A Poisoned Touch

It turned out that Nat wanted to know everything about Asgard. So did Clint and Bruce. It made Steve wonder if they’d never actually talked to Thor or Loki about it. They all seemed interested, but surely after the past few months, they should have known something about the planet Thor came from. He leaned into Thor as he and his brother extolled their home world, and it was a fine way to spend some time until Jarvis chimed that Fury was there.

“I see you are all lying about like you’re not supposed to be our best defense. And the second prince is here again, how nice.” Steve could never tell if Fury was being sarcastic or if that was just his voice. “I see things have changed since I was last here.” He nodded to where Steve was touching Thor from shoulder to hip.

“Indeed.” And there was Fury’s shadow. Coulson slid from behind the taller man. His suit was perfectly plain and perfectly pressed like always. He slid his sunglasses off to give the room a sweep. “There is paperwork for how you two are sitting, so you are aware.”

“Damn man, chill.” Clint said, his voice tense like it was every time he saw Coulson now. Steve understood, there had been that moment in the battle that pulled them together where Coulson was thought dead. Clint and Natasha were still angry with Fury for letting them continue to think that for a little while longer. Steve almost understood Fury’s moves, Coulson’s fake death did bring them together after all.

“Yes well, I’m not here to talk relationship statuses. I’m here, because there was an energy signature that popped up this morning that led to this tower, of course. Which I’m thinking has something to do with the second prince.”

“You would attempt to track me?” Loki stood quickly, his stature strained as he held himself back.

“Earth is under our protection, we have ways of discovering anything that lands here.” Fury added, sounding bored by this whole thing.

“I am a prince. You would treat me as unwelcome to your planet?”

“You ain’t a prince here.” Fury shot back and Steve could see Loki fighting against the slight he was taking this as. Steve jumped up, trying his best not to know anyone with a stray wing, he reached for Loki’s hand that was starting to turn blue, making the immediate area cool faster than should be possible.

“Loki, no. He’s not worth it. We’ll be gone in two days anyway.” He tightened his hold on the icy hand until the blue melted away.

“You’re leaving?” Coulson asked, an actual twinge of emotion in his voice.

“Only for a few days, I believe. But yes there are some things I need to attend to off planet.”

“We will be gone no longer than one midgard week, I believe. But-” He turned to stare Fury down. “This is just the first of many trips the good captain will be taking. I trust there is no problem with that.”

There was movement and then Thor was at his side and Nat and Clint were standing next to Loki. It was a united front that Steve hadn’t expected, definitely not against Shield. He was slightly glad Tony wasn’t there to escalate the tension, though honestly, Tony was a pretty good person to have on your team when people were trying to make you do things you didn’t want to.

“No problem at all, Skywalker. Cap is a free man. Can go planet hopping all he wants. Ain’t that right General?” Clint asked. And like Loki, his body was pulled taut, ready to move at the first sign of a fight.

“That is factually correct.” Tony came striding in, and Steve was seriously hoping this wasn’t going to be a fight. Things had been pretty stable between Shield and the Avengers lately, but this wasn’t feeling right at all. “We went over this right after old Cap here got thawed, didn’t we Agent Agent? He’s a free man, he can move to Hoth if he wants to.”

“Hoth?” He had to ask. Screw the tension. “Wasn't that in that movie? I didn’t think it was a real place.”

Tony honest to god face palmed and let out a chuckle. “Alright, who dropped the ball on getting the old man up to date? Anyone?” He spun around, pointing at the rest of the team, who were each laughing.

“It was a metaphor Steve-o. Or an allegory? Possibly a joke. It fell flat though.” He walked over to stand by them and turned back to Fury and Coulson. “So, what brings you to my tower?”

Steve knew Tony was stalling, Jarvis probably alerted him the minute they arrived. This was still feeling more and more off. Thinking back to what they said about knowing what lands on earth. That didn’t seem like a thing they should be able to do. Tony didn’t even have that technology.

“Okay, what’s going on. There was no alert, so no monster to fight. What do you want?” Thor took the hand on that side and Steve felt energy flowing across him from both sides. He’d never felt anything like it before, and as soon as they were alone he was going to be asking about it.

“Cards on the table? We want him.” Fury pointed to Loki, and immediately Thor’s hand was raised and Mjolnir flew through the doorway. At the same time there was that tingle again and Loki’s dress pants and collared shirt transformed into his battle leathers.

“I am not a thing to be had.” Loki spoke with deadly clam.

“You will not touch my brother.” Thor said angrily over Loki’s calm statement.

Nat and Clint were herding Bruce to the back of the room as Tony’s armor came forth, attaching itself to its inventor in a way that still made Steve want to stare.

“Have you still not learned Nick?” Tony all but spat. “You will not control us. Not the way you want to. And unless you want an interplanetary war, you might want to stop eyeing the pretty prince.”

In the middle of all this mess, Loki turned to Tony amused. “Did you call me pretty? Shall I talk to your wife?”

“Enough.” Fury said He stood there, arms crossed, his black coat billowing which made no sense at all. “You lot are paranoid. I want to know how he just walks across galaxies. It appears to be a glaring hole in our security.”

“Right? That’s all you want. Cause Shield never gets a hold of a person for one thing and then keeps them for something else. Cause that never happens.” Bruce cut in. He strode back to the rest of them, the green receding from his eyes.

Steve would never know what else Bruce was going to say, what he knew that Steve should know. Instead the building rattled as what could only be the bifrost opened.

“Oh shit.” Clint breathed out.

“It doesn't do that when it’s Thor.” Nat observed. And she was right. Thor always landed soft. The rainbow bridge had never shook the Tower before. Tony’s eyes were bugging out as Odin stormed into the room front the balcony off the kitchen.

“Father!” Thor called out, moving towards the large man. Odin held a hand out, stopping him immediately. He swept the room with his hard gaze, taking in Steve holding both his son’s hands.

“Your Highness.” Coulson started with, but again was stopped with a hand in his face.

“Who would attempt to hold my son? Who thinks he can stand against the Allfather?” His voice shook the walls. Clearly he was not pulling his punches. “Heimdall alerted me, pulling me away from my queen. She is not pleased.”

“We were not asking to hold Loki here, just talk to him. What he can do, it puts us at a disadvantage.” Fury starts with.

“Yes. Your realm is quite young. You have much to learn. You do not do that by stealing from others. Surely a man of your intelligence would know that.”

Clint snickered, clamping a hand over his mouth, but it was too late. Odin turned, putting his back to Fury. Dismissing him. “Ahh, the archer. Well met.”

“Nice to meet you sir. Or Your Highness? How does that work? Either way, your sons are good men, great in a battle.”

“You may call me either. They have much experience. They learned through trial, as one should.” He lifted one eyebrow and Clint lost his mind again, all out laughing.

“And you are the lady spy? Yes?” He asked Natasha, who nodded, coming forward to claps forearms like Thor taught her.

“And the man of iron. Loki talks much of you. Well met.” Tony nods, but doesn’t get out of his armor.

“There is one more, the beserker?” He asks, his voice finally mellowing out. Bruce steps forward, He pushes his glasses up, hsi hand shaking slightly.

“Uh, that’s me. Or well, my other side. I have a leash on him. Mostly.”

“Fascinating. Well met.” Bruce did the forearm clasp but then slid back behind Nat. Leaving the others, he stalked towards Steve. There was a glint in his eye that Steve recognized as the same that Loki got when he was being mischievous, so Steve let go of both Loki and Thor to step forward and accept the hug from Odin.

“Steven, how are you this day?” When he pulled back, the king stayed close, and Steve hadn't felt this safe since he’d been held by his own mother’s arms.

“I am well. The bifrost knocked me for a loop and I slept hard last night, but I’m good now. Glad to see you here on Earth, how is Frigga?”

“Annoyed. We were interrupted whilst planning our yearly trek to her homeworld. She often misses her family, as one does.”

“Ahh, well, let’s get you home then.” He stepped forward once, aligning himself with Odin, Allfather, and glared at Fury and Coulson. “You should both make apologies for disrupting the King and Queen. And then you should thank them for coming here only to check on his beloved son, and not start an inter.., what was it, Stark? Interplanetary war?”

“That was what I said yes. Not a real good idea to go around pissing off the technologically advanced warrior culture that is keeping our planet safe from all the others bastards out there.” He shrugs which makes the armor shimmer. “Just my two cents though.”

“Makes sense to me.” Nat added, twirling a knife that came out of god knows where. Steve really loved these guys.

“Right, I don’t think Shield is going to win this. So, how bout you head on back to DC, and we take care of our own shit.”

“Brooklyn.” Thor leans down to whisper in his ear, making him shiver.

“As the captain said, you will not win this. Though, is it a fight? Or is it merely a governing body trying to exert control it does not truly have?” Odin added.

“I’m trying to think long term, big picture.” Fury is trying to keep the upper hand, but he didn’t ever really have it.

“No. You are trying to control things outside of your purview. This is eerily similar to the way you tried to use the tesseract. You meddle with things that are not meant for humans.” Loki butted in, his voice near gleeful.

“This is the man who tried to harness the tesseract? Well, it is good it is back where it belongs then.” Ah, and that was why Loki was full of mirth. This time it was Steve snickering. He’d never seen Fury so annoyed. It was totally worth having Odin come down to save them. They probably didn’t need saving, but it was nice to know that Thor’s parents cared.

“Well, we’ll just be going then.” Coulson put his sunglasses back on and moved toward the elevator, but Fury stood still, glaring at Steve with his one good eye. Steve wasn’t going to budge.

“For the sake of all…..” Loki started, before pulling his staff out of thin air and pointing it at Fury. “Leave, You are not wanted here.” The man finally spun on his heel and followed Coulson into the elevator. Steve let out a sigh, letting his shoulder drop.

“Jarvis buddy?” Stark called out, letting his armor fold off his body. Odin watched it all with a type of glee that Steve recognized.

“Sir?” Jarvis responded.

“You know what to do. Find out if Shield got it’s dirty fingers in my tower.”

“Yes sir.”

“Fascinating. It has been many a year since I've been on Midgard, you have come far.” Odin sounded honestly surprised, which was nice.

“Yes we have. Now, do you have a minute to linger or do you need to get back your wife?”

“I would not say no to drink.” He admitted, sitting on the couch. Tony had ordered them big to fit Steve and Thor, but Odin dwarfed it.

“One giant ass tankard of ale coming up. Anyone else? I need a drink too.”

It didn’t take long for drinks to be passed around, and then Odin was watching Steve. He was doing his best to not cling to Thor, but after all that, he needed touch badly. When the king nodded his head toward Thor with a grin, Steve gave in. He slumped into Thor, letting his one wong fall along his back like it was wont to do. Thor’s arm snaked under his wings to wrap around his back. It was instant relief to have that support.

But it also made him think of what he wanted to ask the brothers from before. “Hey, earlier, when we stood together, I felt energy maybe? Something moving just under my skin, it came from both of you.” He was looking to Loki but it was Odin who answered.

“Asgardians, and even the Jotun are strong and not built for Midgard. It is quite interesting that no one who has touched them before has not felt that. Though, they must have worked to hold it back. It is the energy of their life force. It seeks and often finds a host.” He finishes his drink, and they are all leaning forward listening.

“Think of it as a wave. It flows out and then back again. It will not hurt you, but it will bolster you for a moment or two.”

“That is amazing, sir. They can share their energy with us? Would it transfer powers? Strength?” Bruce was in full science mode, and then Tony joined in. Steve just leaned further into Thor. He didn’t mind sitting back and just resting when he could. He didn’t think that Shield was done trying to get to Loki, so he’d have to be on guard even more than before.