Chapter 43
“Lilith, please?” Tony asked.
“No, Tony. Some things I can forgive. Neither of us is perfect, I know. But some things cross the line.” She said coldly, as the reporters picked up every word.
“And the kids? You’d let Junior and Hermione grow up with even less of a father than you me, and Hermione, my sister Hermione did?”
“They’ll grow up like I did. Better off.” Lilith said. Her face changed a little, to a more peaceful, kinder, faker, expression. “They say a hero will sacrifice their loved ones to save the world, but a villain will sacrifice the world to save those who they love. I think it’s time for you to change careers, because I know I’d give anything for the kids. You can choose, Tony. Superhero, or father. But I think you’ve already chosen.” She said, as she walked away, infant Hermione in her arms, Ron giving Tony one last longing glance as he followed him mom into the courtroom.
“Mom?” He asked, “Did you mean dad doesn’t love us?”
“No, Ron. He does love you. But he just loves some other things more, the wrong things, and that’s unacceptable.” Lilith explained kindly to her son. “You'll be alright, honey, we all will.”
“Peter, so what do you think of this program? It sounds wonderful.” May gushed.
“Yeah, Aunt May. It sounds wonderful.”
“Peter, what’s really on your mind? That’s a lot less enthusiasm than you expected, given it came from your idol.”
“Yeah, well what do you expect when I find out the Starks are divorcing and nobody will even say why.”
“Oh, honey. Your idols won’t be perfect, you know that. You respect both of them for the good they’ve done, right?”
“Of course, Aunt May.” Peter agreed. “Also, it’s a little strange. We all know Mr. Barnes has a prosthetic arm, some sort of train accident when he was younger, he always has a long sleeve and glove over it, but that one looks very strange.”
“Peter! Don’t judge people based on these things, it’s not his fault he’s not as lucky as you to still have all his limbs.”
“No, I don’t mean anything bad, it’s just I’m not used to seeing him with it on display. Looks different.”
“That’s probably why he doesn’t wear it to a school full of teenagers.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Even when he was the Winter Soldier, Bucky Barnes hid his metal arm. For all intents and purposes, he was just Spider-Man’s mentor when he was in New York City.
“So what about this Protectors Program?” May asked, enthusiastic.
“It sounds like a Junior Avengers thing.”
“Really? But you’re not enhanced, I mean you’re brilliant, but all the Avengers are the people that can hold themselves in a fight, and if it were, I don't want you to get hurt.”
Peter flipped open the book, and after a very short while of silence, he read out, “The Protectors Program is a team of young adults, able in both body and mind, to help protect the world from itself so that it can protect itself from everyone else if need be.” He read out, as a page fell out. “The Protectors will not sign the upcoming Paris Accords, also known as the Superhuman Registration Act, if passed, so as to boycott a law that is everything perfect to bind a superhero from achieving their duty to the world, May, no.”
“But Peter, you’re very smart, sure, but you’re no superhero. You don’t need to worry about this. They haven’t even been passed yet, the vote is 5 months away.”
“May, that’s not actually true. I’m sorry, I didn’t tell you, I wanted to protect you…”
“Peter, honey, I’m the adult, I’m the one that should be protecting you. What is it you were going to say?”
“May, I’m Spider-Man. And I can’t join this program. Tony Stark is right, the Accords need to be passed, and if Lilith Stark is standing against them, well, especially now, that autograph can probably get many thousands of dollars on eBay.” Peter said.
“Honey, I am so proud of you. Ben always said you should do the right thing, stand up for what you believe in, and you’re doing just that.”
“May, Uncle Ben was the only guy on that jury panel who stood against the sentencing of the foreign super spy who killed the president, because he said the Starks, and Natalia Romanova were lying at the witness stand after being sworn in. Uncle Ben was great, but his judgement was a bit flawed sometimes.”
“Peter, you were a lot younger, but do you remember what he said, before he died?”
“Never to take anything at face value or as the public sees it, but to assume there is always more hidden underneath? Aunt May, Uncle Ben was great, but he was also a conspiracy theorist.”
“No, honey. He just believed Melina Vostakoff had been framed, and that it wasn’t her that did it. And honey, it adds up. He was killed for his opinion, why? If it were false, and someone followed up at his words and looked in, what harm would it do to find everythis were as it seemed? Plus, who had the most to gain from Ellis’ death? The ones who sponsored President Brant. And the one who ended up ruling an empire that Melina Vostakoff would have stood in the way of. And who killed her? Inside of the most secure prison on the planet? Only someone sent by someone who could get in. She was going to be allowed to speak to a reporter a month after she was found dead. And she was conveniently dropped off at the Raft, awaiting trial, by Stark, with Natalia Romanova on the plane, and nobody knew how he disabled her disguise tech. What was to stop I’m from simply-”
“Switching them out. Aunt May, what do we do now?”
“This came in the mail this morning.” She showed him an envelope, addressed to Spider-Man. “Invitation to the Avengers? Requirement, signing the Paris Accords when passed. Aunt May, I think I know what’s going on here.”
“Tony, why do we have another teenager on the team?” Rhodes asked.
“Teddy was his age, and I thought i was finally time to bring in another honest superhero. Everyone, meet spiderkid.”
“Mister Stark, it’s Spider-Man.”
“When your voice deepens, sure, kid.”
“Teddy Stark! Why are you here and not at your parents divorce case!” The reporter yelled at him.
“Because I’m a legal adult. Either way, I’m going to see both of them, but it’s not like I depend on either. My presence won’t affect the ruling in either direction anyways.”
“Hello, Freyr.” Loki said, smirking as he relaxed on his uncle’s throne. “So kind of you to promise me this throne one day.”
“Not any day soon.” Freyr said firmly.
Shaking his hand in greeting, Loki drawled, “define soon.”
“I sympathize with your run of luck, your majesty.” Earthen co-ambassador Hope Van Dyne said.
“I thank you, Lady Hope, but no sympathy is required of you.” Frigga said. “Tis not my luck, but for all that occurs, there are ups and there are downs. For all that Freyr no longer occupies it, it heartens me to know I can still trust the King of my homeworld.”
“Boss?”
“What is it, Zemo?” Lilith asked. Her people only connected to her directly if it was truly necessary.
“I have major news.”
“What happened on Asgard.”
“Not Asgard. Vanaheim. Frigga’s brother, King Freyr of Vanaheim, is now the late King Freyr.”
“Who took up the throne.”
Eugenia spoke in a tone that dreaded what came next. “Loki Odinson, yesterday crowned King of Vanaheim.”
“This is disappointing.” Hela said. “I’m the only one left of our siblings without a throne.”
Hope had fit in well with the ladies of court, and though she couldn’t quite understand Princess Hela, they spoke a similar language, and not only literally. “Why would you even want a throne? It seems to me like gilded shackles and a cage. You seem to me as more of a general.”
“It matters not what I am, it’s what I was raised to be.”
“Take it from me, don’t be held back by what your father crafted you to be. I was raised to be the head of an empire, yet here I am, an ambassador, the first ambassador, to a whole nother world.”
“You wee raised to rule an empire, yet you have no throne to speak of.” Hela said. “Do you mean you turned it down in favor of this endeavor?”
“No, my father stepped down, and I have not turned it down so much as stepped away. I have an assistant commandeering it for me while I am here, I check in every month, but there is no reason for me to live in it, when i can do much more.”
“And you trust your servant enough to rule for you?”
“My empire is not so much literal. I don’t own everything on a large span of land, so much as I control the production of a product, a monopoly we call it, and I get the money from selling all of it, some of which I have to then in turn pay to the people who manufacture those products for me. Earth works less around titles, although we have those too, but more about money.”
“What is your monetary base?” Hela asked. “I do have a premier basic education.”
“We’re still on the gold standard, although it’s shifting away from that more and more rapidly every year.”
“And yet you keep no titles or ornaments to remind you if your position. No large amounts of gold, no exquisite jewelry. Are your vaults so barren?”
“The only people who wear those symbols are Nouveau Riche. New rich. The ones whose position has truly been cemented are like me, I know who I am, and I feel no need to prove that I am better or richer or of higher status. I know that, and anyone important knows that. I won’t dress up unless it’s a formal event, otherwise, business casual works just fine.” Hela’s face showed she was very clearly surprised. “It’s a difference between worlds, that is all.”
“And you enjoy being an ambassador?” Hela asked.
“It is relaxing work. You would be surprised how much monotony goes into ruling an empire, literal or business. I pity Tony Stark, his business empuréis the largest of all, and he was just divorced.”
“Would you care to tell me about all the peculiarities of your realm?” Hela asked, intrigued, her curiosity peaked. She had found a new lead to chase, she had given up on a throne, but Midgard, Earth, that was interesting. And it helped how much disdain Odin had heaped on it, she would be metaphorically spitting in his grave.