Relics

Tony Stark, who has never been a happy camper in his entire life, decides to return to Midtown Manhattan for the night. He gets up early on the following morning, but he takes his time in the shower and grooms his short anchor beard most carefully. Tony would never understand how his friend Bruce Banner could stand to stay in this makeshift SHIELD compound and use their communal showers. It's appalling. SHIELD allows their staff some minimal privacy by providing them with small single rooms instead of dorms, but the walls are very thin. In Tony's experience, thin bedroom walls have a tendency to attract exactly two kinds of people: heavy snorers and passionate lovers. Having no wish to listen to SHIELD agents making love or some obnoxious noise while asleep (probably after having had the noisiest sex in all known history), Iron Man suited up and abandoned his friend to his dreadful fate.

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

Natasha Romanoff is already waiting in Tony's kitchen when he walks in there in search of some breakfast. Oh, great. She has brought Barton and Rogers with her. This is going to be one of those fun days people are always talking about.

”Are you planning on making some more?” Tony asks as he watches Clint Barton pouring himself the last cup of coffee.

”Nope,” the archer tells him. “No more coffee beans.”

Yeah, right. Fun day.

”JARVIS, I need a cup of coffee from the cafeteria. And a large bag of my house blend,“ Tony instructs his omnipresent AI.

”Look, Stark, I really don't know if we have time for this,” interferes Steve Rogers.

”We better have,” Tony tells him, choosing a seat. He sits down and folds his arms in front of his chest. “Good morning,” he says to the world in general.

”For all we know, Thor and Loki could already have arrived at the compound,” Rogers perseveres.

”Thor said on the morrow, which generally means 'tomorrow', meaning any time between midnight and, well, midnight on the following day. Another definition is 'the time immediately after a specified event' while 'morrow' for 'morning' is archaic. Knowing Thor, he probably means 'morning' though," Tony, who is in his best someone-stole-my-first-cup-of-coffee-for-today mood and in full swing now, says. “I looked it up.”

”You actually looked it up?” Natasha asks.

”Yes. Merriam-Webster. And the OED. Just to be on the safe side.” Tony sighs, a little exasperated. What do these people think? He's an engineer, damn it, and paying attention to details could mean the difference between life and death. For himself and anybody else using the equipment build by him. “So if there is no particularly and more specific Asgardian meaning to the phrase on the morrow that has been hidden from us humble earthlings for some divine reasons, I have no idea when they will arrive today, and neither do I care. They may wait, or send in a memo with their ETA.”

A Stark Industries employee arrives with his coffee, and Tony accepts the steaming mug gladly. There is a cookie embossed with the SI logo sitting next to it. “First things first,” Tony says, and takes a sip.

”Bruce promised to call in case they arrive before me,” he adds as an afterthought after a couple of minutes of uncomfortable silence.

A quarter of an hour later, Tony Stark orders a chauffeur and a limousine from his extensive car park to take him, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton and Steve Rogers to the SHIELD compound in Upstate New York. It is a beautiful car, large and spacious, and it makes a soothing, reassuring and almost inaudible background noise while the experienced and reliable driver steers them away from the city.

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

Tony had known he was in for a hell of a ride the moment he closed the door behind himself. Steve Rogers had arrived in full Captain America gear and of course he dragged his shield along with him. With the prospect of Loki reaching the planet at any minute now, Cap refused to store the shield in the car boot for the journey.

Now the thing keeps invading Tony's private space, bumping painfully against his elbow and bruising his thigh. The stop-and-go-traffic, so typical for New York City at this time of day, is not helping at all. In front of Tony, Clint Barton is holding on to his bow and quiver with a grim and determined expression on his face and a vicious gleam in his eyes. When Cap announced his intentions of not letting go of his shield, Clint had naturally decided to follow his example and keep his weapons, too. Because, well, Loki.

And that had, in one way or another, led to Tony taking his new suitcase suit, an advanced version of the original Mark V that had been destroyed during the Extremis attack on Tony's house in Malibu, with him to the back seat as well.

The case itself is beautifully slim and lightweight, but it is not exactly small, and it has sharp corners and edges. Tony feels like an idiot while he tries to balance it on his knees without hurting anyone.

Meanwhile, Natasha keeps looking out of the window, her back to the driver. She appears to be totally confident and calm, a woman not troubled by any unwieldy or cumbersome items about her. And yet Tony knows for sure that, should the need occur, Agent Romanoff would suddenly sport two guns with a choice selection of knifes for future reference up her proverbial sleeve.

Where does she even hide those things?” Tony thinks, mustering the tight SHIELD uniform Natasha is wearing. The spy turns her head very slowly and raises an eyebrow. She is potentially a very expensive lawsuit for sexual harassment, Tony's inner Pepper reminds him and he looks away.

Perhaps, Tony muses, Romanoff does have a superpower after all. Maybe she can let weapons appear and disappear at will. And why not? Stranger things have happened, and that is something Tony had to learn the hard way in recent years.

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

When they finally arrive, they are all cross with each other with the possible exception of Natasha Romanoff, who looks like she just had had a very relaxing day in an exclusive spa. Clint Barton walks with an exaggerated limp, claiming that Tony tried to take his kneecaps off with that bloody suitcase of his. Tony, who thinks that he did not hit his team mate that often or that hard, has his own grievances to nurse, because Clint has vented off his anger at Loki's impending visit at him. Apparently the archer thinks that Tony alone is responsible for the invitation, that it had even been Tony's idea in the first place to invite Thor's batshit crazy baby bro and that, as Tony tries to tell him in vain, was simply not true. At least this explains Clint's substandard behaviour at the coffee machine.

There had been a few minutes of blissful silence after Barton had finished his monologue, and then Captain America decided To Make A Speech.

It was beautiful. Steve managed to point out all the virtues of forgiveness and the importance of giving second chances. He mentioned the possible role of Asgard as a future ally, and the prospect of cooperation in the near future. Science projects where hinted at, especially in the medical field. Apparently Rogers saw a possibility for ending world famine and granting peace on earth. Accepting the olive branch Thor was offering was a good thing in Steven's book, even if it involved spending some time with Loki on a ludicrous project.

When Captain America finished his extensive digressions, his team mates were all staring out of the windows in a pointed way. A leaden silence reigned for the rest of the journey.

Nick Fury, Jane Foster and Bruce Banner are already waiting for them in front of the SHIELD compound. Eric Solveig has decided to stay behind in the lab, keeping an eye on the radiometers. The Asgardians haven't arrived yet, but there have been strange energy readings for the last couple minutes. Oddly enough, they seem to radiate from the surrounding forest.

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

By the time the brothers arrive, the energy readings are slowly disappearing and the landscape is littered with heavily armed SHIELD operatives, all clad in their black uniforms. It's a sight Tony Stark feels more and more uncomfortable with. There is a slightly totalitarian feel to the scene, and a look at Bruce Banner's face convinces him that his friend is sharing his concern.

Suddenly, Thor and Loki are simply walking into the clearing from the edge of the woods in an almost leisurely pace. They seem to be deep in conversation. It's a glorious day in early autumn, the sun is shining and the leaves are changing their colours to the beautiful shades of the season. But the brother's waste no time on the majestic trees or the agents around them. It's a bit of an anticlimax, Tony thinks, feeling somewhat disappointed. He had been looking forward to the usual light show, preferably with a few special effects on account of Loki being Loki. But not a single background explosion is making itself felt.

And then, all of a sudden, everybody seems to be on DEFCON 1.

”You could have warned me, brother,” a slightly bedraggled Thor tells his spotless sibling.

”It was only a swamp,” Loki says.

”A swamp filled with acid, brother. And that was a lindworm lurking in there."

”Lindworms are smaller and much slower, Thor.” Loki looks at his brother with serious dismay. “Why, I believe we ought to do this more often. Brother, you seem to have no idea what is going on at the roots of Yggdrasil.”

”I shall not journey like this again. It's creepy.”

Suddenly the brothers notice their audience and stop dead on their track.

“What?” Loki says haughtily, and with a single syllable he manages to blight the Avenger's collective hopes to deliver all their carefully prepared speeches, words and looks of scorn at him.

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

So there he is.

Tony's nightmare for far too many long months and countless restless nights.

His hair is longer, and sort of wavy. Loki somehow manages to look taller than during the invasion and seems to hold himself more upright. There's definitely a reduced air of craziness about him.

That's a good thing, Tony thinks, because he hopes that a less crazy God of Mischief would be less likely to go for his throat than a stressed out one with manic tendencies. Or anybody else's throat. But his face is haggard, with thin looking skin stretched over prominent cheek bones, an unsmiling mouth and dark circles under his bright green eyes. It's obvious that he neither sleeps nor eats very well. His complexion is ghostly pale, but without the unhealthy, clammy sheen he had sported in New York.

Whatever is going on on Asgard isn't a picnic for Loki.

Nevertheless, standing next to each other the brothers radiate an incredible air of power. They are not wearing their princely helmets, but otherwise they are clad in full Asgardian armour and are sporting an attitude as if they are expecting battle. Thor has always appeared larger than life, but now Tony realises for the first time that there is a reason why the people of northern Europe chose to view these guys as gods so many centuries ago.

Then Thor moves towards his brother and places a hand on Loki's neck. “Remember your promise, brother,” he requests beseechingly.

"As I promised, brother,” Loki says. He is leaning slightly into the touch, and his voice sounds smooth and indifferent . “I shall not hurt your woman as long as she is under your protection.” He gives Thor a reassuring smile.

But then he looks at Jane, and there is a distinct promise in his eyes that he is going to get medieval on her ass in a previously unheard-of creative way the moment Thor loses his interest in her. He probably has all the necessary equipment already waiting for the event on Asgard.

Now what is this all about? Tony thinks, looking at Jane. The sheer bewilderment on her face tells him that Jane has no idea what is going on either. And hey, your women? Tony feels this is very rude, but Thor doesn't even flinch.

Instead he keeps smiling at his younger brother as if he was the best thing that ever happened to him or to the entire universe.

With a swift movement, Tony breaks into Thor's personal space and looks him deep into the eyes. “Just wanting to make sure,” he says.

”Make sure of what?” Thor, who is a little confused by Tony's action, asks.

”For a moment I thought you were under mind-control.”

”My brother would never do that to me!” Thor bristles with the indignation of the just.

The Avengers can't help but notice that Loki is watching the scene with this wild, slightly deranged grin on his lips they all know and love so well.

”I suggest we go inside now,” Nick Fury says. “We need a quick briefing. There are rules around here, Loki, and this time I will make sure you understand them.”

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

There is a simple but fully equipped conference room inside the compound, and everybody finds a seat while Fury explains some basic things like the total undesirability of random killings, the importance of listening to commands, and the meaning of security precautions.

Meanwhile, Tony spends his time on watching the Asgardians.

The first thing he notices is how close the brothers sit to one another. Jane had already told him how people on Asgard seemed to have a different concept of personal space than she is used to. It had been a slightly frightening experience, because simply everybody on the so-called Realm Eternal was towering over the petite scientist, and most of these giants were wearing heavy plate armour while doing so. One night, Jane Foster had had a nightmares about being crushed by them, but Thor had only laughed indulgently when she told him about it. Jane is sure the dream had been triggered by the hostile attitude she encountered by several Asgardians, including Thor's own father Odin and his shield-sister Sif, and the attack of the Dark Elves she barely survived during her stay there.

Everytime he speaks, Loki is leaning even closer to his brother who is sitting on his right while Thor keeps touching him in response. It's a very odd sight, and Tony has to fight a desperate urge to crawl under the table to see if they are playing footsie down there.

Must be an alien thing, he tells himself, and enjoys the heart-warming sight of Steven Rogers who is trying really hard not to stare at the spectacle.

And what is the meaning of all this brothering? Tony feels more than just slightly confused by the sibling's habit of claiming their kinship in every other sentence. I thought Loki had renounced the relation, and that Thor had finally realised his brother was no longer the boy he grew up with and whom he had loved so well. Is this an elaborate attempt at distracting us from the fact that Loki should feel at least a little embarrassed in our company? Like, hey, look, we're fine with here each other, why don't you come and join the happy crowd?

Because Loki, despite being obviously tired, looks all calm and composed, and there isn't the slightest trace of shame or even tenseness about him.

”Do you understand?” Nick Fury, who has reached the end of his deliberations, asks.

Thor answers in the affirmative while Loki regales the director with a smile.

”Perhaps I should add that we consider you to be on probation on our planet, Loki of Asgard, or whatever you are calling yourself these days,” Fury adds. “About a year ago, Thor told us that you died in battle despite the fact that you had been sentenced to life in prison for your crimes. We were willing to accept that, because there seemed to have been some serious personal reasons for you to take part in this fight at all, and we decided to allow for possible cultural differences. I guess it would have been too late to complain anyway.”

Fury looks at Loki in a way that would make lesser men (or gods) wet their pants, but Loki, who is used to be stared at and judged by Odin after all, remains completely unimpressed. “I have no idea how you survived being skewered, as Dr Foster put it so elegantly yesterday, or why you are even allowed to leave your cell. And I surely don't wish to know what all these words of endearment and the sudden cuddly attitude is all about. But keep in mind that we are fully prepared to fight back the very moment you step out of line.”

With a satisfied grin Barton, presents an arrow at Loki who only broadens his smile in return.

His older brother on the other hand sits up even more straight than before, looking like he was ready to strike at any moment now.

”May I remind you that Midgard gave up all claims on enforcing their justice on my brother?” Thor says.

”I never fully understood how you managed to pull that one on us,” Clint Barton replies.

The brothers look genuinely surprised at this.

“So your leaders did not inform you?” Thor ventures after a view moments.

All eyes turn toward Nick Fury who at least has the decency of looking slightly guilty while mumbling something that sounds suspiciously like...

Huh... what?

”Weregild?” Natasha says, raising an eyebrow.

”Like, seriously, Fury?” Tony is outraged. “You accepted payment for people's lives, like, half a penny for a chicken and a handful of gold for a freeman? How archaic is that?”

“More like Vibranium, really,” Loki says in a calm, refined voice, his face a careful blank. Then he gives Thor, who looks a little uncomfortable, a meaningful glance.

If the Avengers think that Thor feels uneasy about the whole weregild-thing, they are entirely wrong.

It had been Thor who had conducted the negotiations about the amount of valuables earth would be willing to accept as a compensation for the damage Loki had done. And for the lives he had taken.

Thor had never been pleased with the administrative side of his status as a prince of Asgard, and he was more than glad when Loki's talent for diplomacy and all these damn government affairs and issues started to show. After that, he contented himself with doing all the warfare, waving, and generally being cheered at by the crowd for his efforts while happily leaving the boring stuff to his younger brother.

Unfortunately, this meant that he was not very good at conducting the negotiations and felt very awkward while discussing the monetary value of every single casualty's live. Because on Asgard, said value is closely connected to the victim's social status in society, and that is a concept many Midgardians no longer understand. So Thor ended up paying much more than would have been deemed necessary on his home realm.

Odin, the All-father and king of Asgard, reproached his older son in no small way for his failure to reach even the most common of settlements without a major loss of face for the royal family. The payment of weregild is a perfectly legal, respectable and accepted transaction on Asgard to settle conflicts, and Thor has no problem with the custom itself. He only wishes that somebody else could have done all this unpleasant haggling in his stead. Thor feels he really has no propensity for this, and, despite all the bottled-up anger he felt for Loki, he began to think more than he liked of his brother, who was sitting all chained and gagged in a holding cell awaiting his trial at that time. As much as Thor would dislike to admit it, he knows that Loki had always been the better diplomat and would have never allowed himself to be outsmarted by mere mortals.

The whole affair played a minor but crucial part in Thor's decision to renounce his claims on the throne of Asgard.

”So you go on a random murder spree for a couple of days and daddy just opens up his purse to fork over?” Tony says, still in disbelieve. He feels that there needs to be some serious talk about his alien team mate's ethical background soon.

”Oh, I don't need father to pay my bills,” Loki, who had always had a knack of managing his affairs well, tells him with a touch of pride and a little too flippant for everybody else's tastes.

”Reparations always play a major part in peace negotiations,” Steve Rogers says. Captain America doesn't like what he has just heard, but as a soldier, he is a realist in these matters.

”Thor said you were sent to prison for life!” Clint Barton is not willing to let the subject go so easily.

”Well, I was.”

”Then what are you doing here?”

”Obviously taking care of problems you can't handle yourselves,” Loki tells him in a contemptuous voice.

”Don't even dare to try and patronize us,” Clint almost hisses at Thor's brother now, who's only response is a look of sheer hurt innocence out of green puppy eyes.

Damn, Tony thinks. These guys really don't seem to see what's the problem here..

At this point, Nick Fury decides to end the briefing since it is obviously going nowhere and only serves to ruffle even more feathers. He feels that Loki's reputation as a God of Mischief and Chaos isn't totally undeserved. Fury's whole team seems to be agitated and restless since Thor left them for Asgard to invite his brother back to earth. Tensions are rising, and even Jane Foster is looking at Thor with an increasing air of discontent.

Nick Fury just hopes that Thor knows what he is doing and is able to keep his brother under control should he show any traces of psyching out in the foreseeable future.

”Let's go and take a look at this relic, whatever it is,” the director of SHIELD says, much wishing he had taken the holidays his attending physician had urged him to take earlier this week.