SoA Part 3 – Chapter 2
Truth and Revelations.
Loki was attempting to seem aloof as he had been before Thor had arrived. It was harder to keep up the façade and his carefree appearance with Kara. Once they got back onboard the Quinjet he'd be close enough to the scepter to be under its full influence again. Already its presence was stronger because the ship was coming closer to the field and his will was already weakening. Once onboard he'd be lucky to even make a suggestion to the plans he was bringing forced to enact.
It took a few minutes for everyone to form up and then fly up to the Quinjet. Loki was once more strapped into the seat beside the cockpit bulkhead. Kara sat beside him and took his hand, holding it firmly. She wasn't sure how to take the explanation Loki had given her. It had left her confused and concerned. She ignored everyone else. Loki just rested his head back against his seat, and closed his eyes, seeming to meditate.
Everyone else was giving her space to think, even Thor. From his expression she felt it likely had more to do with him being lost in his own thoughts, and possibly the throbbing pain in his ribs than purposefully giving her space. She was sure she had broken several of the ribs on at least his left side between hitting him at about Mach 2 and her punches, which had dented his armor. She'd seen him touching the area gingerly as they had readied themselves to take off.
She tried to put together the things Loki had said to her while they had been speaking together, to form any type of sensible explanation. Sitting there with his hand in hers she was trying her best to ignore the confusion and anger that were warring with her happiness at seeing him alive. That feeling of something being wrong tore at her. Loki was not acting like himself, or at least not like himself with her. He had many faces, but he rarely wore his public mask when talking to her privately.
She knew this was truly Loki. His aura was correct, if a bit weak. That could not be faked, even with a clone made from his own body. It was his actions and plans for domination of Midgard. They were not the plans of a carefully planned strategist. The straightforward attacking and posturing; it screamed 'Thor and friends', not the quiet subtleties of Loki's types of plans.
This brutish strategy and tactics were not the way Loki operated. Strength and frontal assault was not a tactic to Loki, it was an advantage to be used when everything else failed, or when surprise and terrain were available. Even then he often used other advantages to expand the probability of success.
Then there was the conversation they had had with mother on Asgard while he'd been king. They had discussed this very issue. He knew it couldn't work. He knew far more than Thor or any other about the Realm of Midgard. So why would he try the exact plan they had all agreed was doomed to fail? Even Loki could not make this plan work, with every advantage. It was doomed to fail; period.
She could also sense he was lying to her about the Tesseract. He had taken it, and fled. That was planned she felt, not a moment of opportunity that he had tried to paint it. That in itself wasn't surprising since she herself had been planning to take it from Fury, once he proved to be unable to control it. He also knew that. They had discussed that too at one point when they had seen that the humans had it. At that time they were just storing it, which was what the humans it had been entrusted to had promised to do. He knew she had plans to retrieve it if they made a mess with it.
She could feel Tony's worried gaze staring at her, and she had given him a miserable frown. He'd given her a nod in return. Tony would understand she was trying to work on getting her emotions under control.
Tony sat back and kept watching the pair sitting stiffly together, holding hands subtly. She had been ready to blast a hole in Thor's forehead for attacking him and Rogers. Finding out Loki was alive had obviously thrown her for a loop, one that even he was shaken by. He knew how much Kara had truly and deeply mourned for the Dark Prince. He'd heard plenty of stories about him from her; how intelligent he was, and how powerful he could be. Of all the warriors of Asgard, he was the only one she knew could beat her in a fight on Earth. Magic, charm, and wit were his favorite playbooks; not this half-baked plot. He was looking at him through his closed visor recording his expressions for later analysis. JARVIS was taking note of every expression and movement.
Tony was confused by Loki's actions so far. During the fight he could have slipped away, they'd been too distracted by Thor to stop him. He hadn't. Instead he had stayed, and watched them fight. He could have left when Kara had shown up. Instead he'd stayed and stopped Kara from likely killing Crown Prince Thunderbolt by speaking up when he had. From his interactions with Thor it was obvious he'd done so for Kara's sake, and not his brother's. Did he need her? Or did he care about her? Tony was hoping for the second, but planning with the first in mind. He'd been burned by a loved one before. He wouldn't wish that realization on anyone, especially Kara. She had enough tragedy in her past. She didn't need another reason to go stark raving mad, pun not intended.
Tony knew more about the Asgardian Royal Family than anyone on Earth, except maybe Darcy. Even Dr. Foster and Pepper didn't know as much as he did, even though the doc was dating the Brute Prince… kinda. It was a grey area as far as Tony was concerned. Could it be considered dating if they'd only had a few days together before they were separated by the broken space bridge? Tony mentally shrugged the idea away.
He unknowingly mentally agreed with Kara. Something was wrong with this picture. Either Loki wasn't who he said he was, which was unlikely… or something had happened since he went missing. Tony didn't like these kinds of mysteries. Not one little bit. So he stared at the Black Prince trying to capture something that would help explain everything later when he could review the images in a different frame of mind.
What 'Point Break' was thinking was easy to see. The man was an open book even a child could read. He seemed hurt that his not-so-dead brother was willing to let Blue sit with him, but not himself. Why, Tony couldn't figure out. The blonde mountain had come rushing in, and then threw 'tall dark and evil' out of a moving jet at over thirty thousand feet. Since they grew up together it's not like he didn't know Reindeer Games couldn't fly like he could. Why he was acting as if that should have endeared the pointed helmeted non-flyer to him? Did he miss the brother sized hole he'd made in the landscape where they landed? Tony hadn't, and Thor was lucky Kara had. Even he knew Kara considered Loki to be hers, the same way she claimed himself, Pepper, Darcy and Jane (to a lesser extent) as her people. She had no family so she claimed people. From the stories he knew she loved Loki more than any of them, though Tony was sure it was in part because she knew him first, otherwise Tony was sure she'd love him more. After all who wouldn't?
Tony hadn't bothered to go up front and see the red-headed assassin when they came aboard. Capsicle on the other hand was bouncing back and forth with a worried look. Tony inwardly sighed and walked over to the clearly agitated man as he came around the wall from the cockpit for the fifth time in a half hour. He popped his mask to talk to the man face-to-face. "What's got you hopping about?"
Cap looked at Tony and seemed to think for a few second before opening his mouth. "Fury said she was going to be the most powerful asset to the Avenger's Initiative." He admitted very softly, trying not to be overheard. Tony knew it was useless with Kara's hearing, but kept quiet waiting to see if Rogers was about to hang himself.
"Well... he's not wrong." Tony drawled quietly. "Of course she's not on the team any more than I am. She's not even considered a consultant because she refuses to sign on to SHIELD in anyway. She legally can't if you want to get technical about it." He shrugged as if the matter was a technicality, which in Tony's mind it was.
If the world was ever in danger; Kara would be there. If The Avengers were needed, the world would be in danger. In Tony's mind this meant Kara was an Avenger, even if it wasn't official to protect both herself and SHIELD from jerks like Ross.
Cap nodded slowly in agreement. From the paperwork he'd seen it seemed as if that was Kara's mandate. When it had painted her in a bad light, it was terrorists she had been linked to, never civilians. She tried to protect people. Steve looked back towards the cockpit. "Fury and Romanoff are worried she'll turn on this one." He looked embarrassed and concerned. "I'm hoping they're wrong." Tony's face hardened as Steve looked at him for answers. "You know her best, what do you think?"
Tony looked Cap dead in the eyes and his face morphed into a seriously angry scowl. Steve was taken aback. Everything he'd heard said Tony was never serious about anything. That he was a playboy, narcissistic bastard. Unless he was working with Supergirl, he wasn't a team player.
"I think Fury batter watch himself in how he treats her brother while he's a prisoner." Tony's voice had a very hard icy edge to it. His voice was cold enough that Steve shivered just slightly from the unexpectedness of hearing it. "There are few things that could go more wrong for him, and his little spy agency than to mistreat, not only a foreign prince of a powerful realm, more powerful than Earth, but someone she loves unconditionally." He warned the old soldier.
Steve's eyes moved downcast as he looked awkwardly at his feet. Suddenly he wasn't sure how to handle the situation. No one was acting as he'd expected. Howard's son was supposed to be a hothead who only cared about himself, and here he was being protective of Supergirl. She was supposed to be a superhero of the highest degree, but she was acting as if she was in love with the enemy. Natasha and Barton were supposed to be professional SHIELD agents, but Barton was MIA under the control of the bad guys, and Natasha was a little too cold for comfort. Dr. Banner had seemed nice, not at all a powder keg to be carefully handled. At this point Dr. Banner seemed the only one Steve could trust to be better than he'd assumed he'd be.
Tony held his stare as Cap's face fell. "She won't let us take him in, will she?" Even as strong as Steve was for a human, the ease in which she took care of Thor proved she was beyond his skills to stop if she put her mind to actually keeping them from Loki. If he was honest with himself Loki himself could have defeated Steve. He'd had him dead to rights in Stuttgart before Tony showed up. Now Steve was wondering if he'd surrendered when he'd seen Tony because he knew Supergirl would show up once Tony was involved.
Tony snorted with disgust. "I'll give you a pass on that because you likely have been fed horseshit about her and the rest of the team since Fury needs you to be on his side so bad." His gauntleted hand came up and grabbed Steve's bicep, and he stared at the contact but looked up at Tony, "But let me warn you now. While some of what SHIELD has told you about me might be true, they know only what she has told them about herself, and Asgard. If anywhere in that file it said she wouldn't do the right thing when it comes down to it, regardless of the rules, they were lying."
Cap looked down at Tony's hand again. It wasn't hurting him, but it easily could have had Tony wanted it to. "But that's just it." He hissed as he yanked his arm out of Tony's grasp. "The right thing to one person isn't always the right thing for everyone else."
Tony's mouth tightened into a thin white line, and he glared even more hotly than before. "She never joined me when I went after the Ten Rings." His eyes were boring a hole in Steve's confidence, not that he let Tony see it. "I know the reports said she did, but she didn't. She followed after me to make sure the civilians that the bastards liked to hide behind were safe. That's all she did. Never once did she help me take on the bastards, or take out a single bad guy that wasn't threatening a civilian directly. One! One guy died because of her directly, and that was his own fault for taking a shot at her and it ricocheted off her jaw and killed him. The only other time anyone died it was because a fuel tanker rammed into her when she braced herself. If she hadn't it would have hit a bus full of refuges. Those deaths are suicide in my books, not a kill by her hand. By her code of honor, they were rightful kills, since they were trying to kill civilians. That's something you used to agree with, at least from what I heard growing up." Tony sneered at the man. God's he hated the image of Capsicle that his dad had forced down his throat almost as much as he hated his old man.
Steve looked down again. The reports had said she had participated against the Ten Rings, and had a higher kill count than just the one guy Tony was saying. If what Tony was telling him was true than SHIELD had lied, or at best, misunderstood what had happened after the fact. Tony's statement also countered the account of her being armed with a gun. She used her daggers often when doing her rescues he knew, but none of the Terrorists had been sliced up by them according to the after action reports. Just some gun fire that hadn't been accounted for by Tony's technology, so they had been accounted for by assigning the kills to Supergirl with standard everyday .32 caliber bullets. Now that he looked at her closely he didn't see any holsters, or any indication that she could use guns with the gauntlets she had covering her hands.
"In almost every situation I've ever seen her respond to, innocents are her first priority." Tony stood straighter and let his face relax back into his mask of indifference. "Only when the bad guys need to be taken down before the civilians can be saved has she blasted them away first, usually without doing more harm than good, unlike me. When it came to the Ten Rings... I shot to kill." He stared Steve down until Steve nodded slowly. "She stood firm and protected people. Still think she's the problem?"
Steve looked over at Kara who still had her eyes closed but her head was turned towards them now, her hand still in Loki's. It was Loki's expression that made Steve suck in a breath, nearly choking on it. His eyes were angry and deep glaring blue. The intensity of the stare was creepy and made the God of Mischief looked crazed in a way he hadn't earlier on the ground. His eyes were locked on Steve and the look of contempt was hard not to react to. Steve swallowed it down like a good soldier, and tore his eyes back to Tony.
"So we what… treat him with kid gloves because she might object?" Steve inquired as he tossed his chin in their direction.
"No," The retort came from an unexpected source. Kara's eyes were now wide open and she was looking at Steve with a disappointed and resigned look. "You treat him lawfully, as any other prisoner under the Geneva Convention. I will not interfere with that. As long as Loki is treated fairly, and is given the same rights as any other prisoner then I will not take him from SHIELD. And as long as Asgard does not require extradition for fair trial." Steve's face hardened as he realized she had heard his every word, and from the looks of Thor and Loki, so had they. "I am required by Asgardian Law, which I have to uphold above the laws of Midgard, to produce any Asgardian citizen for trial if Asgard asks it of me."
Thor looked confused and slightly riled, but he was holding his tongue for once. He'd heard both Tony and Steve's words but hadn't understood why Kara was not defending herself. Nor could he understand why it had been important that Kara had not engaged the enemy of her ally directly. He however had no intention of starting another fight with Kara while locked in the small plane with these breakable humans. He might not understand what was happening, but Kara did. As long as she was handling the situation to her satisfaction, he would hold his tongue.
Loki snorted at her statement, Kara ignored him. They both knew a fair trial was not what Odin would have in mind after this. Loki was watching Steve with that same intense look but his eyes would flick to the box that held the scepter every so often like a tick. Tony moved to block his view of it while everyone else shifted their eyes to Steve.
"I'm sorry if I offended you ma'am," He acknowledged his slight with a military nod of respect. Kara's eyes widened slightly in surprise but she nodded back politely. That she hadn't expected. Steve wasn't wrong to question her, SHIELD barely had anything on her, and the past year hadn't been her best.
"I understand your concern Captain Rogers." She replied formally with a nod of acknowledgement and a nudge to Loki's side with her elbow to get him to stop glaring at the soldier. Loki's gaze flickered to her and he sat back as if resting once more. "Were the situation reversed I would have sought the opinion of one who knew you best also." She continued as if the byplay had not occurred.
Steve knew a dismissal when he heard it and took himself back to the cockpit. As he took his seat Romanoff looked over at him. "That could have gone better." She said with calm indifference, her eyes the only sign that betrayed her anger.
Steve sighed and looked out the windshield even more confused than before. "I didn't know she could hear me. I just wanted some idea of how bad this could go. Stark seemed like the best source of information we had onboard."
Romanoff nodded knowingly. "Now we do."
"Do we?" He looked over at her sharply. "I have no idea what SHIELD is going to do, but Fury doesn't operate within the laws of most countries, or International laws if it doesn't suit him." That much he had gleaned from the reports he'd read.
SHIELD rarely even told the governments of the countries they were operating in that they were even there, or completing military operations within their borders. Black ops or everyday operations made no difference to Fury. As far as Steve had been able to ascertain SHIELD acted as if they didn't exist in the real world. Even the CIA, INTERPOL and other national spy agencies had a headquarters and public persona. SHIELD was huge and yet didn't have a public profile, or at least people didn't know there was a huge umbrella that was SHIELD. Certain parts of the agency were public, or at least semi-public, but nothing that pointed to the huge organization.
Romanoff spared him a look to roll her eyes. "Fury is going to do what he thinks is best for the world at large, not individuals." Her lack of concern about Fury's actions also worried the soldier.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Steve sighed. Romanoff managed to not betray any discomfort at his statement. "I've read the Geneva Convention. I know how it works, and you can bet she does too. If Fury oversteps, she is going to stop him from doing what he thinks is right. That's not a fight we can win, or even should be picking right now."
Romanoff kept her own council but she agreed with him. Fury would need to watch his step. While Steve was distracted by his thoughts she pulled up the recording of his conversation with Tony and Kara, she sent it to Fury and Hill. They needed to be prepared for the volatile group she was bringing in. She'd never get a chance to save Clint if the infighting got out of hand. That was all that mattered to Nat. Getting Clint back to his family. Her oath to Laura trumped any to anyone else in her books. And not alien 'Supergirl' was going to stop her from keeping her promise.
When they had arrived onboard the flying fortress, Kara had insisted that she walk with Loki to the cell they had prepared for him. She wasn't impressed. They had no magical restraints, (not that she thought there would be) nor was the cage secured enough to actually be of use. If the thing dropped as Fury had threatened it would, Loki could easily escape it before it crashed. He could teleport, at least when he had seiðr.
"You will not leave the cage until directed to do so by any of the Avengers, or myself while this cell is still aboard this vessel. Nor will you do anything to make the cell drop while you are inside it. Do we have an accord?" She asked him formally in Allspeak before he entered the clear circular cell. There was no way she would require him to stay in it if Fury dropped it for any reason.
He had smirked at her in a way that made her think he was being careful with his words once more. "We have an accord, only an Avenger, or you, can request me to vacate the cage while it is aboard this vessel."
She had hesitated. She slowly backed away from the door before she looked away and sadly left the room trying hard not to look back. She half turned her head before she managed to stop herself and marched quickly out the door, leaving Fury behind to speak to Loki before he joined them.
She was quietly escorted to a conference room by Agent Coulson to where the other 'Avengers' were waiting. Kara sat down at the table across from Captain Rogers while Thor and the others stood. Fury walked in several minutes later. He seemed well named as his temper was barely contained, if the throbbing veins on the side of his head were any indication. Fury ignored most of the others and sat down across from her, sitting beside a bored looking Rogers.
"We took you at your word that Loki was not a threat, and he was not trying to kill innocent people nearly two years ago." He glared at her with his one eye gleaming with tightly controlled rage.
Kara acknowledged his rightful anger with a nod of her own. "And at the time I was correct." She reminded him, outwardly calm and controlled. "Loki was trying to arrest the fugitives who decided to attack rather than surrender, and he trusted me to get your men out of the way. I did. Even then the destruction was not caused only the Destroyer's actions, but also that of the fugitives, and was limited to the immediate area, not the nearby town, or SHIELD's mobile base." She raised a brow daring him to argue the point. Fury didn't. He knew the small area of desert had been the best possible location for the little dust up. He also couldn't legitimately argue with the reason for the altercation.
"My friends were not-" Thor began to protest but Kara turned her eyes as she brought the red power of her heat vision up. Thor quickly cut off what he was going to say realizing that trying to defend their actions was a waste of time with his sister. Even after a year he knew they were in the wrong, but the urge to protect them was strong, and engrained after centuries of friendship.
"Your friends for the second time in less than a week decided to commit treason against their rightful King, because of YOU!" She snarled back at him, "Because you are too much of a child to behave as a Prince should, and too stupid to understand the word diplomacy! I see nothing has changed." She snarled with rage. Thor looked down in anger. He knew she was correct. He also knew she was holding her temper by a thread, and he had no intention of snapping it and getting himself killed.
His friends had been severely disciplined once the ramifications of what had happened became known, especially since their mother heard directly from Kara's letter what had happened on Midgard. Kara's written declaration after Loki's funeral that she placed the blame for Loki's death on his friends, and himself, still stung as much as her last words to him on the broken bridge. His pride had led to a fight that resulted in Loki letting go, and trying to commit suicide rather than come home. His actions and words had made Loki feel cornered and alone. In light of learning about Loki's state of mind after learning his heritage, Thor had been even more ashamed by his actions. Even more so that he'd allowed the words of his friends to change his opinion more than they should have. After hearing from Kara what was happening on Asgard during his absence, he should have at least asked Loki what was going on, instead of jumping to conclusions.
His friends were found guilty of committing treason and had been removed from the roles of elite warriors. They were now forced to the role of lower ranked Einherjar, guarding the Vault and corridor as those were Loki's last orders to them. Only the extreme warrior skills they possessed had saved them from being banished. Odin had feared they would join the bands of bandits that had begun to amass at Asgard's outer borderlands. It was still considered an honor to be among the Einherjar, but for elites to be taking orders from warriors they themselves could defeat in battle, it was a disgrace. So much so that Hogun had taken a leave to return to Vanir, rather than stay in the City of Asagarth as a simple royal guard.
They would stay in those roles until the Queen, or Kara, allowed them to return or retire. Not a moment before. Neither the Queen nor Kara (as she wasn't even aware of the punishment his friends were undertaking at the moment), were likely to allow that to change. Still they were lucky to avoid the cells or execution considering the ire of the Queen and Princess. Volstagg was the only one the Queen showed any signs of softening on, but she was awaiting Kara's word before allowing Volstagg to be pardoned completely.
Heimdall had been luckiest of the lot. He actually hadn't allowed them to use the Bifröst, officially at least. They had waited until after he had left for his evening meal to use the device. He had been reprimanded for leaving his sword in the Observatory, and now had to have a second guard stand with him during his duties. The Queen had been somewhat vindictive in choosing Skurge to be that second. He was lazy and annoying, but at least he was loyal to Asgard.
Kara had not communicated with anyone on Asgard since she had left. Heimdall had reported that despite receiving the letters Mother had sent to SHIELD and later to her directly, Kara had still not opened any of them. It was one of the reasons Thor had been dispatched. He was not to just bring Loki and the Tesseract home, but Kara and the Destroyer as well. His mother wanted to speak directly to her and tell her of Loki's adoption and his friend's punishments. She had expressed her own hope that Kara could help bring Loki around to understanding that he was loved, and was considered family now as much as ever, just as she was. Thor had been torn. He wanted his brother back, but Father had made it plain that Loki was attacking Midgard. Loki's last threat to visit Jane had Thor worried what Loki planned for the little scientist he was very fond of.
Kara took a deep breath and the red receded but did not completely disappear from her eyes, reminding Thor further of Loki's true parentage, even though Kara herself was still unaware of it. Even without that knowledge she understood their brother better than he could. It was a fact that riled him. He, who had known Loki for one thousand and forty-nine years, did not know his brother as well as a girl who had known him for a single decade.
"I do know the meaning of the word." He muttered huffily. Diplomacy might be one he didn't practice as often as he should of in the past, but he did know it, he thought petulantly.
"And yet you think smashing everything with your hammer will solve all your problems." She snorted contemptuously her arms crossed defiantly across her chest. Everyone else watched the confrontation silently. It was like watching two giants roar at each other. If they went for each other's throats, no one wanted to be in the line of fire. The others watched the siblings argue with mixed reactions. Dr. Banner was almost standing in the hallway, anxious to be away if a fight actually started. Tony looked as if he wanted popcorn. The rest looked on edge, but not half as concerned as Banner.
Thor shoulders slumped in defeat at her words. He could not even think of how many times, Odin, Loki, their mother, Kara, and even his friends had all said something similar when he had made a mess of negotiations of some sort.
Kara turned her full attention back to Fury. From the report she had given Coulson back in New Mexico nearly a year ago, SHIELD had a very basic idea of what life on Asgard was like, before Thor's banishment. The reports from the past few days were not living up to the intelligence she had given them back then. Loki's actions were a complete one hundred and eighty degrees from his normal activities and strategies. Coulson had even pointed out in his own report that Loki was in fact performing in a manner that was rather uncharacteristic of the profile they had managed to put together from not just Supergirl; but from Selvig, Foster, and Lewis's interviews, and overheard conversations from these people when discussing Loki. Most had been from bugs on the apartments of Foster and Lewis when she's come home with stories about Loki that she'd heard from Zor El and relayed to the scientist.
While not in the reports Coulson, was beginning to think Kara Stark was in contact with Supergirl more than even Tony himself was. He wished she was willing to meet with him, but so far she was as elusive as Supergirl used to be, and he was sure Supergirl was helping her to slip-away. No human could be that completely off SHIELD's radar without Zor El's help. A year ago, he thought even though the body mass and builds were different, he'd have sworn that Kara Stark and Supergirl was the same person.
Now he was convinced that not only was Supergirl not Kara Stark; but she was keeping the Stark girl away from SHIELD, helping Tony, Pepper and JARVIS to do the same thing. The only reason he believed it was because he believed she was in fact Tony's daughter. Events surrounding the mysterious portal that opened in Kansas convinced him that Kara Stark was way more than Tony's assist with the same last name. Pepper Potts had pulled out some huge guns to defend the girl from SHIELD's attempts to interview her yet again. He hadn't even been able to get a bug into her lab when he had been inside the mansion that day. Despite her close association with Tony, SHIELD still had not had an interview with the elusive young prodigy. It was something that also worried Fury. The girl could influence Tony. Any influences on a perspective Avenger had needed to be vetted, but the Stark girl had managed to avoid every trap, unexpected visit, or operation designed to run into her. Coulson had backed off once the thought had occurred to him, but he kept a close eye on her when she did appear in public. If anyone had influence on Tony, it had been Supergirl. She had tempered him from a hothead hero wannabe, to a creditable Avenger candidate. He had some discipline now where he had none before. He was a possible team player, as long as he respected the people he worked with. These were traits he didn't have when he had defeated Obadiah Stane in LA.
Kara looked at Fury straight in the eye. "This state of affairs, it's not something Loki would design to do. It's too brash and prone to failure." She waited for Fury to react in some way. She was surprised to hear Romanoff speak up.
"He's killed eighty people in two days, took several people hostage, including your friend Selvig and one of ours. This is not a state of affairs, it's an invasion." She very calmly pointed out, but there was a hint of cold anger in her voice.
Kara raised her brow at Fury. She was sure Loki had managed to kill people. It would be difficult for him to not have, given his actions to date. As a warrior he would not hold back when threatened. Loki was not a mass-murdering type, and Widow's report didn't include the details required to judge if the report was warranted as an over-reaction or not. When one kill would get the job done, Loki killed one person. Killing eighty people was extreme overkill, and in her mind proved her suspicion that something was wrong; either with Loki, or SHIELD, or possibly both. Before she could really make a comment Thor spoke up.
"He's adopted." He spoke up in an embarrassed and hesitant voice. His interjection smacked of an attempt to distance himself from Loki's actions. It wasn't unusual for Thor to do so. It also managed to push Kara over the edge.
Kara moved so fast that no one saw her move. One second she was sitting in the chair and the next she had Thor by the throat against the wall near the ceiling with his feet kicking out trying to find anything but air to stand on.
"How dare you deny him!" She jeered dangerously. "How dare you, the warmongering fool who restarted a war by breaking a thousand year old treaty over an insult. You, who killed over two hundred of their people, over a few petty words. How dare you deny him now, when this petty warlord's underling accuses him unjustly!" She hissed bitterly as she bashed the back of his head against the wall with each emphasized word.
Thor's face was quickly turning red from a lack of oxygen as he clawed at her fingers. He raised his hand with his hammer as if to strike her, but Kara quickly wrapped her hand around the haft and held it firmly in place. Despite being opposed to Thor the Hammer still found her worthy and refused to choose between them.
"Princess Zor El, Loki personally has only been linked to the death of the Agents in the Tesseract Room, seven people." Coulson spoke up quickly understanding the true depths of her anger, and feelings of loyalty to Loki. They needed to defuse her temper, not provoke it as Romanoff had done. He gave the red-headed assassin a glare to tell her to back off. She gave him one firm nod and sat back, careful to keep her body language vague. She still answered to Coulson so she backed off for now.
"Yet eighty are laid at his feet." She snarled without taking her eyes from Thor's face as it turned a slight blue color.
"He broke into a base through a wormhole, and attacked our people with a staff that controls the minds of others. Between the protocols in place, and the deaths by the newly controlled agents; eighty have died." He explained calmly, though his tone was pleading for understanding. "Not by Loki's hand, but his actions in shooting first when asked to lower his weapon had a hand in their deaths. That is all the report of eighty dead means. Seven by his hand, and the rest by the end of the incident."
Kara gave Thor one last glare and dropped him and the hammer. He began gulping air loudly as he fell onto the floor, barely managing to keep his feet by staggering and leaning against the wall. He'd forgotten on Midgard that Kara was stronger than him, and judging by her grip he'd say she was stronger still than the last time he encountered her.
Fury was glaring at Coulson as he just shrugged. "It's not like she can't access our files and see the footage at any time." He reminded the Director. Fury was taking the wrong tact with Supergirl. Coulson knew her better and had no intention of losing her regard, or trust. Fury was like a bull in a china shop, smashing all his leverage with the superheroes, because even he could tell he was losing Stark and Captain Rogers with his bloated accusations. It was a dangerous thing to do with; a woman who was now a super-powered goddess, the richest billionaire on the planet, and the only Super Soldier ever created, and they were beginning to side with her. They weren't even sure what she was the goddess of!
Kara sank to the floor and stood nearly nose-to-nose with Fury. "Have a care Director. I know Loki has his faults and his sins, but do not pad them with your own. He will pay for his crimes, not yours."
"Understood Zor El, now back off." He ordered her. Kara slowly backed up and stood near Stark. She took comfort in his non-aggressive stance. His hip bump cheered her a bit as he stared at the rest of the room with his arms crossed.
"What did happen?" Rogers asked the group trying to get a grip on the situation. "How did he get here, and why would he take our people?"
"We were experimenting with the Tesseract." Coulson admitted with a quick flicker of his eyes towards Supergirl. He couldn't help but wonder what she thought of that.
"You have used the Tesseract?" Thor's astonishment grabbed everyone's attention. "It was lost over a thousand years during the war against the Jötunn."
"It wasn't lost, it was left in hiding. In a temple to Odin in fact." Kara reminded him with a harsh glare. Thor looked surprised at being corrected by Kara, and more than a little embarrassed by her rough, and scornful correction. "They've been playing with it for nearly a century on and off." Kara informed him without taking her eyes from Fury, her contempt for that action also very evident to the room. "SHIELD has been using it for the last two and a half years. I have been watching. They haven't accessed even a fraction of its power yet and so I had not felt the need to interfere before now."
Thor looked over at the director who was also locked in the staring match with Kara. He was unused to not being the center of attention, or being considered the most dangerous person in the room. He didn't like the feeling of being in her shadow, but she understood more of what was happening here. If he was to return to Asgard with her, Loki, and the infinity stone, he'd need to regain some of her trust. It would be difficult since he had never earned it in all the years he'd known her to begin with. Mother had been right, this was a near impossible thing to do as long as she was willing to side with anyone but him.
"That is not advisable." Thor stated plainly to the director. "Playing with those types of forces would bring others here. Others who would think Asgard no longer protects you. They would kill or enslave you all."
"It's kinda hard to miss Blue here when she's flying all over the place, declaring herself 'Zor El of Asgard'." Tony smirked at the big guy as he gestured towards Supergirl with his bag of blueberries he'd pulled from his jacket pocket. "In her flashy blue and red armor she's very visible, even from Space, when she stays still." He winked at his blonde partner. She chuckled and smirked. Her ability to stay off satellite tracking by moving so fast annoyed SHIELD, so she enjoyed the subtle dig at Fury.
Thor nodded thoughtfully and gave Kara a nod of recognition between warriors that Kara ignored. He was a little put off by the nickname also. He did remember not to use the name Kara when addressing her. Tony's use of the name Zor El had reminded him of that.
"Still it brought Loki here, others will likely follow now." He told him but he kept watching Kara. "My sister is known to be of Asgard, and a princess of honor. She is only one being, and as such might not be as much a deterrent as you hope against entire races bend on conquering you as they have in the past, before Asgard became Midgard's protector."
"I'm more interested on how we get our people back." Fury cut in while basically demanding Supergirl answer him by directing all his ire at her. He didn't miss the reference to Earth having already been conquered at some point in the past. He knew that already, even if it wasn't in the files. He also had past experience with Aliens hell bent on conquering Earth, and Asgard hadn't lifted a finger then either.
"Who does he have that is one of ours?" Steve asked out loud to the room, but directed his question to Widow.
She glared at the Captain. "They have Agent Barton and Selvig."
"He took Hawk and Eric!" Kara gasped as she broke the staring match with Fury to look over at Widow.
"Yes, they left the base with your brother, and in Germany Hawkeye was seen leaving the building by another method while Loki walked out the front door." She verified, not at all surprised at Kara's distraction at the identity of Loki's captives. Barton had spoken highly of the girl, but Natasha had never met her before. Selvig had taken Stark's money and left after helping Supergirl with Thor, so she was aware they had been acquainted.
Kara exhaled forcefully and closed her eyes. "That sounds more like Loki's style," She admitted softly, "distraction and illusions to center attention elsewhere, while others escape to continue their plans." She looked a little concerned as she looked over at Tony beside her. "He doesn't usually offer himself as the bait."
"Loki always was a master at deception." Thor agreed carefully from his spot across the room. His concern was increased by knowing Jane's friend Selvig was taken. "His usual tactics do tend to allow for his escape, and not only his allies."
"Look, I don't care if he is acting normal or not." Fury finally snapped at them. He was tired of hearing how the alien who had stolen the Tesseract and his best agent wasn't acting like himself. "I don't like that Asgard likes to dump their problem children on Earth expecting us to take care of them." Fury glared at Kara. "I don't have time to coddle Alien Princes and Princesses with 'Daddy Issues'. Those should have been dealt with centuries ago on your own damn planet. Earth has its own problems. It doesn't need Asgard's issued being dumped here."
Kara gave him a confused look. "Why would they be dealt with centuries ago? Loki is a teenager by your modern definition. Is this not the time frame your psychological experts agree is the best time for these issues to be dealt with?" Everyone but Thor froze and stared at her in a mixture of surprise and horror.
"What is a teenager?" Thor asked her in confusion. It was a word that was not being translated into a word Asgard used.
"They are older children who are not of age, or apprentices under the care of a master." She quickly defined, not only for Thor but so the rest would understand her. "On Midgard that is the ages between puberty and adulthood; twelve to eighteen usually for humans, but it could be twenty-one in some areas or cultures." She turned to Coulson to further her explanation. "On Asgardians those ages would be equal to approximately seven hundred and fifty, to thirteen hundred." She answered both for Thor's benefit and the Midgardians.
"And Loki is?" Tony asked the obvious question. He knew it was close to Kara's estimated Asgardian age, but he was older than her, so he was unsure of the actual age. He only knew Loki's birthday was determined to be December 17th because Kara had held a special memorial for him on that day last year.
"He was born in the winter one thousand and forty nine of your years ago." Thor answered, deeply in thought. "But he has been of age for over two centuries and doing his duties for longer." He responded to Kara. "He has mastered both his weapons, and his seiðr training, marking him an adult."
Kara shook her head. "Not here. Midgardians go by the physical development of the body, and mind. Their brains do not finish development until their twentieth year. By their standards anyone under the age of twelve hundred and fifty is still not of an age to being able to rule, or even join the Army. Asgardian development is similar in physiology, it is only the culture milestones that are different."
"Wait one god damn motherfucking second!" Fury sputtered, his skin was dark enough that it normally was hard to see when his cheeks were flushed with rage. That was not the case now. Not only was his temper evident from his pulsing veins and eyes bulging out, but his cheeks were flushed enough that the color darken slightly and his lips trembled with the force of his indignation. "Are you telling me Loki is the equivalent of a sixteen or seventeen year old KID?"
"With some serious 'daddy issues'," Tony quipped, remembering Kara's stories about Loki being passed over for Thor almost every time. Kara nodded and rolled her eyes at Tony's assessment. If anyone would know 'daddy issues' when they saw them it would be Tony. Tony and Loki could start a snark-fest club that revolved around 'daddy issues' and never run out of things to say to each other, or stories to tell of their failed father figures.
"I'm sixteen, developmentally." She reminded Fury calmly. She was making an effort not to show her glee at pushing Fury off his game. "Loki would be early to mid-seventeen."
Everyone in the room stopped and stared at her a moment. Supergirl had been around for four years on Midgard, two before coming out and two since, plus eight before that on Asgard, the idea she was only sixteen was surprising to all of them. Thor was the one to break the silence. "I thought you older." His face scrunched in thought and confusion. "Father sent you to Midgard because you had reach adulthood. Mother stated you were seventeen out of stasis at that time."
Kara glared at Thor. She coldly told him in Old Norse, "Talking about sexual maturity is mildly taboo here on Midgard. Don't discuss it openly." She wasn't about to tell him on Midgard some females started menstruating normally before the age of twelve which was the mark of a female reaching adulthood on Asgard. Asgardian females started after their second millennia so as to not waste the rare, and few fertile years with under developed bodies. Thor was working with the cultural norm that once a woman was sexually mature, she was then declared an adult. Males were considered an adult once they completed their first solo and skillful kill as a town protector, became a soldier, or had passed from apprentice to journeyman in a profession.
"I regenerated some of my age once I arrived on Midgard and establish myself here. I stopped aging as a mortal," She said openly to the rest of them, "Which you were aware of." She reminded Thor sternly.
The Kryptonian computer placed her regeneration and regression at about six to eight months, but she hadn't started to age in any measurable way since her arrival, and the incident last year only exasperated the problem. The aging was only enough to be able to tell it was a quite a bit slower than an Asgardian, or any other race in the Nine Realms. Brainiac's summation was the yellow sun must be stronger on this Earth than the one on the Earth she was supposed to go to. She was also still gaining strength in her powers as she continued to absorb more of Earth's sunlight.
Thor looked astonished. "You are still younger than Loki in this developmental range then?" Like normal Thor didn't shift languages and continued in Allspeak, but thankfully didn't embarrass her by his words this time.
Kara nodded slowly. "And the gap is growing every year as I age slower than he does, though we don't believe it is by much."
"So you are truly immortal and not just gaining goddess status!" He exclaimed joyfully. "You will be able to come home whenever you wish now Sister! I had thought it had disappeared with the godhood when I regained my powers."
"Wait! Are you saying Blue was banished here four years ago?" Tony cut in, his tone slightly protective as he angled himself to stand slightly in front of her.
Kara shrugged not concerned by the situation. It was what it was. "Sort of, but it wasn't called banishment. I was allowed visitors and visitation anytime I wished." she flicked her eyes to her feet to avoid Tony's pitying stare. "I was an outcast and believed to be a mortal. Since mortals don't live long the Council didn't really want me around, and Odin isn't fond of mortals either. So while I am allowed back to visit mother, I was not welcomed to live in Asgard itself. At least until it was discovered that I am actually able to live as long as them. Now I am welcome back at any time if I wished. Mother informed me when we first realized I wasn't aging."
Thor shook his head always ready to argue his point. "That was not the reason for your post here." He claimed with confidence. "With your expected shorter lifespan it was the thought by the Allfather that you would be the best to understand them, and would be more comfortable living among them as it was your parent's intent for you reach Midgard."
"That and the hope I would complete whatever it is that I'm here to do, as soon as possible. After all; out of sight, out of mind, and hopefully Mother wouldn't become too attached before I die." She laughed humorlessly at the looks of horror on Steve, Bruce, Coulson and Tony's faces. The others had either passive or slightly disbelieving expressions. "After all there is always a reason for the things he does." She sneered at Thor as she quoted their mother. She hated the way Mother and Thor always believed in Odin, never questioning his actions. She'd also had time to become bitter this past year.
Odin had the ability all along to make her a goddess. He'd chosen not to even try. Her mother had tried to tell her it was because she would have demanded he try and never forgive him if he failed, but Kara didn't believe that. She knew it was because Odin believed any who were not already of Asgard didn't deserve the 'immortality' of Godhood.
"Enough!" Yelled Fury, "Petty, squabbling children! That is what this whole thing is about? Loki is here to conquer Earth because he is having a… a temper tantrum?"
Tony began to laugh. "And I thought I had 'Daddy Issues'!" He pointed at Fury. "You just got the granddaddy of all 'Daddy-Issues' dropped in your lap." He looked at both Kara and Thor. Taking in everything that had been said, both today and before in Kara's stories from, Asgard, and he laughed harder, "All three of them!" He chuckled darkly. Serves the one-eyed asshole right, Tony thought with sadistic glee as Fury's glower darkened a shade more.
"Well at least he looks the part," Kara snarked back at Tony, unknowingly echoing his thoughts. Tony cackled a little louder, he was proud of her sassy attitude.
Thor couldn't help the snort that escaped his lips. "Aye, the patch and glare does make for a striking resemblance." Even Kara cracked a smirk at Thor's comments. Fury's forehead was throbbing dangerously. Coulson was watching Fury carefully, but with his bland look. Romanoff was the one that was interesting to see. Her body language gave off the impression she was bored, but her pulse was telling Kara she was under high-stress and ready to snap.
Fury was not amused. He slammed his hand down on the table making everyone, even Banner who was as removed as he could be and still be a part of the discussion, jump, "Enough with the god-damn jokes!" He barked menacingly. "We need to find the super-powered space cube and get it back from the brainwashed drones Loki took with his scepter! I don't have time for childish jokes!"
"We also know he has an army of creatures known as the Chitauri." Thor told them, making everyone turn and stare unbelieving at the massive Prince.
Kara whipped around at glowered at him. "WE know WHAT?" Her voice filled with rage that made the Helicarrier shudder at the decibels she used to scream at Thor. "You are just telling us about them now!"
Thor looked sheepish. "I had meant to warn the humans and you earlier, but other matters took precedence."
"Who is we?" Fury demanded barely holding his tone to non-screaming decibels himself.
"The Allfather and Heimdall had seen them making their way out of unknown space." Thor admitted quietly. "They are a long way off, which was why I was sent to retrieve the Tesseract and Loki, so this army could not come here. With the Tesseract gone there would be no need to come to Midgard and bypass the rest of the Nine who could defend themselves from such an invasion force."
"He's going to need the Tesseract to build another portal." Banner hesitantly spoke up, throwing in his expert opinion. "That's why he needed Selvig." Bruce look uncomfortable as everyone turned their full attention towards him and couldn't finish his thought.
"Because he's an astrophysicist," Tony chimed in agreeing with the other PhD in the room, finishing what Banner had started to say. "Guess it's a good thing Blondie's girlfriend said no to signing on to SHIELD, isn't it Agent." Tony turned to smile widely at Coulson. The Agent in question nodded quietly, inwardly thanking which ever god was listening that Jane had said no. Otherwise Thor would likely be as volatile as Supergirl at present and that would be a disaster for the Universe. Over the past year Zor El had calmed as her grief was dealt with, but right now she was all over the place. It was understandable, but more volatile than they needed.
"My question is," Banner continued before Tony could get them off-topic again, "what did they need the Iridium for?"
"It's a stabilizing agent." Tony told him off-handedly as he finally turned to fully face the Doctor who seemed unable to leave the doorway. "They need it to stop the portal from collapsing on itself as it did at SHIELD." He turned to Fury, "Not nice blaming baby bro for that by the way. That was all on you guys. After the initial collapse you should have made a run for it instead of waiting for the left over energy to explode." He turned back to Banner. "That means the portal can stay open as wide and as long as he needs it to be, to bring this army of CheeChee's here."
"That makes a lot of sense." Banner muttered as he turned the problem over in his mind while ignoring Tony's butchering of the alien race's name.
"The rest of the raw materials Agent Barton can get a hold of rather easily. So they would just need to be somewhere they could manufacture the parts they need, which could be anywhere really. I could do it in my new Tower really." Tony offered Banner some of his blueberries before he started walking around the table. He looked very bored as everyone else stared at him with differing levels of understanding. He continued to lecture the others, "Only major component that might be difficult is a power source. Something of high energy density…"
"Because it has to be able to kick-start the cube to reproduction level power." Kara moaned as she sat heavily into a chair and began banging her head off the table dramatically. She hadn't known what Loki had been doing when he was arrested. Now it was beginning to take shape in her mind. No wonder he'd given himself up. He knew they couldn't stop what was coming. Even if Loki wasn't at the head of the Army, it would already have a general in Barton, or more likely, a commander from Unknown Space coming with his troops.
"When did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" Agent Hill asked of Tony, as she walked up from behind Banner and entered the room.
"Last night." Tony answered back. Everyone else turned at looked lost, or bewildered by Tony's off-handed comment. For some it was the fact that he'd learned a new field of science in one night, for others it was that they had either ignored, or not been aware that there was something they needed to know. "The packet… Selvig's notes…" Everyone stared at him blankly, "The Extraction Theory papers? Am I the only one who did the reading?" He teased the room, sounding as pissy as a sixteen year old debutant not getting her way.
Kara lifted her hand with a peeved look. "In my own defense, I wasn't read in at all, or giving the reading material."
Tony looked over at the frustrated 'Girl of Steel' and gave her a nod, and a playful, yet patronizing pat on the head. "You're excused, but the rest of you… Tsk. Shame on you all, skipping your homework, what kind of examples are you to this young girl?" He asked of them pointing to an unimpressed Kara.
Steve looked annoyed as hell with everything that was going on around him. "Does the power source need to be anything special?" His fed up attitude told Tony he needed to curb the sass a bit.
Banner spoke up first trying to dumb down the science so they could understand what was being said, "To… kick-start the cube," He stammered while he stole a quick looked at Kara as he spoke the words she had used, "he would have to heat it to one hundred million Kelvin just to break through the coulomb barrier."
"Unless Selvig has managed to find a way to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect," Stark replied with a smug tone.
"If he could do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet." Banner volleyed back.
"Finally, someone who speaks English!" Tony replied with a wide grin.
"Hey, I speak English too." Kara snapped peevishly.
"Yes, but as we already established you didn't do the reading, and were excused from the conversation." Tony replied teasingly pompous.
"Whatever dad," Kara grumbled as she put her head down.
Tony walked over and shook Banner's hand. "Good to meet you Dr. Banner, I loved your work on anti-electron collision was unparalleled."
Kara's head snapped up. "You're that Dr. Banner! You're the Dr. Bruce Banner; the multi-doctorate, physicist, biochemist, and medical MD, from Culver University!" She hadn't been introduced to the doctor yet. In fact no one had mentioned his name to her.
Bruce looked from Tony who was in his personal space to the excited look on Kara's face. "Yes…" He said hesitantly.
"I love your work." Kara gushed excitedly. "I actually wrote a paper based on your electron collision paper for my masters final." She came over and offered her hand to him. "I am so sorry, I wasn't paying too much attention to Tony. I'd have caught on sooner if I bothered to listen to him in any real way." Banner slowly took her hand and gave her an unsure, uneasy grin. Tony looked a little put out by her comment.
"Nice to meet you too," He stammered a little as he met her very firm handshake with his own careful one. He was staggered as he could only think about her comment. He had looked at some information on Supergirl when she had first come on the scene, but he hadn't known she had gone to a human university.
"Yes and I am a huge fan of the way you lose control and turn into a huge green rage monster." Tony agreed with a sarcastic but charming smile. He had also caught Kara's slip about her schooling, and was trying to deflect attention from it.
"By Rao, Tony I can't take you anywhere." Kara snapped and pushed him out of the way. "Don't let him fool you," She told Banner with a huge smile. "He was actually very impressed with your work too."
Banner wasn't sure what to say so he just laughed uneasily. Kara pushed Tony backwards a few steps. "Personal space Tony, learn it, use it." Everyone else seemed to ease up with her display, except Fury.
"Dr. Banner is only here to track the cube." Fury reminded the group. He seemed less on edge now that the team was actually getting up to speed on the topic that really mattered. "I was hoping you could help him." He said to Tony. "I suppose you could help." He added to Kara. With that Tony and Kara walked out of the room. Kara reached out and snagged Banner's jacket with her hand dragging him along.
"You ok Doc?" Kara chuckled with excitement. She would actually get to talk with one of her idols here on Midgard for the first time. "We won't get far without the Gamma Radiation expert."
Banner doubted that. Between Tony and Kara he was sure they could figure it all out, it just might take them extra time that Earth just might not have. He also had a head start on his search already so he led them to the lab he had been using to search for the Cube.