Relics

It all started when several campers disappeared while spending their holidays in Upstate New York, and Tony Stark, who really does not like having trouble in what he secretly regards as his own backyard, suggested that the Avengers should investigate. After a little resistance from Nick Fury and a lot of soothing talks with Phil Coulson to straighten out the ruffled feathers again, SHIELD relented and the Avengers got down to work. It turned out to be a demonic cult of some sort, and it's members, a small group of rather confused individuals, where not very good at what they where doing. They had littered the internet with traces of their activities (adverts for black roosters on Craigslist? Seriously?), and it took Tony less than an hour to track the group down to the centre of their machinations, an abandoned army bunker in a remote spot in one of the beautiful and extensive forests of the state of New York. The subterranean bunker had fallen into disuse long ago, and was now nothing more than just another neglected relic from the cold war. The missing persons were an entirely different matter, of course, and the managing directors of SHIELD were glad that they had asked the world's mightiest heroes to intervene before the situation got out of hand. Director Fury was convinced that Stark would have interfered anyway, with or without his consent, but that is something Nick Fury prefers not to talk about.

Fortunately, not a single one of the kidnapped vacationists has suffered permanent bodily harm, but it had been a very scary experience and the psychological damage was extensive. SHIELD made sure that their abductors wouldn't walk free for a very long time.

Then it turned out that at the core of the cult there was a strange artefact emitting even stranger radiation.

None of the readings the SHIELD scientists were getting made sense in even the remotest way, and the cult members stubbornly refused to share any information on the object of their worship.

***************

Tony Stark is standing next to a group of said SHIELD scientists, including Dr Eric Solveig, Dr Bruce Banner, Dr Jane Foster and, surprisingly, Thor, who seems to have jogged along for the company, in a makeshift compound erected by SHIELD in front of the former bunker and temporary temple. A security camera keeps sending footage of the reinforced door behind which the unknown power source is hidden to a large screen. Because of the strange readings, the door hasn't been opened so far. Nobody really knows what awaits them behind it, and Nick Fury, who is in charge of the operation, worries about the possible risk to his staff. During Loki's failed attempt at invading Earth and the ensuing battle of New York, the director of SHIELD had to witness with his own eye what strange and unidentified objects can do in the wrong hands. So this time, Fury decides to play it save and sit tight until a realistic assessment of the situation is available.

“I'm running out of ideas here,” Dr Banner says, looking up from his useless equipment.

Thor, who had approached the door in an attempt at scorning the danger and opening what he calls the ingress without taking any precautions at all, is held back by a couple of SHIELD agents. Despite his obvious contempt for the Midgardian prejudice against taking incalculable risks, the God of Thunder feels generous enough to make a contribution.

“Why, my friends,” Thor says while freeing himself from the clingy agents. “I believe it is magic.”

“Magic my arse,” Tony Stark, who does not find it easy to adjust to his Asgardian friend's relaxed way of talking about things that do not exist as if they were real, mutters, and even Jane Foster looks a little out of patience with her boyfriend. Then Thor decides To Drop The Bomb.

“I suggest we ask my brother for help.”

If Thor had thought that this idea would fill his friends with joy, he had been entirely mistaken.

“But you said he died on Svartalfheim,” a shell-shocked Eric Solveig complains. He is sporting the offended look of a man who wakes up from a well-deserved, refreshing slumber just to find himself face to face with misery incarnate.

Thor frowns at the memory of Eric's enthusiastic reaction upon hearing the news of Loki's demise. To make matters worse, of course one of Odin's infernal ravens had spied on him at the moment and told the All-father all about Thor's complete failure to retaliate for this disrespectful behaviour. I shall never hear the last of this, Thor thinks desperately. But well, Eric is a friend and fun to be with, and Thor really has no idea what all the fuzz is about.

”There is no way he survived this injury,” Jane Foster says firmly. “I saw the spear, or whatever this weapon was, going right through him. Your brother was skewered, Thor, and don't even think of trying to explain this away with frost giant resilience. There is no way, and that's a fact. So, please tell me it's another brother you have just never mentioned before for reasons best known to yourself, and not Loki you're talking about."

Frost giant resilience, Tony Stark thinks. Ever since he understood that his team mate Thor is labouring under the impression that his late adopted brother, or, as it turns out, not so late adopted brother, is really a blue giant with a pair of large horns on his head, the ability to dish out nasty frostbites and to cover himself with ice at will, Tony feels that the Asgardian's grip on reality is dramatically different from his own.

So Tony decides to call Loki a few choice names which makes Thor check the compound swiftly for any random members of the crow family. Because, well, Tony is a friend and fun to be with, and Thor really does not feel like retaliating for this disrespectful behaviour.

But swear he ever so much, much worse than Tony's flash of anger is the way Nick Fury is looking at Thor now.

Director Fury doesn't yell or protest, he just looks sad and very disappointed. This makes Thor feel strangely guilty, and it's a feeling the god of thunder doesn't enjoy at all.

”You know, Thor,” Nick Fury says after quite a while in a serious and somehow small voice. “I can't believe I actually helped you to get your brother off the planet. I defied the World Security Council for you so you could take Loki home to face Asgardian justice. And they were not happy, trust me on that. This is not about Loki being alive, please don't get me wrong. I'm even happy for you. It's obvious that you two are having serious issues with each other and I'm glad you have a chance to work on them together. I even think I understand how you ended up taking your brother with you to Svartalfheim to revenge the death of your mother at the hand of an alien aggressor. I'm sure I know several people on earth who would have liked to do the same to Loki. And this includes some of your team colleagues.”

Nick Fury takes a deep breath and shakes his head wearily. “What I don't understand is how your brother, a confirmed and convicted war criminal, is in a position to travel at all. You said life sentence, Thor, and not life in prison unless Loki feels otherwise disposed. And please don't look at me like that- I am immune to puppy eyes, so you might as well just stop it.”

”Also, you may rest assured that this is far from over, Thor. Bring your brother back to earth if you must, but don't expect me to stand up for him again. I'm washing my hands off this. Whatever you do, please keep in mind that there are still people around who would like to see Loki in a holding cell on this planet or even executed for his crimes.” With this, Nick Fury walks away, a righteously depressed man in search of Bruce Banner's secret stack of soothing herbal infusions. I'm sure he keeps them somewhere close by, the director of SHIELD thinks.

”They're in my bedside locker,” Dr Banner, who knows the symptoms, calls out after Nick Fury. Then he turns to Thor. “So I take it that the penal system on Asgard is very liberal and advanced, and grants the convicts as much personal space and freedom to move about as they deem necessary for their own well-being?”

Thor feels that this does not sound right at all. “Huh... no?” he offers in lieu of a more elaborate answer to his human friend's legitimate question.

Bruce Banner takes off his glasses and starts to polish them with calm, practised and well-balanced hand movements. “Are we talking about royal privileges then? I understand that there is a number of severe cultural differences between Asgard and Earth. So if this is a privilege granted to you and, for some mysterious and completely inexplicable reasons, to your adopted brother Loki, the psychopathic war criminal and sentenced mass murderer, please enlighten us so we can learn to deal with the situation.”

Thor, who does not like the casual way in which Dr Banner tends to comment on Loki's state of mental health, denies this too.

“I will go to Asgard and ask my brother if he would like to help you. Should Loki agree, we shall return to Midgard together,” he says. And, judging by the mulish expression in the Thunderer's eyes, this is all he is going to tell his team mates.

”Some plan,” Tony Stark quips while contemplating his newly found respect for Director Fury. He blesses his lucky star for not having been at the receiving end of one of those speeches so far. Thor looks smaller now, and Anthony Edward Stark, who is not a tall man, would hate this to happen to himself.

But hey, he is Tony Stark, and he is not going to have a recently-turned-mulish God of Thunder stand between him and his ever lasting quest for knowledge. Especially since said God of Thunder is starting to look increasingly embarrassed.

”What happened, Point Break? Lost a bet?” Tony just keeps probing at random, hoping for a reaction. “Power breakdown leading to a major security problem in the dungeons? Overthrow of government? Should we be worried? Do you feel your brother's planning on invading our planet again?”

Against all odds, Thor manages to remain adamant. There is no way in Helheim he is going to tell his Midgardian friends about the situation on his home realm, and his newly acquired poker face does not betray anything, no matter how many questions they keep asking him.

In the end the humans decide to reconsider Thor's suggestion and give it a try. Mostly out of sheer curiosity. Perhaps they could get some information out of Loki, who is the villain of the piece after all. And, just like all supervillains worth their salt, he is bound to rant and hold a monologue sooner or later. It's a somehow flawed logic, straight from the comic books they read so enthusiastically in their youth, but it's all they have.

And deep inside these people of genius and science, well hidden from their dominant rational self, there is a tiny spark of hope that it actually could be magic after all, because somewhen and somewhere in their childhoods there had been fairy tales, too. Of course that's more than they care to admit to themselves. Instead they keep staring at Thor who is naturally completely unfazed by the Midgardian's futile attempts at making him feel like a fool. He grew up with Loki, who was born an absolute pro in this field and is known to have made even Odin himself feel like a bit of an idiot on more than one memorable occasion.

Thor, who is secretly pleased to give his younger brother a chance to prove himself in the eyes of his new friends, tells his team mates to expect him back on the morrow. Then he leaves the makeshift SHIELD compound, yells into the sky, and, within only a few short moments, there is a flash of bright, multicoloured lights and Thor disappears, leaving nothing behind him but a circular, elaborately patterned imprint on the ground. It is a sight neither Tony nor anybody else present will ever get used to, and even Jane Foster, with all her background knowledge provided by Thor and her considerable scientific insight, can't help but marvel at the phenomena.

As soon as the God of Thunder has left the planet, Tony takes out his StarkPhone and contacts Natasha Romanoff.

The SHIELD agent is not Tony's favourite person on earth or, having recently been made aware of the existence of an alien culture on a different planet or realm, as Thor prefers to phrase it, elsewhere. Tony still has serious trust issues with the spy and assassin, and he has no intentions to get over them in the foreseeable future. But he also knows that the so-called Black Widow is his best and perhaps only chance to worm something out of Thor or Loki against their will. It seems to have worked before, Tony thinks, and hopes that the spy will be able to get all the answers he has been denied by his Asgardian team mate.