Parts begin to move
"I thought you agreed not to work on that thing for awhile, Emma," Steve said the next morning, a frown in his voice. I took time out from selecting my lingerie to appreciate his form as he came out of the bathroom, fresh from the shower, to see Stumpy on the nightstand.
"It actually isn't what you think, Steve," I started to say.
"My eyes are up here, sweetheart," he said. "And I'm thinking you used your mojo to stick those bits together again."
My eyes traveled leisurely to his face and I smiled. "You'd think wrong, actually. I just showed them what I wanted them to to do and they did it." I stepped into some panties, put my arms through the bra straps, and walked over to have Steve fasten it. He did, and kissed the nape of my neck.
"Ok," he said in a voice that expressed that he was still in the dark. "I worry about you, Emma. I don't want you to burn out that wonderful brain."
"I don't have a trace of a headache," I said, reluctantly stepping away to put on my blouse. "I think I was getting headaches because I was trying to force it to do something. When I showed it an image of what it had looked like and kind of invited it to reform that way, I provided the will and it went along with it. It's so hard to explain. It does not have a brain or intelligence or any kind of sentience. What it has is...something else. I can't explain what it is without sounding like it has a personality or desire. Keep in mind that it doesn't have any of that, but the best I can explain is to say is that it wants to be what it was. I showed it a way, and we went several steps on that road. We stopped when it wanted to. I think that it might need some time to kind of rest along the way. I think it will let me know when it's ready for the next step." I stepped into a pair of black wool trousers and tucked the tails of the blouse inside the waistband. "And I'm willing to prove that I'm right. After breakfast, we can go to the clinic and they can hook me up again."
He smiled finally and brushed some of my hair back. "After breakfast," he agreed.
The tests showed that everything was functioning in line with my baseline and there was no apparent damage. I contained my smirk.
I almost went downstairs to consult with Loki before I remembered he'd flown the coop. I felt that I should keep Odin in the loop, and hauled Stumpy with me when I went to visit. As usual, the ravens arrived when I did and I showed all three of them my progress.
"It will take a few more sessions when it's ready to get the hammer back into its original shape," I reported, setting the hammer on the bed by Odin's legs so that the birds could get a good look. "But I'm positive it can be done. The problem is getting the magic. The enchantment renewed, I guess I should say."
"Caaaaaw," said one of the ravens. Encouragingly? I hoped so.
"Indeed," I said. "I wish I knew what you just said, though." I picked up Stumpy thoughtfully.
"ussssse... Odinforce" I heard, and I whipped my head around to see Odin's mouth relaxing. I bolted for the door and the doctor.
"Well, I'm sorry to have to say that whatever you heard doesn't seem to be an indication of the patient waking," Dr Staley said sympathetically after performing some tests as I waited in the hall.
I went back to work, grumpy. A few hours later, though, I was struck by inspiration and went up to see Nick.
"I thought you weren't going to be able to put that thing together," he said, eyeing Stumpy from where it sat on his desk. He reached out, then hesitated and looked at me. I nodded, and he picked it up. "Huh," he said. "It's lighter than I expected."
I nodded. "The enchantment apparently makes it heavier." I went on to explain what had happened when I saw Odin earlier. "So I was thinking. Do you know how to contact Dr Strange?"
In the end, Nick agreed to reach out to the doctor and ask him to come to evaluate the situation.
On my way to dinner, I stopped outside the caf and gave Pete a call. "I wanted you to know what was going on out here," I said after I'd explained as concisely as possible. "And also to ask if you could plead our case to Dr Strange as well."
"You're up to something, aren't you, Em?" he said after a moment.
"Yes." And I told him what my goal was.
"If I appeal to his vanity, I think he'll do it," Pete said after a moment. "I'll leave him a message that I need to talk to him."
"Thanks, honey," I said. We chatted a bit about his schoolwork and extracurriculars; Steve found me and leaned in to say hi.
"Is that Mr Rogers?" Peter asked. I smiled; he always seemed so excited to talk to his role models. He and Steve talked a little, then he had to go.
"Love you, Pete," I said, and turned off the phone. Steve gave me a kiss.
"Get a room, horn dog," Natasha said as she bumped past him to go in for dinner. Bucky looked amused as he followed in her wake, then held the door for me.
"So, what's up? Aside from another of your PDAs," Natasha asked as we sat down.
"Hopefully Dr Strange will be coming out for a visit," I said, cutting into the chicken piccatta.
"Why?" Steve asked as the others looked their question too.
"Because I want to know if he can somehow tap into the Odinforce to bespell the hammer again," I said factually. "Yum."
"I thought Loki said his brother was dead," Bucky said, frowning.
"I think it was said in a moment of despair," I said reflectively. "We talked about it the other night over cards," I nodded at Natasha.
"Right. Why return the pieces if the hammer isn't needed anymore? It could be a message, but we don't know for sure." She looked at Stumpy. "I gotta say, Emma, that this isn't up to your usual standards. There isn't even enough handle to get a good grip on."
"Well, it's not my usual work. I think it's just going to take some time to get it to its final form." I patted Stumpy. "In fact..." Stumpy seemed to be reaching out to me, more clearly than it had before. I put my hand on it and showed where it could alter itself to become more Mjolnir-like. The shape refined itself and the handle elongated almost to its final length. I patted it again when it was done. "Almost there, pal," I said affectionately, and looked up to see everybody staring at me. "What?" I asked, going back to my lunch. It hadn't cooled off too much.
"That was the creepiest thing I've seen," Bucky said. "And I've seen some creepy shit." He got his wallet out and handed Steve a dollar.
"It looked almost molten," Natasha said with a shudder. "Flowing around your hand. And you were just sitting there like nobody was home."
"I have to keep a clear picture of what it was in my head so that it can have a model," I said around a mouthful of roasted potatoes. "We're almost done now. There's a little fine tuning of the form and I need a hole so that the leather cord can be attached. Plus we need to work on the decorative knotwork pattern on the faces of the hammer. It wants to be pretty again." They all started to laugh. "What? It wants to look good as it kicks...butt. I thought for sure you'd understand, Natasha." She carefully blotted her eyes.
"Oh, I do," she said, her laughter finally calming. "Just never thought I'd have something in common with a hammer."
"You look ok," Steve said, looking me over carefully. I patted his hand.
"Now that it's more cohesive, it actually seems to return energy to me as it works. I feel great." I smiled at him and put my hand on his shoulder.
"Save the booty call for after lunch, kids," Natasha said, sighing, and Bucky grinned at her. So after a piece of mint chocolate cheesecake, we did.
When I went back to the workshop, I had a message from the engineers that the engine hadn't failed yet, although replaceable parts had; O rings and the like had gone through several changes. They wanted a bigger one to play with and were sending over the model that they'd made so I could cast it. Excellent. I was getting tired of playing around with costume enhancement. About an hour later, they pushed a couple of lab carts up the ramp. I chatted with the engineers about it for awhile, establishing the time line, making sure I had all the information, hearing about the testing that was still going on with the motorcycle engine.
I was going over the formula for the alloy when the campus alarm blared. Nick told us that an airborne object was approaching the campus and we were to suit up and he would inform us when the crash site was calculated. Grateful that my suit was in the workshop, I immediately stripped down and zipped up. Anybody walking by would have gotten an eyeful, but I wasn't concerned. Nick said that the landing site was going to be on the obstacle course. I grinned, imagining Steve's consternation and my impending liberation, and the dogs and I ran up. We were the first ones there, and I put on my new mask and gripped Nike's pole tightly. I scanned the sky and found the heat from the approaching...thing. Steve stopped beside me, shading his eyes, but it was too small to see yet.
"Have I told you how good you look in that thing?" he asked, still trying to see what I was tracking.
"I have a hot designer," I said, smiling slightly as he put his hand on my hip. Then we were silent as everybody else currently on site joined us.
"Did you ever get the feeling like the ceiling is coming down?" Tony muttered, standing on my other side. There were murmurs. "I think that this is a big chunk." We were hit by a hot blast of air as the thing blew past us, making me stumble from the pressure of the wash. We ran after it, coming up to it as it came to a halt after taking out several trees and the new, taller wall on the course. I couldn't help feeling a wave of gratitude for the thing. It would take a few days for the groundskeepers to clean up all the mess.
We approached with caution. It was a ship of unfamiliar design, showing signs of damage like it had taken fire. Captain America took charge. "Find the door," he directed, and we found it. "P, do your thing." I straightened the track that allowed the door to retract and fiddled around with the opening mechanism, damaged in the crash. Finally I looked up and nodded to Cap. "Ok, Ant-man. Give us some information." I eased the door open and Scott strode in, his helmet providing effective filtration of the acrid smoke.
"Small open area, kind of like the new quinjet," he reported. "One large male is down on the floor. Another is slumped over the console. I think the crash knocked them out."
"Tony, Bucky, Natasha. Let's go. Sam, find out where medical is," Cap ordered crisply. The rest of us waited. "Sam, tell medical we need the reinforced equipment," he added after a moment.
It wasn't long before the first ambulance, one of the normal ones, pulled up and personnel jumped out and Vision directed them in. The smoke had at least tapered off. Then the special ambulance arrived, and larger, reinforced gurneys were removed from the back. The rest of us stood back as they approached and wrestled the first gurney through the door.
Time passed, and finally the gurney was shoved out, empty. Then the medics assisted someone out. I frowned as I recognized Volstagg, one of Thor's treasured companions. I felt hope. Maybe the other person was Thor.
It was a blond man, but it was Fandral, not Thor. The two Asgardians walked under their own power to the ambulances, but the medics helped them over the churned up ground. Cap came out. "Emma, I want you, Scott, and Stark to map this thing, find out what's broken and see if you think you can fix it." I nodded and walked in.
The smoke was mostly cleared and I looked around. "What do we think?" I said, going over to the guidance position. It had a viewscreen rather than a windshield and a split console that seemed to be the source of the smoke.
"This pretty cool," Scott said enthusiastically. "It's my first spaceship. The electrics are fried, but if you can produce an alloy that works for these super-duper circuits, we should be able to fix it." And he was the electrical engineer, he should know.
Tony wasn't as excited, but then he'd encountered spaceships before. "This baby's been through some fire," he said. "The exterior sensors are mostly gone or heavily damaged and in some places the hull integrity is dangerously weak. I'm amazed that they risked flying this thing."
"Unless the situation they were in was worse than the risk," Scott said practically from the guts of the left-hand console. Sometimes it's easy to underestimate Scott because he's usually so cheerful.
Tony grunted and left to bring back some pads to work on. We worked in companionable silence, getting a firm idea of what tricks the ship had up its metaphorical sleeve and what the damage was. We were conferring about priorities and how to divvy up the work when Steve called us in for a meeting.
Tony and Scott detoured briefly to shed their suits, but mine wasn't crunchy to walk in and pretty comfortable, so I just wore it and reported in, Sigurd and Torburn padding along beside me. We were up in the meeting room and I joined Steve at the windows looking out over the campus. The ship was hidden behind the trees to the side. I put my arm around his waist and leaned my head on his shoulder. He put his arm around my shoulder.
"I like this song," he said absently; it was the Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell version of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough."
""Great, it can be your song," Tony said irritably. Steve turned to look at him; I goosed Steve's very toned behind and went to sit down. Nick conferenced in T'Challa and (a little surprisingly) Phil. Pete was still in class, so he was the only one not included. I'd bring him up to speed later. Natasha led the Asgardians in, looking a little the worse for wear. She marched over and wedged a chair in between Wanda and me; we scooted over, causing a ripple effect around the table. Bucky sat down on my other side and looked surprised at the Russian Natasha was speaking, so it must have been not Steve-approved language. Bucky caught my eye and winked, pulled out his wallet and began transferring money to the table. He ran out of ones pretty fast and had to use larger denominations, trading out bills to keep track. She wound down when she saw what he was doing and leaned over to whisper that the two visitors were pigs. Great.
Steve stayed standing by the windows, arms folded, legs braced. Man, I loved that pose. So heroic. So hot. That is the jaw of a hero. "Suppose you tell us what brings you here," he said pleasantly to Fandral and Volstagg. They looked at each other and Fandral coughed.
"Much has happened on Asgard, I scarcely know where to begin," he said.
"Perhaps you could start by telling us what Odin was doing wandering around the city like a crazy homeless person," Steve urged.
"The Allfather is here?" Fandral asked, brightening.
"Physically," I said. "Hugin and Munin are also around," I added. "Odin's catatonic, or at any rate, non-responsive."
The Asgardians slumped in their chairs. "I suppose this all started when Hela came to the halls of Odin," Fandral said, depressed. "She is the ruler of the underworld in several of the Nine Realms, and arrived to petition for control of Valhalla as well as she does from time to time. As is his custom, Odin refused her request; he enjoys keeping the rule of that place, the hall of the heroes of Asgard and Midgard who fall in glorious battle." I raised my eyebrows; I didn't know that people from Earth could aspire. It probably had to do with the pagan worship of these people as gods, though, so the Valkyries wouldn't be coming for me. "Odin extended her the hospitality of the gods, and she stayed for a few days. Then one morning, Odin was gone and Hela sat on the throne of Asgard. No one knew of his fate and Hela refused to tell. Thor became upset." He and Volstagg exchanged glances. I think we could all picture Thor losing his temper. "Hela descended from the throne, called him a pup and blasted Mjolnir with Odin's staff Gungnir, reducing it to bits." Everybody looked at me. No wonder Mjolnir was in such dire straits; the Spear of Heaven had a lot more juice than Mjolnir did.
"She called for the guards, who removed him to the dungeons. When we managed to get down there a few days later he was gone. Not dead--"
"Not at the time, anyway," Volstagg muttered.
"Not then, but banished to the arena of the Grandmaster. We do not know how he fares."
"Where's Heimdall in all of this?" I asked, frowning.
"He serves the ruler of Asgard," Volstagg said, shrugging, looking at me like I was impertinent.
"He hasn't been injured lately?" I pressed, and Fandral looked at me like I was mad.
"No. Hela needs the guardian of the Bifrost as much as Odin did."
Tony was right. They sounded like bad Shakespeare in the park. But if he hasn't been injured lately, at least he hasn't been to the well of knowledge at the roots of the tree of life, and Ragnarok wasn't imminent.
"She exiled Hogun back to Vanaheim," Volstagg muttered. "All non-Asgardians have been banished."
"And Loki is back," Fandral said venomously.
"Heimdall brought him back under the Queen's orders, waving his sword Laevateinn as if he knew what to do with it," Volstagg said contemptuously. "And Hela took him out of the hall for some time; when they returned, she put him at her right hand."
"Still, he did break us out of the cell," Fandral admitted reluctantly.
"Why'd he do that?" Tony asked.
Volstagg shrugged. "He said Hela would be sending us to the Grandmaster since we are Thor's boon companions and asked if we wanted to help Thor. We thought that if we could get out, we actually could help Thor, so we agreed. He smuggled us out to that ship, which was abandoned on Asgard by Maleketh, and got us aboard. He had plotted its destination and it took us here," he finished, a little contemptuously.
"What's Hela's next moves, do you estimate?" Steve asked.
"Find ways to legitimize her rule," Fandral said. "She could open the doors to her halls and the dead would rise. People would be too terrified to oppose her."
"She could also open her doors to a few of the most legendary warriors," Volstagg mused. "Same effect, less effort. There are many who would seek revenge against Odin."
He sat in silence, contemplating these revelations, until the phone burped and Nick picked up the receiver. After he hung up, he beckoned me outside, past the glass wall. "Strange just landed," he said quietly. "Meet him at Odin's room and get him to work. Report to me personally when he makes up his mind." I nodded, and when he went back inside the conference room, the dogs trotted out to accompany me.
I beat Strange to the clinic, but just barely. He caught up to us just outside Odin's room. " Dr Strange," I said, turning when I heard his cape flapping. The ornate pendant at his throat winked in the light. "Thank you for agreeing to come see the situation."
Strange hovered a little, not as supercilious as usual as he looked down at me. "Perilous events are occurring all over the universe," he said after a moment. "This dethroned king is the key to solving some of them. If my intervention will help in resolution, I will act." His gaze fell on the dogs, and it sharpened the longer he looked at them. For their part, they sat silently and calmly, looking back at him. "Those are remarkable creatures," he finally said, the first genuine smile I'd seen from him curling his lips.
"Yes, they are," I agreed, and motioned toward the door. "This way, Doctor."
He floated after me, watching as I opened the window for the ravens. They cocked their glossy black heads as they studied him, and the reverse. Then Strange took in the figure on the bed. I waited patiently for Strange to finish whatever he was doing, leaning on the wall, Torburn leaned against my leg, and Sigurd lay down.
Finally Strange jerked once and his feet found the ground. He turned toward me and I shoved off the wall, Sigurd sat up.
"I believe that I can direct the Odinforce into the hammer," he said confidently. "It will, however, require some preparation. Finish the work on the hammer if it will let you; it will be almost impossible to complete once the enchantment is active again. Return in three hours with it." He regarded me. "And bring your weapons. Mjolnir is a weapon for warriors and it will help if it easily recognizes you as such. And if you have something that looks more...traditional to wear. The dogs should be witness." Sigurd wagged his tail, and we were off, back to the workshop. I called Nick from there and he told me to go ahead and do whatever was needed.
I got the hammer done just in time, down to the decoration that the hammer seemed to prefer. I threaded the leather strap through the hole in the handle and wrapped the handle to aid grip. Steve came by and I quickly updated him.
"Just be careful, Emma," he said, helping me put on the white armor. I coiled the urumi in a sheath and fastened it to my hip as Steve stood behind me and attached the blue cloak I'd received as a gift and didn't wear much anymore. I picked up Nike and we walked to the crossroads together; I took the path to the clinic with Sigurd and Torburn and he continued on to the caf. They were going to have dinner with the Asgarians and then go up to the rec room.
Strange was there, sitting in the chair by Odin's bedside. The ravens hadn't left. One of them cawed when I entered the room and Strange looked up. "Excellent," he said, looking at my armor. "Place the hammer here," indicating the table that swung over the bed. I could practically feel its eagerness to resume its purpose. I stood it, handle up, on the table and stepped back.
Strange stood and placed one hand on Odin's brow. For a moment, there was the sense of something building, and a bolt of electricity arced from Odin to the hammer. The overhead light sparked and died; the only light was the energy transfer into the hammer. A tendril split from the main force and hit me. There was a rather unpleasant sensation of energy running through me, then it stopped abruptly. I shook a moment with the power of the thing after, Then the electricity cut off completely. Strange slouched where he stood.
"Doctor?" I said softly, blinking the afterimage of the electricity away.
"I'm fine," he said brusquely. "Odin will begin to wake soon. The enchantment closing in his mind has also been broken. It will take some time and he will be confused, be patient. He will recover." He floated over to the hammer but did not touch it. He smiled. "This enchantment has been restored," he said complacently. "The hammer will want companionship as it readjusts," he said. "Anyone who can lift it can provide it until the magic stabilizes. And no, I don't know how long that will take." Suddenly he yawned. "I'm going back to New York," he said. "I've done all I can here."
I approached the hammer, truly Mjolnir again, and put out a hand, then hesitated. "You reforged it," Strange said impatiently. "It trusts you. Pick it up." So I did.
I'd been a little worried. Maybe it hadn't been respectful to call it Stumpy.
I asked one of the clinic guards to escort the doctor back to the quinjet and the dogs and I went back to the workshop where I took off the armor and racked the weapons before picking Mjolnir up again and walking up to the rec room. I could hear dissension in the stairwell as I climbed. Bucky had just said that the Asgardians needed to stop talking down to the women or one of us would put them in the hospital.
"My money's on Natasha," Jim said. "Wanda would have them sobbing in the corner and Emma would ignore the sexism until she snapped and cut them into little bloody chunks." All eyes swung to me as we entered the room. Steve sat back and smiled, and Nick relaxed in his corner.
"That cannot be,' Fandral breathed, eyes fixed on the hammer. I placed it on the table.
"It is," I confirmed.
Volstagg got to his feet and pulled. It didn't budge, and he let go of the handle with a cry as it sparked.
"Yeah, apparently it will take some time for the enchantment to sink in again," I said nonchalantly. Vision came over and picked it up, examining it and nodding.
"This is lovely work, Emma," he said, and I smiled. "The enchantment is sound, but there's also a sense of your own personal skill throughout, just a trace."
It's always nice to be appreciated.
"Where did you get that?" Fandral demanded.
"It appeared one day. I don't know how it got there." There were a lot of questions from the others, and Volstagg and Fandral demanded to see Odin immediately.
"Not until the doctor says it's ok," Nick said, putting his foot down.
"Unauthorized attempts will result in me seeing if I can use Mjolnir to knock you into the middle of next week," I said pleasantly. Natasha's chortles grew into a guffaw as the two Asgardians backed down reluctantly.
Shortly thereafter, the 'party' broke up and people left for their apartments; Volstagg and Fandral had been assigned rooms in the residence. Steve and I lingered as I finished my drink. Gatorade; I'd felt a little depleted after all the excitement. Steve put the Marvin Gaye song on the jukebox and we listened it cuddled up on the sofa.
"It really could be our song," I said. "I feel like I could knock aside mountains to get to you."
"With that hammer, probably," he said peaceably, pressing a kiss to my temple.
"Now we need to get word to Thor. Once he knows, he can summon Mjolnir to him, even across the Nine Realms," I said, yawning.
"Really?"
"Yep. The depth of the power it possesses I can't really understand. It's literally beyond my comprehension. I might be able to use it in small ways, but for Thor, its true possessor...." I shook my head. "I can't imagine what all it could do."
"We'd better get some sleep, sweetheart," he said as I yawned again. "There's a lot to get done and I think we're on the clock now." We stayed in the residence that night in his suite. "I wanted to ask you to consider moving in with me," I murmured as we snuggled in the bed. "There's a lot going on now, though."
"Yeah, I'd like that," he said, spooning me and putting his arm around my waist.
"I wondered if you'd like the attic as sort of a personal space," I said, lacing our fingers.
"Get a rug for in front of the fireplace," he said. "I'd like you to sit for some sketches. It'll be new to have my muse as a live model."
"So that's a yes?"
"Definitely a yes. When can I move in?"