking his feet up to the table. “Teddy Stark. Third generation professionals at pissing people off.”
“Humph. Whoever let anyone with the last name Stark into this school is insane.” The valedictorian grumbled but otherwise didn't protest, knowing it would be fruitless. Either way, the valedictorian was applying for an internship or a part-time job in Stark Industries, alienating its heir would be senseless, and both knew it.
Betty plopped down by Teddy. “Did my aunt already drop by Avengers Tower to drop off the invitation to the inauguration ball?”
“Election Day is still over two months away.”
Betty raised her eyebrows. “That's fair. It's basically predetermined, she's going against a no-name millionaire realtor Dad will have out beat if anyone but mom cared about finances, and Ross, who nobody likes and those who know him and don't rely on him for a paycheck wish he were in the Raft with Vostokoff.”
“Really?” The valedictorian, Daniel Frange asked.
“Most of the White House suspects he's the one who paid Vostokoff to kill Ellis. There's not enough proof but everyone knows he won't survive the election, he's gunning for New York senator.” Teddy said. He knew the truth, and in the worst case, the real assassin had a presidential pardon already publicized, no take backs, but he still wouldn't tell.
“There's a higher chance that Mickey Mouse would get elected by fill-in*.”
“If the Avengers sponsor him, he just might.”
“My parents are pooling millions into your aunt's election campaign fund, and my dad even bought out Jane Foster's patent for her energy signal intergalactic projection technology, for your aunt's plan for you know what. I think she'll have a good two terms in office for that money's worth.”
“Is it true then? Thor is actually an alien?”
“Confirmed.”
“Have you ever been, you know… Off world?”
“Last I heard his planet has strict policies about who can and cannot come, just like I can't just bring in an illegal immigrant.”
“That makes sense. But what's the you know what plan?”
“Classified.” Betty said. “Teddy, I know your parents let you blab about whatever, and just cover it up as per the usual, but I've always had two parents high up in the army and my aunts been in politics as long as I can remember. Unlike you I do know when to shut my mouth.”
“I don't just blab!” Teddy said. His phone dinged, and he grinned. “Well, not that I'm not allowed to now.”
“What?” Betty asked.
“My mom released the gag order to the press. Teen Vogue cover, here I come.”
“Not if I beat you to it.”
“You know what? I have an idea.” Teddy said, as he smirked and whispered into Betty's ear, who then nodded, assuring her secret service guards it was nothing they wouldn't be warned of.
“Mother, Father, I have news you must hear.”
“What is it, Thor?”
“It is news from Midgard, but nothing I am able to handle alone.”
“Are they being attacked? Again so soon?” Frigga asked worriedly
“It is worse.” Thor grimaced. “Politics.”
Odin chuckled. “My son, you must learn to handle these things. You will not always have me on the throne to rely on.”
“Well for now I do, so I am bringing the turture to you and Mother to handle.”
“Sit, Thor. This is like your lessons, you will do it, but we can work through it together.” Frigga said, and Odin didn't argue. The only part of ruling Thor didn't need a lot of work with was public opinion, and even that was a fickle beast.
“What are the Midgardians doing?”
“Midgard is living their lives, as a whole. But there is one particularly interesting thing I have noted. Midgard is a very large world, so they are split into countries. The one my friends there all belong to is called America, made up of 50 territories, the largest of which is as large as all of Asgard, the smallest of which is triple the size of the capital city of Alfheim.”
“I did not know that. They have changed much since I have last visited.” Frigga mused. “I spent a century or so there as a long vacation in my younger years, long before you were born.”
“Their country is having a new ruler officially crowned. Their ruler, a President, the title is called, has served for many years now, but I am told it was because of the death of her predecessor, and their president is getting officially installed in two months.”
“And why does that concern us?”
“For one, I was told by Lady Darcy, she is my Lady Jane’s friend who is studying statesmanship, that though I am invited to the ball and feast to celebrate the position, I am invited as a visiting dignitary, and not as one of The Avengers, Midgard's team of Elite Warriors that contain my friends.”
“What is the problem Thor?”
“The president has asked me to tell you, upon finding out that my father and the Allfather are one and the same, that she wishes to create diplomatic relations,” Thor cringed, “and exchange ambassadors.”
“Their ambassador would die in less than a few decades, what is the point? The ambassador might last only a few years.”
“The Midgardians have promised to send one of their longer-lived members, for they have some whose lifespans will extend for many centuries, though not as long as ours. They wish for the ambassador exchange to happen publicly, as their country’s first off world contact, at the ball.”
“Their ball that is in two months to which you were invited as a visiting dignitary.”
“Yes, mother.”
“If the Midgardians are advanced enough that they can have contact with Asgard without a problem and that they thought of this idea first, I have no qualms on the matter, do you, Odin?”
“Who do you want to send, Frigga?” Odin asked, as Frigga was the one out of the two of them who was the larger expert on interplanetary politics, not having been born on Asgard herself, but to Vanaheim’s royal family.
“Thor, have any of your friends already been to Asgard?”
“Sif and Volstagg have come with me a few times, Sif was particularly fascinated by some of their world’s elements.”
“Then that’s a problem solved. Lady Sif can go as an ambassador, unlike you, Thor, she learned statesmanship, what with her father being the ambassador to Alfheim, that makes sense.”
“Of course Mother, I will go tell her.”
“You can bring her to Midgard early, the world seems to be particularly different, so she knows how it operates, and to ensure her Allspeak translates their native tongue.” Thor relaxed. Technically, leaving Asgard to go to other realms without official permission wasn’t something strictly legal, he had a bit of a grey area he often used called nepotism, but without him, Sif didn’t, but this allowed her free reign to come and go to and from Midgard as she was being sent there as an ambassador.
“President Brant?” the White House Staff member asked, “Lilith Stark and two guests here to see you.”
“Send them in.” Julia Brant said from behind the oval office desk. It was worth it, all the difficulties of being president, just for this.
Lilith Stark walked in casually, leading in two people dressed in what she could only describe as Viking armour. Asgardians, then. She recognized the first, Thor. The Avenger. “Julia, nice to see you again.” she said, and Julia walked out from behind the large desk to shake Lilith’s hand.
“Lilith, you as well.”
“Julia, I don’t know if you’ve met Thor.”
“Not yet, but pleased to meet you. Of course everyone’s seen and heard of the Avengers, but it’s a pleasure to meet you in person.”
“You as well.”
“Well, simply put, this is a meeting for business, nto of pleasure.”
“Of course, of course. Are we going through with the ambassador exchange?”
“Yes, my Father has agreed it would be a wise course of action.”
“Excellent, truly excellent. And you are?”
“This is Lady Sif, Father has chosen her as Asgard’s ambassador.”
“I was sent to spend some time on Midgard, to get used to some of your more different traditions.”
“Thank you, of course, that’s excellent.”
“Who are you sending, have you chosen yet?”
“There’s all the democratic processes I have to follow, I get to nominate the candidate but the Senate has to give approval.”
“Might I suggest one then?”
“Of course, go ahead. Your advice has since led to only success, for both me and the country at large.”
“Might I suggest a very dear friend of mine then? My cousin actually, Dudley Dursley.”
“He’s the English minister of foreign affairs though?”
“And what better candidate? He has experience, he knows exactly what he’s doing, I can vouch for him personally, and what better way to show the world we stand for people, instead of simply countries' boundaries than choosing him?”
“But what of any doubts he might not be say, working in our interests?”
“Don’t worry about that.” Lilith waved Julia off. “I’ll talk to him, there are certain things above patriotism, family is one of them. And either way, he has a dual citizenship with the United States, not to mention he told me personally after his term ends, he will retire and get married to his fiancée, American businesswoman Hope Van Dyne, the CEO of Pym Technologies.”
“That is excellent, and I’m sure he’ll fit very well. Family, is, after all, everything.”
Sif was watching the interaction very closely, and when they finished and exited the building to board a quintet back to New York, Sif asked, “She’s yours bought and paid for, isn’t she?”
“Lady Sif, I don’t know if you’ve been informed, but we don’t do slavery or human ownership, as a world.”
The quintet doors closed, and Sif noted that and continued, “I can read undertones of conversations. Thor is a little blunter, and everyone knows when he ascends to King of Asgard it won’t be him doing politics.” Thor had decided to break the sound barrier, rushing to New York instead of waiting on the quinjet.
“You’re still pretty blunt, but there’s nobody else here. What are you saying, Lady Sif?”
“You control the President, do you not?”
“Bribery is an illegal practice I surely don’t participate in.”
“But family is worth more than one's country. You tore the her family and help advance her career, she is more than a spineless puppet, yet she nevertheless answers to you.”
“Yes, she does, although I am curious where an asgardian warrior who has not spent more than an hour on Midgard collecting a friend can read subtle undertones of our politics.”
“I spoke with Heimdall, I was curious about your realm, and he has shared what he knows.”
“Heimdall, the seer, correct?” Sif nodded. “Well, I think it’s a very large invasion of privacy. We value such things around here, as well as free will and the right to choose. I think that little thing shouldn’t be allowed to stand, another nation who are not yet allies, simply an unknown with large potential to be hostile, having the equivalent of a spy network here, all in one man loyal only to you?”
“You won’t be able to corrupt Heimdall.”
“I know, Lady Sif Jordsdottir. No, I simply have to make sure he won’t be able to see us, if I can’t get him to see for us.”
“You seem certain you even know a seer's abilities.”
“It’s only been 16 years since Midgard’s last deer died, and less than a mere year since I’ve talked to her. Death is the one true immortality, did you know that?” Lilith asked, before she reached out with her magic, casting a quick somnius charm at Sif, so she slumped and leaned backwards, peacefully asleep. Lilith took that as her cue, closing her eyes, and immersing herself in her cast wells of magic. She then raised up several thin strands, braiding them, exponentially amplifying and strengthening their ability. Then, she cast it out,invisibly reaching out to cover the whole planet, activating some of her prepared resources, and weaving a warding web, layering, interweaving, and eliminating any ways in and out of the planet without her say-so. She left the passage to Asgard unblocked, but covered, so her magus latently monitored it. A toll booth of sorts that took a small amount of energy to power itself. She did the same to the passageway to Vanaheim, and Nidavellir, as well as Midgards connection to Yrgdrasil. The world tree itself, the very essence of the milky way galaxy, would protect the planet, effectively putting the same blockade toll onto the Kree’s C-53 jump point, Xandar’s 2834401 and 2052493 points and the naturally occurring hex jump points surrounding it. All I’m a day's work, she thought, satisfied with her work. There would be no more alien invasions unless she let them through. Even the bifrost couldn’t come down without her permission, and she saw it in her Magic’s eye. A mere few months from completion. She had better get started then.
“Heimdall, did I see that correctly?”
“I do not know, for I cannot see Midgard any longer.”
“But did you watch me while I was there?”
“I tried but I could not.”
“Heimdall, what do you mean?”
“I could not see your companion, there is a showdown-like influence, like a cloak around her, and it affected you as well while you were near her. I can see you now, both with my true eyes and my sight, but I could not see you then.”
“And now?”
“I am no longer able to see Midgard as a whole, nothing and nowhere on it is within my sight.”
“She said she would do that. I did not think it to be true, but she claimed to go and shield Midgard from your gaze, likening your gift to use as a spy, especially before any alliance agreements are signed. It is absurd.”
“No, Sif. You are to be an ambassador, so you must know this. It is not absurd, it is troublesome and even frightening. The Allfather has shielded much of the universe from my gaze, so as not to overburden my sight as occurs with some other seers. The overburden is too much for those that can see the future, which is why none survive. However, the face that one not of Asgard’s royal bloodline can do so is worrying.”
“In Asgard’s bloodline? Is that how Loki shielded himself from you?”
“Aye. For all he was not born a son of the Allfather, deep in his soul he is.”
“Can you see him now.”
“Nay, the Allmother refuses to disown him, so he can still shield himself as can Thor, if he so wished.”
“Heimdall, have you ever watched Midgard's governing systems?”
“Aye, I have. Even Asgards enemies must rest, and when they do, I can split my focus. I watch Modgardian politics as entertainment at times.” Heimdall said, chuckling.
“What of the realm they call America, for that is the one the Allfather is sending me to.”
“It is the youngest I have yet seen, not even two centuries since it's founding, yet it leads the world.”
“Leading in two centuries?”
“Aye. And it's rulers change in a matter of years, to eliminate corruption and power madness. It is good that King Odin and King Bor before him were not touched by such, for before the reign of Bor, Buri was deposed for going mad with power.”
“And what of the rainbow bridge and the bifrost’s reconstruction?” Sif asked, unable to see through the blurry haze of magic in the surrounding space of the construction site.
“It is soon to be done. By the time you are an ambassador, you will not need to use the back passageways.” Heimdall said, and Sif continued questioning him, educating herself on the people she must soon live with, for long hours after that.