Sorry it's been so long! This has been a long time coming and hopefully I'll put in a new chapter soon after this one so keep an eye out for it!
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The Shield base was in uproar.
Not only had the Avengers just got back from a mission involving a crazed super-villain (always a cause for busy Agents) but they had brought said villain into custody (a true anomaly).
The helicopter ride back had been mostly silent but the noise had started as soon as they had touched down around two hours ago and hadn't stopped yet. The only break Tony had been given was when he went to go take off his suit but even then he was only given time to get out of the actual armour before being ushered back to the meeting room where the other Avengers waited. Clint was still wearing his black gear and carrying his boy and Steve had only managed to set down his shield and helmet in his room. Natasha walked in about the same time Tony did wearing a sling but still in her catsuit. If Tony were in any better mood he would have commented on her ability to get the suit on and off with a hurt arm but nobody was in the mood for jokes.
Bruce and Thor walked into the room a step ahead of Fury and Coulson to complete the team. All four had serious expressions on their faces and no one spoke while they were seated at the meeting table.
Tony knew he had been wishing for silence but this was of the uncomfortable variety and the billionaire was not a fan.
"Well..!"
"Shut it Stark." Fury didn't look to the Ironman before gesturing to Coulson to speak for him.
"As you are all aware, at approximately one o'clock Eastern time the terrorist known as Loki was taken into custody after a government funded agency planned out a mission in which to do so as an act of surprise at his current residence. The terrorist was then forcibly drugged and locked in Dr Banner's containment facility here on base. Would you care to elaborate Doctor?"
"It's basically just a steel tube laid horizontally with a bed inside. It can be filled with small amounts of sleeping gas so as to keep the prisoner calm and has medical openings that the prisoner cannot open from the inside. I honestly built it for myself, you know, just in case, but this should work for a magic user as well. Currently Loki is still unconscious so we have yet to see if this will work but I have every assurance that it will do so."
"So we don't even know if this thing will hold him? Have you ever even tested the thing?"
Bruce glared at Tony for a moment then said in a perfectly controlled voice, "Yes, and worked on me just fine."
Tony shut up at that.
"Thank you Dr Banner. Now, soon after the prisoner was flown back to base my agents began their usual search of the premise to see if we could find any evidence of attack methods. Instead, one of my agents found a child's bedroom."
Natasha and Dr Banner each showed surprise (each in their own small ways, ie Natasha squinted her eyes a bit and Bruce raised an eyebrow) at this information as they had not yet been told of this but not surprisingly Thor's reaction was the strangest.
Instead of the expected outburst from the Thunder God, he merely grimaced. Tony and Steve both caught this and looked at each other in mild surprise before turning their attention back to Coulson who hadn't finished speaking.
"Moments later one of my agents reported a possible hostile situation on the back of the perimeter so I and and the remaining members of my team surrounded the shed the person was hiding in. I happened to be stationed at an area where I could see through a break in the outer wall and saw what the shed contained so I made the decision to proceed forward."
Here Coulson paused and continued the rest of his report looking at the table in front of him. Tony found to his surprise that there was actual in emotion in the normally detached Agents voice as he gave the rest of his report.
"Inside I found a woman holding onto an infant and very obviously scared for her life. She did not appear to be in a right state of mind but when I mentioned that we were there to help she handed me the child and proceeded to collapse from what I am told was a mixture of stress and anxiety caused by the trauma of the situation. The woman has yet to recover and is being monitored in the medical bay under armed guard until we figure out her connection to the prisoner. The child, Erik, is assumed to be the terrorist's son and is currently being watched by Agents Lewis and Hill until such as a time as we figure out what to do with him."
Coulson went quiet at the end of the report and all eyes went to Thor who was shifting uncomfortably in his chair.
Thor merely put a photo in a cracked picture frame on the table in front of everyone.
It showed an image of the woman and Loki staring dreamily into the camera. Loki had a crooked smile on his face and the women was shown wearing a golden hair piece. The shot was only of the neck up but it was clear from the looks on both of their faces that the two in the photo were very much in love. It creeped Tony out.
"She was known as Sigyn before... before she lost her memories. The All-Father put a damper on her power and placed her on Midgard until she regained them as she was only causing strife in the court... She was Loki's wife. I'm told she goes by the name of Isabel these days."
Everyone was stunned by this revelation. Loki had a wife? The crazy super villain with major Daddy issues was married? Sure certain stories from Norse mythology said he was married but as Thor had told the team time and time again, most of the stories were lies or blown way out of proportion.
"What of Erik. Do you have any idea what we should do with him?"
Thor seemed to come out of his memory induced haze and looked Fury dead in the eye.
"Sigyn and my brother had two other children, twin boys, but they have long since left Asgard in pursuit of adventure in the other realms and haven't been heard of in years. I'm told Loki had a way of contacting them so he could check in on them but he never revealed what exactly that was. Asgardian custom dictates that in case such as this the child should go the mother's family but since Sigyn has no living relatives that is not an option. Loki has one other daughter but she is not able to look after children in her realm and I am obviously not suited for such a task. Perhaps my Mother would be willing but since Loki is still banished from Asgard I don't know if it is wise to bring his child there."
"Would not be wise?" Fury questioned.
Thor's face went stoney as he said, "Loki is still considered a traitor and a criminal and if were sent back to Asgard his punishment would be severe. In our culture, the sons and daughters of the guilty are given the same consideration as the parents. I would not send the son my brother back to Asgard only to be used as a bargaining chip against Loki should he ever get out of line. It would be a death sentence for one and a lifetime of guilt for the the other."
"That's barbaric!" Steve shouted as he stood up and looked for all the world like he was ready to go up to Asgard and knock some sense into its people himself.
"Do not forget mortal, that Asgardian laws have been around longer than you can image with a fully united realm that has never been at war amongst itself. Midgard, on the other hand, is divided up in a hundred different ways and even among these divisions there are wars and hatred everywhere you look even with your laws. So tell me, which is better?"
In that moment Thor reminded everyone at the table that he was to the future King of Asgard and never before had he looked so ready for the part.
"Knock it off! This still leaves us back at square one. What to do with the kid?" Fury eyed each member of the team as he said this and when no one seemed to have an answer Tony spoke up.
"He can stay with us. At least until his Momma gets better and we can ship the pair of them off to some small town where you can keep an eye on them."
"Ha! Good one Stark. Seriously, can you imagine? I'd be like that movie Three Men and a Baby except ours would be Two Men, the Best Sniper in the World, a God, the Green Giant, One Super Assassin, and a Super Villain's Baby." Clint seemed to smile as he thought of what the Avenger's Manor would be like with the kid running around. "Not to mention the random agents that always seem to pop in and out the place and the robot butler."
"Okay woah stop there. First of all, Jarvis is not a butler, he's a super powered AI built to assist me. Secondly, how in the world am I classified as an ordinary man? Why not billionaire playboy-"
"Stark! As interesting as listening to you talk about yourself is," here Fury just gave his usual Tony-I-Hate-You glare, "I actually think your idea has merit. And Barton, you have a point to, since none of you seem to have the ability to care for a child and since we have yet to assign Agent Lewis residency here on base I'm moving her in to help look after the child when you all can't."
Each and every one of the Avengers (except Tony who volunteered the idea) started to protest but Fury cut them off with one simple statement.
"Our only other option is to send him back to Asgard. Think of it as a mission; to protect a prince."
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Well?
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~Mysterious Little Person