Memoria Damnum

This fic takes place after Thor, after Loki fell from the bifrost as an alternate version of what could have happened instead of what happened in the Avengers.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my fingers and my laptop as I type this. All characters belong to Stan Lee.

Warnings: For this chapter, none. Future cursing, sexual situations and Frostiron Tony/Loki.

Chapter 1: The Fall

It had become more than than a mild interest, it had become an obsession. Ever since his meeting with Nick Fury, he had managed to hack into a few of S.H.I.E.L.D.s computer files, finding a few folders listing a "New Mexico incident". And of course, as Tony Stark, he let his curiosity get the better of him as he read over the details.

It mentioned a Professor named Selvig and a young woman named Jane but most importantly, the fabled Norse God, Thor.

Tony threw himself into his research, alternating between reading about the real Thor, the Norse myths, the portal between realms known as the Bifrost and astrophysical. The myths seemed to alter from the real Thor, but only ever so slightly and he merely summed it up to the years past since these myths were first written on paper. Maybe Gods grew as mortals did, both mentally, physically, and from the mistakes in their pasts.

Another file he managed to snag from Fury's database, was one about the terreract. His father, Howard Stark, had fished it out of the ocean while he had been looking for Steve Rogers and refused to hand it over to the "proper authorities". The Stark name was known for it's weapons and Howard had refused to hand it over to what would become his company's competition. And after he passed, Tony stood by his dads wishes and kept it hidden as well. The only alarming thing was that his dad had never managed to harness its power and that S.H.I.E.L.D. had never tried to come and take it from him forcefully.

Reading over a report on it, he started drawing the same conclusions as the person who had originally written the report. That not only was the tesseract an energy source, that it wasn't even from Earth and it had fallen from Asgard, from Odin. With that in mind, it could be used as a portal to Asgard, right?

Tony told himself he was right, he was always right after all. And even though he had already made his place in history with his iron man suit, someday after centuries had passed, he would be replaced and forgotten with better inventions. But this...a portal to another realm, to be the first person to not only discover and meet other life forms but create a door to their world...he'd be remembered for the rest of eternity.

Everything had gone according to theory. The terreract glowed beautifully, mimicking the glow of the arc reactor in his chest and he wondered if this was coincidence or fate that him and this energy source should share something in common. They were bonded in a way no one could imitate or duplicate.

But then again, maybe being like him wasn't such a great thing. Arrogant and short tempered, he hoped that the tesseract wouldn't misbehave like he often liked to. There was only room for one huge ego in this tower and that was Tony's even though JARVIS liked to compete for second place. However, Tony really only had himself to blame for that since he was the one to design, build and program JARVIS in the first place.

He had set up a testing zone in his workshop after clearing away enough clutter to make room for a long runway that lead from an empty archway to where he was setting up an amplifier to the tesseract that would hopefully manipulate it's energies into opening a portal. Maybe if Tony could just see into the portal, just see what was on the other side, he could know what to expect. He could close it and then plan what he'd need to wear or bring with him to plan an excavation to the other side.

What he hadn't planned for, was for something to fall through the portal almost as soon as it opened.

He had fired up the laser, beaming it straight through the tesseract, it's light and heat mixing with the blue energy to create a stream of blue that seemed to pulse with life and energy as it warped and twisted in the archway, ripping apart the fabric of space and matter as the dark sky of space speckled with stars started to appear on the other side. Space. Tony Stark had SPACE in his basement.

Barely having a chance to enjoy the moment any longer or take a picture, something hurtled through the archway as if it had been thrown or dropped, crashing to the floor in a heap of black and green and what appeared to be armor.

There was a blinding flash of light as the archway protested anything actually crossing through it and the hole to space closed instantly, the laser behind the tesseract exploding from the defiant force and causing the tesseract to shut down, still slightly smoking. Tony was nearly knocked off his feet by the explosion but managed to duck down behind the control panel, peering out at the unmoving pile of green and black only when the sparks of electricity and fire died down as Dummy finally put it's fire extinguisher to good use.

It wasn't moving. The green appeared to be some sort of blanket, but looking closer, he could see where it attached to shoulders like a cape. Shoulders that lead to an arm covered in black leather and gold armor around the wrists, and a pale hand limp on the floor.

It seemed to be human at least. Slowly getting to his feet, he picked up a broom and used the handle to poke at it before daring to get too close. It still didn't move as he got closer and poked harder into it's side but with all the armor, maybe it couldn't even feel the wood. He crouched down and could clearly see the form of a human now, the other arm tucked under it's body and the legs under the cape, and once he brushed back the black mess of hair it revealed a humanlike face even. A pale face with sharp cheekbones, a pointed nose, small lips and dark eyelashes that contrasted against the pale skin tone, almost too pale, and Tony lifted two of his fingers to feel for a pulse on it's throat.

The pulse was there, weak and thready but there and he let out a long breath. This was it. He hadn't exactly gone to another realm, but he had brought home an alien creature. Or maybe even a demigod like Thor, he thought as he considered as he compared the armor and cape this thing had on to Thors. But where Thor's armor and outfit had been red, blue and silver, this one contrasted darkly in green, black and gold.

"Sir? Is everything alright?" JARVIS' voice came from over the speakers after a few tense moments.

Tony pushed back the cape, checking the man over for any visible injuries as the man let out a soft, pained groan and his eyelids fluttered in an attempt to open before slumping back onto the floor as he passed back out. For a second, Tony saw startling jade green eyes, misted over with pain and confusion.

"JARVIS, I need the number for a professor Erik Selvig and I need him on the phone. Now."