"Steve stop fidgeting," Clint blurts, irritation coloring his tone.
"Sorry I'm…excited? Or maybe nervous. I can't really tell right now."
Clint purses his lips. "That's fine, just sit the fuck still."
Settling back in, the drive is silent once again as Steve watches the trees whiz past and blur together into a blob of green. Tony had thought it wise to go into the forest, far outside the city, to avoid attention, Thor's included.
Happy, Tony's driver, takes a sharp right and turns the car onto a practically invisible path between the sea of trees. The road is uneven and the team has to brace themselves through the twists and bumps that jostle them about the vehicle.
When they come to a stop Bruce instantly dives out and sucks in a deep breath. The air is crisp, almost beyond the touch of the city and its constant undercurrent of toxins that he can always just sense.
"Thanks Happy," Bruce says after a long exhale. He breathes deeper still as if trying to banish the city air from his lungs. "We should come out here more often."
Natasha and Clint's faces express their distaste at this idea. "I'm good," they say in unison.
"I'll come with you, Bruce. This is refreshing." Steve turns in a circle. The trees are all he can see and it's calming to be this far off; to be anonymous for a moment in a time where someone is always wanting something, demanding something of Captain America. More more more. He loves and prides himself on what he does of course, but now and again a break is needed.
"I will be back in three hours. Try not to be much later than that if you can help it." Happy slips back into the car and drives off kicking up dust in his wake.
"So how is this gonna work?" Clint's body is wrought with tension, eyes scanning the treeline in a wary fashion.
"Chill the fuck out Clint. If we go in there looking this tense they're going to think something's up," Natasha responds. She clamps a hand on his shoulder and squeezes roughly.
"We're not even armed." Clint is scowling now, but the lines of his body are more even, less poised for attack or defense.
"Doesn't matter. In a place like that, if they're all even a bit like Thor, we're screwed. We could cause a universal incident. Hell," she shifts her gaze to Steve. "Why are they even letting us go?"
Steve rocks back on his heels then forward to his toes, smile playing on his lips. "Fury trusts us not to do anything 'the universe might regret'. And I can be pretty convincing in a pinch."
Clint scoffs. "I'm sure, but really, how are we doing this? We can't just show up, God knows where up there, and hope for the best." Natasha and Bruce nod in agreement.
"We're not going in blind…completely. We have Heimdall."
"Heimdall?" Bruce questions.
"He's another Asgardian. Thor told me he can see across time and space, and watches Earth especially for him. I guess he favors him so I figured that would be our best bet."
"You figured?" Clint's rigid posture chances a comeback until Natasha splays a hand between his shoulder blades.
"Yes…but if what Thor says is true, and why would he lie, Heimdall is watching us right now," Steve grimaces, "and knows we're not coming to start up a war." Steve's face flushes slightly at the notion that in having to explain this to his teammates, his friends, Heimdall is watching and taking in the wretched, no doubt severe underestimation of his abilities.
Clint turns his eyes to the sky and salutes. "Hey there, big guy."
"Clint!" Natasha hisses.
"I'm being friendly," Clint says, but restrains himself from saying more as Natasha grits her teeth by his side.
Steve mutters under his breath and fixes the archer with a disapproving look. The whole situation is less than ideal as it is without Clint mouthing off to someone they have not even met yet.
Sighing, Steve turns his face toward the sky. "Heimdall, I figure you're watching us right now and we're going to come, without Thor, momentarily. Look out for us. I'd really like to return to Earth in one piece and I'm sure Thor would appreciate it too." Steve rubs the back of his neck after his attempt at levity; everything is suddenly much more daunting with his own fears voiced by Clint and the notion of actually going hanging in the air around them.
Steve adjusts the transport device in his arms and grips one handle, holding the other out to Clint. Clint grips the other side as Natasha lays a hand on his shoulder and Bruce lays a hand on Steve's.
"Let's get this show on the road." Clint twists the cool metal under his grasp and the four disappear in a pulse of blue light.
When they arrive in Asgard, they all stagger about, until hands are on knees, each gasping and trying to force back the nausea in their bodies.
"I'm going to retch all over this pretty little walkway," Clint groans.
"That is not wise," a voice rumbles. They all freeze caught off guard by this extra presence before swinging their eyes farther along the bridge, mindful not to look too closely at the yawning blackness surrounding them off either edge.
The man, the Asgardian, looming in front of them, all hard lines and huge bodied, is clothed in glittering gold armor. His face, grim and inscrutable, is set off by luminous honey colored eyes and Steve's body shudders violently under the heavy gaze when it settles on him. His past, present, future, damning him, saving him, as the gaze skirts over his body. When it leaves him he sighs, but sees each of his teammates tense up as they are subjected to the same scrutiny.
"Heimdall?" Steve questions when the enigmatic figure stares especially long at Clint.
Heimdall's gaze swings back to him and Steve straightens up to his full height though the urge to cower, to bow at his feet is almost unbearable.
Steve cannot perceive a single emotion on the face before him as the Asgardian chooses not respond immediately. The waves of anxiety floating off his teammates is cloying; it breaks over his senses and clouds his mind as he tries to hold it, and them, together.
"You should not have come." The voice makes them all curl into themselves, intelligence and vast knowledge seeps through his intonations and its depth.
"But yes, I am Heimdall." This sentence, much different than the last, washes over the four with a soft vibration that calms them just a fraction.
"You are Thor's companions," he eyes each of them in kind before settling his stare on Steve. "His lover," he finishes. Steve never knew the word could sound so heavy, so laced with layers of meaning; a threat, knowledge of everything and anything, a touch of happiness. Steve does not know what to make of it.
"You know our purpose then," Steve says as he finds his voice.
Steve manages to keep his face blank, though his body is alert with surprise, when a ghost of a smile flits across the Asgardian's features.
"I shall take you," Heimdall states before turning his back to the group. We are clearly no threat in his mind.
Trailing behind him, the four make their way over the suspended shimmering bridge and approach the vast world before them. It is breathtaking and the team's eyes shift and slide down the curves and slopes of the emerging palace. It is so much better and so much more alien than Thor ever described.
Entering a hall, Clint clears his throat awkwardly before he speaks. "I'm sorry about before." It sounds strangely meek for the often highly sarcastic and strong willed archer.
"Think nothing of it," Heimdall answers, voice echoing around them.
Clint seems to find more of his courage. "Thor is going easy on us, isn't he?"
Heimdall slows his pace, allowing the others to catch up before displacing Steve to his left and staring at Clint on his right. "'Easy on you'?" he repeats. It sounds much less playful coming from his lips.
"Yeah, err, well there's you," Clint's laughter is a touch higher than normal, "And you're you…with that 1000 yard, 1 million yard stare, and then there's Thor, all boyish charm and enthusiasm. I was just wondering, if you know, he…" Clint shrugs as he trails off.
Heimdall fixes his eyes to the front again and guides the group to the right and down a larger more ornate hall with massive doors at the end.
"He can be imposing if he wishes."
They have to come to a stop as Heimdall halts in front of the doors; the two guards posted on either side of the expanse do not even glance in their direction.
"What's happening now?" Clint is fully in control of himself once again, the conversation with Heimdall having coaxed him back to equilibrium.
"You will meet with the king."
Clint laughs breathily. "Oh goody."