Legendary

The difference between belief and reality had never been so clear to me. I'd believed that I would see him again in a more meaningful context than a glance across a crowded room, but the warmth of his hands as he cradled my face, the exquisite blue of his eyes was overwhelming. I reached up and kissed him hard, then plastered myself to him as my emotions leaked out of my eyes. Him too; he had to swipe at his cheeks a lot too. Uncle Bucky put his handkerchief into my hand, and I got a little composure back.

"You've gotten a few new things since I last saw you," he said admiringly.

"They used to be a cape, but since we were raised, they're attached," I said. "So they're new, and I can't control them very well yet." I tried to pack them away, but I was still too emotional and all I made them do was flap awkwardly.

"I've always thought you looked like an angel," he said, kissing me gently. "But I understand you're a valkyrie, so you've got the appearance of an angel but kick butt too." He stroked my hair back. "I ran into Martha, she told me about seeing you that last time."

"Where is she?" I asked.

"She'll be along after a bit, she's finishing up some work."

"Where were you?"

"The Greek underworld, Sweet pea. Turns out there was a rogue Greek or two in Ra's's line. I've been working for Lord Hades. There's a bunch of us who find the newly dead and guide them down to Charon. Apparently people used to be able to find their way by themselves, but what with development, the old portals were built over or are difficult to access. We help them, they're frequently scared and confused. Martha finally convinced Hades that he needed an HR department." Damian chortled. "She just got everybody organized with records with their details and what part of the underworld they went to. She was a little irked when the joint emptied out." He hugged me again, resting his chin on the top of my head and sighing in contentment.

I heard an "ahem" from the doorway and looked around to see Alfred standing there with a tray of tea and coffeepots and goodies. Damian just barely beat me over and rescued the tea tray when I flung my arms around Alfred. He was younger too, fit and in his prime. "Miss Alex," his familiar voice said. "How good to see you once again."

"And how are you finding life these days?" I asked, finally releasing him and stepping back. Damian's arm came around my waist, delicately avoiding the wings, as Alfred reclaimed his tray.

"It is good to be home," he noted. "I arrived shortly after Master Damian, and Master Daniel has offered me a position based on Master Damian's recommendation. I expect there is much to catch up on before I have things running efficiently, but I believe that I am up to the challenge."

As Alfred arranged the tea in the library, Damian greeted the others, hugging Emma and Bucky, shaking Tony's hand. Tony looked bemused but not snarky. I introduced Bruce and Steve, and Bruce looked between me, Tony and Damian with a little concern before greeting him amiably. Damian was excited to meet Dr Banner and Captain America. I simultaneously introduced Daniel, who was hanging back a little, and smiled as Bucky hugged him, saying he was glad to meet his nephew. Emma patted his cheek.

"I'd hoped to do some baking for you, but if Alfred's here--"

"I expect that there will be ample opportunity for you to display your talents, Miss Emma," Alfred said as he presented me with coffee. I nearly teared up again. I do so love my coffee. "There is much to be done around the mansion and as I recall, scientists and inventors work best with a steady supply of cookies and other baked goods." Emma brightened.

Steve thanked Daniel for the place to stay and was told that it was no trouble, he looked forward to the company. Daniel then turned to Tony and Bruce and offered to show them and Emma to possible workplaces so that they could take their pick. They departed, chatting amiably.

Damian came back into the library with a straight chair from the dining room so that I could sit and not mangle the wings. I was still too emotional to make them go away although I'd at least managed to get them folded and still again. He seated me and handed me a plate with cookies. I almost started crying yet again. Chocolate. So missed at Valhalla. Ginger scones. Cucumber sandwiches. My uncles sat too and plundered the tray. For a good five minutes there was just silence and us stuffing our faces with the goodies. I felt guilty until Alfred came back with a replenished stock for the others.

We talked, and Bucky and I made an effort to facilitate Steve's acquaintance with Damian and Alfred. "Steve was kind of my nemesis on the battlefield at first," I told Damian. "But he's become another uncle."

"She's not mentioning how she beat me every time we met," Steve said ruefully. "I was supposed to be Frigga's big general." Damian grinned.

"I'm not surprised," he said. "Alex is very gifted and she had the advantage of being trained by her uncle from a fairly early age."

"I told you, punk," Bucky said to Steve complacently, poking him. "That kind of talent's a family trait." Steve rolled his eyes and gagged. Damian smiled at the horseplay and held my hand.

"Are you staying here, Petal?" he asked me, and my face fell.

"Not immediately," I said regretfully, and Damian's expression sobered. "Odin posted me at the embassy. There's daily practices on Asgard for the valkyries to keep us cohesive. Hopefully I'll get better control over these damned things," I said irritably about my wings. They twitched. "Then I have to gather information for Thor and Odin. Ragnarok is on its way, my dearest, and I just don't know if there's time enough to get everything that we need to be done." I shook my head. "It half kills me, but that's got to be my priority. I have confirmation that fate isn't fixed unless we let it be, so there's maybe a way to keep what is basically an apocalypse from happening. Or maybe just from being so bad." I thought about that, depressed and a little desperate. So much to do, and the stakes were so high. "I don't have to depend on wings or the Bifrost to get back and forth, so I'm hoping that if I keep at him, I can wear Odin down. I want to get to know Daniel better, see if I can help him out some, and then, of course, there's you now. But I only have leave to spend time with my family when my work's done."

"Martha told me about you and Stark," he said. There wasn't any condemnation or judgment in his voice, just acceptance.

"That ended during the winter," I said. "He was good to me and for me while it lasted. It just wasn't meant to be forever."

"Well, that works out, then," Damian said cheerfully. I couldn't help but smile back. "There were a couple of ladies for me, but it wasn't ever serious. You've always had my heart." He took my hand, smoothed out my clenched fingers, and kissed them. "I know all about the pull of duty, Sweet pea. You don't have to explain anything to me." And that was all either of us needed to know. We got up and offered Steve and Bucky a tour of the mansion. We helped them pick up their bags and Emma's things as well, and I thought of the perfect place for them; in the newer wing there was a set of three interconnected bedroom suites. Alfred intercepted us, automatically taking the bags from me and nodded his approval of the location.

"I will see to it," he promised, and tugged the bags away from Damian. "You gentlemen may leave it with me. Perhaps Miss Alex and Master Damian could show you the rest of the mansion while I make up the beds." Despite his deferential tone, it was no request, and my uncles dropped their bags like they were on fire. Alfred made a little shooing motion, and we went through the part of the mansion that was familiar to us. The conservatory had been turned into a vegetable and herb garden and the room beyond the library had been turned into a games room, with a pool table, dart board, ping pong table, card table and a corner with tv screens and comfortable chairs.

"This is far too big for one person," Damian said, frowning. "We need to get the kid a girlfriend. Or a boyfriend, depending on his preferences. Somebody special for him."

"I feel that it's been very hard on him since his father died," I said softly. "There's the company and Batman, and dealing with the winter was hard enough for us, and we didn't have half the challenges that Midgard would have had."

Damian nodded. "The global economy took a hell of a hit. Goods couldn't be reliably transported due to the weather; a lot of ships and their cargo were lost. Farmers were screwed because they couldn't grow anything and it was difficult to switch to hydroponics. And of course, the consumers..." I nodded. Damian had been busy, already starting his analysis of the disaster.

"We had trouble as well, but Valhalla is much smaller and we didn't have the same problems," I said. "Plus, we were already dead, so I'm not sure what would been the practical result if we couldn't eat." Damian thought that over.

"Well, I'm going to offer to help him out," he said. "He's our grandson, I don't know how many times removed and I'm not asking. But in an advisory capacity; he's the CEO of Wayne Enterprises and the company still made a profit somehow, so he's plenty gifted. Just to lighten the load, give him a hand until he finds his footing."

"You're such a good man, darling," I said, reaching up and brushing his hair back. "I still feel like I'm riding a tiger, but I feel better now. I've been worried for Daniel since I found out about him. So what's going on with your afterlife? I had the impression that the Greeks didn't have the tradition of a cataclysmic final battle."

"From those mythology books? We don't," Damian said, still cuddling me. He winced as my wing accidentally poked his eye. Steve and Bucky listened. "It was a huge shock to Lord Hades but even all his considerable power over his domain couldn't prevent the gates from opening. He's going to visit the gang up on Olympus to see if they have any information or ideas. I doubt they'll have new thoughts; as a group the gods haven't kept up with changing times very well, but you never know. Poseidon's just been pissed about the garbage and ocean pollution, even though that's been getting better. Hermes has picked up a lot, he flits back and forth a lot. Aphrodite and her son Eros also have kept their hands in with humanity, so to speak, but I don't think they have any more idea about the end of the world than anybody else does."

I didn't say anything more since I heard footsteps in the corridor. "The others are gathering in the library," Alfred said, and on the way out the door, I gave him another quick hug.

"It's just so good to see you again. I missed you," I told him, and he smiled.

"I found myself in a Celtic afterlife," he said as we walked the short distance to the library. "It was fine; there was a great deal of fighting, interesting things happened, but on the whole, I prefer to be here, supervising the family. I am grateful that Master Daniel had a position available."

The others were back and attacking the tea. Understandably so. "I've got to get back to the embassy," I told them. "I'll be back when I can."

Daniel, who had stood when I came in, came over for a hug. "You're welcome any time," he said. "I hope that you can move out here too, but in case you can't, the door locks have been updated with your biomarkers so you have access whenever."

"You're such a good kid," I said fondly. "You may rethink your offer after dealing with this bunch, though." He grinned back.

"I can always go into work if it's a bit much," he said, and I laughed. Damian moved, but when Tony stood up, Damian gave me a hug and kiss and said he looked forward to my return. Tony walked outside with me.

"Are you guys going to need the car?" I asked, and Tony shook his head.

"No, we need to do some research before we can get to work on new projects," he said. I told the driver, wandering around the splendid gardens at the front of the house, that he could return to the embassy when he was done.

"Do you mind if I take some time here?" he asked. "We don't have flowers like this in Asgard." I smiled and cut a little bouquet for him.

"I'm sure nobody will mind if you walk through the garden," I said, and turned away with Tony.

"I'm glad for your sake that Wayne's back too," Tony said as we walked along the mulched path back to the driveway. "I know you loved me and what we had was really good, but you never loved me like you love him."

It was true. I opened my mouth, but Tony shook his head. "I'm glad that you're happy, Tiger. In retrospect, it was good timing when we broke up. It would have hurt a lot more if we'd still been together. " He gave me a kiss on the cheek and went back into the house. I took a moment, then warmed up my wings and managed to fly a short distance down the driveway. Damn, the cape wings had been so much easier, powered by magic rather than effort and muscle. It was more than I'd been able to do yesterday by a little, so yay, progress. I quit when my attempts were more like prolonged hops and poofed back to the embassy.

Loki was at Columbia, so my news was going to have to wait. I took the diplomatic pouch with me when I poofed back to Asgard. Thor was in a meeting, and groaned when he sifted through the contents of the pouch, mostly from Midgard leaders in varying degrees of panic about the sudden influx of the formerly dead.

"As if we had any control," he said in disgust. "No power in the universe could stop the cocks from crowing. We thought the second cock was only supposed to summon the gods, not our honored dead. And it's not as if we had any idea that it was going to call forth dead from other afterlives." He considered me. "Well, you had a theory about that."

"Well, as to that, it's also interesting. A huge group of people haven't shown up--yet. Followers of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths are still in the ground, so you might want to point that out to everybody who's sent you a letter/plea/demand, whatever. Those guys show up and the demand and strain on resources will be overwhelming. Some of the people who have shown up have traditions about a battle like Ragnarok, and some do not. Those in the Greek underworld, for example, were just turned out. They don't have any purpose like we do."

"Have you spoken with one of these Greeks?" Odin asked. "You seem to have very specific knowledge."

I inclined my head to him. "I have. My husband was sorted there after his death. He's back, and my daughter will be as well." Thor perked up. He liked Damian.

"This is fine news, Alex. Perhaps we can conscript him to help."

"We have a many-times grandson, and Damian has pledged to help him manage things. However, his analysis of Midgard conditions will probably be very helpful to you. He said that the Olympians were caught completely flatfooted by this turn of events. I think that my daughter is probably waiting to return until she has some information about the thinking of the Greek gods. My opinion, and it's only my opinion, is that the World Tree influences things far more than I had any conception of before this." The Asgardians looked startled.

Odin was thoughtful, considering this. "Continue your practice and the collection of your information." He drummed his fingers on the letters he'd read from Midgard. "With the reappearance of your husband, I expect you had planned to ask me for permission to increase your contact with your family."

I nodded with no apology. "Yes. My grandson Daniel has offered to house Emma, Steve, Bucky, Tony, and Bruce and supply Emma, Tony and Bruce with work space and whatever materials they may need for their work. Because I can move myself around without the need for transportation, I can still be summoned for help very quickly even if I moved out to the house. And there's a lot of land out there where I can practice flying."

Odin immediately looked like he'd veto my request, but stopped and thought about it. "You would be happier if I agreed to this," he said. "And there is no real reason to keep you at the embassy. So long as you keep up with your other responsibilities and carry the means for instant communication with you at all times, I will grant your request." His face softened slightly. "I remember being separated from Frigga." I grinned, elated, and Thor relaxed. I could tell he'd been about to try to intercede with his father for me.

"Thank you, Odin." He brushed my thanks aside.

"This is just as well," Thor said. "I am increasing staffing at the embassy to address the diplomatic concerns and Loki is cutting back his responsibilities at the university to help. He plans to use 'graduate students,' whatever they are, to handle incoming calls, visitors, and mail. They will receive 'college credit' for an 'internship.'" You could hear the quotation marks in his voice and I smiled. Clever of Loki. "Housing in the embassy is going to be crowded. I need Steve and Bucky to run practices with the guard too, make sure that they are prepared for battle as well as embassy guard duties," Thor continued, passing me a letter to give to them. I nodded. "Loki has received a request from the UN General Assembly to speak to them regarding what we know. I am assigning you to accompany him and assist him where possible." He studied me. "Work on controlling your wings," he advised. "It will be more impressive if you can summon them at will."

"I'm trying," I said tersely. "It was a lot easier when they were tied into the cape." Both Thor and Odin smiled, and the meeting went on to other matters of concern.

Toward the end, Thor said that he had instructed Loki to offer the governments of Earth the option of Svartalfar. "It was the realm of the dark elves. A clever people, they created Fenrir's fetter Gleipnir, but since I killed Malekith, they are no more and the world is still abandoned. Parts of the world are inhospitable but other parts are habitable and people could thrive there. It could help relieve overcrowding on Midgard. Alternatively, those who are having difficulty understanding the modern Midgard could be placed in a low technology environment to dwell according to their customs." He waved a letter. "It's all in here."

After the meeting broke up, I went in search of the other valkyries. Irene had consulted a group of falconers in New York and had some ideas for us about how to build up our wings, based on how young falcons learned to fly. There was a bunch of people who studied peregrine falcons, the fastest on earth, and they had some good suggestions. "The young falcons, called eyases, start testing their wings around five weeks of age, start to fly around week six, get stronger and faster through week seven, and start catching prey in weeks eight and nine. This suggests that if we keep at it, progress should be fairly rapid." She demonstrated warmup exercises and how the falconers thought that we could gain wing strength and agility. We moved away from the citadel and practiced. None of us could fly very far yet, but I could tell that the exercises would be effective. It was like when Damian and I had tried rock climbing; we were strong enough, but afterward, our arms, shoulders, and backs had hurt from the different kind of movement and use of the muscles. Then we had a late practice with arms, and finally we were free to go. I returned to the embassy and found Loki, so I gave him the diplomatic pouch and explained my new assignment as well as the idea of dumping the most primitive people on Svartalfar. That interested him and he started making notes and plans to go there himself to report on conditions.

"I'm moving out to the Wayne mansion," I told him. "With Odin's permission, since I can get back and forth easily. My husband has shown up." I couldn't help the big grin on my face and I was jittery with the anticipation of getting back to Damian.

"Damian's back?" he asked, surprised, smiling himself. "This is good news. Next week, I would like to meet with him. Get a personal communicator from the chief of staff before you leave." I said I'd have Damian get in contact, then went upstairs to hurriedly pack. I couldn't move fast enough and just crammed my clothes into the space around my weapons. Maybe I could get it unpacked before Alfred saw. Then I poofed over to the manor, unexpectedly weary from the effort of moving so much stuff, landing on the front step. I didn't want to just burst in on everybody and since I had a body now, I didn't want to risk landing on top of somebody. It was just past 9 pm, not too late, and I was desperate to carve out as much time with Damian as I could. Alfred opened the door before I could even drop my stuff to knock and smiled at me.

"Congratulations on your success, Miss Alex," he said. "The house has not felt quite right without you." He seemed surprised by the sheer volume of my baggage, and I shrugged sheepishly and helped haul it over to the elevator. "The others are still in the library. Master Damian has been given your old suite, and I will move your things there as well." I thanked him and made a beeline for the library. Damian jumped up when I entered, and folded me in an almost uncomfortably tight hug.

"Does this mean that you're able to move in?" Daniel asked hopefully.

"Odin didn't even put up much of a fight. He might be getting soft in his resurrection." I sat with Damian on a loveseat and filled them in on the meeting where I thought it was appropriate, giving Steve and Bucky their written orders. Daniel immediately offered them a vehicle so that they could go back and forth. The cars were self-driving, so they didn't even need to get their licenses renewed. The group had been busy while I was gone too. Tony, Steve, Bucky, Emma, and Bruce had contacted the Avengers and had a meeting with them the next day. Then Emma and the Science Bros were going to go over to Wayne Enterprises and start getting up to speed on new technology and see what could be done with their work for Ragnarok. Damian was going to go straight in to the Wayne building with Daniel to learn how the corporation had grown and business was conducted these days. I smiled. Everybody had a job to do and the mood was positive. Damian and Daniel were getting along well, and Daniel seemed relieved to have some help.

Soon after, it was time for bed. Being a meat sack was a lot more tiring than I remembered. Damian and I took the stairs up to our room, and I looked around. Subsequent generations had changed it some; the windows were much larger and the trim had been changed to a sort or neo-art nouveau style that was very attractive. The furniture was different, but the mattress was still comfortable and the fireplace still worked. The bathroom was also updated, but in similar colors. The bedroom and closet were in a creamy white, lavender, and a slightly darker green, with a beautiful dark green and ivory rug over the worn cherry floor. "It's different, but still home. Now that you're here," I said, and that was the last talking we did for awhile. We only went to sleep because we both had a lot of work to do the next day.

The next day, Damian woke up covered up by my wing, which he sweetly said he liked, and started to laugh when he saw my piles of equipment. His laughter faded as he watched me strap on my swords, put my dagger in my boot top, fold the cestuses over the sword belt, and add small knives and shuriken and a tiny variety of switchblades, push knives, and folding knives to my pockets. My wings were under control again, so I shook them out briskly before getting them to go away. I was having a pretty good morning. "Did you want to carry something too?" I asked him. "I have some spares." Without waiting for an answer, I located a good-sized folding knife for him. "Opens letters, if nothing else, and it's not a good idea to go unarmed right now."

Looking bemused, he accepted it, more to be nice, I think, but I didn't care why as long as he had something to protect himself and Daniel with. Damian had formidable hand-to-hand skills, but it was a mark of how much I'd changed that I didn't want him to go around unarmed. We reluctantly went down to breakfast, and I reveled in the family meal. Then I wished everybody a good day and poofed to the embassy first to check in with Loki. He'd gone to Washington to speak with the President and had left instructions for me to carry on. I encountered Torunn in the courtyard as they guards were warming up for their daily practice, and invited her out for a dinner with the family when she was free. I wanted her to broaden her acquaintance, but I also wanted her to meet Daniel, specifically. Multitasking. Then it was back to Asgard and practice with the valkyries. We started out with wing exercises and practiced getting in the air, hovering, and flying until we couldn't go any farther, then divided into two sides for a scrimmage of our own. After we finished, I went back to the citadel and hunted up Hogun for a nice duel with the two swords. Then I blipped back to Earth. Loki was still working on the political angles of everything. His natural slipperiness made him a great natural diplomat. So I went home. Everybody but Alfred was still in the city.

Alfred was glad to take a break from learning how the automation in the mansion worked and showed me around the expanded mansion. In the new wing, the ground floor had a lap pool built in, twenty-five meters. That was great news; I hadn't swum laps since the last time I was mortal and put a swimsuit on my mental shopping list. Daniel had his suite in this wing and the large room on the ground floor was his home office. There were six suites on the second floor and the third floor held three more suites and a glassed-in workout room with resistance and weights as well as a simulator that could provide scenarios for runners, bikers, skiiers--cross-country or downhill--a moveable climbing wall, and rowers. Wow. The glass walls and ceiling could be dimmed to control the amount of sunlight and could be opened to allow fresh air in. It was a wonderful setup. Down in the batcave, technology had been improved of course, and new models of the batmobile, a sleek motorcycle, and a small personal aircraft were safely housed.

The medical suite was similarly improved and Alfred had me scanned with and without extended wings, just in case of injury. Interestingly, even when the wings weren't visible there was an indication iin the scans that something extra was on my back, but it wasn't a clear scan of bones and membranes and feathers, just a featureless blob. Most interestingly was the discovery of the structure of the wings. Unlike a bird, which has bones along the upper part of the wing only, my wings were more like a bat's, with bones that extended down through the wing. The claw on top was fairly small and hidden by the feathers. I'd assumed that my wings were like bird wings because they had feathers, but apparently I had bat wings that were covered in feathers. The AI balked at my wings but eventually accepted them and accessed my old records (archived) for comparison. Alfred showed me how human arms and bat and bird wings had the same bones-- humerus, radius and ulna, carpals, metacarpals, and greatly enlongated phalanges. Very interesting. It was like I had four arms now. More research showed that the wing structure of a bat was much more flexible than a bird's and acts much like a human hand. They can be moved like a hand and sort of swims through the air. The claw helps bats climb so they can take off from a higher point.

I was glad that I had Alfred with me because he had made a study of bats over his life. "Bird wings provide more lift, but bat wings are more maneuverable," he said enthusiastically. "And bats are mammals, unlike birds, so there might be something there that makes the bat a better choice for the wings. Because bat wings are more flexible, the degree and direction of lift can be changed very quickly. They have an unmatched agility in hunting."

"So by trying to emulate birds, we're not getting the most out of our wings," I said, and he nodded.

"The larger the wing, the more lift you get, but the tradeoff is less maneuverability and more stress on the wing. And the feathers will increase drag," he said. He took me out to the batcave and together watched recordings of bats in flight, compared to birds, and he had recommendations for possible ways to get the most out of our wings. We went upstairs, I thanked him profusely, and went outside to practice.

Flying was hard work, and I found it was much easier to start from a height. I went up to the roof and jumped off. Gliding was a piece of cake, and maneuverability was a lot easier once I had some momentum going. It was really fun, for the first time since the wings had become part of me. I buzzed the car when It rolled up the driveway to the house and landed well. Fortunately. It would have been embarrassing to wipe out in front of a crowd.

Damian popped out and came over for a kiss. "Productive day?" he asked mildly, and I grinned, flush with triumph as we walked up to the door.

"You bet," I said, cackling. "I'm literally Batwoman!"

That required some explanation. Damian laughed, Daniel didn't seem to know what to think about his granny, Steve had questions about my abilities, and Bucky warned me to remember that I wasn't dead anymore and be safe. Tony wanted to know if we needed tall ladders in our arsenal for Ragnarok. I smiled at his snark and was hit by inspiration.

"What about siege engines?" I asked. "Catapults? Build them big enough and we can climb up the supports. Plus if you use a load of shot instead of one big mass, you can probably increase the number of casualties you inflict on the enemy." That got me a sharp look and he and Emma put their heads together.

Later that night, the computer system chimed with a notification or additional results from the scans done in the medical. Genetic analysis showed that my mutations had survived my latest incarnation somehow. I was glad; I had the feeling that I was going to need all the help I could get come Ragnarok.