Time Converges

“What do you mean you are putting me on hold?” Peggy stared at the glowing screen of her phone as whoever she was speaking to on the other end did just that. She counted to ten as she looked across her father’s study to where Sharon was on the line with Maria Hill and SHIELD manning reinforcements.

“They put you on hold again?” Sharon had already witnessed Peggy being put go through this three times.

“A potential disaster the likes of which makes New York look small and petty is happening here in the next twelve hours and I’ve been bounced to three different departments and I’ve yet to speak to anyone in charge at the Home Office.”

Maria Hill, on the other end of Sharon’s speaker phone, gave an inelegant snort that eloquently expressed all that she felt about Peggy’s situation. Clearly, Hill wasn't surprised.

“Well, if it’s any reassurance,” Sharon offered. “Chief Blevins from the office here has already rallied the metro police to be onsite at Greenwich. He has some insider contacts as he used to work there. Can’t really help on the larger government level.”

“I can see who I can call, Peggy,” Hill offered from her end. “Even if I have to go through back channels.”

“You would think that telling them I am with SHIELD and head up the Avengers, that would be enough for people to listen.”

Hills pointed silence and Sharon’s uncertain, speculative look spoke volumes to their thoughts on the situation. Peggy exhaled in mild frustration, ignoring the all-too-familiar pricks to her pride from those who refused to listen to her over the years. She silently tapped the glass on the giant red button to end the call, looking to her niece.

“Hill if you have contacts get through to the British government to have all hands on deck in the morning. Warn them we are dealing with wormholes, not unlike what we saw in New York, and to proceed with caution. Sharon, if you and Cassie can coordinate with Chief Blevins here in London with SHIELD personnel. Foster and Selvig feel that they will be converging on the Old Royal Naval College.”

“University of Greenwich,” Sharon corrected her.

“Whatever, that's where it is happening. Hill, Cassandra can help you with particulars on this.”

“I already have her on board,” the other woman assured her. “I’ll make some calls and have Agent Kam work with SHIELD personnel to get them coordinated with Captain Rogers.”

“Perfect,” Peggy nodded, feeling something at least was being accomplished. “Give me an update in an hour.”

“Got it,” both women said, as Sharon returned to her phone call.

Peggy left her in the study, moving out to the greater part of the house. Since Jane Foster and Thor’s arrival back, the entire team had been a buzz of activity. Over dinner, fetched by Romanoff and Sharon, they had broken up into their groups. Selvig had outlined the basic schematics for his devices, which were supposed to reverse the gravitational polarities of...well, something. It made sense to Foster and Stark, who had finally stopped arguing the point and begun thinking through best approaches. Already he had taken Selvig’s basic design and modified it in key ways that left Selvig and Foster impressed and Darcy Lewis fascinated. At the moment, Stark and Banner were leading a small production line in the dining room, the scene of so many of Amanda Carter’s dinner parties, now strew with electronic bits and pieces, the smell of solder strong as Stark, Foster, Banner, Betty, Darcy and even Ian were busy putting together the delicate electronics, all under Stark’s command. They worked quickly, only broken by the mild banter between Stark and Darcy, who seemingly had become allies in all of this, unsurprising given their personalities.

At the kitchen island sat Steve, Romanoff and Selvig, reviewing the layout of the old Royal Naval College...the University of Greenwich, now, she reminded herself. They spoke in low voices as they laid out their plans, working out strategic plans on where to place the devices based off of Selvig’s own understanding and schemes. Already Peggy could see that Steve and Romanoff worked together as a good pair, which privately came as a relief. It was hard to see Steve working with someone else. Knowing that he had someone watching his back, someone who balanced him out on the team, much as Banner did with Stark, was something of a relief.

That left only one person on the team left unaccounted for, and Peggy hadn’t seen him since he and Foster had returned. Thor had absented himself from much of the proceedings after dinner, and even then had been quiet and withdrawn, an attitude that felt strange on the Asgardian prince. In the flurry of planning since, he had slipped off, and now Peggy found herself wandering house looking for him. As large and boisterous as he was, it was surprising how well he hid himself. She ultimately found him in the last place she would have expected to see him, her own mother’s sitting room.

It was quiet in there at the moment, with everyone else in the house busy elsewhere. A single lamp had been turned on, but for the most part the room was dim. The god of thunder sat in one of the oversized, squashy chairs, quiet, without even the flat-screened television on, though it occurred to Peggy that he likely didn’t have those on Asgard and that he, much like herself and Steve, would perhaps not necessarily think of that right away. He was lost in whatever private thoughts he had, a grim and brooding expression on his face, one Peggy hadn’t seen she’d seen out of the gregarious man. He looked the worse for wear, his face scratched and bleeding, a fading bruise lining one cheekbone, with the sort of thousand-yard-stare that Peggy knew all too well from so many soldiers who had seen too much loss in too short of a time.

“You don’t have to talk,” Peggy offered, quietly, as she slipped in, catching Thor’s attention. “But I did want to check in on you. Can I get you something?”

Thor blinked at her owlishly in the dim light. “Uhh...no, thank you, Lady Margaret. It’s kind of you to offer, but I will be fine. I’ve had much worse in my lifetime than this.”

There was a false cheerfulness under his brave words, one that said he was trying desperately to put a good face on it, but wasn’t quite managing. “You don’t have to keep calling me Lady Margaret, you know. It’s not a title I actually have, and it was never a title I ever aspired to.”

For a moment, his charming smile peeked out, lightening his face, his bright, blue eyes crinkling. “I know, Captain Rogers explained it to me, but Stark finds it amusing, I suppose, and in my world a woman of your stature would be referred to with such respect.”

“Which I am indeed honored by, but my friends call me Peggy, and after what we have been through, I would like to consider you a friend.”

That clearly made sense to him. He nodded affably. “All right, Peggy it is.”

“Good.” She perched herself on the edge of one of the couch cushions adjacent to him. “So...this Aether, that was the power inside of Jane, correct?”

He stared blankly for a second, as if pulling the information from far away. “Yes...at least that is what Father said.” He paused, thoughtfully. “He said it was one of a group of ancient relics from the dawn of our universe. The others he said were stones, while the Aether was fluid, shifting. It was part of the story of the dark elves, that much I remember.”

“Stones? Like...rocks?”

“No, like gemstones as I recall from the stories. But the Aether was different, it could take on any shape, because in the end it is what holds reality together, or something to that effect. It was a powerful object. Father said that Malekith used it in the dawn of time to undo the universe and return it to darkness. I suppose that’s what he is trying to do now.”

Another powerful relic that somehow found itself here on Earth. Peggy thought of Loki’s warning months before. “Did you ask your father about the Tesseract or Thanos?”

Again, he was silent for a long moment, lost in reverie. “Yes...briefly, I admit. I was rather caught up in some of the mess Loki left behind. Father didn’t know of him, and Loki isn’t…” He paused, pained. “Wasn’t speaking of it.

One didn’t need to be psychic to see how those words ached as he said him, but it only clicked with Peggy then how he said it and what it meant. He and Foster had said nothing of what happened, only that Malekith had attacked and that he now had the Aether and was planning to use it during this convergence. Now, by himself, Thor was left at loose ends, picking up the pieces of whatever occurred.

“Thor, what happened on Asgard?”

He shrugged, helplessly, in that way people had when they weren’t sure how they felt. “Oh, you know...Malekith attacked. He had been clever, sent in one of his own in a group of prisoners captured on Vanaheim. No one noticed. I suppose he knew the Aether was there, that it was active once more and traced it back to us...to Jane. The imposter raised up a rebellion in the dungeons and got out, lowered our defenses and allowed the Dark Elves to come in. He...then went looking for Jane, who was with my mother.”

Peggy listened, a sick, aching feeling creeping within her as Thor spoke, already suspecting where this story was going to go.

“Malekith got to the palace and found my mother and Jane together.” A brittle sort of smile twisted Thor’s agonized expression. “You know, my mother knew magic. She was raised by witches and was very powerful in her own right. She taught Loki everything he knew. She cast a spell to hide Jane and distract Malekith. We tried to get to her, but it was too late. I was just steps away...if I had been faster, maybe I might have stopped it. I rounded the corner just as they thrust the sword through. I hit Malekith with lightning, though! I think I took half of his face with it. He and his henchman got away, though. By that point, it was too late.”

Peggy watched the grieved man who sat, torn between his clear anguish and the need to make sense of any of this. His story left her shocked and saddened by the unforeseen change in events that had occurred in only the matter of a day. “Thor...I don’t know what to say.”

“I don’t know if there is anything to say,” he replied, tiredly, shaking his head. “Malekith didn’t get Jane, but he threatened Asgard. My father, in his grief, decided that the only thing he could do was to use Jane as a means to draw Malekith and have him bring the fight to Asgard, to fight with every last man, to stop Malekith in his schemes. Asgard, whose defenses were already damaged, where the city was filled with people, innocents who would have been put at risk or killed in the conflict, and that’s if Malekith didn’t get his hands on the Aether and then used it to invade the Nine Realms. It would have meant the deaths of thousands, people who he was sworn to protect.”

He looked to Peggy, sadness etched in the exhaustion on his face. “I know my father loved my mother...deeply so. She was dear to him...dear to all of us. But I couldn’t allow that, not to our people. So, I defied him. I turned to the one other person outside of father I knew who loved our mother the best and who would want his own revenge in her death, and didn’t care how it got done.”

Peggy knew in a second who he meant and why he spoke as if he were justifying it to her. “You freed Loki, didn’t you?”

“He was the only one I knew who was cunning enough to think creatively for the solution and ruthless enough to do what had to be done. It was treason of the highest order, of course, but that or the deaths of all of the Einherjar and most of Asgard just to avenge Mother. She wouldn’t have wanted that.”

A soft, aching smile crept up his face, briefly. “Besides, she loved Loki beyond all measure and he loved her. I know he would do what it took to seek vengeance for her, without question. I could not trust my brother with much, but his rage and his pain at Mother's death, that I could trust. We created a plan, my friends and I. We got Loki out of prison, snuck Jane out of the palace, and found a way out of Asgard and to Svartálheim, the Dark Elves home. The plan was simple, Loki and I had pulled this trick a thousand times over in our youth. He used to enchant my hand to make it look as if it were cut off. Terrified our nurse every time, but it worked here. He’d do what he always does, try to earn Malekith’s trust, give him what he wanted, meanwhile I would wait for the opportunity to strike. We almost made it work, but...the Aether…I didn’t account for how strong it was or how Malekith had manipulated it. Father told me, but I didn’t listen. I blew it up into shards and thought that was the end of it, but Malekith...absorbed it, I suppose is the best description. Then he left his men to finish us off. Loki...he fought well...bravely. I hadn’t thought...I feared he hated me so much he would simply just allow them to kill me, but he didn’t. He died saving me...saving Jane.”

He fell silent then, lost in regret, anguish and loss.

Peggy could not say that she knew Thor more than just in a vague way, through their brief encounters when he was on Earth fighting some sort of threat. Unlike Steve or even Stark, she didn’t understand this strange, alien god, his life or personality. But what little she did know of him, it was clear that he was a man who had led something of a charmed existence; handsome, strong, brave, and perhaps a touch arrogant. Peggy doubted he had anything ever rock his life until he was banished to Earth. Now, in the space of a day, he had lost his mother and his brother, two pillars of his life. That was something that Peggy could understand very well indeed.

“I’m sorry,” she said, gently, her heart breaking for him. “For what it is worth, I am so sorry.”

Thor, the god of thunder, a prince of another planet, a man who was mind-bogglingly strong and physically imposing, looked as if he might just cry at her words. “Thank you, La...Peggy. Thank you for your kind words.”

Peggy grasped for what else she could say to him. “I know...we both know what Loki did here. I know he was your brother and that it must have been difficult for you. Perhaps in the end there is some comfort in knowing that despite all of his protestations to the contrary, Loki did care for you after all.”

“I had hoped he did.” Thor's admission wavered as he said it, thick with emotion. “We were close as children, once. I mean, we always had our petty rivalries, as brothers do, but I truly loved him. Even when the truth of his parentage came out, I didn’t care. He was the companion of my youth, my brother. I thought that we would always be together, that he would be by my side. He was always the craftier one of the two of us, the smarter one, certainly. I always believed we could have made a truly great pair, bringing peace to the Nine Realms. But things changed. Maybe I was too...arrogant, caught up in myself and my glory. Maybe I didn’t listen enough to him or give enough heed when my mother said I should show more kindness to him or to bring him along in my battles. I don’t know. We grew apart, and then when I stormed off to Jotunheim and got banished, everything about his past came out. I wasn’t there, then, to know of how it happened. Mother told me some. Knowing their temperaments, I can guess that Loki was angry, hurt, suspicious and that Father was defending himself from the position that he, as the All-Father, knew what was best.”

There was a hint of annoyance in Thor’s words, tempered by his loss, the awareness of his own family’s faults and yet the pain of knowing where those faults ultimately led. “Loki lashed out, tried to prove to Father he was a worthy son, as if Father didn’t think him worthy already. In the end he made a bad job of it, nearly destroying so many lives in the process. That seems to be the constant theme with those two, I suppose. They are both so stubborn, so unwilling to yield to any opinion not their own that they sacrifice lives all to prove themselves superior and right. Neither of them can ever say they were wrong, ever apologize for anything they have done, and for what purpose? Loki might have been adopted, but he was more my father’s son than...than I am, apparently. If Father were truly wise, he’d be here right now, by my side, with the might of the Asgardian forces, stopping Malekith. Instead, we are hoping on the ingenuity of…”

He trailed off, thinking for a moment, heaving a watery chuckle that dropped an octave as it tumbled from his lips. “I suppose they are Earth’s mightiest heroes, at that. Perhaps they will do what even my grandfather couldn’t do and destroy Malekith for good.”

For all of their sakes, Peggy hoped they did. “Does your father even know Malekith is coming here?”

“I doubt so as he was planning on bringing them to Asgard. I don’t know if he’s followed the trail here yet, though, perhaps. He knows I have Jane and my surpassing love for the place. Perhaps he’s gone to Svartálheim to look for us. I can’t be sure.”

And with that, he fell into silence, morose and pained, broken only by the murmuring of others in different parts of the house. Peggy had always been vaguely aware of the drama of the Asgardian royal family. After New York and Loki’s failed attempt to conquer the planet it was hard not to be aware of some of it. Hearing how deeply it went somehow felt very human and rather relatable.

“You know, I grew up in this house,” Peggy offered by way of somewhat awkward conversation. “I mean, it’s my family’s home, the Carters' that is.”

Thor, roused from his own somber thoughts, blinked, briefly glancing around the room and out to the now darkened front garden. “It is nice, very green here.”

“Thank you,” she replied with a hint of a laugh. “My older brother and I grew up here. The pair of us were such good mates, despite the age difference. He was four years older, which I suppose by our human standards is ancient when we are children. He was smart, charming, and brilliant, and he believed in me. At a time when the world wanted to tell me no because I was a woman, he said I could be and do anything. Just like you, I thought that the two of us would be together forever, having adventures, being heroes. But then life happened and he made choices, ones that even now I struggle to understand.”

Unsurprisingly, Siobhane Haldane came to mind, and her history with her own father. All of their families joined together by the fact that they all had made decisions for one reason or the other, thinking that the choices was right, or good, or would make them a hero. Instead it only caused grief, pain and destruction. Peggy knew well the pain, hurt and disappointment that came with those decisions. She had felt it with Michael, Siobhan with her father, and now Thor with his family. They had all lost because of it.

“How did you make sense of it, then,” Thor asked, his deep voice a rumble in the quiet that had fallen between them.

“I didn’t, not for a long time. Maybe not till a day or two ago.” She considered the strange week she had been having. “My brother did something that ultimately hurt a great deal of people. He thought he was doing something good, that he was being a hero. In the end, he was only causing more pain. I was angry at him, so angry! I never got the chance to work things out with him, for various reasons. I know he changed, that he repented of his transgressions, that he became a different man, and yet I never got a chance to have that talk with him. I wish I had. I know you aren’t asking for it, but perhaps, if you allow for a friend to give you advice, if you can, learn to forgive your brother. What is done is done, and the past can’t be changed. Perhaps, given time, Loki might have changed, like my brother did. Perhaps he wouldn’t have. Who is to say? But holding on to the resentment of what he did serves no one, certainly not the dead. Let your brother’s memory rest in the good times you had together, not just the more difficult times later on. Remember that despite it all, you did love him and still do.”

He took her words in silently, pondering them for a while before responding. “And what of my father? He is not known to be a forgiving man, especially not when his authority is questioned.”

“As to that, perhaps be patient with him. Tell him the truth of why you did it. Grief does horrible things to a person, and your father is one whether he admits to it or not. He lost a wife and son, you lost a mother and brother. The only two who could possibly understand that loss is each other. Maybe forgive him for his short-sightedness in the moment. He is still your father and I am sure he loves you.”

“Maybe,” he replied, not sounding as certain. “You know, those are words I feel my mother would say to me, were she here.”

Peggy didn’t know Thor’s mother, but from the love in his voice and the admiration he clearly had for her, she must have been a great lady. “I’m honored to be so compared. I’m no queen, and my mother would have been the first to tell you I am no lady, but I do sometimes have the odd bit of wisdom, even if I just figured out much of this myself over the last few days.”

“The wisdom may be new, but it is well timed.” An echo of Thor’s sunny smile flickered to life, briefly, melting into a much more stern mien almost immediately. “Malekith will not be easy to destroy. Do you think this plan of Erik’s will work?”

Peggy honestly couldn’t be sure herself. “I don’t know if we have a better option. That said, we have most of the team here and a room full of the greatest minds on Earth working on this. I would say that if we succeed, your father will owe us greatly for it.”

“I don’t disagree with that. My father always did think highly of Midgard. I suspect, though he never will admit it, he’s as fond of it as I am.”

“Wish he were fond enough to take more action here when there is a threat.” Honestly, the hands-off way in which Odin, King of Asgard treated his so-called realm, it was small wonder that the people of Earth stopped worshipping him long ago.

“That I won’t deny.” Thor frowned back towards the door and the voices beyond. “I suppose I’ve hidden away from this planning long enough. I’ve brought the threat to your door, I should be the one helping to plan for it.”

“Steve is with Erik and Natasha in the kitchen right now discussing it.”

Now given a purpose, Thor moved to stand, Peggy guessed to make his way to where Steve and Selvig were working together.

“Thor,” Peggy called to him as he rose, tall and imposing in the dim light. “I am not saying you have to, but if you ever need, Steve might be someone to talk to about all of this. He’s been through the losses you’ve had, his mother and the man he called his brother. I suppose I am just saying that you aren’t alone in this. He is someone who would be happy to listen.”

For a moment, the poor man didn’t look like he knew what to say. Peggy knew one thing, however, he was clearly very touched.

“Thank you, Peggy, for your kindness. Perhaps, when all of this is done, I will speak with the captain, warrior to warrior, and seek his advice. He seems a good man.”

“He is,” Peggy assured him.

With that, Thor gave her a sort of courtly bow of his head and moved to find the others. Peggy remained in her mother’s sitting room for long moments, thinking of Michael, Ranulph Haldane, a Loki and all the mistakes that people made and the lies they told themselves when seeking right and glory.