The Visitor
The bus ride into Rosehill hadn’t exactly been pleasant. New York was a lot farther and Ren had no desire to spend that trip stuck in a tin can with a bunch of strangers. The jet was still busy for some mission, so she decided her best option was to rent a car.
But impulse control had never been her strong suit. Two hours later, she had used a sizeable chunk of her generous salary to buy a car. A sleek, dark gray, R33 Skyline GTR. It had some sort of sporty body kit and looked perfect. It rode even better. The New England scenery passed in a blur as she attempted to cut her travel time in half.
While she broke several traffic laws in her new car, all Ren could think was how much Tony would love this thing. He would probably insist on putting about a thousand Stark Tech modifications on it and installing JARVIS - which wasn’t actually a bad idea. She really hoped she was right. Tony couldn’t just be… gone. There was no way. Stark was way too much of a diva to go out so easily. After she dealt with the mystery visitor at the tower she would go back out until she found her friend.
…
She manually called JARVIS to open the tower's garage and parked the new acquisition inside. Ren walked into the front lobby to see if anyone at the front desk knew who the visitor in the penthouse was. When no one could tell her anything, she headed over to the private elevator. Passing a few of the R&D guys on the way, they stopped her to say that they were working on some new uniform material and would love it if she could stop by to test it sometime. She promised to come down to their department when she could.
Ren’s mind wandered on the elevator ride. Frankly, there was a long and weird list of possible visitors for the Avengers. Yet she was still surprised to see a man wearing a strange sort of armor in the middle of her living room. He was tall, blond, and gorgeous. And familiar.
He spotted her as she stepped out, “You must be the woman of fire!” His voice boomed across the room.
“You must be the alien-god-guy with the crazy brother,”
Thor flashed her a chagrined smile, “I would not call myself a god, and I sincerely apologize for my brother, Loki,”
Ren only shrugged, “He was the bad guy, not you,”
“Loki is not inherently bad, I assure you, he has simply been misguided and behaving… not like himself,” Thor seemed to break himself out of a reverie, “Nevertheless, that is not why I am here. Heimdall told me that the man of Iron was pronounced to be dead. I have come to share my condolences, he seemed a good man,”
“He is a good man,”
…
Steve dragged the Asgardian off to some other floor. While she wasn’t sure what the two of them might have in common, Ren didn’t think too much of it and headed back to her room.
A long shower and a fresh set of clothes later, she made her way down to the lab. That’s where Natasha had told her they sent the files recovered from the Hydra base. While most hadn’t been decrypted or repaired yet, she still wanted to see if there was anything new to go over.
Only a few moments were needed to find that there was no new intel. At least that she could access. Once she could get to her private laptop again she might be able to go through some of the new S.H.I.E.L.D.’s files, but it would take a while to break in. She was far from a hacking prodigy.
Lounging in the desk chair she debated what to do next. She could train, but her body still ached after the team's most recent mission. Finding where the tower's newest guest had run off to was appealing. After all, Ren didn’t get to talk to many alien-slash-norse gods.
She was spared from having to choose when a very welcome figure entered the lab.
“Hey, Barnes,”
“Wright,” He said in surprise, “You’re back,”
“Yeah, Nat called me in to see Thor,” She explained.
Barnes furrowed his brow, “She called you back just for that?”
“Oh, I doubt it. I don’t think she wanted me alone in Tenessee, looking into Stark,”
“You don’t think he’s dead,” It wasn’t a question.
She stood up and shook her head, “No I don’t. But I can’t prove it yet and don’t have any solid leads to go on, so I’m here,”
Bucky nodded, “Well I’m glad you’re back,”
She smiled, neither of them were much for sentiment but especially not Barnes, “Missed me, did you?”
He gave her a half smile in response and shook his head.
“What are you doing in here anyways?” Ren asked.
Now he looked a little timid, “I was just… I came to look at my scans again,”
Ren had completely forgotten about that. Between the news about Tony and the mission and Thor showing up - Bruce’s new machine had slipped her mind. She desperately hoped the news was good, “How does it look,”
“Like a mess. At least that's what they tell me,”
“Can they… do anything?” She was almost nervous to ask.
Again, a small smile albeit more hesitant, but almost hopeful, “Banner thinks they can, though he said artificially accelerating the healing process could make things difficult,”
“Difficult how,”
A shrug, “He didn’t elaborate. I don’t think they know,”
…
It had taken a few hours for her and Bucky to catch up. Once they got the details out of the way, it was nice to just talk to her friend. He had been the first person not to tell her that her theory about Tony was crazy. He didn’t exactly endorse it either, but he admitted that it sounded almost plausible.
Now she was simply starving, enhanced metabolism be damned. When she was still living on her own the food bill had been atrocious, now that it was on Tony’s dime she didn’t feel so bad.
… if he was still alive, that was.
Alone in the dark kitchen, Ren helped herself to a plain apple. She didn’t have the energy or the will to make anything that required a modicum of effort. It had been a long day. When the overhead lights suddenly switched on she jumped and spun around from where she’d been leaning against the counter. Thor stood next to the light switch, looking almost as alarmed as she felt.
“Lady Wright,”
“Thor,”
“I see you have, an apple,”
She laughed at herself, wondering what she must’ve looked like hunched over in the dark snacking on the fruit, “Late night snack,” She told him.
“Ah, I see that is a tradition in Midgard too! That is why I am here, as well,”
“Help yourself,” She gestured toward the fully stocked fridge and pantry, “And you don’t need to be so formal,”
He ambled toward the food supply, “You’re not the first Midgardian to tell me that, but I am afraid this is the way most Asgardians talk. Speaking so informally, takes some practice,”
“Well, you can practice away with me,” She winked, “I promise I won’t laugh,”
Thor smiled, it was smaller than the ones he seemed to throw around, more genuine, “Then perhaps I can ask for some assistance with the food. On Asgard I did not often have to make my own meals, on Midgard I’m sure I will be even more useless in the kitchen,”
“I’m pretty useless right now myself, but the freezer is pretty stocked with stuff we can throw in the microwave or the oven,”
He raised an eyebrow, “I’m not too familiar with the gadgets here,”
Ren smiled to herself, “You know, I can see why you and Steve get along so well,” He gave her a curious look, “This world is still foreign to you, and this time is foreign to Steve. It's like you guys get to adjust and be confused together,”
“That is an astute observation, perhaps clairvoyance is one of your abilities,”
“Nope,” She sighed, “Just fire,” She held out a lit palm in demonstration.
Finally pulling the fridge open, he pulled out a box of leftover Chinese and examined it like it was some sort of specimen. He held it in her direction and she shrugged, pulling the rest out for him. As he began to look through the boxes, Thor spoke again, “Your abilities are of interest to me, Lady Wright, they’re similar to the fire giants in our myths,”
She crossed her arms and leaned against the counter again, “I thought they were frost giants, like your brother,”
His reaction to the mention of Loki was instantaneous, deflating somewhat, “According to legend there were both, once, bitter enemies. One must have eradicated the other, if another race didn’t,”
“So were they all like…”
“No, no they were much worse than even my brother. Our father, Odin, he and his father subdued the frost giants and the other nine realms long ago,”
“And Loki?” She asked hesitantly, “Is he, subdued?”
“He is imprisoned beneath my father's palace with the other criminals,” He said in a tone devoid of emotion.
He could try to hide his feelings, but Ren knew what it was like to have a brother, “You don’t like it,”
“No. I do not like my brother being tossed aside like a common thief. But I am not king, and Loki must be made to pay for his crimes somehow. Still,” He paused and looked up at her, “I am not the only one bothered by it. Our people are uneasy, knowing he is so close at hand. Most call for a far harsher punishment. Though a few voices also demand leniency. I fear we are all coming to our wits end on the issue,”
His voice trailed off, but it was clear he had more to say on the issue. Ren tried to give him an encouraging look, “I don’t want Loki to spend the rest of his life in prison, Ren, but I don’t know how to help him. I don’t know if he can be helped,”
“Do you think your father would ever change his mind?”
“I do not know,”
Pushing off the counter and turning to rest her elbows on it, Ren stole a veggie wanton, “While you’re here at least, are you going to visit that girl of yours?”
He laughed, though it sounded forced, “I’m not sure if she would want to see me,”
“Well, if you’re avoiding your problems,” She clinked her wanton with the piece of chicken skewered on his fork, “Welcome to the team,”