AN: You'll need to read Mischief Adopted a Hawk? and The Spawn of Mischief: A SHIELD debrief first before you give this story a go. Hope you enjoy.
The Avengers were congregated on the common floor of the building that Stark renamed Avengers Tower. They were deciding on a movie that they would watch as a team. Steve had become really big on team building activities and movie night had become a favorite way for the group to unwind. Discussion had begun on what movie the group would be watching; popcorn had already been made and the group had settled on the couches and recliners that were set up around the home theater set up in the lounge area.
Just as Jarvis was pulling up on the screen the list of previously made movie suggestions, Freddie Mercury's voice rang out from the other room.
Here we are, Born to be kings,
We're the princes of the universe,
Here we belong, Fighting to survive,
In a world with the darkest powers,
And here we are, We're the princes of the universe,
Here we belong, Fighting for survival,
We've come to be the rulers of your world,
I am immortal, I have inside me blood of kings,
I have no rival, No man can be my equal,
Take me to the future of your world.
"Jarvis what is that?" Tony asked.
"That would be Princes of the Universe by Queen, Sir."
"I know what the song is, Jarvis, where is it coming from?" Tony replied.
"I believe it is Agent Barton's cell phone, located on the island in the kitchen."
Clint jumped up and got to his phone before the call ended. He looked at the screen with recognition when he saw who was calling. He proceeded back into the lounge as he answered.
The group listened on the one-sided conversation.
"Hello"
"Hey Jor, what's up?"
"No, it's cool."
"Yeah, that sounds great."
"Yeah, I know where that one is."
"Tomorrow at 7, sounds good, unless something comes up.
"Cool, see ya then."
Clint ends the call and places his phone on the end table next to the chair we was sitting on.
"So what was that all about?" Tony asked.
"Oh…I um…am going to meet Jor and the others for dinner tomorrow." Clint replied.
"Any place good?" Tony asked
"We're going to Shun Lee Palace; it's a Chinese restaurant." Clint answered.
"Yeah, I've heard of it. Nice place." Tony said.
Clint just shrugged his shoulders and picked up a bowl of popcorn. "What did we decided on?"
The next afternoon, Bruce and Tony were working in the lab.
"I think I might have a craving for Chinese food tonight." Tony said out of the blue.
Bruce looked at Tony with squinted eyes. "So we should order in."
"Nah, I'm thinking I want to go out."
"Why?"
"Come on, Bruce. You can't tell me you aren't the least be curious."
"Not enough to stalk Clint and crash dinner with his…uh….new family."
"It's not stalking. It's a planned coincidence." Tony explained.
Bruce shook his head and turned back to the data tables on the screen in front of him.
Clint was finishing up getting to ready to meet his brood of new siblings when he began to recall his earlier conversation with Natasha. She was heading over to SHIELD to integrate a couple of prisoners with suspected ties Hydra cells. She had asked Clint if he was sure about meeting up with the group. He assured her that he was and that he was sure that this was not part of some larger ploy. She needed to trust his judgment in this.
The group of siblings sat around a table at the restaurant. The order around the table was Fenrir, Clint, Jor, Hela and Vali. The group ordered several different dishes that they were going to share.
"Did you get hassled much by your group after we left the other day?" Jor asked Clint.
"Not so much hassled, yet. I had to have all these scans done to check the healing and look for traces of magic. Then I had to do this long ass debriefing with the rest of the Avengers including Thor, plus Fury and Coulson. That seemed to take forever." Clint answered.
"Have they told you that you couldn't hang around with us yet?" Vali asked.
"No, they haven't actually." Clint replied and then turned to Hela. "Thor had mentioned that you rule another realm, so there was talk about a potential alliance and whether or not that would be beneficial."
"Hmm, interesting." Hela replied.
The group continued talking and getting to know Clint more. Since the others had lived on Earth for a long time, it was easy conversation. They talked about movies and music, places they traveled to on Earth. They told Clint about Asgard and the rest of the realms. While they were conversing, Fenrir said, "Hey, isn't that Tony Stark and Bruce Banner over there?"
Clint let out a sigh and shook his head. "I knew when Tony asked where we were going, he was going to show up." Jor laughed out loud at that.
Bruce and Tony were led by the hostess to a table close by; Tony pretended to be surprised when he saw the group. "Oh, hey guys, what a coincidence."
"Do you want to join us?" Jor asked them.
"Really?" Tony asked surprised.
'Yeah, come on." Vali said as they started to shift chairs around. Bruce ended up between Hela and Vali and Tony ended up between Vali and Fenrir.
The hostess brought over two more place settings and their food started to arrive. They added a couple more dishes to their order and got started with the food in front of them.
"So Thor said that you guys have lived on Earth for a while. How long have you been here?" Bruce asked.
"We came here a few years before gold was discovered in California." Jor answered.
Tony almost did a spit take. "That's over 150 years." He said exasperated.
"We've lived on Midgard for about half of Vali's life." Fenrir responded. "Father took us to other realms for extended stays for a bit, but we've always considered Midgard home after we left Asgard."
"Did you always live in New York?" Bruce asked.
"We started off in Philadelphia. But since we do not get involved in any of the Midgardian civil wars, we relocated to Quebec when a civil war broke out in the United States. When we decided to return to the United States, we chose New York City." Fenrir answered.
"It was probably about 1901 when we moved to New York City." Jormungandr added. "The other Midgardian civil wars did not directly affect this area, so we did not relocate. We've grown really fond of this city."
"What other civil wars are you talking about, we've only had the one in this country?" Tony inquired.
The others around the table other than Bruce and Clint looked slightly confused.
Fenrir said something to the group in a language Bruce and Tony had not heard before. Clint had heard this language before but didn't understand it. Jormungandr replied back in the same language. Vali jumped in and rattled off a few sentences and looked like he was explaining something.
Vali returned to speaking English. "We have some differences in interpretation of the term 'civil war'. You take 'civil war' to mean war between the citizens of a country. We take the term 'civil war' to mean war between the citizens of a realm. To us, any war that pits Midgardian against Midgardian is a civil war."
"And we do not get involved in Midgardian civil wars. We will either relocate to a different part of the realm or if need be we have plans in place if we need to remove ourselves from the realm." Jormungandr added.
"Wow, that's an interesting way to look at the wars this planet has had." Bruce said thoughtfully.
"So you have been in New York this whole time since 1901?" Tony asked.
"Yep. And yes, the city and this world has changed a lot." Vali threw in. "We have gone through so many fads and fashions. I was really fond of the zoot suit. Although some days I really miss my bell bottoms and tie dye." Vali sighed and had a wistful look on his face. He started singing Age of Aquarius to himself.
"Do you guys work? How do you support yourselves?" Tony questioned.
Clint's adopted brothers looked around at each other with quirked eyebrows.
"We're Princes of Asgard." Jor spoke for the group. "The royal treasury supports us. Father brings us funds every year. For a while the funds were exceeding our needs, so we had taken to investing our surplus over the years and have made even greater additions to our wealth. It came in handy when Father was in trouble and couldn't provide us with our usual stipend."
"So what, you live like princes, you basically live lives of luxury?" Tony asked.
"Yeah, pretty much." Vali said. Hela reached over and smacked Vali on the back of the head. "Ow! What?" Vali exclaimed. As Hela brought her hand back from smacking Vali, she slid her fingers lightly across Bruce's shoulder blades. When Bruce looked up at her, she gave him a quirk of her mouth and winked at him. Bruce looked back down at the Kung Pao chicken he was seizing with his chop sticks, but smiled to himself where no one could see.
Jor began to explain. "We live as Princes as Asgard in our exile. We have our needs provided for by Asgard. We continued our studies while on Midgard; studies in diplomacy and governing. We were able to study the varied government formations that Midgard possesses in addition to those found throughout the other realms. We grew in our abilities in the magical arts. Fenrir specialized in the healing arts. We study to gather an understanding of the various cultures of the nine realms. We are also to take up a cause. Fenrir work with and supports homes for children without families. My cause currently is providing water for areas where clean water is not readily available. Vali's cause changes as frequently as his clothing. But he is still young so his indecision is to be expected."
"Father, also likes us to learn and appreciate aesthetic arts that are not appreciated on Asgard." Fenrir added with a pleased smile. "Midgard, however has a fine appreciation for the arts as well as other topics of learning."
The group continued eating as the rest of their food arrived.
"So Hela, Thor tells us that you have a zombie army." Tony asked
Vali fell out laughing. Hela scowled at him but then smirked. "The people I rule and the army I have are not the same as Midgardian zombies, no."
"Yeah, but the children can be fast like those zombies in World War Z." Vali interjected.
Hela thought for a moment. "Yes, they do move quite similar. But the children do move in haphazard fashion without direction."
The group was finishing up their meals but the conversation continued.
"You know, one thing I've been wondering is how you got your cell numbers into my phone complete with personalized ring tones." Clint asked.
"Magic." Vali said while he wiggled his fingers towards Clint. "Just kidding. I programed them into your phone while Papa and Hela were working on you that day. You have to tell us what we should put as your ringtone if case you ever decide to call us."
"Huh. Um…I'll have to think about the ring tone." Clint answered.
Towards the end of the meal, Hela looked to Clint. "Can I watch you shoot sometime? You know, if you are practicing…do you practice?"
Clint smirked. "Yeah, I practice to keep my skills sharp when I'm not in the field."
"You know we have a state of the art archery range in our training gym at the Tower." Tony interjected.
"You said you are only here for the weekend so I guess you could come by the tower tomorrow if you wanted. I usually train and practice in the morning. If you want to come by around 10 am; I should be ready to start shooting by then." Clint answered.
"Okay, sounds good." Hela answered with a smile on her face.
Once the meal was concluded, Jormungandr had to insist on paying the check to Tony on the grounds that they had invited Tony and Bruce over and had initially invited Clint to dinner.
The group slowly rose and began to make their way to the exit. Bruce had counted three other times that Hela had innocently touched his arm or inadvertently bumped his knee so he wasn't surprised to feel a tap on his shoulder and turn to see Hela smiling at him. "It was really nice to meet you Doctor Banner." She said, he eyes bright.
Bruce smiled back. "It was nice to meet you too and please call me Bruce."
Hela smile grew. "Have a good night, Bruce." She trailed her fingers lightly across his hand as she walked away. "Good night, Hela." He said as he caught sight of Tony with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. He shook his head at Tony as they headed out of the door of the restaurant.
The two scientists headed for the car they had taken. As they walked away they heard Jormungandr say, "Hey Clint, you want to come play some Xbox with us?"
The next day Clint was with Tony and Bruce in Tony's workshop after Clint had finished his morning workout. Tony was showing off some prototypes he had made of various arrow head designs.
Clint's phone went off with another personalized ring tone.
Welcome to the nightmare in my head,
Say hello to something scary,
The monster in your bed,
Just give in and you won't be sorry,
Welcome to my other side,
Hello it's Mz. Hyde!
Better be scared, better be afraid,
Now that the beast is out of her cage,
And I know you,
Wanna risk it,
You know who
Are so addicted.
Boy you better run for your life!Welcome to the nightmare in my head,
Say hello to something scary,
The monster in your bed,
Just give in and you won't be sorry,
Welcome to my evil side,
Hello it's Mz. Hyde!
Clint answered the phone on speaker. "Hello"
"Hey Clint." It was Hela, but her voiced was pitched a little higher than normal.
"Hi Hela."
"I'm out in front of the Tower. I didn't know if I should go in the main entrance and what I should say to the receptionist."
"Actually, there is an unmarked door on the east side of the building. I'll come and let you in that door, that way we can use the private Avengers elevator."
"Cool. Oh and just to let you know, I'm in my Asgardian form today. I'll meet you at the door. See ya."
"Bye" Clint put his phone away.
"What does that mean…she's in Asgardian form?" Tony asked.
"I'm not sure. Wonder if she's going to be wearing some get up like Thor and Loki." Clint answered.
They looked over at Bruce, who looked a little dazed.
"You okay there, big guy?" Tony asked.
Bruce snapped out of it. "Uh, yeah. The other guy…I don't know…he was just saying her name over and over again. It's just strange sensation coming from him."
Tony gave him the same look he gave as they left the restaurant the night before. Clint just shook his head and left the workshop, heading down to the side entrance.
Clint made his way down and opened the door on the east entrance. What he didn't expect to see was a 12-year-old-looking Hela. She came up to Clint's chest. She had the same black hair which went just past her shoulders and hung straight. She was wearing a t-shirt that had the minions from Despicable Me dressed as Avengers, black skinny jeans and black and white converse chucks.
"Hey Clint" She said. It was still her voice, but like he heard on the phone, it was pitched higher.
Clint raised both his eyebrows at her. "Hi Hela." He said questioningly.
She chuckled at him and waited patiently while he gave her the once over. "Probably not the craziest thing I'm going to see." Clint muttered to himself and opened the door further so Hela could come in.
She bounded up beside him as he led her to the elevator. He pushed the button for the floor that they training gym. Once they got to the gym, Clint took her over to wear the targets were set up for the traditional archery range portion of the training area. Hela sat on the floor a few feet to the side and back from Clint as he began shooting the targets from various distances. After about 15 minutes of warm-up shots, Clint moved over to the motion targets. The targets moved around at differing speeds throughout the range area. Clint worked at this for about 45 minutes. Clint had looked back several times to see Hela watching him and the targets intently.
"Do you know how to shoot?" Clint asked her.
"I started to learn before I left Asgard. But I'm really just a novice." She answered.
"Do you want to try?" Clint offered.
Hela nodded quickly as she got to her feet. Clint pulled a bow out of the weapons closet that didn't require the pull strength of the bow that he usually used. They went to the stationary target area. Clint gave Hela and arrow and she took a shot. It hit the target on the outermost ring.
"Not bad." Clint remarked. He handed her another arrow. He stood behind her as she lined up her shot. "Hold" he said. He gently changed the positioning of her arms. "Okay." He said. She made the shot; the arrow landing about an inch further inside the target than he last shot.
Clint told her tips about her foot positioning and handed her another arrow. He continued to critique her form as she shot arrows. They worked at it for about 30 minutes, with Hela hitting the bull's-eye twice during that time.
"That was fun." She told Clint as they retrieved the arrows and returned the equipment to the weapons closet.
"Yeah, you're not bad for a novice." He said. She laughed as he rustled her hair.
"How 'bout some lunch?" Clint asked as they walked out of the gym. He put his arm around her shoulders as he led her back to the elevator. She reciprocated, but her arm was more around his waist.
"That sounds great. I do want to do that again sometime." She told him.
"We can. Do you have way to practice what we did today?" He asked her.
"I think I do, actually. I'll make sure that I keep going over what you showed me." She said as the elevator door closed and they headed to the Avengers floor.
"Now just dip your grilled cheese into the tomato soup and take a bite." Clint said as they sat at the island in the communal kitchen on the Avengers floor of the Tower.
Hela followed the procedure Clint laid out and smiled after she took the bite.
"Told ya" he said. "This is the one comfort food I was always able to make myself growing up. It still holds up now."
"It's very tasty." Hela told Clint just before she took another spoonful of tomato soup.
They continued eating. "What do you want to do next?" Clint asked her.
Hela thought for a bit. "I'm not sure." She eventually replied.
Clint thought for a minute. "There's a pool, so I would say that we could go swimming; but, I don't think they have any extra swimsuits that would fit you."
"Oh, I could produce a swimsuit. Yes, let's go swimming. I haven't done that in a while." Hela replied as she finished up her lunch.
Clint showed her around the Avengers floor of the tower while they let their lunch settled. She was introduced to Jarvis and Clint pointed out various sites around the city that could be seen from their various view on this floor.
Clint showed Hela to a guest bedroom where she could change. She conjured a neon green one piece swimsuit with black trim. She emerged from the bedroom and found Clint waiting in the hallway wearing a pair of purple swim trunks. They got back into the elevator and Clint pushed the button for the floor that had the indoor pool and sauna.
While they swam they talked about music again since last night they found out that they both shared an interest in classic rock.
Clint wanted to know why she looked like she was 12 years old but he didn't know how to bring it up.
They swam around for a bit more and played around as Hela launched herself in the air while she stood on Clint's thighs as he bent his knees. They alternated seeing how high she could jump from the launching position and then how far she could go.
After about 2 hours in the pool they got out and made their way back up to change.
Hela emerged from the guest room redressed in what she was originally wearing. When she saw Clint in the hallway waiting for her, she surged forward and hugged him tightly. "I'm glad Papa picked you to be part of our family. I've had a really good time with you today."
Clint stood surprised for moment, but then hugged her back. "I've had a good time too. This is different from what I normally do and it's been interesting getting to know you all."
When Hela released Clint from her hug they started to head out the main part of the Avengers floor. He said, "Come on kid, let's go find a snack."
Hela grinned up at him and walked with him back to the communal kitchen.
Clint and Hela were eating ice cream sundaes when Tony, Bruce, Steve and Thor made their way off the elevator and onto the main living area of the Avengers floor. Hela looked up and over at the group. Tony, Steve and Bruce startled when they saw a pre-teen Hela sitting at the table.
'Hela?" Thor said.
"Uncle Thor!" Hela exclaimed and ran over to him. He bent down on one knee and she put her arms around his neck. He stood up and held her in a tight embrace. He kissed her temple and put her back on her feet. She smiled at Tony and Bruce who were watching the scene. She walked back over to where she and Clint were sitting at the dining room table and finished up her ice cream.
"I wasn't expected to see you here at the Tower today." Thor said as he went to refrigerator to get a beverage.
"I came over to watch Clint shoot while he was practicing. He ended up showing me some things to work on with my form. We had lunch and then we went swimming." She told him.
"It sounds like you've had a full day. Glad to hear you are finding the company of your new brother enjoyable." Thor responded before he downed most of a bottle of Gatorade.
"I have." Hela said as she grinned widely. She excused herself to wash up after she finished the ice cream.
When she left the room and headed down the hallway, Thor asked. "Has she been in her Asgardian form all day?"
"So that is what she meant by 'Asgardian form'." Tony remarked.
Clint told Thor that she arrived to the tower looking as she did. "Thor, why does she look like she's 12?" Clint asked.
"I mentioned at SHIELD that Hela could shift between various forms of herself. Well, this form is what she looked like the last time she lived on Asgard. Hence, she refers to it as her Asgardian form." Thor explain.
"I get all that, but why would she be in that form to begin with. Does it have any advantages?" Clint pressed further.
Thor looked towards the hall as the five of them made their way to sofas in the common area. "Hela's life is a unique experience, living between the world of the living and the world of the dead. She doesn't take this form often. I think she does because others are more apt to treat her how she looks and not as the Queen of Helheim."
"Did it work?" Bruce asked Clint.
Clint thought for a moment and then shrugged. "It was like I was the big brother and she was the little sister, even though I know she hundreds of years older than me. Do you know how crazy it is to say someone is hundreds of years older than you? Anyway, I think it would have been fine if she was how she usually is; I guess because I don't really know anything about the other realms and that she is Queen of the Dead or whatever."
Hela footsteps could be heard coming down the hallway; she made her way over to where the group was seated. She plopped down on the sofa in between Clint and Tony.
"So Hela, you call this your Asgardian form, huh?" Tony asked casually.
"Mm-hm." Hela said as she nodded to Tony.
"What else ya got?" Tony threw back.
"Umm…I can shift to make myself around 7 feet tall. My body grows proportionally when I shift to that form, it's not just like my legs get longer. Those four forms are really it." Hela answered.
Bruce shook his head a couple times quickly.
"You okay there, bug guy? I feel like I've asked you that today, already." Tony said, looking over at Bruce, who was seating on one of the recliners next to the sofa.
"….yeah…sorry about that…the other guy's been kind of loud today." Bruce answered with slight unease.
Hela smiled over at Bruce while Tony smirked.
"Hulk probably likes the idea of someone else growing bigger too, although I'm sure he'd admit she's much prettier." Tony said with a quirked eyebrow.
This got a giggle from Hela and Bruce's eyes flashed green before he laughed awkwardly.
Thor watched the scene unfold with mirth in his eyes. Clint was ready to change the subject. "So, what's the plan for this evening?" He asked the group.
"Well, we were thinking of a movie, in our quest to get Steve caught up on what he has missed in terms of great films. But, dinner first." Tony replied.
"You know Fenrir is really into that Old Hollywood, classic cinema thing. Between him and the others, they could probably tell you some good ones from the time before these guys have jumped in with their recommendations. I'll ask them if they can make you a list." Hela told Steve.
"That's really great, thanks." Steve said with a smile.
"Hela, you interested in staying?" Tony asked.
"Maybe for dinner; I was planning to visit my papa this evening. Fenrir gave me a book that is the beginning of a saga about a Midgardian boy who is a wizard. He said the Midgardian view of magic is humorous but the saga is well written. I'm going to see if Papa wants to read it with me." Hela answered.
Bruce quirked his eyebrows. "Harry Potter?"
"Yes, that's it. I have the first book in the saga." Hela answered.
"So, Loki is allowed visitors?" Steve asked more towards Thor.
"Hardly" Hela said with disgust.
"No, Loki is not allowed visitors. Mother visits him though, through the use of astral projection." Thor explained.
"I just pop into his cell and father puts up an illusion so no one knows I'm there." Hela threw in nonchalantly.
The rest of the group looked to Thor. Thor just shrugged his shoulders. "I've never seen anything." He said with a smirk.
"How about Italian? Let's order from that good place we got it from last time. Jarvis, let's get that same order as before."
"Yes, sir. The order is being placed now." Jarvis responded.
Everyone got up to make their way to the dining area once dinner arrived. As they made their way over, Hela's body was engulfed in gold light and she shifted into the form she was originally in when the others saw her on the security footage. Through some strategic directing of people, Tony managed to ensure that Hela was seated next to Bruce. When Hela turned looked towards Tony when she realized what had happened, Tony gave her a wink and a nod. She gave him a grin and they group settled into dinner with light conversation all around.
Hela appeared in Loki's cell later that evening. She sat in the corner beside the bed until Loki threw up an illusion of him reading in a chair. Hela shifted into her Asgardian form as she made her way towards Loki. He scooped her up in a tight hug and twirled her around before setting her back down. Hela told Loki about her day with Clint and about the previous night's dinner. If Loki noticed that she mentioned Dr. Banner several times, he didn't say anything about it. She conjured the first Harry Potter book and told Loki the overview that Fenrir had given to her. Loki sat up on the bed leaning against the headboard. Hela curled into his side as he opened the book and began to read. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much…."
A/N:
I really liked the idea of Loki's kids have personalized ring tones.
In the last story Vali's ringtone was Age of Aquarius by Fifth Dimension but the version from 40 Year Old Virgin.
In this story Jormungandr's ringtone is Princes of the Universe by Queen. Hela's ringtone is spliced together excerpts from Mz. Hyde by Halestorm.
Shun Lee Palace is a real Chinese restaurant in New York City. I've never been there, I found it on Google.
Not really any Loki in this…but I have something big planned coming up and Loki will be the focus and it will be a little more serious than what we have had so far.
Thanks for all of the favorites and follows. Reviews are much appreciated. Follow me as an author so that you know when the next installment is posted.