Assemble Your Dreams
Prologue:
He had given up hope two months ago. Never believed he'd go back home or have a chance on returning back to his old life, but she had given him purpose. She had given him a reason to see beyond what he had and lost and gave him a possible future to look forward to.
However, that life came crumbling down the day his friends had found him.
He had been serving breakfast that morning, a mundane task he thought he would never do but now didn't mind. The plate of scrambled eggs and a cappuccino went to Darcy while stack of pancakes and a cup of coffee with a shot of espresso went to a hungover Erik Selvig..
"Thanks," Selvig moaned as he squinted and looked down at his breakfast. "Donald, how much did we drink?"
"Oh, not enough for me," Thor replied, with a smile, "But you certainly had enough to honor your ancestors."
Selvig smiled back, looking a bit worse for wear, slightly worrying Thor, but Jane assured him that once the coffee got into his system he'd be all right.
"Did we fight?" Selvig asked, as he rubbed his jaw.
Thor laughed, "It was merely for sport and I learned a great deal." He gave his friend a slap on the shoulder before returning to Jane.
Suddenly, someone pounded heavily on the door.
Selvig winced at the sudden booming noise as he began to slowly sip his coffee but grimaced when Darcy shouted and ran across the room, cutting off Thor who had changed direction to answer the door.
"I'll get it!" she volunteered leaving Thor to return to Jane who held out a plate for him piled with his favorite breakfast food. She threw him a knowing smile as she sipped her coffee and headed the table with her own plate.
His eyes followed her, appreciating the view when-
"We found you!" a familiar voice boomed.
Thor's attention snapped to the source of the voice, to the entrance of Jane's studio and when he saw them, he smiled. Standing beyond the door were his friends, Sif, Fandral, Volstagg, and Hogun, all smiling and dressed in their business suits. He couldn't help but think they must have been a sight walking down the streets in sunny New Mexico wearing dark business outfits that would make one sweat buckets if they were to wear it the whole day under the sun.
"Come in?" said Darcy unsure about what to say, throwing glances back at Jane and Selvig for a gesture to tell her what to do. However, the two scientists were just as stunned as she was at the strangers' arrival, and were just as uncertain as her.
"Welcome," Jane said formally as Darcy rushed back to her seat and Thor walked over to greet his friends.
"Thank you, miss." Fandral replied with a slight bow and one of his dashing smiles. Sif and Hogun also conveyed their thanks, but Volstagg seemed all too concentrated on-
"Thor, am I glad we found you!" Volstagg exclaimed, reaching out and grasping Thor's forearm in a firm shake. Thor returned the gesture. He did the same with the others with an uncontrollable smile on his face.
"Friends, what are you doing here?" he asked before logic overrode his surprise and that smile faded into a look of worry. "Is it about my father? My mother? Loki?"
Sif and the others exchanged uncertain glances, their smiles having faded along with his, before Fandral spoke, "It's about your father and brother." He paused for a moment, hesitating on what to say next before he finally asked, "Thor, are you aware that Odin is dying?"
In a heartbeat, rage and alarm rose to the surface, but Thor didn't let it slip from his control.
"What?" he asked, his eyes stormy and his voice fierce, yet not raised more than a shout. He read the confused expressions on his friends' faces and began to explain, "Loki told me-"
"Loki?" Sif interrupted glancing back at Hogun before turning back to Thor, "When did he-"
"Donald?" someone interjected and the group turned to see that Erik, Jane, and Darcy were still by the table curious and looking worried. It was Jane that spoke. "Donald, what's going on?"
"Forgive our rudeness." Hogun apologized, stepping forward.
"Allow us to introduce ourselves." said Volstagg with a bow, "I am Val Volstagg."
"Sif Sylvan."
"Dash Fandral."
"Hogun Grim."
With each introduction, his friends gave a slight bow, a sign of honor to Jane.
"Jane Foster." she said introducing herself before Darcy and Selvig took their own turns, nodding their heads in their efforts at a subtle bow.
"These are my friends from-" Thor caught himself before he finished his sentence. Not everyone knew who he had been before Dr. Donald Blake, the civilian identity that had been created for him, and he wasn't sure how'd they would react. "From-"
"Why the hesitation?" Volstagg asked as he addressed the others, "We, too, are from Midgard International."
"Midgard?" Selvig asked, his gaze shifting from the strangers to his friend not failing to notice the man had said "too" as if it were to mean something.
"Forgive me, but could you excuse us for a moment." Thor said politely as he pulled his old friends off to the side. He lowered his voice to the volume not greater than a whisper. "Loki visited me two months ago and told me that my father had given up on me, forbidding my return, and turned ownership of Midgard International over to him."
"Lies!" Sif hissed angrily before calming herself down as the others stared at her. She whispered, "He lied. Your father lies in critical condition in a medical wing within the Palace Tower. We thought you'd return when you heard the news. I was sure it was broadcasted."
"I have been helping Erik and Jane with their experiments… we've had no recent news or even access to the Internet." Thor answered, "If I had but known-"
"Why on Earth are we whispering?" Fandral asked, his voice booming over the others, "We are not conspiring anything! We merely ask that you return to the Council. Take your rightful place as heir."
Hogun turned his focus from the loud Fandral to Thor before quietly saying, "He is right. The Council needs you back. Loki is merely a steward and already he has plans to merge Jotun Corp.!"
From afar, Selvig, Jane, and Darcy watched the group. Only Selvig and Darcy were alarmed at the fact that the strangers were calling their friend Donald by a different name and both of them were speculating the reasons behind that. Jane watched the group, slightly worried over what she could glean. She was never one to eavesdrop or use her skills to do such a thing and she had good reasons. However, she could see the worry and anxious look on Thor's face and she couldn't help it. She read the group's lips and made out the words of whoever she could see. As she did so, learning about the topic of conversation little by little, it escaped her notice that Darcy had been muttering the names Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg repeatedly adding Thor to the mix. If she had noticed, she wouldn't have been as shocked and would have stopped the Darcy before she had her epiphany. However, before Jane knew what was going on it was too late to say anything, Darcy had beaten her to the punch.
"Wait, now I know you!" the intern cried as she rose from her seat.
She hadn't let her boss know, but for the past three months, something had bothered her. She knew there had been something about Dr. Donald Blake that was oddly familiar, but she couldn't pin down. It wasn't until she looked at all of them grouped together did she realize why they all looked familiar. It helped that four out of the five of them were all in business suits and they'd formally introduced themselves and name-dropped the business they were tied to.
"You're all-" she gasped, "You're all part of the Asgardian Council… the board of directors for Midgard International!" she cried.
Though a political science major, she had dabbled in economics and in one of her reports on important and influential business corporations she had chosen Midgard International and had researched several of the various members on the board of directors. She let out a cry of realization as she stared at Thor.
"Oh, my God!" she shouted as she pointed at him, "You're- you're…"
"Darcy, are you okay?" Jane asked, trying to calm her down though through the corner of her eye caught Thor signaling with his hands for Darcy to keep quiet, or at least that's what she thought he meant to signal.
"Thor Odinson! You're the heir to Midgard International!" Darcy cried, not understanding what Thor was signaling by holding his hand over his throat and shaking his head, "Why are you strangling yourself?"
"I think you meant this." Jane said as she gestured the proper way to give a cut-off signal. The usual amused and genuine smile Thor would give her, a smile that told her how much he appreciated her correcting and amending his mistakes, was replaced with thin line. He looked crestfallen as if something terrible had just happened and it wasn't going to stop.
"Odinson?" Erik shouted as he focused his gaze on Thor. He was more sobered now that the coffee was gone and no one was yelling loudly. "I don't believe it! You look so different from your pictures."
Jane, the only one in the room not familiar with corporate faces, was the only one not star-struck of the trio, stifling an amused smile at her co-workers and their half-slack jawed expressions.
"Jane, do you know who this is?" Erik asked, still in awe as he stared at the members of the Council.
"I knew Donald wasn't his real name, but I didn't know who he was." she answered, her eyes trained on Thor.
"I am sorry." Thor apologized as he stepped forward so that he stood in between both groups, "For deceiving each and every one of you and not telling you who I truly was. I believed I was no longer part of that life."
"Well, how did you establish an identi-" Erik started when Sif interrupted in the most polite way possible.
"Forgive me for the interruption, but we came here with a purpose: To take Thor back with us to New York City." she stated, "His father is fading fast and the corporation as we know it will be no more if Thor remains here instead of returning with us."
She stepped forward to Thor and placed a hand on his shoulder, unsettling Jane who finally broke her gaze with Thor, and looked back to her mentor and her intern.
"Please, Thor. We have a jet awaiting us at the airstrip." Sif said, looking at her friend, trying to meet his gaze, but she couldn't.
"I will meet you all there." he said, addressing his old friends but facing his new companions, "Please, go ahead."
Sif nodded stiffly before she and the others left. Hogun trailed behind the others, and before he closed the door behind them told the others that there would be a vehicle waiting outside to drive them all to the airstrip to say goodbye and then back here.
When the doors closed, Thor struggled for the proper words to say, but he couldn't come up with any.
In that momentary silence, all of them knew what was going to happen next and knew there was not much to tell.
"I want to apologize a thousand times over for the lies." Thor finally said. "I-"
"Why are you apologizing?" Selvig asked with a kind smiled as he approached the younger man and clapped him on the shoulder. "It's not as if we can't understand."
A small smile touched Thor's lips as he met the man's sympathetic gaze.
"Now, we may have some questions for you, but I'm sure they'll be answered on our way to the airport." Selvig said as he followed the Council members out.
Darcy followed Selvig, but as she flitted past him she harped, "I knew I knew you! I knew I knew you!"
Thor and Jane merely laughed at that shaking their heads, but now they were alone and the laughter faded away. Thor looked towards Jane, expecting to see some sort of betrayal in her eyes. But there was no hint of it. Instead, there was only sadness.
"Do you want breakfast to go?" she asked him to break the silence as she walked to a cabinet, about to open it, but she stopped herself. "Or maybe not. You might like the plane food better."
He knew she didn't want to talk about it… about what was going to happen, but he wanted to make sure things were set straight.
"Jane," he said softly, as he approached her. He saw her hands were trembling, and he reached down to take them in his. "This isn't goodbye."
He saw the incredulity in her golden brown eyes as they met his. "You're important. I may not be as star struck as Erik or Darcy, but I do know that Midgard International is practically a superpower in the world. I'm already busy with my work and you'll be… extremely busy with yours." She sighed, "I mean… we might as well say it-"
"Do you believe that?" he asked her, somberly, "Do you want to put an end to this before it even starts?"
Jane didn't answer. Instead, she ducked her face away from him and lifted her hands from his. She exhaled a shaky breath, in an effort to relieve the tension that was building up inside her. She turned towards the kitchen's counter, bracing her hands on the edge. Her hair formed a curtain around her face as she looked down shielding her expression from him.
"Jane," Thor whispered before she could get a second chance to force a goodbye. "You know how much I care about you. And I'm not the same man you met." He placed one hand over hers and with the other, he gently tilted her face towards him, "You know who I am."
She looked up to search his blue eyes and found nothing but sincerity and loyalty, and it comforted her. She smiled at him as she took a hold of his hand.
"Let's get you to your plane."
0o0o0
A black SUV was awaiting the lagging group just arund the corner, a driver informing them that he would be there to drive the rest of them back. 'Rest of them.' His words only served as a reminder to them that they'd return without Thor.
The car ride was more talkative than Thor expected it to be. Selvig asked him about the new technologies the corporation was thinking of funding and developing and asked him about the alliance with Stark Industries as well as the security agency known as Shield. Thor didn't divulge any secret information but whatever he could tell his friend, he did. When Selvig was finished with his questions, Darcy, on the other hand, used her questioning time to interrogate him.
"How long have you known those other guys?"
"How long have you been on the Council?"
"Have you met any celebrities?"
"What's your most exciting day like?"
He could barely answer them at first but in a couple of minutes got into the pattern of firing off replies at her rapid pace as quickly and concise as possible. She was more thorough than any journalist he'd ever been interviewed by and since she was a friend, he was answering her honestly, without any worry that she'd take his comments out of context and publish it in some tabloid or splash it all over the Internet.
Jane was the only one not asking him questions, but he knew that any questions would be personal. Jane merely listened, calmly and quietly with a neutral expression on her face that for some reason bothered Thor. He could read the anxiousness in Selvig and knew that the reason why Darcy was asking more questions was because she wanted them to avoid the conversation about him leaving. She was also being nice not asking about his familial life. But Jane's calm face caused him to wonder whether or not she would really give him a chance. That doubt crept inside and started to settle, but before it could start growing roots he squelched it by strategizing what he would do upon his return. This would be the last time he would see the three of them for a long while and he didn't want to spend it wallowing.
He wasn't surprised that Darcy hadn't run out of questions by the time they had arrived at the airport. The driver kindly interrupted her to inform them that they were there, but when they opened the door to find themselves on the tarmac instead of in front of the airport, the immediacy of Thor's departure seemed to hit them.
Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg were already waiting by the jet's stairs, talking amongst themselves by the time Thor and the others exited the car.
Sif approached him and looked him up and down, confused. "You are going to return in that?"
Thor shrugged looking down at his solid blue flannel shirt and dark jeans. "I wasn't aware I had to change."
"All is well. Hogun had another suit brought for you, just in case." she said as she turned her attention to the others, "I believe this is where we bid each other farewell. Though I look forward to when we shall meet again."
They walked in silence to the bottom of the plane's stairway. Sif and the others said their goodbye and shook hands with Jane, Selvig, and Darcy before boarding the jet leaving Thor to say his goodbyes. He would have too, had Darcy not interrupted him.
"Ooh, can we see you in the suit?" she asked with a smile.
Jane bit her lip. She knew that Darcy was stalling.
Thor was a bit taken aback but the request, but slightly laughed and nodded. "Very well, then. Give me a moment."
When he disappeared, Darcy turned to Jane and said, "You can't let him go! Don't let him go!"
"I-" Jane started, shocked herself, "I- wasn't."
"As if," Darcy replied dubious, "You're gonna tell me you're not gonna BS your way into damaging this relationship? Like say, not calling him and asking him how he's doing every once in a while-"
"He's gonna be extremely busy, Darcy." Selvig inputted, earning a glare from the intern and a grateful smile from Jane. But he went on this time addressing Jane, "But I know he'd make time for you." The expressions on both young women switched to the other's, but he still had more to say. "The way he looks at you and the way you look at him- I've seen those kinds of looks before." He smiled as he said his next words, "And your parents were some of the happiest people I've ever known."
A smile blossomed on Jane's face and her eyes were slightly shining.
"Try, Jane." Selvig suggested. Jane recognized that fatherly tone in his voice. " There's more to life than work, and yes, you're a brilliant scientist, but I know that you want more than that. And that man on the plane, his name's sure changed and he went from being just a regular man to the heir of a business empire-"
Jane chuckled in amusement at his emphasis, but kept on listening.
"But that's still Donny. And I don't care if he becomes the god of thunder, I believe- no, I know that no matter what, he isn't going to let you fade from his life."
As the two spoke, Darcy looked back to the jet and-
"Whoa." she whispered, eyes fixed on Thor as he descended the steps.
He was wearing a black suit with a silver shirt and a crimson red tie. As he approached them, he laughed, amused at their surprise and disbelief.
"Oh. My. God." Jane said, staring at him. "So, is this how you normally look?"
"More or less." he replied, as he glanced down at the suit.
"It's a good look." she complimented with a smile, looking him up and down once more. "I like it."
Selvig looked up and saw Thor's friends, each of them watching them through their own windows, curious. He reminded himself that Thor needed to return and that there was no time to waste. He extended his hand forwards, "Good luck, Thor. I look forward to when we'll meet again."
"As do I, my friend." Thor replied as they shook hands and embraced each other.
Darcy stepped forward with a slight pout. "I'm gonna miss explaining stuff to you." she admitted, "But at least you know what tumblr is… and you can use Facebook's new timeline thing…"
She trailed off, and when she had nothing else to add to her goodbye she merely hugged him, and he hugged her back.
"Thank you for filling me in on those subjects." he said with a smile, "Do good in college, yes?"
"Duh, of course," Darcy replied before she asked her last question, "You know how to contact us, right?"
He laughed and nodded as they broke apart, he saw some tears in her dark eyes. "Of course."
He fixed his gaze on Jane as he stepped towards her. "I do not plan on this being goodbye." he said loud enough for the other to hear, but his eyes remained on her. "I will return." he swore as he took her hand and said quietly words only meant for her ears, "I promise. I will come back for you."
He kissed her hand, his lips lingering on her knuckles. "Deal?"
The part of her that always played it safe wanted to merely say, "Deal" and then send him off. But she wasn't going to do that. Not now. She wanted to send him off with a bright smile, and a small kiss to reassure him. She wanted to show him that she wasn't going to let him go. Wanted to tell him that she was going to give them a try, even with the change to their lives. She had wanted to do so much more… but she settled for what she wanted to do most in this moment.
Using his hand as an anchor and for balance, she leaned forward and kissed him, hard. It took him a moment to respond and when he did, he pulled her towards him and deepened the kiss.
It was only when they needed to breathe that they broke apart, and even then, they remained pressed up against each other.
"Deal," she whispered against his lips.
He smiled, wishing that he could remain with his friends for a while longer… wishing he could remain with Jane. But the matter at hand pulled his thoughts back to his family and home, he needed to leave. He leaned in to kiss her softly one last time and then broke apart from her. He glanced back at the others and gave them a smile before he boarded the plane. From the cabin, he was able to wave goodbye to them before the stairwell folded in upon itself and sealed off the plane. By the time the plane started rolling down the tarmac, by then the two scientists and the intern were headed back to the waiting SUV.
0o0o0
As the plane took off, Thor's attention was still focused on his friends. His eyes followed them until they were long gone from view, but even then he still gazed out the window.
"Your friend, Agent Coulson, told us where you were." Sif finally said at least thirty minutes into the flight, unable to bear the silence. "We have to come up with a plan. It is not because we deem Loki incompetent, but his direction is not what we think your father would want. An alliance with-"
"For heaven's sake, Sif, can you not see he needs a moment?" Fandral asked, noticing his friend's pained expression.
Sif glared at her co-worker, annoyed that he didn't see what she was trying to do.
"No, it is time for me to focus on the issues at hand." Thor said as he looked away from the window and to his friends, "Tell me, is Loki's new direction worrying even our friends at Shield?"
"Fury does not trust, Laufey, or any of the members of the Jotun board." Hogun answered him as he pulled up something on the main screen within the cabin.
Documents filled the screen with the all too familiar Shield insignia on the top of it. Thor walked towards the screen to read them.
"They have reports from compromised corporate spies that point to the Jotun Corporation hiring saboteurs and infiltrators to go after Midgard International and other businesses." Hogun explained, "The different testimonies all point to the Jotuns as our enemy. And in my opinion, I believe Laufey would rather destroy his life's work than work honestly with us."
"Loki has the right intentions at heart," Volstagg picked up, "I know he does not trust Jotun Corp. and he in turn wants to plant corporate spies within their ranks, but this is more of a risk than a reward. We simply do not have enough contacts to deploy into the field and Fury cannot afford to spare any of his people. His forces may be many but he watches out for everyone and not merely us. Loki simply does not understand that we have not the amount of people to support his strategy."
"Not to mention an alliance with Jotun Corp. would attract the wrong kind of attention." Sif said as Thor stood up and walked towards the screens, "I know he plans to probably weaken Jotun Corp. from the inside, but an alliance with them will draw already attention and heavy criticism. We have a name as the "protectors and guardians," we do not need the affiliation with a weapons industry whose supplies still fund hostile forces. It is already enough that we have formed a very loose alliance with Stark Industries , but at least they are taking a different path. "
"How do the others on the Council feel?" Thor asked solemnly, giving a signal for Hogun to go to the next page. He was speed-reading, eyes darting across the page catching the words that sent off red flags.
"Heimdall is against the merger as well. On the other hand, your mother trusts him." Sif replied, "Many others are split on the decision and are merely waiting for your father to state his will. Thor, if you do not take your place as the heir then this merger will continue when Loki legally becomes the CEO."
"I do not mean to come back and merely assume I can return to my old standing. And I do not wish to take the title both my brother and I have worked for." Thor said after some thought. "Unlike him, I have proved myself unworthy and was exiled."
"But not disowned." Fandral pointed out, "The Council needs to see the other side of this issue and none will listen to us. Your presence and your voice will at least inform them. People do look to you and your brother for leadership, and I think that many will support you. You still have a right to claim as Allfather's successor."
"My brother and I have always wanted to be the heir, to 'rule,' as we called it, Asgard and lead." Thor replied, "My father always said that he would deem which one of us to be worthy." He turned away from the screen and to the others. He knew they were working hard and that they would risk anything for him, as he would for them, but this wasn't a battle they could fight together. "I appreciate what you all are trying to do, but it is a lost battle if you are seeking to reinstate me as a candidate.
"All I want to do is apologize to my father and make amends for all I have done. He was right to have exiled me." he said as he returned to the seat. "I will, however, talk to my brother and bring my opinion to him and fight against this alliance. You are right, this merger would only serve to leave us vulnerable to Laufey and his company. I will see to it that this does not happen."
The other Asgardians exchanged incredulous glances with one another. Their hot-blooded, always-eager-to-become-'king' friend was no more. Instead, the man that sat with them was still their friend… only more level-headed and more considerate than he ever was. Yet, though he had changed for the better, he had also lost the attitude that compelled him to offensively confront anyone whose opinion differed from his when it came to the good of the corporation.
"How can you be so considerate of Loki when he lied about your father had abandoning you?" Fandral asked, stunned.
"Because I believe he knew the man I was." Thor replied, "I do not blame him from hiding the truth from me. If I had heard of our father's true condition, I would have rushed to the Palace and asked for forgiveness. Though back then, I would not have meant a word. I would not have changed."
Though Sif and Hogun believed Loki to always have been jealous of Thor, they saw him as an ally and a friend; and they all knew that there was an unspoken truth to why Thor never saw ill of Loki.
They were brothers.
0o0o0
"Why didn't he tell me?" Loki asked dejectedly, glances switching from his ailing father to his mother, who was across from him, gently holding her husband's hand.
"We wanted to protect you." Freya replied, her voice loving and sweet, "He never wanted you to feel different, and I never wanted you to know. Because you are our son… blood or no. You belong here. We are your family and this is your home, Loki."
She reached across in a gesture for his hand and he took it, feeling her thumb brush in comforting circles on the back of his hand. "I trust you, and so does your father."
"And so do I." rang a voice Loki thought he would never hear again.
Both turned to the doors to see Thor in his professional capacity, looking nothing like the desperate man Loki had dropped in to check-up on two months ago.
"Thor!" his mother cried happily as she rushed towards him and embraced her lost son. "Months! You've come back. All of us were uncertain whether you would. We thought you had been angry…"
"No, mother." Thor replied, "Where I was, news was… scarce. Once I heard, I returned."
Loki's stare hadn't lifted from his brother, trying to meet his gaze, but unsure of what he wanted to convey. However, when he heard someone weakly call him, he turned away.
"Loki?" Odin's voice was barely more than a whisper and sounded hoarse.
"Yes, father?" Loki said as he took his hand, "I am here. As is mother, and… Thor has returned."
"Thor?" Odin asked, his eyes widening just by a bit, "He has… returned? Let me see him."
The smile faded from Loki's lips and he merely nodded before he turned back to Thor and his mother, but saw they had taken notice that Odin was awake. He gestured for Thor to take his position, but Thor shook his head instead approaching his father from his unattended side, gingerly taking his father's frail hand in his.
It was a rare sight to see the usually solemn and gruff Asgardian chief smile and he clutched his sons hand with vigor. "I never thought I would get the chance to tell the both of you how proud I am and… how much I love the two of you." He glanced at Loki, "Equally."
Silence fell upon the three, and it looked as if Thor was going to reply, but a coughing fit suddenly seized Odin and he released his sons' hands. His fit lasted for a few moments, and his family could do nothing but watch. When he returned to take his sons' hands once more, they found his new strength had left, his grip slightly slack. "Thor, it has been a long time. I would like to speak with you."
"Of course, father." Thor said as he pulled a chair closer.
Loki and Freya wordlessly left the room and only father and son remained.
"Tell me," Odin whispered after a while, "What have you done?"
Thor smiled. Despite his condition, his father was making time for small talk. "I did not continue to live with my given name." he stated as he recalled his first couple of days after his fallout, "I was not worthy and I did not want to attract attention. My friend, Coulson, helped me establish a new identity and gave me a new start as Dr. Donald Blake."
Odin smiled. "A doctor?"
"Yes, well astrophysics." Thor replied with a grin, "That education was certainly put to good use."
"As a father who sent his son around the world for his education, that is good to hear." Odin coughed out but managed a low chuckle, before making a gesture for him to continue with his story.
"Ah, yes. Well, I never stayed for long in one town. I spent a week at most in a town before I moved on. Then I came upon a small town near a month after I had left here. It was in New Mexico and there-" he wasn't going to tell his father that that was the time Loki appeared and told him the lie that crushed him and at the same time led him to meet- "I met an angel."
He saw the twinkle in his father's eye, the only one not covered by a patch.
For the first time in years, Thor felt like a young boy again, nervous and with the urge to just spill everything about her. "She's a scientist. An astrophysicist and spends her time looking up at the stars. Studying the sky." he said and even Odin saw that his son was no longer in the room with him, he was in his memories of her, "She's passionate about her work and willing to teach any that have an interest… like her intern Darcy, and she has a mentor, a kind man by the name of Erik Selvig- who looked after all of us while we were there. Running through experiments and studying the skies, researching and- I helped them… it was different from my life here- but I was content and happy. And I was with her… Jane."
"Ah, and why is she not here?" asked Odin, "Why did you come back without her when you clearly want to be with her?"
"Her life is her work, father, and that is what she wants. I would not take her from it. My wishes are second to hers." Thor answered, withdrawing from his memories. "I came here to see you, to be by your side."
"Not to ask about the succession?"
"No," Thor answered sincerely as he shook his head, "succession does not matter. It has not for a long while."
Another smile touched the elderly man's lips. "Before my time is done, I would like to meet this angel."
"I will ask her." Thor reassured his father before the man called for his wife and Thor left to get his mother.
He left his parents alone and entered the main hall and saw his brother. He felt a pang of anger, but let it go. He wanted to approach this without anger.
"Why?" Thor asked, "Why lie to me, Loki?"
Loki's eyes narrowed, "You may have been able to reign in that anger for now, but I know you. That anger will explode and strike at all of us again." The two seemed to circle each other. "I lied to you to make sure you did not return. You did not deserve to, after all the trouble you caused us."
"I am a changed man, Loki. Not the reckless, unworthy son I was when I left." Thor answered, "I do not care about what you did, but at least give me a chance."
Loki's stare didn't soften, not until their mother stepped out of the room.
"Did he say anything?" he asked her.
Freya nodded, "He told me that his will remained unchanged."
Thor didn't know what that meant, but he saw something dark flash across his brother's face for a moment. He turned to his mother, about to ask, but Loki stormed out angrily without a word.
Before he could get a grip on his words, his mother explained, "Originally, you were to inherit. Your exile was a test from your father, and a way to give you a choice. When you did not return, he believed that you did not want to… that you perhaps chose to live apart from the Council. Things were set to change, but not anymore. You are still the heir, Thor."
"But I am not after that!" he shouted, hoping that his brother was not too far away to hear.
"Your father knows, but it is that which showed him that you changed." Freya saw her son's anxious look and walked up to him, "Thor, you and Loki were both groomed for this, but it was always your father's choice. His decision. He has his reasons for everything and all is not revealed yet."
He offered his mother a kind smile before he looked back to where his brother had left, "I must go after him."
"Leave him be," his mother replied knowing her younger son well enough to know that no one could comfort him now, "Your father plans for Loki to be a leader as well, though not within the Asgard Council. Leave him with his time and he will find his place."
She saw that Thor still wanted to go after his brother, but after a moment, he gave up the notion and nodded in agreement.
"Come, let us go to the garden for a walk" she said as she headed towards the elevator with him by her side, "You can tell me about your life these past three months and about this angel your father wishes to meet. Jane, is it? Oh, and whose brilliant idea was it to make you a doctor?"
0o0o0
Phil Coulson looked into his office through the glass doors to see that at least four piles of paperwork had been delivered to his desk in the past four hours. He sighed as he stared at them from across the hallway. Could a man just watch some TV during his break without having a forest killed while he was gone? He didn't have to look at the top of the file, where he knew a post it was waiting for him listing what the papers were for, to know what issues needed his attention.
Having "pet projects" as Maria called them, earned him tons of paperwork and half of the time, those pet projects caused more problems, but at least they cleaned up themselves without inconveniencing his field operations. However, when it came to all of the clerical work his operations never ended.
He had asked Maria to help him, and she had only agreed as long as she got to coordinate some missions and got to annoy them sometimes just to show how much they were being annoying themselves, and he was just a tad-bit grateful that she did that… not that he'd ever admit it.
By the time he entered his office, he saw that Hill was busy working, had even finished one of the six piles that had been waiting for him, and had started upon a second. That left him to start with the new batch that had arrived sometime in the past couple of hours. It also didn't escape Coulson's notice that Hill was sitting in his seat which was why he couldn't see she was already there, but at the moment he didn't care. He needed all the help he could get.
"You know, Coulson, maybe you should call in Widow or maybe Captain or Barton to help you since this is all their doing." she said as she signed ten papers she'd laid out perfectly. She then continued to organize them into ten different file folders before adding them to a pile by her feet.
"Barton and Widow help when they're not out in the field or in a mission…" Coulson replied, "And Cap helps all the time when he's in the city."
Maria shrugged, lips twisted for a moment as she tried to come up with something to say about Barton and Widow, but she just left the issue and took another five files. Two of them belonged to Widow and three of them were field reports from Barton.
Maria knew that Coulson went through at least a dozen of these piles every week, and the real reason she helped him was because she felt he didn't need to do all of this work by himself when he was the only one that always believed in people like Rogers, Romanoff, and Barton… and hell, even Stark. It was only Coulson who believed they were heroes when others would have seen something entirely dark.
Barton was a well-known, talented, and highly-regarded agent, but he was just as infamous for getting into danger and having close calls with death that he was a lone wolf. Romanoff on the other hand had come from a background no one at Shield ever thought would land her working amongst them, but Barton had made a call that in the end turned out giving Shield one of its most key infiltrators. Stark, a former weapons distributor, had made a change for the better and took a new direction with his life and his corporation's aims- still, it didn't change the fact that he was a narcissistic, arrogant, and a tad bit reckless. Rogers… he was the only decent person amongst the four of them and in Tony's words his story "is lifetime movie worthy." Despite his whole history wrapped up in confidential files, he was the most ordinary, high level… person Shield was affiliated with.
Now, separately, each of them had caused problems... attracted problems… created problems… problems merely followed them like lost puppies. And when they had all worked together for some time, they had become a explosive, rogue element that Shield had no control over. Yet, it was Coulson that believed in them and vouched for them, pressing Fury to recruit them as a team. However, that wasn't the particular reason that resulted in these mountains of paperwork.
It all started over the whole Thor-Donald-Blake incident which had added at least half a dozen more reports to every high priority agent's to-do list. Hill didn't forget when Fury was raging over the fact that they'd lost the Asgardian, who'd somehow, suddenly dropped off the face of the Earth only to turn up in the-middle-of-nowhere-New-Mexico with a new identity. When it came into light that Coulson had helped him disappear, Fury was both impressed and livid. Instead of giving Coulson the assignment of being Thor's bodyguard which would have been more of a punishment than an assignment, Fury put him in charge of looking after all the rogue elements that Shield was affiliated with. He had stated: "With everything that's going on, I need someone to look after those who operate outside of our bounds." That meant people like Agent Barton, the Black Widow, Captain Rogers, Thor, and even Stark were his responsibility. Besides Fury, only Maria and Carter were aware of Coulson's responsibility, and they occasionally helped him with the paperwork and the mission coordination. Point is, that was when Coulson's paperwork mountains had started to build. His real work had started when he had to investigate Stark and his secret metal suit… which somehow was still a secret.
"I've always wondered, which one of these guys is the most annoying?" Maria asked finishing with one of Barton's injury reports and another on an infiltration mission with the alias name of Brandt.
"Who do you think?" Coulson asked, having finished three files on Rogers. He pulled a file from the nearest column as he sat down across from her, sighing as he read the name.
"The most reckless." Maria answered.
"Then you'd be right if we're thinking of the same reckless one."
"Well, when I say reckless. I mean the one who's getting into the most trouble."
"Then we're on the same page."
"On three, name." Maria said leaning forward on the file folders. Coulson threw her an amused smile and looked up from his own file. "One. Two. Three."
"Stark."
"Barton."
The two exchanged odd glances.
"Stark's the most reckless outta them."
"Barton throws himself into trouble."
Again, odd glances were exchanged and Maria settled back on the chair. "Okay, why is Barton the most annoying?"
"How many times have you read his name on the reports?" Coulson asked as his eyes skimmed the mission debrief. "Stark might be an annoying human being, but Barton's the one who's either always getting injured or always in a hospital or breaking some protocol… at least Stark follows some sort of protocol even if it's not ours."
"Yeah, true. At least Barton's not overriding the PA system and blasting his playlist every other Thursday." Hill commented as she finally closed the second file on Widow and dropped it on a building pile. "Speaking of Barton… where the hell is the Cap? I haven't read his name in any of these recent reports."
"He's-" Coulson started, "He's working as an independent contractor. He's got enough connections to keep doing his job."
"But not with a team?"
"Usually it's just him and Barton. The team hasn't shared a dream in over a year. Not since-"
"Yeah, I know."
Despite it being over a year, Maria knew that the incident wasn't something the team or even Coulson and Fury liked talking about much.
"They still blame themselves." Coulson said, "Each one, their own reason."
"And no matter how much we tell them," Maria said as she shook her head, "they're not gonna listen."
"Nope. And in the end they've got to face their own demons."
"Demon."
"Whatever."
Suddenly, Coulson's phone went off. The agent looked down to see that there was a message on the screen from Thor Odinson that read: "Could you take care of the story in the papers? Thank you."
"Maria, what did Thor do?" Coulson asked, dreading the answer, hoping that it was something that was easy to take care of, even hoping it was something good... but that had never been the case.
"You mean you didn't hear about the enormous bash he threw at one of his lofts that rained glass down onto the streets because-"
Coulson was already dialing and heading out of his office before she even finished completing the story. This was just like of Thor to do something just for the hell of it, not caring about what happened afterwards. He may be brilliant at what he does, but when he wants to have fun, he doesn't care about limits or anything in fact.
In the week that Thor returned, Coulson agreed as did Fury and others that the Asgardian had truly changed. But as the days went on, and that week become three, nearing a month… Coulson was beginning to doubt that Thor had turned it around.
He was in his friend's office in no time ready to lecture him.
"Did you take care of it?" Thor asked, anxiously, as Coulson entered. However, telling by the anger and annoyance on his face, Thor knew he shouldn't have opened by saying that. "Coulson, I am sorry. I did not know things would get too far. Should not have insisted that Volstagg keep drinking."
"You think this is funny?" Coulson inquired, not bothering to answer the man's question. "Your father is in critical condition. We're trying to handle your public image, and this isn't going to help. How do you think this story is going to play out? The prodigal son returns weeks ago showing that he's changed his ways only to prove to us that he's still the party, playboy that was exiled by his father. What the hell do you think you're doing? You think this is going to help you? That every mistake you do can be simply wiped clean?"
Thor didn't reply. He merely stared at his friend waiting for him to finish.
"I mean, have you really changed? Or were those just words to win back your father's favor? Pass his test. What the hell did you learn those past three months?" Coulson looked back at his friend, expecting an answer, but instead was met with a look of pure confusion. "You know what? Forget it, it's not my place.
"But know this… I am not going to be here to clean up your mess all the time. Shield may look after your security but we don't clean up your image. I'm taking care of this one time and you're on your own after this."
He was hitting a speed dial on his phone and stepping out of the room when Thor's innocent question stopped him in his tracks.
"Three months?"
Coulson turned back understanding his friend's confusion. "Yeah, that's how long you were gone."
"No, I was-" Thor said, honestly confused. He shook his head, "I was- no- wait…"
Red flags immediately went off in Coulson's mind.
"Thor," he started as he hung up his phone and approached his friend, "how long did you think you were gone?"
0o0o0
The infamous Black Widow was under fire when she felt her comm ring. After taking out at least a couple of the shooters on the other side of the warehouse, she dug the comm out of her pouch at her belt and hung it on her ear.
"Romanoff." she said, plugging her other ear with the base of her palm to hear the caller.
"We need you to come in." she heard Maria say as more gunfire exploded from behind her.
Bullets hit the concrete cover she was using. She needed to take them out. She emptied her empty clip and reloaded.
"I don't know if you can hear, Hill, but I'm in the middle of a firefight." Natasha answered as the gunfire stopped, and she cautiously peeked around the corner catching her prey hiding behind some crates reloading their rifles. They wouldn't catch her if she ran across the warehouse floor and out if she moved in the next minute.
"Those are human traffickers right?" Hill asked.
"Yep, I evacced their cargo and they're not happy. And I've got no backup." Natasha said as she fired twice taking down one of the men and running across the room to the next column before the firing started again. She knew that Hill would berate her for confronting them on her own so added, "It's more fun this way."
"Whatever. Get your ass outta there and meet at the rendezvous point." Hill said, just as Natasha broke out from her cover emptying her clip into the last man standing. "I've pulled some favors, and feds will be there in ten minutes."
"Good," Natasha replied, holstering her weapon. "They can clean up and get those girls back home."
She could hear Hill sigh slightly annoyed but she ignored that.
"And may I ask what Shield needs me for so desperately?" She exited the warehouse and scanned the area for a vehicle she could hotwire.
She smirked when she saw a motorcycle peeking out from behind some cargo crates.
"A debrief packet will be waiting for you on the jet." Maria told her.
"Oh, c'mon, just tell me!" Natasha said, slightly annoyed herself, as she began to hotwire the bike. It took a few moments for the engine to sputter to life and she was driving away when she shouted at the agent again. "What the hell is so-"
"You're needed on shadow detail." Hill answered, curtly.
It was much more than that if they were sending her in and the Black Widow knew it.
"On who?"
0o0o0
The train from upstate into New York City was running slowly. The only thing that distracted Natasha from falling into boredom was the fact that she needed to stay aware and study each face that went in and out of the car. Hill was already running the identities of the multiple passengers and cleared only a couple of them.
Thor Odinson sat several rows away from her, his back to the exit on the opposite end of the car they were in. It was so easy to shadow him, but she that she was not the only thing she was assigned to do. She needed to look for others that were shadowing him and determine the cause of his memory loss.
She had hit a couple of leads, but they hadn't checked out as of yet and she was starting to think that there was nothing wrong… well, there was something wrong because he didn't remember a month of his life, but it wasn't the specific kind of issue that she could deal with.
She was seated with her back to the second exit, facing him and keeping her eyes on those around him, waiting to catch something odd in their behaviors. So, far… there was nothing odd on the train and they had close to an hour left in their trip.
For some reason, she hadn't heard from Maria in over an hour. The last thing she'd heard had cleared the college-aged couple that sat across from her, added with the thirteen year old who occasionally had a stewardess check up on him. That totaled three that were clear, and it shouldn't take more than a couple of minutes to clear a civilian.
Her eyes scanned the passengers once more. There was an elderly man sitting three rows in front of her facing her and reading a newspaper. Across from him was a model, who was filing her nails. Behind her was a middle-aged couple, the woman was reading a hardcover book and the man looked out the window, occasionally glancing down at his watch. There were others, but most of them had their eyes closed, either asleep or meditating- Natasha could care less. However, amongst the passengers in the car with her and her mark, the one whose report she was waiting for was the man that sat a row in front of Thor, whose back was to her.
She studied him intently. His short wavy hair reminded her of someone she used to know... someone who a lifetime ago had been so important. When she closed her eyes for a moment, memories and his face flashed before her. Her eyes snapped open and she shook her head, pulling herself away and closing her mind off to those recollections. It wasn't something she wanted to remember… in fact it was something she had been told to let go... something she wanted desperately to let go.
Where were those damn reports? She was getting annoyed. Next time, she'll just contact Tony and get Jarvis to run these faces himself… damned if she'll owe him a favor or not.
She shifted her weight to lean on her elbow. Her head leaned on her hand subtly pressing the comm button before lifting her cell phone to that ear. "Hill! What is taking so goddamn long?" she hissed.
But there was no answer.
Instead, there was dead air.
This was wrong.
Something was wrong. This was Stark's special communication system that he had created for all priority Shield agents and those he liked. It didn't malfunction and almost never lost its signal. The fact that it wasn't working meant that… The probable truth sent the chills down her spine and set off alarm bells in her head.
She slipped her hand into her bag and pulled out what looked to be a black glove attached to a flexible wrist cuff. She slipped it on her fingers and flexed them. When she formed a fist, black prongs stuck out over the ridge of her knuckles and cobalt blue electricity danced between the two of them.
That wasn't supposed to happen. Especially when the power source wasn't attached to it.
This was definitely not good.
She stood up and looked to see that almost every other person that shared the car with her had disappeared, even her ward and the others around her. The only other person left was the one dark haired man that she'd spotted earlier, and that could only mean one thing.
She approached him warily with her Widow's Bite poised and ready. Less than a foot away from him, his arm snapped out and grabbed her by the forearm and before she knew it, she was locked in hand-to-hand combat with the passenger. The hard thing about fighting in a closed arena is that there's no room to maneuver, and in a train car, there wasn't much room to do anything… fancy. He was moving like a blur and she could barely see his face, when she wasn't dodging his fists or kicks. At one point, she spared a glance up to see that there were rails and that was good enough for her. She didn't like to launch a kick, because if he caught her angle and brought her down to the floor, the space between the rows of chairs was too narrow to do much. Instead, she grabbed a blanket from the nearest chair and threw it in front of him, blocking his view for a vital moment. She jumped up, grabbed the rails and swung her legs forward, to knock him straight in the chest and onto the floor. She took advantage of the moment, landing on the floor behind him and stabbing her Widow's Bite into his nape. He crumpled on the ground before her, facing away.
If there was anything she loved more, it was catching an extractor in the middle of his own op. She didn't need to train her subconscious because she was well aware of her surroundings and her gear to know when something wasn't working and when she was in a dream.
She needed to incapacitate the extractor and make sure he didn't get a chance to wake up before her. She reached down and yanked his head back by the hair, ready to knock him unconscious…
And froze. He wasn't an extractor at all.
He wasn't even…
He couldn't be…
Looking up at her with that all too familiar smile, James Buchanan Barnes eased out of her grip and stood to face her brushing himself off. She stared at him, partly horrified but mostly… petrified.
"Natasha, sweetheart," Bucky drawled as he slowly drew his gun. Natasha snapped, pulling a small pistol from her back and aiming her Widow's Bite at him. "I suggest you wake up."
He fired twice but Natasha only fired once.
And as his body dropped to the floor, so did two others. She whirled around, after her shot, ready to fire again this time to maim and not to kill, but they were already taken care of. On the ground, were two bodies. One had been holding a PASIV case and the other had a small black case which she was sure contained some sedative.
They were the real extractors. They had just been woken up, and she was still down in the dream.
"That son of a bitch." she whispered as she pressed the muzzle of her pistol to her temple.
She was compromised.
She pulled the trigger.
0o0o0
It had always been the same dream for the past two weeks. He didn't know how he knew, but a part of him was sure. That same part of him also seemed to remember the setting but never the content.
He was sitting in a small private theatre back at Palace Tower where he and his family and friends usually sat down to watch a movie together, or sometimes bring people from the outside to watch.
However, instead of a movie that was playing. It was a fond memory.
He smiled as he watched Jane, Darcy, Selvig and himself in the diner. He remembered this incident rather well, down to specific details.
He and his friends had gotten to know the cook and had talked him into cooking waffles and breakfast food at midnight for them. Each of them had been a bit depressed for different reasons but they had been able to agree on the type of comfort food they wanted.
Jane had ordered chocolate chip pancakes. Darcy had a Belgian waffle with butter. He and Selvig had ordered breakfast combos, and he had ordered another plate of it, when he had finished the first.
"How are you so hungry all the time?" Darcy asked still shocked at the amount of food he could intake even after the month he'd been with them. The first time she'd asked that, she added, "I can't believe this. This is going on Facebook" and then went on to snap a picture of him.
Each of them halfway into their midnight breakfasts had started to talk about their problems. Jane had hit a snag with funding. She could get the tech she needed and so needed to buy the parts and then build her own equipment which would take a couple more weeks. Erik heard bad news from back home, and the others didn't want to make him talk about it if he didn't want to. Darcy was having a hard time with student loans, and said she'd have to get a job while interning. This was around the time Thor was having trouble accepting that he was never going to get a chance to go back home, feeling depressed and being distant.
The night turned out enjoyable though. The group spent time on the lab roof spotting constellations and telling stories until late into the night. That was the night that he'd accepted that just because he was alone now didn't mean he had to stay alone. That was the night he'd just accepted his new life. Everyone slept in the lab that night in order not to be bothered by the blazing sun when it rose in the morning.
This was one of his favorite memories of his time in New Mexico. Yet, something itched in the back of his mind. He knew he had had more, but for the life of him couldn't recall a single detail, not even the gist of the moment. He shook his head, but the idea kept coming back to him like a boomerang.
Suddenly, the movie seemed to burn up. Dark holes appearing in the footage.
"No!" he yelled at the screen and looked up to see smoke coming from the projector's box. "NO!"
That was his memory burning up! He ran to the doors, trying to open it but found it was bolted. He slammed his body weight onto the door but it didn't budge and he looked down to see shadows cast, meaning that there were people on the other side blocking his way. Even if he did manage to break the lock he needed to get past them.
He spared a glance at the silver screen but the remnants of the footage burned up completely leaving nothing but the silver screen itself.
Suddenly, he could hear a scuffle from beyond the door. He looked down to see that the shadows disappeared. He could hear a subtle click meaning the door was unlocked and it gave way to the slightest push, only to be interrupted by the bodies that lay beyond it. He didn't bother shoving the door into them in order to get them out and restrained himself from hitting them with the door repeatedly.
"You know you can if you want to." said the red headed woman in a black stealth suit that stood before him. He looked up in surprise not realizing there was a woman there with him.
He threw her a curious look. It wasn't odd that she was here. It was odd that he didn't mind her presence here. Yet, he figured she was his ally judging by the Shield badge on her shoulder.
"Hit them with the door." she replied, as if she had read his mind. "It won't hurt them. Not really. And I took care of the guy in the projector room, though I'm sorry to say I wasn't fast enough. He already destroyed your memory."
"What memory?" he asked.
"It works that fast." she replied, solemnly, throwing him an apologetic look although it didn't make sense to him. What works fast? What memory? What was she talking about?
He turned his attention from her to the man closest to him and knelt down to turn him over. He didn't recognize the man at all.
"Mr. Odinson," she said, and he missed the sound of her drawing her gun. "I'll explain when we wake up."
He was contemplating whether or not to hit them with the door not knowing why he wanted to, but she had said a strange thing and he turned back to her, "When we wake up?"
But he was staring at a gun in her hands and down the barrel. Before he could say another word, she fired.
0o0o0
He woke up with a start… in his seat… on the train with two men across from him… two men who weren't there a couple of minutes ago. He turned to his side to see a red-headed woman from… No, it couldn't be. She was the woman from his dreams. He could barely remember what happened, barely recall where he was in the dream, but he remembered her and her gun.
He looked down to his arm and saw that there was a needle and tube attached to his wrist which was in turn attached to a silver briefcase with an odd contraption inside it. He reached over and took the needle out of his wrist and was surprised to find that the woman next to him had opened her eyes and was doing the same.
"I'm with Shield and you're a target, Mr-" she started but Thor cut her off as he stood up and stepped back and away from the two unconscious men.
"It's Thor." he told her as she concentrated on the briefcase and its odd tech.
He looked around to see that their car was completely empty save for two unconscious men sitting by the other exit of the car and the two that were in front of him.
"Thor, you don't know it, but someone's been stealing from you." she said, her fingers dancing across buttons and switches. "I'm taking you to Shield's base when we arrive in New York City."
"Stealing?" Thor asked as suddenly doors opened and three casually dressed men entered the cabin car. One of them attended to the men on the other side.
"Give me a minute, and I'll explain." she said as she turned to the men, "I've sedated them but they'll be up in ten. Give 'em the Shield welcome greeting, boys. Oh and mind the briefcase, I want it bagged and sent to base."
"Yes, agent." answered one of the men with a nod as they went about with their orders.
Natasha turned back to Thor and gestured towards the exit at the other end of the car as the two Shield agents took their seats.
Thor wasn't surprised to find that the next car was empty as well and there was something attached to the lights, metallic and black and gleaming.
"This car has been secured because what I'm about to tell you is classified Shield information." Natasha explained as she locked the other exit of the car.
"Can we begin with your name?" Thor interrupted as he extended his hand to her in greeting.
"Ah, right." she said as she shook his hand, "Agent Natasha Romanoff. I'm a friend of Coulson's."
"Does this have anything to do with my inability to fully recall these past three months?" he asked remembering that moment in office. He had known Phil for quite a while and could read his expressions and certainly saw alarm that day.
He saw something flicker in Natasha's eyes. Pity?
"I think you should take a seat," she said gently waiting for him to sit down before she followed her own suggestion.
She cleared her throat and seemed to think over something before she answered him. "I'm a Shield… specialist and I deal with operations known as extraction: theft from the mind."
She let him ponder over that for a minute before she gave him a brief description, "An extractor can steal anything from ideas, to information… to memories."
Thor swallowed hard. It didn't take him long to connect the dots. His inability to recall his full time away from Midgard International. "You mean… those men have been stealing my memories?"
Natasha nodded. "You don't remember those three months because there's nothing to remember. Your dreams took place in a movie theater and whatever played was a cherished memory of yours. They played it out in your mind and when it was done… when they were sure they had the memory, they burned it."
"But you're talking about a dream!" Thor shouted, "A dream is-"
"Not what you think it is." Natasha cut in. "With a drug called somanicin, extractors are able to enter their mark's mind through their dreams. You see a dream's not a dream when you're in them. It's only when you wake up that you realize that there'd been something strange going on."
Thor still looked dubious and in denial. "This is not-"
"Possible?" Natasha finished as she pulled out her Widow's Bite and flexed her fingers. When she formed a fist, there were no sparks of electricity. "I know it's hard to believe, but when we get to base. I'll show what it's like in a dream."
0o0o0
Coulson got the call from Natasha early that afternoon. "There's a helicopter waiting for you. The Helicarrier's coordinates will be sent when you put in your verification code."
"We'll be there in twenty."
"Confirmed." Coulson said as he hung up and turned to his boss. "It's extraction, sir. Someone's been destroying Thor's memories, erasing his time out there."
Nick Fury stood at the top of the bridge overlooking the agents that worked for him as they went about their work tracking threats, coordinating missions, executing orders… Fury was the director of Shield, a secret security agency deemed by Stark Industries, Midgard International, the different departments of the United States… and many others to be a protector of the people. Lately, with Odin Allfather's failing health he took it upon himself to make sure the CEO's family was protected, and he was not going to let an unknown force take out the Allfather's heir on his watch.
"Coulson," he said addressing his second in command, "You're in charge while I'm gone."
"Where are you going, sir?" Coulson asked, not at all bothered by his boss's sudden departure. It was a frequent thing after all.
Fury hesitated for a moment before he turned, "I've got a team to assemble."
0-0-0
Well, hi there! Thank you for reading the prologue for this story. It's inspired by a gif set on tumblr, if you want to see it you'll have to go onto my page. :]