The Revelation
Chapter 3: The Revelation
May 4, 2012
Lyssa made her way towards the bridge, catching up with Thor and Aria heading in the same direction. Rather, Aria was running in that direction, shrieking happily, while Thor chased after her, purposefully staying a few feet behind her. Aria’s blanket was folded over his shoulder, blending in with his clothes quite well.
“This Midgardian Healer has stated that all is well with Aria.” Thor said, falling into step with Lyssa while Aria ran ahead of them.
“That’s good.” Lyssa said, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders at the confirmation that their daughter was safe.
“Have you spoken with Son of Coul of how fare Jane and Darcy?” Thor asked softy, wrapping his arm around her waist. “I, myself, have not as of yet.”
“I was going to ask him.” Lyssa replied. “That’s why I’m heading to the bridge, to see if he’s there.”
“Very well.” Thor replied, nodding.
They turned their attention to Aria, who was darting between the legs of the agents that were walking through the hallways. No one particularly minded the toddler, taking her delighted laughter and running in stride. A few actually made it a game, teasing her as she tried darting between their legs and earning an adorable pout when she failed to pass by them.
“Don’t be fooled by that pout.” Lyssa called to an agent that was playfully keeping Aria from passing by him. “She’s a devious little spider-monkey.” Lyssa warned.
Aria, as though knowing her mother was talking about her, looked up at the adults with an angelic smile.
“Indeed, she is.” Thor agreed. “Many a time she has fooled me.”
“In all fairness, that’s quite easy.” Lyssa said dryly.
Thor raised his eyebrow at her, a mischievous glint appearing in his striking blue eyes. “Oh?” He said, grinning playfully at her. Thor poked her in the side, drawing a loud shriek of laughter from her. He repeated the action, causing her to shriek in laughter again.
Lyssa slipped from his hold and ran. He darted after her, pausing long enough to pick up a laughing Aria and place her on his shoulders.
“Fa’ter! Fa’ter, Daddy!” Aria shrieked delightedly.
Thor obliged, increasing his speed as he chased after Lyssa. Their laughter, bright and cheerful, filled the hallways, agents quickly moving out of the way when they approached. Lyssa, Thor and Aria were given a few raised eyebrows by a couple of agents as they shot past them, but no one commented on the joyous laughter. It was actually welcomed, especially after how many people had died in the past few days alone as a result of Loki’s actions.
Lyssa slowed to a stop as she entered the bridge, Thor following suit when he reached her. He set Aria down on the ground, passing her blanket to her and taking hold of her free hand in a firm grip.
“Excuse me, have you seen Agent Coulson?” Lyssa asked an agent passing by her.
“Yes ma’am. He’s over there.” The agent replied, pointing to a row of computer consoles. Coulson was at the far end of the row, standing behind an empty chair and looking at the computer screen.
“Thank you.” Thor said gratefully, nodding at the agent.
The agent smiled in response before walking off. Thor, holding Aria’s hand firmly, and Lyssa walked towards Coulson, reaching him just as he straightened up and turned to them.
“I was just about to go looking for you.” Coulson said with a smile. “I figured you would want to know about Dr. Foster and Miss. Lewis.” He stated in explanation rather than asked.
“We would, yes, please.” Lyssa replied, nodding. She looked at the screen, seeing a candid image of Jane taking up most of the space.
“As soon as Loki took the doctor, we moved Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis.” Coulson said, his voice becoming brisk and concise, a habit borne from delivering reports and news on many occasions. “We’ve got an excellent observatory in Tromso.” He told the concerned couple. Aria held her arms out to him, wanting to be picked up and Coulson obliged. He perched himself sideways on the table, holding Aria in his lap.
“Aunnie Jane!” Aria exclaimed delightedly, reaching out to touch the image on the screen.
“Dr. Foster was asked to consult there very suddenly yesterday.” Coulson said with a hint of playfulness in his blue eyes, easily keeping Aria from touching the touch-sensitive computer screens. “Handsome fee, private plane, very remote.” He listed. He looked at Lyssa and Thor, seeing the worried glint in both their eyes. “She and Darcy’ll be safe.” Coulson reassured them.
“Thank you, Agent Coulson.” Lyssa said with heartfelt gratitude.
“Thank you.” Thor echoed, just as grateful as Lyssa. Coulson smiled at them both, accepting their thanks. “It’s no accident, Loki taking Erik Selvig.” Thor said heavily.
“I dread to think what he has planned for him when he’s done.” Lyssa said gravely.
“Erik is a good man.” Thor said softly, remembering the elderly mortal who had helped him the previous year. The mortal who had been a second father to Lyssa.
“He talks about you a lot.” Coulson revealed. He looked at Lyssa. “And he misses you. You and Aria both.” He stood up, setting Aria on her feet with her blanket in her hand. She wasted no time running around directly in front of them, staying close to her parents while she played and kept herself occupied. “You changed his life.” Coulson told them. “You both changed everything around here.” He admitted. “Now that magic is relatively known, at least with SHIELD.”
“They were better as they were.” Thor said depreciatively as they slowly began walking away from the communications area. “We pretend on Asgard that we’re more advanced, but we come here, battling like bilge snipe.” He admitted thoughtfully.
“Like what?” Coulson asked, confused.
“Bilge snipe.” Lyssa said. “They are huge, scaly and with big antlers.” She explained. She turned to Thor, who realized that the agent had no idea what the creatures were. “They do not have bilge snipe here on Midgard.” She said.
“Truly?” Thor asked, looking at Coulson in mild surprise.
“Yeah, I don’t think so.” Coulson said, shaking his head.
“Well, they are repulsive.” Thor told him matter-of-factly. He walked over to the observation glass, looking out at the still darkened sky. “They trample everything in their path.”
“Says the man who kept one as a pet many centuries ago, as I recall.” Lyssa said, shooting him an annoyed look. “I still shudder at the memory of that time.”
“That was a great many centuries ago, my gazelle eyes. I have apologized since then.” Thor said defensively. “On many occasions.”
“It tried to eat me.” Lyssa retorted indignantly. “And it very nearly succeeded.”
Coulson frowned, picking up certain things Lyssa said that didn’t add up with what he knew of her, granted he didn’t know very much. There was also her physical appearance, the biggest change about her. “What do you mean?” Coulson asked, causing the couple to look at him. “And I’ve been wanting to ask since I saw you, why do you look different than you did last year? With the pointed ears and the glowing skin when you were in your armor?” He elaborated. “And the way you’re glowing now, like how Thor is.”
Thor and Lyssa exchanged looks, both keenly remembering the utter emotional roller coaster the past year had been for them both.
“To put it simply, I’m a Light Elf.” Lyssa said. “Hence the lighter hair color, the pointed ears and the ethereal glow.” She gestured to her ears that were peeking out between her thick hair. The locks that had previously been a dark cherry color were instead closer to a rose red shade*. It would continue lightening until becoming completely rose red in color, the shade she had in her previous life, as Anera, Princess of Alfheim. “The glowing skin when I'm in my armor is because I’m the Goddess of the Moon.” Lyssa explained.
Coulson still looked confused, not understanding how it was possible.
With a sigh, Lyssa and Thor proceeded to explain to him about the past year that had been spent on Asgard.
Not long after Lyssa had begun settling into her new life, she started noticing that her magic was getting stronger. She found that her spells were becoming over-charged, even simple ones like levitation and basic transfiguration that she had learned in her first and second year of school. In addition, she found that she was able to use healing spells, though they were overcharged as well, without a wand, when she had previously had to use it because of the nature of that type of magic. Healing magic was a particularly draining form of magic, if not occasionally volatile, thus needing the use of a wand because of the toll it took on the caster. However, Lyssa found that she felt none of the side effects, such as energy drain, increased appetite or tiredness, when she cast the spells without her wand, even if they were overcharged. She also found herself in tune with the moon, her strength and magic even being affected by the various phases, being stronger when it was full and not quite so when it was new. And she seemed to know things about Asgard and the Realms that couldn’t be attributed to her gift of Foresight, or even being a witch who had been raised with the belief that the various pantheons were real and not myths.
As she had told Bruce and Tony in the lab, she’d had her reservations about the increasing power, fearful of what she was capable of. The memory of destroying the Hogwarts grounds was never far from her mind. However, it had been Frigga and Thor who reassured Lyssa that her capacity for love and compassion would temper the possibility of descent into madness. So long as she had Thor helping her and supporting her, more so than anyone else in their family, she would remain anchored to sanity and not lose control.
However, the biggest change that shocked not only Lyssa, or even Asgard, but all the Realms, was her physical appearance. Just like with her magic, the lightening of her hair and pointing of her ears hadn’t been noticed at first as it had occurred very gradually, until Aria had been the one to point it out one day when she had been playing with Lyssa’s hair. After extensive research and scans done by the Asgardian healers, they realized that she was the reincarnation of Anera, the Goddess of the Moon (explaining the crescent moon on her forehead) as well as the Goddess of Magic and a minor Goddess of Healing, Crown Princess of Alfheim and Thor’s beloved who had died 25 years earlier. The very same woman whom they believed hadn’t been reborn following her last death on the eve of her and Thor’s wedding.
Odin and Frigga explained the full story to Lyssa, where she previously had only been told the basics of Anera being reincarnated dozens of times over the centuries because of some kind of curse. She was always a Goddess, always named ‘Anera’ and the same thing would happen each time – meeting Thor, falling in love with him while becoming best friends with Loki, only to die when she reached the equivalent of early twenties for whichever race she had been reborn into in that particular life. Her current life, as Lysianassa Potter, had been the only one where she had lived longer the equivalent 20-21 years and the only time that she had been reborn as a mortal.
Odin explained that he had been cursed by a vengeful Sorceress who had been furious that he chose Frigga as his Queen over her, cursing him to watch his child find love, only to lose it, over and over again. He was made to watch his child break a little more with each time she died, not only Thor but Loki as well who loved Anera just as much as his brother, albeit differently.
Upon learning the full story and starting to regain her memories of her many past lives, Lyssa began having misgivings about her relationship with Thor. She feared that her feelings for him were a remnant of the past, an echo of her past lives and wondered whether his feelings for her were for her as she was or for her past selves. Learning this (rather having to draw it out from her after many days of her avoiding him as much as possible), Thor adamantly reassured her that while he had certainly noticed the small number of similarities between her and her past selves, like her crescent moon, her eyes, the familiarity of her magic and her wings when they were revealed, he had fallen in love with her before learning of her being Anera’s current incarnation.
After spending some time working through and processing the new information she had been given, as well as the memories she had been recovering, she fully accepted who she had been as well as who she was – a witch, a Light Elf and a Goddess. During that time, she had also met Faradei, her younger brother from her immediate past life and Crown Prince of Alfheim, speaking with him at length about what was happening. In the end, Lyssa decided to reclaim her status as Crown Princess of Alfheim while Faradei remained the Crown Prince as they were the eldest son and daughter of the King and Queen. But she ceded the role of ‘direct heir’ to him as he had been since her death. At the resulting questions she received because of her decision, Lyssa frankly stated that the people knew Faradei and would frankly sooner trust him on the throne than they would her, for all that she was the current reincarnation of Anera. They had all known who she was as Anera, but they were still getting to know her as Lyssa. She also pointed out that in all honesty, she was different in her current life than all the previous lives she had lived because of what she had experienced in the 25 years she had lived as a mortal on Earth, experiences that she never went through in the past.
Lyssa also pointed out, rather bluntly, that she had her hands full with raising Aria (and Thor), controlling her increasing powers, learning what it meant to be a Princess (which was very different than what Midgardians believed), processing her returning memories as she gained them (of which there was frankly a lot because of how many lives she had lived and how many years), dealing with her body’s physiological changes and working on her relationship with Thor.
Her explanation was met with understanding and support. It was different from her previous lives, but that had been the point. Lyssa was different from her previous lives and she had made that very clear from the get-go.
By the time Lyssa and Thor finished speaking, Coulson was staring at them with a slack-jawed and wide-eyed expression, completely stunned. He had sat down on the steps leading up to the mezzanine above the bridge while Thor and Lyssa leaned against the stair railings.
Coulson opened his mouth before closing it a second later, completely speechless. “Whoa.” He said faintly after several minutes of failing to utter a sound. “That… That is one hell of a year.” He said bluntly.
“You’re telling me.” Lyssa muttered.
“So, what’s with the nickname? Gazelle Eyes?” Coulson asked curiously. “The shape of your eyes?” Coulson asked Lyssa.
Thor chuckled lightly. “In part.” He said. “It also comes from our first meeting, in her very first life. Loki, who calls her ‘gazelle-eyed sister’, and I had met Anera because of a gazelle.” He explained. “We had been on a hunt in the forest, aiming to take down a gazelle we had caught sight of, when we heard Anera screaming angrily which startled the gazelle, causing it to flee. Loki and I followed the sound of her voice and came upon a few young warriors who had been teasing her about her magic, how it had very little use in combat which had been what she was practicing.” Thor grinned at the memory while Lyssa blushed sheepishly. “My gazelle eyes promptly showed then that not only was she quite skilled in magic, being the Goddess of Magic, but in combat as well. While the bullies had been nursing their wounds, Loki and I revealed ourselves. Loki calmly pointed out that he was skilled in magic as well, being a God of Magic as well as Mischief and Tricks, but so was Queen Frigga who had been raised by witches. The bullies had quickly retreated after that.”
“It was then that I introduced myself to them both.” Lyssa said. “That was the first time we became friends. Thor and I fell in love with each other over the following 50 years, being together for nearly 200 more before I faced my first death.” She said quietly.
“I can’t imagine what you guys are going through. Being faced with what Loki is doing.” Coulson said sympathetically, realizing with a start that there was so much more to the relationship between Thor, Loki and Lyssa than can be expressed.
Thor turned to look out through the observation glass once more. “When I first came to Earth, Loki’s rage followed me here.” He said softly, his ethereal features filled with anguish. “And your people paid the price.” He said, glancing at Coulson, referring to the humans who had been in New Mexico the previous year. “And now, again.” Thor said softly.
Aria paused in her games, her running around in the immediate area, and turned to her father. She went to him, trailing her blanket behind her, and held her arms out to him. “Up, Daddy. Up.” She said firmly.
Thor obliged, lifting her up and perching her on his hip, easily adjusting her blanket so it remained in her grasp.
“And to think, in your youth, you courted war.” Lyssa said quietly, stepping towards him and Aria. She put her hand on Thor’s arm, comforting him and reassuring him despite her comment of his youth.
“More so in these 25 years when I had lost you.” Thor said with a heavy sigh, pressing his forehead against hers.
Coulson looked away, feeling as though he were intruding on a private moment between the couple.
“War hasn’t started yet.” Fury’s voice pierced through the bubble Thor and Lyssa had been in, the couple turning to him. Fury was on the mezzanine, looking over the railing down at them and sporting an expression akin to apologetic as though he hadn’t wished to interrupt the moment. “Either of you think you could make Loki tell us where the Tesseract is?” Fury asked, becoming serious. He fervently prayed to a God he wasn’t sure he completely believed in that Aria was too preoccupied by playing with Thor’s hair to pay attention to the less than child-friendly conversation they were having.
Thor and Lyssa exchanged looks, pondering the idea despite the churning feelings it rose in their guts. “I do not know.” Thor said honestly after several minutes, his expression pensive. “Loki’s mind is far afield.”
“It’s not just power he craves” Lyssa revealed quietly. “It’s vengeance, upon Thor.”
“Loki has blamed me for Anera’s death 26 years ago and he still blames me.” Thor explained. “It had been an underlying tension between us all these years, increasing with each year that had passed with no sign of her being reincarnated.”
Coulson and Fury both frowned at the explanation, though it was only the former who knew what Thor was referring to. Lyssa noticed their expressions and sighed quietly. “It certainly is not a logical anger or blame, but it is one brought on by grief that had been slowly warped with time.” She said sadly. “It has been made worse after Loki learned the truth of his parentage, the secret that had been kept from him, followed by his fall through the abyss last year.”
“There’s no pain would prise his need from him.” Thor said heavily.
“A lot of guys think that, until the pain starts.” Fury pointed out, slowly walking down the steps and stopping halfway.
“What are you asking us to do?” Lyssa asked, looking up at Fury.
He leaned over the railing, looking closely at both Thor and Lyssa. Fury looked into their eyes in turn with his own, dark eye. “I’m asking, what are you both prepared to do?” Fury asked, switching between meeting Thor’s eyes and then Lyssa’s without blinking.
“Loki is a prisoner.” Thor pointed out.
“Then why do I feel like he’s the only one on this boat that wants to be here?” Fury retorted.
Lyssa gasped, her eyes becoming unfocused.
Coulson stood on the mezzanine in the containment room, carrying a massive gun in his hands. It was aimed at Loki. “Move away, please.” Coulson said in his ever-polite tone. Loki froze in front of the cage’s control console, his hands up and looking at Coulson, his gaze darting between the man and the gun being held in his hands. “You like this?” Coulson asked calmly, gesturing to the gun. “We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer.” Thor and Lyssa, with Aria strapped to her chest in a sling, were trapped inside the cage, watching helplessly. Aria had tears streaming down her beautiful face, her cherubic cheeks stained with old tear tracks. “Even I don’t know what it does.” Coulson admitted, him and Loki slowly walking towards each other. Coulson powered up the gun, the gentle hum filling the room. “Do you want to find out?” Coulson asked curiously.
He gasped in pain, groaning as he was stabbed through the chest from behind. It was Loki.
“NO!” Thor and Lyssa screamed in unison. Aria began crying in earnest, her wails filling the room while Thor banged on the reinforced glass that contained them.
His efforts were useless and they could only watch helplessly as Coulson groaned again. The image of Loki that he had been talking to faded, revealing it to have been an illusion while the real Trickster pulled the scepter free. Coulson fell to the ground, slumped against the wall panel beside him.
Thor panted heavily, his eyes filled with rage and anguish at being helpless. Beside him, Lyssa struggled to calm Aria down, only to fail as they watched Coulson struggle for each breath. Blood poured from his wound and dripped from the corner of his mouth, trickling down to the floor.
“My gazelle eyes?” Thor asked, looking at her.
Lyssa didn’t respond to his silent question, turning to Coulson, who was looking at her in confusion, as was Fury. “You were stabbed.” She said softly so that no one else could hear.
“What do you mean?” Fury asked, his voice and expression filled with protectiveness towards his friend and subordinate.
“I have the gift of Foresight.” Lyssa explained. “I sometimes get visions of the past, present and future. And what I saw was a vision of the future.”
“How can you tell?” Coulson asked, remarkably calm in the face of the news.
“Because Loki was the one to stab you and it was in the Containment Room.” She replied. “I don’t know when it happens, only that it does.”
“Okay. Anything else you can tell me?” Coulson asked intently.
“Only that Thor, Aria and I were helpless to aid you.” She admitted. “We were in the cage while Loki was out of it. I don’t know why we were inside and he wasn’t. The vision began when you stopped Loki from touching something on the control console.” She said with a frown, trying to remember the details of the vision. Because she had been present in the vision, she could feel her vision-self’s emotions, the heart-wrenching anguish, the anger and the helplessness at not being able to save him. “I can’t remember!” She cried, her feelings of helplessness increasing.
Thor set Aria down on the ground and drew Lyssa into a hug, rubbing her arms comfortingly. “It’s okay.” He said reassuringly. “Take your time.” He said gently. Thor pulled away from her and guided her to sit on the steps kneeling in front of her while holding her hands. He rubbed the back of her palms soothingly with the pads of his thumbs. “Say what you remember. Don’t push yourself.” Thor said softly. “You were in the vision, you are feeling an echo of your self’s emotions.” He reminded her.
Coulson and Fury exchanged looks. Neither could say with complete certainty that they believed that Lyssa could see the future, but they could see that it had clearly shaken her. Thor’s reaction to it, as well as Aria not seeming to be fazed by it, lent credence to the fact that there was some basis to the ‘vision’.
“Do you actually see me die?” Coulson probed gently.
Lyssa frowned, trying to remember. “No. I-I don’t believe so.” She replied after a few seconds. “You were struggling for breath when the vision ended.”
“So that means that there’s still a chance that I survive.” Coulson said with finality.
Thor looked up at him from where he was still crouched in front of Lyssa. “Do not take this lightly, Son of Coul.” Thor warned him. “Never in all these centuries has my gazelle eyes’ visions been wrong.”
“I get that.” Coulson said reassuringly. “But I’m remaining optimistic. And I knew the risks associated with this job when I signed up.” He added.
Lyssa looked up at him, meeting his light blue eyes with her own moonlit silver ones. For several seconds, she looked into his eyes, as though searching for something. “Very well.” Lyssa said finally, rising to her feet, Thor following suit. “You are a grown man capable of making your own decisions. I have given you the warning of what I have seen. It is on your head to choose what you do with the information.” She said.
It was something she had struggled to come to terms with, the harsh truth that she wasn’t able to save everyone even with her gift of Foresight. She had done all that she could, at least with what little information they had, and it was up to Coulson to decide what to do. His fate lay in his hands. He will still be stabbed in the containment room, but whether he lived or died was yet to be determined.
“Thank you.” Coulson said gratefully, unfazed by the seemingly brisk tone the redhead had used.
Lyssa nodded in response as Thor caught Aria when she ran past him, perching her on his hip. Fury gave them a long look, Lyssa in particular, before exchanging a glance with Coulson and walking away. Coulson smiled at the couple and the happily babbling toddler before following Fury, falling into step behind him and slightly to the left.
Lyssa sighed quietly. She turned to Thor, playfully bopping Aria on the nose at the same time. “I should get back to the lab.” Lyssa said. “We have much work to do to locate the Tesseract.”
Thor nodded in understanding. “I will keep Aria with me.” He said.
Lyssa nodded and pressed a kiss to Aria’s cheek and another to Thor’s lips. He watched her turn and walk away, the folds of her dress fluttering around her legs with each graceful step she took.
It only took her a few minutes before she reached Bruce’s lab, rejoining him and Tony in the search for the Tesseract. While they worked, Lyssa told them about the past year that she had spent on Asgard after Tony pointed out her physical changes from the last time they had met. She finished telling the story just as they had succeeded in activating the tracking program that they had created and much like Coulson had been, both scientists were speechless.
“Let me get this straight. You and Point Break have pretty much been through hell for God only knows how many millennia, all because some broad was jealous that Thor’s father picked his mother over her?” Tony asked incredulously, perched on the edge of one of the tables. “This whole thing is because of jealousy ?”
“Pretty much, yes.” Lyssa replied, nodding. She was sitting on a padded back chair, her posture regal despite the relaxed atmosphere just as it had been while she had been seated at the round table on the bridge.
“Puts things into perspective.” Bruce muttered. Lyssa and Tony looked at him in confusion. “I thought that the Hulk was a curse. But what you and Thor have been going through, what his family, and even Loki, are going through, that’s…” He trailed off, shaking his head. “Honestly, there’s nothing I can say that can describe what I’m feeling.” He admitted.
Tony nodded in agreement. “Tell me about it.” He said. “And I’m the guy who has something to say about everything .” He said dryly.
Before Lyssa could respond, Fury strode into the lab with long and purposeful strides. “What are you doing Mr. Stark?” Fury demanded to know, not pausing to exchange pleasantries with the scientists.
“Uh, kind of been wondering the same about you.” Tony replied, becoming flippant.
“You’re supposed to be locating the Tesseract.” Fury said, only his many years as a spy keeping him from glaring at the billionaire.
“And we are, Director.” Lyssa said, turning her attention to him. “The tracking program is locked on and we’re sweeping through the signature now. Once it gets a hit, we’ll have a location within a half-mile.” She explained, pointing to the computer screen behind Fury that displayed the readouts of the program.
“Yeah, then you get your Cube back.” Tony remarked. “No muss, no fuss.” The screen next to him chimed with incoming alerts and he looked at it. “What is ‘Phase 2’?” He asked, looking back at Fury.
“I’m wondering that, too.” Lyssa admitted, recognizing the term from her vision two days earlier.
Before Fury could respond, Steve walked in with a gun in hand. The gun wasn’t like any model currently in production, clearly an advanced piece of technology meant only for SHIELD use. Steve put the weapon on the table, a loud clattering sound echoing around the lab. “Phase 2 is SHIELD uses the Cube to make weapons.” Steve said crisply before glancing at Tony. “Sorry, computer was moving a little slow for me.” He added sheepishly.
“Rogers, we gathered everything related to the Tesseract.” Fury said walking towards Steve and gesturing to the gun. “This does not mean that we’re making-”
“I’m sorry, Nick.” Tony said loudly, cutting the Director off and drawing the man’s attention. Tony turned the screen around to show Fury, revealing the blueprints of missile-like weapons that were clearly powered by the Tesseract. “What were you lying?”
“I was wrong, Director.” Steve said coldly as Natasha and Thor entered the lab. Aria was perched on her father’s hip, drinking from a juice box while holding her blanket with her other hand. “The world hasn’t changed a bit.”
“Did you know about this?” Bruce asked Natasha, gesturing to the screen and drawing Thor out of his thoughts.
“You want to think about removing yourself from this environment, doctor?” Natasha asked instead of replying to Bruce’s question.
“I was in Calcutta. I was pretty well removed.” Bruce retorted, chuckling dryly.
“Loki’s manipulating you.” Natasha said, taking a few steps towards Bruce, her entire body poised and ready in case she had to fight.
“And you’ve been doing what, exactly?” Bruce asked sarcastically.
“You didn’t come here because I bat my eyelashes at you.” Natasha remarked.
“Yes, and I’m not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy.” Bruce snapped, irritated. “I’d like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction.” Bruce said firmly, removing his glasses and using them to point to the screen.
“Not nice.” Aria said sagely around her straw.
“Because of him.” Fury said, pointing at Thor.
“Me?” Thor repeated in surprise.
“Him?” Lyssa repeated in surprise.
“Daddy?” Aria asked, cocking her head to the side in confusion.
“Last year, Earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town.” Fury explained, sighing heavily. “We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously , outgunned.”
Lyssa, whose surprise gave way to anger the longer Fury spoke, leveled the man with an ice-cold glare. “Don’t you dare blame what happened last year on Thor.” She hissed, her voice just as cold as her expression. “Yes, Loki’s rage followed him here, but it is not a justified reason to use the Tesseract for your own purposes. You don’t know the power you’re dealing with, a power that would have even the Allfather thinking twice before wielding.”
Thor put his free hand on Lyssa’s shoulder in an effort to calm her temper. “Our people want nothing but peace with your world.” Thor added, looking at Fury.
“But you’re not the only people out there, are you?” Fury asked in response. “And you’re not the only threat.” Fury sighed. “Your daughter, who wasn’t even 2 at the time, managed to dent the Destroyer when not even your friends had been able to.” Fury reminded them. Everyone in the lab looked at Aria in amazement and shock, all of them having at least the basic idea of what had occurred the previous year, if not aware of the full story.
“Don’t remind me.” Lyssa muttered, “I’m still haunted by that.”
“As am I.” Thor admitted softly.
“The world is filling up with people who can’t be matched, that can’t be controlled.” Fury continued his previous line of explanation, drawing attention away from the not-quite young parents.
“Like you controlled the Cube?” Steve challenged.
“Your work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies.” Thor said, effectively telling Fury that the blame was shared by them both. “It is a signal to all the Realms that the Earth is ready for a higher form of war.”
“A higher form?” Steve repeated in alarm.
“A form that Earth is not ready to deal with.” Lyssa said bluntly. “Mankind has only just learned of the existence of other planets; the entire Magical World continues to remain largely separated from the Muggle World, with a few notable exceptions.” She pointed out. “But that is only because of magic’s inherent nature to remain hidden as the dangers of exposure far outweigh the possibility that we would be met with welcome. It is the one of the only things that both Good and Evil agreed upon eons ago.”
“Wait, but Loki used magic in Stuttgart.” Steve pointed out. “Does that mean we’re going to have to deal with the repercussions of that as well?”
“Don’t think so.” Lyssa replied, shaking her head. “If he had exposed magic, we would be facing the repercussions already. In this day and age, humans tend to find a logical and rational explanation for what they see, a scientific explanation. To put it bluntly, you’re notoriously oblivious to the obvious.” She said bluntly.
“You forced our hand.” Fury said, defending his reasoning, looking at Thor and Lyssa. “We had to come up with something.”
“A nuclear deterrent.” Tony stated dryly. “Because that always calms everything right down.”
“It is just like humans, to think of war before peace on general principle.” Lyssa said sarcastically. “And I can say so with certainty because I was born and raised as a human for 24 years.”
“Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark.” Fury snapped, whipping around to glare at the billionaire.
“I’m sure if he still made weapons, Stark would be neck-deep-” Steve began dryly.
“Wait, wait, hold on. How is this now about me?” Tony asked, drawing the Super Soldier’s attention.
“I’m sorry, isn’t everything?” Steve asked snidely.
“I thought humans were more evolved than this.” Thor remarked to Lyssa, watching the two men bicker.
“Apparently not.” The reincarnated Goddess replied, taking the empty juice box from Aria and tossing it into the nearby bin.
“Excuse me, did we come to your planet and blow stuff up?” Fury asked Thor, rounding on the Thunder God and glaring furiously at the larger man.
“You treat your champions with such mistrust.” Thor retorted, glaring at the Director.
“Are you boys really that naïve?” Natasha asked incredulously. “SHIELD monitors potential threats.”
“ Captain America is on a threat watch?” Bruce asked incredulously, crossing his arms over his chest.
“We all are.” Natasha replied.
“Wait, you’re on that list?” Tony asked, looking at Steve. “Are you above or below angry threats?”
“Stark, so help me God, if you make one more wisecrack…” Steve threatened, trailing off, clenching his jaw angrily.
“Threat!” Tony called. “Verbal threat! I feel threatened.”
“Show some respect.” Steve snapped.
“Respect for what?” Tony asked challengingly.
As the arguing continued, Aria whimpered, scared at the changes she was sensing in the adults. Over the past year, she had become more sensitive towards emotions, particularly those felt strongly or shared by a group of people. No one knew why she had gained the beginnings of what they were assuming was Empathy; Lyssa and Frigga speculated that it might have something to do with Aria’s still unbound magic and her desire to fit in with the other Asgardian children she regularly played with, all of whom were stronger, faster, older and in some ways more powerful than her.
Aria burrowed her face into Thor’s shoulder, her tiny frame trembling. Thor absently rubbed her back soothingly, continuing his side of the argument while Lyssa furiously defended him against Fury’s accusations.
The multi-faceted argument went on for several minutes, their voices eventually blending together to create a cacophony of noise. Aria whimpers became sniffles that went unheard amid the noise, her father continuously rubbing her back soothingly in instinctive motions.
“You speak of control, yet you court chaos.” Thor said, bouncing Aria slightly as he rubbed her back.
“That’s his MO, isn’t it?” Bruce asked, looking at Fury. Everyone looked at him as he continued, “I mean, what are we, a team?” He shook his head. “No, no, no. we’re a chemical mixture that makes chaos. We’re… We’re a time bomb.”
“You need to step away.” Fury said, slowly stepping towards Bruce.
“Why shouldn’t the guy let off a little steam?” Tony asked, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder.
“You know damn well why.” Steve snapped, brushing Tony’s hand off his shoulder. “Back off!”
“I’m starting to want you to make me.” Tony retorted.
“Yeah.” Steve said with a scoff, stepping towards Tony and glaring at him. “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” Steve asked challengingly.
“Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.” Tony replied flippantly without missing a beat.
Lyssa had to hand it to him; he certainly was all of the above without his armor.
“I know guys with none of that worth ten of you.” Steve said, sneering at the billionaire. “I’ve seen the footage. The only thing you really fight for is yourself.” Tony clenched his jaw, glaring at the man who Howard Stark had spent most of his life searching for. “You’re not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you.” Steve said.
“I think I would just cut the wire.” Tony said flippantly, hiding behind his customary mask of nonchalance.
Steve chuckled sardonically, shaking his head. “Always a way out.” He remarked. His chuckles faded as a glare etched itself on his fair features. “You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero.”
“A hero?” Tony repeated. “Like you? You’re a laboratory experiment, Rogers. Everything special about you came out of a bottle.”
“Put on the suit.” Steve challenged, stepping closer to Tony, the two men barely half a foot apart. “Let’s go a few rounds.”
Thor laughed, not pausing his ministrations in comforting Aria whose whimpers had become sniffling sobs. “You people are so petty, and tiny.” Thor said, his laughter slowing to chuckles.
“Yeah, this is a team.” Bruce said sarcastically.
“Agent Romanoff, would you escort Dr. Banner back to his-” Fury began, only to be cut off by the mild-mannered scientist himself.
“Where?” Bruce asked. “You rented my room.”
“The cell was just in case-” Fury began, once again trying to justify his actions.
“In case you needed to kill me.” Bruce said, cutting Fury off before he could finish. “But you can’t. I know, I tried.”
At Bruce’s admission, a stunned silence fell over the lab, everyone staring at the scientist in shock. It was broken by a sharp wail that pierced the room and they all turned to the source of the sound.
It was Aria. Her large green eyes were filled with tears, streaking down her cherubic cheeks as she gripped her blanket tightly with both hands.
Thor bounced her and rubbed her back as he had been doing, but she continued to cry. Lyssa held her hands out to Thor and he passed the wailing toddler over, staying close as they both rubbed her back soothingly.
“What’s wrong?” Natasha asked loudly, so as to be heard over the loud wailing.
“We believe Aria may be an Empath.” Thor replied. “She can feel this tension that is between us.”
“She can feel your self-hatred and despair.” Lyssa said, turning to Bruce without pausing her ministrations. “Everything you’re feeling right now, because it is so strong, it’s over powering the rest of our emotions, our anger and frustration with each other.”
Bruce looked at her guiltily, his feelings of self-hatred and despair inadvertently increasing. “I-” He started only to cut himself off, unsure of what to say.
“The fault is not yours.” Thor told him gently, his voice holding no trace of accusation. His ethereal features also had no accusation, only sympathy and understanding. “The fault is no one’s.” Thor said firmly.
Slowly, Aria’s wails slowed, becoming whimpers once more. She gripped her blanket in one hand and a lock of Lyssa’s hair in the other, a tight grip on both. “What you mean?” Aria asked, looking at Bruce. Her large emerald green eyes piercing his soft, brown ones, her gaze almost peering directly into his soul.
Unable to continue meeting her eyes, despite her being a toddler, Bruce looked away. “I got low; I didn’t see an end.” He said softly, keenly aware of everyone’s eyes on him. He wrapped his arms around his chest almost defensively, continuing, “So, I put a bullet in my mouth, and the other guy spit it back out.” He sighed, shrugging his shoulders slightly. “So I moved on. I focused on helping other people. I was good . Until you dragged me back into this freak show and put everyone here at risk, put a toddler at risk. No matter how powerful Aria may seem to be, she’s still a baby and you put her at risk by dragging me here.” Absently, he reached behind him while turning to look at Natasha. “You want to know my secret, Agent Romanoff? You want to know how I stay calm?”
Focused on Natasha, Bruce didn’t notice how everyone’s postures became more alert and on guard; Thor stepped in front of Lyssa and Aria protectively, Natasha mirroring the action while slowly reaching for her gun on her thigh holster. Fury was doing the same thing, both spies freeing the guns from their confines but keeping them lowered while Steve stepped in front of Tony who was defenseless without his suit.
“Dr. Banner.” Steve called, his voice prompting the scientist to whip around to look at him. “Put down the scepter.”
Bruce frowned and looked down at his hand, realizing suddenly that he was holding the scepter, the blue orb at the top glowing brightly. He looked up but before he could say anything, the computer running the search program beeped with an incoming alert, drawing everyone’s attention. “Sorry, kids, you don’t get to see my party trick after all.” Bruce said quietly, putting the scepter back on the table and walked across the lab to the portable computer that had been running the program.
“You located the Tesseract?” Thor asked.
“I could get there fastest.” Tony said.
“The Tesseract belongs on Asgard.” Thor argued.
“No human is a match for it.” Lyssa agreed.
“You’re not going alone.” Steve said, grabbing Tony by the arm and stopping him from leaving.
“You gonna stop me?” Tony asked, brushing Steve’s hand off his arm.
“Put on the suit, let’s find out.” Steve challenged.
“I’m not afraid to hit an old man.” Tony said.
“Put on the suit.” Steve repeated, this time through clenched teeth.
“Oh, my God.” Bruce breathed, staring at the screen in horrified alarm.
Before he could say anything else, an explosion rocked the Helicarrier, a wave of fire erupting through the floor of the lab and rippling through the room. Everyone was thrown in different directions, Lyssa curling around Aria, who was screaming fearfully as they crashed through the glass window and onto the level below.
Links:
*Lyssa’s hair color, the shade it was slowly lightening to from its previous dark cherry red color - https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/342977327870526198/