Legendary

After the men finished admiring their new swords, I had hand-to-hand practice with Bucky that left me winded, then I poofed over to Asgard. Magni was hitting the books, but Sif and Torunn were glad to see me. Sif shook her head as she rocked her daughter but said only that she was glad that Loki figured it out and got it all fixed. We discussed my recovery and when I thought I could start training her son again. Then she noticed my ring and smiled as I told her who had given it to me. We talked for awhile, then I went home. It felt good to be getting back into a routine.

That night Tony had some refinements for the lighting system he wanted to put into our quarters, the shop, the forge, and my quarters in the valkyrie complex. I listened to him talk about the science of the energy involved and how magic violated some of the classical mechanics of physics. I was interested in it, so it was a good conversation. I ended it with a smile.

"You're so sexy when you're talking about the conservation of matter and energy," I said. "That big brain of yours is amazing." He beamed at me, finished the explanation, and then showed me how else he was sexy.

The next day, I wove for most of it, pausing for a trip to Asgard. Magni gave me a hug and anxiously asked if I was ok. "Yep," I assured him. "I've lost some strength, so I'll be playing catch up for a bit, and you get a break." I beamed at him. "So let's see where we are." We were both a little rusty, and I directed him to work with his guard, who had been following along during our practices, on the days when I wasn't there. I was also a little slower in a bout with Hogun, but not as much as I feared. I went home feeling relieved, and that night stitched Bucky's blue flannel shirt as Tony and Bruce worked on manufacturing more parts for the library system on Helheim.

"Do you want a flannel shirt, Sparky?" I asked during a break in their concentration.

"I'm not really a flannel kind of guy," he said, and I nodded.

"How about you, Bruce? I have extra, in a purple color."

Bruce looked pleased. "Anything but green," he said, and I grinned and took his measurements. A few days later, I had it completed (I used a pretty simple pattern but added a breast pocket) and he smoothed it with his hand. Tony poked his head over my shoulder and felt the fabric.

"I should have said yes," he said. "This is nice." I kissed his cheek.

"Next time I make flannel, you can have one," I promised, and he smiled. Bucky was also pleased; they were entering autumn in Folkvangr and he hated to be chilly. He put it on immediately and gave me a hug. I sighed in pleasure.

"Your hugs are always great, but flannel puts them just over the top," I said, snuggling in. He laughed, and Emma tried it for herself.

"I can't believe I never noticed," she said. "I could stay here all day." Then Steve had to see the improvement.

"Well, I'm not as taken as the ladies, but that is really nice," he said. "Do you have any more, by chance?" he asked me.

"No, but the next cotton crop I have, I'll make more," I said. "Tony wants one too. He turned it down, so now he's jealous of Bruce, who did not."

"That's nice," Steve said, smiling at me. "I worry about Banner a little. He keeps to himself too much."

"Oh, Tony keeps him busy and meeting people," I assured him. "But summers being longer in Valhalla, I may get a second cotton crop this year. I replanted about half the seed, so if it doesn't work I'll still have some next year."

"How much are you growing?" Bucky asked.

"It's about a half acre."

"By yourself?" Emma asked, concerned.

"Yeah, nobody seems to want to go to the trouble, so it's just me, but that also means that I don't have to share. And there, I don't have to spend a lot of time weeding, there aren't any boll weevils, and there's enough rain that I don't have to worry about irrigation. I check it every so often, but the work is minimal until it's time to pick the bolls. And Tony made me a cotton gin, which makes processing it so much easier."

"You're pretty busy over there," Bucky said neutrally. "Are you sure you're not working too hard?"

"I'm not, Uncle Bucky," I reassured him, and went in for another hug. Aw, yeah. So snuggly. I was glad Tony wanted a shirt too.

"We're going to be scrimmaging again in a few days," Steve said.

I nodded, then released Bucky reluctantly. "Yeah, this will be my first one back."

"So do you want to come fight on our side?" he asked. "Since the valkyries split half for Valhalla and half for Folkvangr during the battle."

"Yeah, I think I will," I said, and he beamed. Bucky beamed. "I need a challenge to see where I really am. Teaching isn't the same thing." Bucky nodded, and I arranged to come over early.

When the other eight valkyries showed up, I felt like I had a pretty good idea of how Steve wanted to use us in battle and I was able to explain to him a little bit more about our capabilities. Heidi was the only one of the others I knew very well, but we were all interested in being part of the formal battle plan. They valkyries had of course been scrimmaging before this, but with my return the sides were equal and the group who preferred fighting for Folkvangr was beginning to trust Steve's strategies and tactics more. Today he wanted us primarily as ground troops so he could evaluate our effectiveness without our wings. I was glad; it was hot over here and the capes were both heavy and insulating. Not wearing the capes meant that we wouldn't be able to take to the sky when we summoned our wings, but it also made fighting a lot easier.

By the end of the scrimmage, I had some cuts, but the Valhalla forces had been actively trying to avoid me because I was very effective against them. We were the winning side, and the valkyries had contributed significantly to that victory, despite our small group size and limited use. Each side had lost valkyries, but I was not among the number. Odin sighed and Frigga smirked when they met at the end of the skirmish and Odin refused to assign valkyries to teams, insisting that it would be better for us to fight in more fluid groups.

The next day, I went back to helping to choose the slain. The souls might not have been chosen right after the moment of their death, but the ones slotted for Valhalla or Folkvangr were still waiting for us; we arrowed through space and time in order to claim them. There was a considerable backlog; there were battles throughout the Nine Realms in addition to individuals falling outside of a mass conflict who had to be taken in hand. It was draining work, but necessary.

My third day back on this rotation found me back on Earth, over what had been Queens. Manhattan was being cleared from an attack prior to this, and the Kree had started targeting boroughs other than Manhattan. I wasn't paying attention to much, just following that inner valkryie GPS, when I found my target soul. I placed my hand on the left shoulder, avoiding stepping onto a body whose soul was already gone, and was shocked, when the soul turned, to find myself facing Serena Johnson, my friend, student, and (now) former Captain America.

"Serena?" I gasped. I'd never known anybody I'd claimed before. She looked me, still stunned and not registering her change of state. "It's Alex. Alex Wayne."

"Alex?" she repeated, still struggling a bit with her death. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, I'm here for you," I said, taking her arm and gently pulling her away from what remained of her body. "I've come to take you to Valhalla."

"What?" she asked, surprising herself with a little chuckle. "Did Thor put you up to this?"

"Nope, it was his dad, Odin. Apparently Odin tracks Thor's friends and acquaintances more closely than I thought."

"So you're, what, a valkyrie? No way."

"Yeah, actually I am," I said a bit grimly. "That is a long story, though. If you want to hear it, you'll have to come to Valhalla with me."

"Is it nice?" she asked, as we started walking back to my horse.

"You know, it could be and was a lot worse. It's not a bad place to spend your afterlife. And there are a lot of the original Avengers around, too--Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, Steve Rogers. And Emma Harrington and my uncle."

"Captain America?" she said, perking up. She was a total fangirl for the original.

"He's in Folkvangr, Frigga's domain, but there's considerable crossover and I'll introduce you."

"Count me in, then," she said, looking over her shoulder once more, then walking straight. Like my uncle, her limbs flickered between the natural and artificial forms. Her right hand and forearm had been replaced, a legacy from that terrible mission, as well as her lower left leg, the injury that finished her military career.

I had to dismount to boost her up onto the flying horse; she'd never ridden before, but she enjoyed it, at least after the horse had taken a flight path over the undamaged part of New York. Back in Valhalla, we dismounted and I presented her to Odin, who smirked when he saw the shield on her arm. He directed the warrior who served as his second in command in Thor's absence to show her to her room in the annex where I'd lived before becoming a valkyrie, and I promised to come get her for dinner and we'd trade stories. "At last I have a Captain America of my own," he gloated. I laughed and went back to work. I distributed another eight souls to Folkvangr and Valhalla, none of them anyone I knew, before I was done.

Tony joined me in the shower, and I told him about my day. "It's nice that you have a friend," he said, soaping up my back.

"Beside you and Bruce?" I asked as I returned the favor. "I think you're really going to like her."

"Hope so, you being friends means she'll be around a lot. But a female friend who wasn't part of that whole valkyrie thing." Like Bucky, Tony hadn't been too happy with my valkyrie friends who had gone back to Valhalla before I'd had to return. Not wanting to make a problem, he'd gone past that, but he hadn't forgotten that they'd left me so abruptly.

We walked over to the annex, chatting about his progress. The library was nearly finished, and his personal project to light our workspaces and quarters was in the planning phase in his head. I knocked on the door and Serena opened it a moment later. And finally, a hug from my friend. "This is definitely weird," she said. "And not what I really expected." I introduced her to Tony.

"The man, the myth, the legend," Serena said, only half joking. "It's so weird to meet an Iron person I don't want to take apart."

Tony essayed a helpful smile. We walked the short distance to the Great Hall and joined the line at the buffet. "I thought the valkyries were supposed to serve," she said, adding slices of meat to her plate.

Tony laughed and I rolled my eyes. "Ditched that duty," I said. After we sat, I gave her a summary that, although concise, hit all the relevant material. She started to laugh.

"Look at you, Norma Rae," she said, poking me. She looked interested as Bruce set his plate down on the table. Tony performed introductions. "The Bruce Banner?" she said, sitting up straight. "Wow. This is incredible. You're such a legend--" And she was off. Bruce looked both flattered and nervous, but Serena does have that effect on people. She kind of hero-worshiped all Original Six Avengers, although Steve was her favorite because: Captain America. She exerted her considerable charm and started to draw him out, not unlike a rip tide. Bruce didn't know whether he wanted a lifeguard or not. Tony smirked. Serena is the most beautiful woman I personally know. She inherited thick dark hair and a flawless caramel complexion from her mother, whose family had emigrated from Rajasthan, and penetrating blue eyes from her father. Her statuesque figure filled out the Captain America unitard in ways that Steve Rogers probably never thought possible, and she's got a wicked sense of humor and the smarts to back it all up. If she wasn't so nice, I'd be jealous.

"You should have Alex make your weapons," Bruce said, needing a moment to recover after the charm offensive.

She looked taken aback. "You're making weapons now?" she asked, and I nodded, pulling out a dagger and handing it to her. "I thought you were strictly hand to hand, Hogun nothwithstanding." she slid the sheath off the dagger. "Oh, pretty!"

"Well, I had to learn how to use a spear when I said I'd be a valkyrie, then when I was in Helheim, I took advantage of the opportunity and learned a bunch of weapons and how to make them. I still bout with Hogun and Sif is teaching me the Asgardian broadsword, though I much prefer the two swords, or one of the other weapons I picked up. There's the javelin and archery too."

"Kate would be so proud of you," she said, and we lifted our glasses to absent friends.

"So what happened after I died?" I asked curiously. "For that matter, how did I die? I've been assuming one of the Kree got me." She nodded.

"Yep, one of their ships crashed, took out your position." She hesitated. "It was a very closed casket funeral," she said. "Your kids buried you next to Damian."

I was pleased. "Did you get the necklace?" I'd left her a sapphire fringe necklace, dark blue fading to white in each of the fringes. It had been one of Damian's last gifts to me, and the reason I'd left it to Serena was that it could be attached to a frame and worn as a tiara. I'd frequently teased her that she should wear one in her public appearances; TIME had named her its Person of the Year once, and had posed her in an elegant navy gown with a beauty-queen sash that read "Captain America" and long white satin gloves. She'd wiped out once during the shoot, tripping over the platform stilettos. That hadn't made the cover, though.

She rolled her eyes at me. "Of course, Martha delivered it right after the funeral. She smirked too. And despite the joke, it was nice to be remembered. It was a beautiful necklace." I looked up, smirking, to see Irene and Carol standing by the table. I invited them to join us and introduced Serena.

"You're a little after my time," Irene said. "When I died, that handsome Sam Wilson was still Captain America."

"Such a great guy," Serena said, nodding. "It was a real privilege to take over from him." She turned back to me. "But didn't Martha or one of the ladies in your family want the necklace?"

"No, I gave Martha The Pearls and the rest of her great-grandmother's pieces, my daughter-in-law the double strand and some other pieces, let my grandchildren take their picks. Once everybody made their choices, I made a few specific bequests, then donated the rest to the Smithsonian."

Carol blinked. "What?"

"My husband was excessively generous with his gifts," I said, shaking my head.

"Who was your husband?" Irene asked. It had never really come up because that was life, and this...wasn't. And Damian wasn't here.

"Damian Wayne," I said, sipping the mead Tony poured for me.

"Holy shit," said Carol, who'd been older than I was when she died. "You're Alex Wayne? I used to follow you in the papers, all those glamorous gowns, the jewels, the handsome husband." Then she looked at Tony and me. "And you worked with Tony at his company. I can't believe I never put it together."

"She did a great job in the energy lab," Tony said. "My favorite protege."

"I was your only protege in the labs," I said, poking him. He laughed.

Carol said slowly, "I thought you lived a charmed life, then there were those claims you made against the Joker..."

I looked at her. "It looked great on the surface," I conceded. "But my father-in-law, then my husband, then my son were all Batman. We all paid a price that most people never suspected." I gave Tony a wry look. "And I wouldn't have been the Avengers' trainer if I hadn't been in an accident with chemicals that made me a mutant. So for the good things, there were some bad things to balance it all out, and a lot of hard work to make up the rest." Tony squeezed my hand. I squeezed back.

Irene sputtered. "Bruce Wayne was Batman? Wow, I had such a crush on him when I was younger! How did you get mixed up with all that?"

"A blind date with Damian in high school," I said, laughing at the memory. "It was exceedingly rocky for a few years, then we reconnected when we were starting out after grad school. We got married after the Joker was put away."

"After you put him away," Tony corrected me fondly. "He was terrified of you after that last time." I looked at him questioningly. "Barnes went in to see him just before he accepted that ridiculous plea deal, wanted to promise him a world of hurt if he so much as blinked at you again. Didn't faze the Joker at all until he mentioned he was your uncle. Barnes said he asked that he keep you away." I smiled, vindictively.

"I just wish I'd been able to go after him after he killed Bruce," I said. "That fucker. I told him that if he ever messed with me again I'd mangle every bone in his body. But I didn't have the time--the Joker vanished, Damian was devastated, the kids too. My hands were full."

"How much was the collection worth, before it was split up?" Tony asked.

"Last valuation had it just shy of a billion dollars. There were a lot of historic gemstones," I said shrugging. I looked around at the women gaping at me. "I believe I said that Damian was excessively generous."

"Don't you miss it?" Irene said. "The mansion, the fortune, the jewelry collection?"

"No, because the dressing up pretty much ceased to be fun after Damian was killed. I just kept it up because it was expected. He loved to see me in the pretty dresses with the sparkly things he bought me. It was just work after, except that work was actually more fun. The mansion was lovely; early in our marriage we worked with Bruce and Dick and Barbara Grayson, adding flowerbeds, a barbeque area, a patio, revitalized the conservatory, and Bruce passed on a fantastic library, but after that spurt of activity, it was up to the twins to change it the way they wanted. It was very much a family trust. A big responsibility. I was glad to move out, leave it to the twins, when they were getting going. And until I got involved with Damian, I didn't have a lot of stuff. My family didn't have a lot of money, and it's definitely easier with less."

"You gotta admit that the private jets were fun," Tony said, and I laughed.

"Yes, those were definitely fun," I conceded.

"So it's the simple life for you?" Serena asked, a little skeptically.

"Yeah, until our labor strike, we had damned little," Irene said grimly, and the three of us nodded.

"Now if I want something, I have to make it or trade for it," I said. "Or get gifts. Can't just whip out the credit card."

"So why didn't you become an Avenger?" Bruce asked. My least favorite question. "What with Bucky and Emma and Tony?"

"I'm not made like that," I said. "I could teach and I was happy to help patch people up when they came back from a mission, but I don't have the temperament to go out heroing. I saw the price that heroes pay up close and personally. The only reason I'm here was I picked up the fight exactly once. And here it's a completely different story. Nobody stays dead." Bruce nodded thoughtfully.

"I knew it had been bad when they came to tell me you were dead," Serena said, shaking her head. "We should have been there to protect the city. You did a good job, especially considering that firing the guns had been just simulator practice for you. But we failed in our duty to protect."

I rolled my eyes. "You were recovering from getting your hand blown off, May" we both snarled involuntarily "was being prosecuted, and everybody else was dead. So what exactly do you think you could have done? The military, national guard, and the police were doing a damn fine job." Serena stared at me, slit-eyed, then smiled a little grudgingly.

"Rub it in," she said. "But the fact is that we should have been there, it shouldn't have been down to a 70 year old--"

"Hey! I was 69," I protested.

"Hand-to-hand instructor."

"I can still kick your ass," I said threateningly, and she grinned.

"Don't doubt it."

"So what happened with the Avengers?" Tony asked. Bruce leaned forward.

"Well, the military did decide to assemble another team. They looked specifically for individuals who could first fill out the legacy names. Martha worked with the military; she kept rebuilding Avenger Tower and reinforcing it; it's the strongest skyscraper on the planet now. She and Xander pledged the money that they'd inherited from you that wasn't in the Wayne Trust to the support of the Avengers, and they supported Stark's Avenger Tech division with resources from Wayne Enterprises, so there was plenty of tech available for the team. The military was glad to accept the resources, and now they're back to being a pretty autonomous unit. Martha negotiated and reduced oversight to three members of the military--one from each branch, Army, Navy, Air Force--and three Senators. And herself. They work with the team to clear the missions. It was working quite well, surprisingly. So there was me, Falcon, and War Machine, drawn from veterans, Iron Man, Hawkeye--Kate's kid, he's not half bad--the current Black Panther, also a woman, Wolverine, he splits his time with both us and the X-Men, Ms Marvel, and Speed. We've also got kind of an Avengers Academy for young people with abilities, helps train their powers, keeps them out of trouble, and puts them in the pipeline for the Avengers."

"So what was the latest battle about?" Irene asked.

"Oh, the Kree came back. The Scrulls finally accepted defeat and turned their attention elsewhere, but there's no quit in the Kree." She started to laugh. "At least there wasn't. The X-men and some international spook labs came up with a virus keyed to Kree genetic material and pumped it into the air all over Earth as the invasions began.The virus will attack their DNA and kill them quickly, it's targeted for brain cells. Next time, there will be that virus plus another, attacking different critical cells or metabolic processes, just in case they figured things out. The virus is too small even for their filters, and every time one of their ships get hit, the virus gets in. It shouldn't take too long before they either send everything they've got against us or find an excuse to ignore us again. And Loki is working with officials from every alien race we know to put diplomatic pressure on the Kree; it seems to be having an effect."

We talked some more then called it a night. The next day, I took her on a tour of Valhalla that included my smithy, and we talked about swords. She'd taken fencing in college but had never used a real sword before, so it was going to be a new field of knowledge, and I wanted to minimize her learning curve. I decided on a rapier for her, given that she'd competed in epee, and she could either use a main gauche, a dagger, in her other hand, or her shield. The master smiths had the right to provide the official equipment for the valkyries, but Serena wasn't one--yet. I was betting privately that Odin would offer to make her a valkyrie before too long. It would be irresistible to him.

The rapier and main gauche took a little over a week to make using Emma's new steel alloy, with a significant chunk of that going toward the engraving, a foliate design reminiscent of Napoleon's own rapier. The scabbards were plain oak, her choice, and the hilts on both weapons were also oak, finished with beeswax that wouldn't make the hilts slippery. I was starting her instruction with the blades when we were interrupted.