The Breakfast Bar, Common Area, Avengers Tower, Midgard

The Next Morning

Steve Rodgers and Natasha Romanov strolled into the common area, feeling they were reasonably prepared for any sight that might greet them. Tony's message had come late last night, complete with a recording of the night's events and Thor's short explanation. The billionaire had sent his private jet to fly them over right away, certain they'd want to be here. It jet had dropped them off and then set course immediately to wherever Barton was hiding out.

They were not prepared to see Thor changing the soiled nappy of a new-born child on the breakfast counter. The smell alone was enough to send Steve off to heave into the sink, trying desperately not to throw up the bagel and coffee they had collected on the drive over. Nat, clearly made of sterner stuff than the captain, walked over to Thor.

"That's not hygienic. We eat here. Go do it somewhere else." One look at Natasha's stern face had Thor scrambling to finish and move to the other side of the room. He disposed of the dirty diaper, and took Sigynsdottir to the small couch in the corner of the kitchen. Nat selected the largest bottle of bleach she could find and began pouring it over the counter. Steve went to help once he had gotten himself under control.

"Have you ever cleaned anything before?" he asked incredulously as she continued to empty half the bottle. Nat looked at him drily. He sighed and went to work finding something to wipe up the bleach. There was no 'evidence' of Thor's work on the counter, but he still cleaned it all unnecessarily thoroughly.

"Is that her?" Nat asked, staring hard at the pink wrapped bundle in Thor's arms. She looked as though she were assessing a potential target.

"Do you see any other babies around here?" Tony answered as he came in from the elevator, Pepper following him, busily talking away on the phone as she did. "My tower was an infant free zone just hours ago, look at it now." He sighed heavily.

"My friends," Thor declared loudly. "This is Sigynsdottir." He looked astoundingly proud, sitting there holding the baby to his chest. He had removed his armour at some point, and was now dressed in a loose grey t-shirt and jeans. At the sound of his loud voice the bundle squirmed, revealing a tiny hand that batted at his chest before gasping a long braid hanging down from his head and tugging.

"Carefully sweetling," the god of thunder said, staring at the child with a near awed look on his face. "You will one day be a fine warrior, but may haps you can leave my hair attached to my skull? I prefer it there." Steve and Natasha stared at Thor, astounded by the care he was taking with the baby. Thor regularly forgot his strength - destroying doors and furniture by accident.

"I know." Tony said, staring at the two. "We were all shocked." He dove into the paper bag Nat had just handed him, extracting his own bagel, passing Pepper hers when she came for it. "Point Break? Your bagel's getting cold. J.A.R.V.I.S.? Tell Bruce and the others to get up here, Capsicle brought breakfast."

Steve finally managed to get his head around Thor's surprising baby-care prowess, asking the thunder god; "Are we really going to call her 'Sigynsdottir'? It seems like an awful big name for such a little kid."

"Aye. She must not be named until her character is known to us. Only then can we be sure the runes of her name suit her." Steve nodded, looking no less confused.

"And remember," Tony said, refilling the coffee cup Nat and Steve had brought him from the coffee machine. "They called her siblings 'Jörmungandr' and 'Fenrisúlfr' so she's out o' luck if she wants a short name."

"Since when did you become an expert on Norse Mythology?" Bruce asked as he wandered in. "Don't tell me, last night?"

Tony chuckled, nodding. Pepper hung up her phone call, turning to him. "I'll be back about lunch for the team meeting. I've gotta go to work, finance are having a meltdown over something ridiculous." She turned to Steve. "I am invited to the meeting, right?"

Steve blushed. He always blushed around Pepper. Or in fact, all women that weren't Natasha, who seemed to get a free pass as a fellow avenger. "Sure. It's not just a team matter anyhow."

Pepper kissed Tony briefly and then left, saying morning to Jane, Darcy and Erik on her way past them as they entered.

"Morning Superheroes!" Darcy announced, wandering over to Thor. "Can I hold her?" she asked, eyes wide. Thor looked at her for a long moment.

Jane sighed. "You need to eat your bagel, Thor. And you can't drink hot coffee whilst holding a new-born. She'll still be there in five minutes." She told him. Thor nodded, passing her gently over to Darcy who immediately started up a stream of baby talk, coo'ing at the infant.

"Do all women do that around babies?" Tony asked Steve in confusion. The soldier eyed Natasha guiltily. The assassin was still staring intently at the infant as though it might attempt to slit their throats in their sleep.

"No." said Steve.

After they'd all eaten, and the baby had been passed to a hesitant Jane whilst Darcy ate, Natasha turned to Tony, taking her eyes off Sigynsdottir for the first time all day. "Do you still have the suspect in custody?"

"As if I'd let him go before he had the chance to meet you!" Tony told her drily. "I suppose we'll leave you to get all the answers?" Nat nodded, turning to Steve for confirmation.

"Clint should be here by lunch," the captain said, "so we'll plan to meet then to discuss what we all know. Jane, could you look at any readings Tony might have on the portal that opened up here? We need to be sure it won't happen again, until we know for sure we can't assume the tower is completely secure so everyone keep on guard for suspicious activity."

"I'll see what I can find out." Jane replied, looking reluctantly excited about having fresh data to work with. "Erik can help me go over it so I'll have something for you by lunch." Steve nodded at her in thanks.

Bruce spoke up. "I'm going to give Sigyn another check-up, see if I can get any readings on brain activity. Just as a precaution," he assured Thor seeing the god's concerned expression. "See if I can get a better idea on when she'll come around."

"I must attempt to assemble the many clever devices Lady Pepper purchased for the comfort of Sigynsdottir." Thor announced, looking excited at the prospect of 'building'.

"I better help hammer-time. I don't think IKEA furniture can withstand a blow from Mjólnir." Tony cut in.

"Are you sure?" Steve looked as though he wasn't sure he could think of anything more concerning than Tony Stark, Thor and a new-born child attempting to build a cot.

"I'm an engineer!" Tony told him, looking offended. "How hard can it be?"

"Alright," Steve said, conceding the point, though he didn't look entirely convinced. "Perhaps Darcy can go with you to help with Sigy- err, Sigynsdotty- er… can we just call her Dot?" he asked Thor pleadingly.

Darcy beamed. "Aww! Little Dot! I love it." She declared, taking the baby back from her boss now she had finished her coffee.

Thor nodded thoughtfully. "Very well. That is acceptable."

Steve looked relieved. "Right. I'll go with Nat to interrogate the prisoner. We'll all come here for lunch and then have a meeting afterwards." The group dispersed to their individual tasks.

The Common Area, Avengers Tower, Midgard

Lunchtime

Thor had thoroughly enjoyed making the small guest room fit for a new-born. They had chosen the room as if shared a wall each with his and Jane's bedroom and another fairly sized room which Sigyn could move into once she was healthy enough. The small baby furniture had been entertaining to assemble, and the Man of Iron had been a huge help, redesigning some pieces to make them more efficient. Or so he had claimed.

Thor was unsure why an infant's bedroom needed an area easily changed into a small lab, or a desk with a roll out section for a computer screen, but supposed any child of Loki's could potentially develop rapidly.

Lunch was a loud affair, with the entire team assembled for the first time since New York. Jane was happily babbling about the data readings she had been working on with Erik Selvig. Tony and Bruce immediately joined in as they sat down, and Thor was reminded strongly of Loki and his mother discussing magic at the dinner table that completely baffled Thor.

Steve and Nat were sharing a quiet conversation, concerned looks on their faces. They stopped when Clint sat down next to them, catching up with their fellow agent. The archer had barely looked Dot, other than to stare appraisingly at her when he had first walked in. Thor's niece was currently being passed between Lady Pepper and Lady Darcy as they ate.

After they'd all finished, and Dot had fallen to sleep after Thor had fed her another bottle - this time prepared by his own hand under J.A.R.V.I.S.'s careful ever-present gaze – the team moved down the large conference room that they used previously for meetings like this one. The god of thunder settled the sleeping girl in the 'Moses basket' that Pepper had ordered where she had slept the night before. He had dragged it up here in the morning.

The Captain of America got everyone's attention, and then started with, "So let's start by recapping what we found out this morning. Bruce?"

The man who was also sometimes The Hulk cleared his throat nervously, taking off his glasses to fiddle with them. "Sigyn seems to be healing surprisingly well. Her wound is nearly healed, and although the blood loss is still a factor she should be almost fully healed by tomorrow some time. She's almost fully recovered from the birth too, which is unheard of. I'm assuming this is an Asgardian thing, Thor?"

"Aye, I have often found the slow rate that humans heal to be odd. Was there any news about why she won't wake?" he asked Bruce.

"According to her brain activity she's in a deep sleep. There are signs of severe, prolonged lack of sleep though, so I'm going to assume she's been prioritising over rest if she's been under threat for some time, so I'm not massively concerned about that. I'll look into it further if she's not showing any signs of waking by tomorrow, but at this point I suspect her body's just catching up on sleep debt."

Thor nodded, thanking the doctor once again. Steve turned to Jane, asking if she had any news on the portal data. The astrophysicist explained that the portal didn't match any data on the convergence, suggesting it was likely not a portal at all. She explained that it most resembled the Bifrost data she had gotten in New Mexico, though on a much smaller scale. "If I had to make a guess, I'd say that it was a pathway that Sigyn guided to Thor in some way. Would that be possible?" she asked her boyfriend.

Thor thought back to the many conversations about magical theory Loki and Sigyn had shared, most of which he had completely ignored. He remembered Sigyn jokingly asking Loki to teach her how to use the secret paths. "It is possible that my brother taught Sigyn how to walk the secret paths." He answered. "It may explain her unconsciousness if my good-sister had travelled this way. From what I remember them discussing, it is a very draining type of magic to use."

Jane nodded, looking pleased. "The coloured light when she turned up in sort of like what it looked like when Loki took us to Svartálfheim."

"Aye." Thor said, recognising the similarity now that she had pointed it out.

"So we'll assume that Sigyn's arrival was a spontaneous event. That lines up with what me a Nat found out." Steve said.

"The guy was pretty quick to talk. Told us plenty with very little 'persuasion' necessary." The black widow said. "He's a bounty hunter, apparently sent to punish Loki as an example of what happens to those who fail as world conquerors." She stated blandly.

There was a moment of silence. "Sent by whom." Thor asked harshly. "Who dares threaten my good-sister!" the anger in his voice made the room tremble.

"A guy called The Other, apparently he works for 'Thanos'" she replied. Thor let out a roar of rage and leapt from the table, turning and crashing a hand into the wooden cabinet behind him and splitting it in half. Dot let out a loud cry – the loudest noise she had made so far – and Thor immediately calmed. He walked over to her, lifting her gently from the basket and against his chest, holding her like a security blanket and apologising for waking her.

"Wanna explain that Big Guy?" Tony asked, hesitantly. "That's coming out of your rent, by the way."

"We don't pay rent." Jane said, looking confused.

"Damn." Tony said, before adding. "It's coming out of your Pop-Tart allowance then."

"I apologise, Tony Stark, but that name does not bring me comfort."

"We kinda figured." Barton said. "What's with this Thanos guy anyway?"

"They call him the Mad Titan. A being who achieved immortality, and then promptly went mad. He has destroyed whole worlds in his madness, sure that Lady Death is teasing him as a lover would tease. If my brother landed in Thanos' court when he threw himself from the Bifrost, then it is no wonder he was the madman whom I hardly recognised when he came to your world. One does not deny the Mad Titan and live."

"That's basically what the bounty hunter said." Steve added, when the room had silenced again at Thor's proclamation. The thunder god had returned to his seat, but was still holding his niece to his chest, as though he needed her to remain calm. "He gave us some long spiel about how 'The Other' said that Loki had 'slipped his leash', that he'd been tortured for a year before the invasion and implied that he failed on purpose by getting us all to beat him down, and making the portal really small or something."

Barton looked furious. "No way. I can believe that he was tortured, cos he was half-dead on his feet when he came through the portal, but no way am I gonna forgive the guy who took over my mind without some pretty hard evidence." He said. Tony looked thoughtful, as though he was going over the invasion in his head and looking for discrepancies. Nat was blank faced as always, and Bruce was fiddling with his glasses again. Thor felt hope flooding through him.

It should not relieve him to learn that his brother had been tortured for a year, that he had been forced to commit horrors against his will and then locked away by a man he had once called father as punishment with no questioning as to why he had done any of it, but he could not deny the relief he felt. To know that is brother had not been as lost to him as he had thought hurt a great deal, but it was a fresh clean hurt, unlike the festering pain that had been there before.

Thor looked at the tiny bundle that was half-his-brother in his arms. Dot was awake, but lying quietly and staring at his face. He reached a hand to touch hers, and she wrapped his smallest finger in her tiny fist.

"He gave us this." Nat said, interrupting Thor's contemplations. She was holding out a strange data chip of some kind. "I'm sure Stark will enjoy working out how to read it. Genuine alien tech." she passed it over to the engineer, who looked as though all his Christmas's and Birthdays had come at once.

Steve coughed, trying to clear the awkwardness that had followed Barton's words. "Right, we'll leave the discussion about Loki for now until we know more." He stated. "It's obvious Sigyn's under threat, and we're not going to let any faction that had a part in the New York attack take revenge on an innocent woman and her daughter"-

Nat interrupted. "But we need to know why we shouldn't just hand her over to Asgard if they come looking, Thor. We can't afford to go to war with an advanced race."

"Not without knowing what we're getting ourselves in for." Steve said. "We've been patient enough, but we need answers Thor."

The god nodded, looking down at Dot. "Very well. It is a long tale, and I must ask that you do not judge me too harshly in my previous actions. Until I came to your realm I idolised my father and everything he stood for. I now see that all the glorious tales he told of the battles he won are but words to cover the horror of his deeds. My father is not a wise king who holds the realms in peace, but a tyrant that rules them with fear."

Tony spoke up. "You're gonna have to give us more than that, buddy."

"After my brother was assumed dead from his fall from the Bifrost, I agreed to be the one to sort through his belongings. I found a book, handwritten by Sigyn herself where she had pulled together factual re-telling's of the battles my father fought in throughout his whole reign. They were versions of the tales I had been told as a child that I had never heard before.

"I checked the history books she had sourced in her work and found that they all told the same truth; that Odin started nearly all the wars as means to conquer other realms. It was not, as he had claimed to me, as a means of bringing about peace but so that Asgard could hold the untied wealth of all of the realms, taking a tithe from each of them in payment for Asgard's 'protection'."

"I…ok, so I wanna read the book, but how is this relevant to Dot?" Darcy asked.

"It is where the tale begins, with Vanaheim's second rebellion. When we first heard word that the Vanir were growing restless, following the death of the Asgardian diplomat my grandfather, King Bor had instated as king, and that my mother's sister, Freyja Skadisdottir had married in order to take her rightful place as queen, Father was concerned about Asgard's defences. He put out word that Asgard would pay any price for the strongest wall to be built in the shortest time.

"Within the week a man came who said he could build a wall in a year that none would ever be able to tear down. He demanded the Moon and the Sun – great weapons from Asgard's Vault – and the hand of the now widowed Queen Freyja, who is still said to be the most beautiful woman in all the realms. Loki was perhaps a hundred at the time, and I around a half that again"-

"How old is that?" Pepper asked. "We rarely ever live to a hundred, so that doesn't mean much."

J.A.R.V.I.S. spoke up. "According to a conversation myself and Mr. Odinson had several days ago about the relative ages of Asgardians, Loki would be around ten years old, and Thor about thirteen years old."

Tony did some quick calculations. "That doesn't make sense."

J.A.R.V.I.S. used the wall to project a list of ages, and the relevant Asgardian age. "We discovered, through the use of generic images of human children shown to Mr. Odinson, that Asgardians to not age in relation to humans in a linear fashion. Though they appear to age half as fast when they are infants, it changes to an eighth until they reach about 100 years. It continues to lengthen, until they hit 'political maturity' at 1100."

"Political maturity?" Darcy asked.

"Is this like the child soldiers thing?" Jane asked Thor.

"The Asgardians appear to have different values of majority than humans, and can be considered old enough to go to war from as young as 10 or 11." J.A.R.V.I.S. said.

Everyone took the time to let that sink in.

"Asgard is weird." Clint broke the silence.

"Perhaps if J.A.R.V.I.S. can translate the ages as I tell you the story?" Thor asked. Steve nodded, looking pale at the thought of ten year old children going to war. "The price the builder asked for the wall was not one we could pay. But we needed the wall. Loki suggested to our father that we offer the builder the challenge to build the wall in three seasons, and only pay him if he succeeded. That way we would get ¾ of a wall for free, and could finish the rest at a very low price. The builder accepted the challenge, asking only that he be allowed the help of his horse."

"Oh shit, no the horse thing happened when he was ten? Christ. This is not as funny as I found it last night. What the hell is wrong with you guys?" Tony asked incredulously.

"The horse thing?" Steve asked.

"Basically the guy nearly finished it in time so the King demanded Loki fix it and he turned himself into a horse to entice the stallion away, but it went wrong and he ended up knocked up." The billionaire explained.

"What?" Clint asked in shock. It was mirrored around the table.

"That is what happened, yes. The builder revealed himself to be a frost giant, and I gained my 'First Blood' status by slaying him."-

"'First Blood'?" Steve asked in confusion.

"No man is a man 'til he hath first drawn blood, no woman is a woman 'til she first bleeds." Thor quoted. "It is the age one is considered old enough to go to war, or to marry."

"You have to kill someone as a rite of passage?" Clint asked, incredulous. "That's crazy!"

Thor continued; "I was proclaimed a hero,, while Loki disappeared for over a year. Father told us all he must be sulking in his failure and we were not to search for him. He returned a year later, looking thin and sickly, being followed by an eight legged colt."

"He was ten…" Bruce said quietly.

Thor looked downcast. "Aye. Father banned Loki from seeing Sleipnir, and sent him to the stables. He was raised to be Odin's greatest war steed, and I used to pass messages to him from my brother. He is the nephew I am closest to as a result."

"That is sick." Bruce said vehemently, looking disgusted. "It's sick to expect a child to fix something like that. And then to take his kid away? How could anyone…" Words seemed to fail him.

"Father was furious about the whole thing. He took Loki and I off to deal with a rock giant skirmish so Loki could get 'First Blood', and then snubbed him when it came time to go to war with Vanaheim by leaving him behind. He was mocked mercilessly for the insult. It was then, I believe, that he first searched out Angrboda."

"The giantess?" Erik asked. He hadn't spoken up in some time, but looked equally as disgusted by the others at the new view on the stories of his people.

Thor nodded. "Loki had been trained in the magical arts from a young age by our mother, but shapeshifting into a mare far exceeded her skill, so I believe he first searched out Angrboda as a teacher. I do not know when their relationship turned romantic, but when we returned to Asgard triumphant in our defeat of Vanaheim, he told me quite smugly that had lain with a woman before I.

Tony snickered into his hand. Thor talked over him. "There was a long standing argument over the precise dates, as I had spent the last several years in a war camp and so was no longer innocent myself. We never did come to agreement over who won." Thor looked down at Dot, brushing a tiny wisp of red fuzz back from her forehead.

"And then Sigyn came to court. My father told of how he brought her to Asgard so that she could learn greater magic from her aunt, my mother, but in her book Sigyn insists that she was little more than a war-prize. A hostage against her mother's obedience. To ensure that Vanaheim would never again revolt." Jane looked sickened.

"A few years later, Loki brought Jörmungandr to court. It was a great scandal, I believe he did it as revenge against father's insult in not letting him come to war. He stood in the throne room, a great snake wrapped around his shoulders, and proclaimed an illegitimate child to be a Prince of Asgard. Father was beyond furious. I remember him screaming at Loki that if he wanted to run off with witches in the woods and bring back beastly children then he could at least do his duty as a prince and secure Asgard's hold over the Vanir throne."

"So they had arranged marriage?" Steve asked, frowning lightly.

"Aye. Loki was displeased, he confided in me that he didn't think it was fair that Odin should give Sigyn no choice in the matter. They were somewhat acquainted, as Loki was always very close with our mother, and he said Sigyn had wanted to return home one day and this would trap her in Asgard forever."

Thor looked down at the babe in his arms as he spoke. "He spoke of how he would accept any mocking he may receive for not laying with her if she did not choose to. And he would have been scorned for such an act. Either way, she obviously favoured him enough."

Darcy spoke up. "It might have been her way of getting some control of the situation." She suggested. "By accepting it and trying to make do with the situation, maybe he agreed to do something for her, if she was loyal to him? She would gain an ally in a foreign realm where she was only seen as a hostage." She frowned at the groups surprised looks. "What? I'm a political science student! And I watch Game of Thrones!" she defended.

Bruce asked, "So what happened next Thor? We've had the Sleipnir and Jörmungandr, so is it the wolf next?"

Thor smiled. "Yes. When Sigyn was pregnant with her first child, Loki brought Fenrisúlfr to Asgard. He rode off into the great woods and disappeared for many nights, and Sigyn stole Sleipnir to find him. Sleipnir can find anyone and travel anywhere, so he tracked down Loki with ease and brought Sigyn to him. She told me, years later, that Loki had been about to commit a dangerous working of magic to save Fenrir's life.

"I explained last night that mother's gift Eidr to their children by feeding them from their own breast?" Bruce nodded, looking interested. "Fenrir was born too soon, he was very weak. Angrboda had done all she could for him by summoning Loki to take him but it is seen as deeply wrong in giant culture to do anything to save a weak child. My mother said it is as wrong to them as incest is too us, it is never done."

Steve looked horrified, trying to imagine a culture that didn't just accept someone abandoning their child, but encouraged it. It was despicable.

"Men cannot gift Eidr to their children like women can, so Loki had planned to effectively mutilate himself in order to gift Fenrir with the strength to live. And then Sigyn did something amazing. She looked at the weak, blind, half formed wolf cub of my brothers and took it as her own. A child born because her husband had broken his vows and lain with another woman, and she gifted it her own Eidr. She told me that even if she faulted Loki for continuing his affair – which she did not, as it preceded his marriage to her – how could she take that out on an innocent, motherless child? How could she knowingly let him die?"

"So she's definitely not Catelyn Stark." Darcy murmured.

Pepper tried to imagine if she could ever do that for anyone. If she would have the strength to accept a child of Tony's that he had conceived with another woman during their relationship. She wanted to believe she would, but had to admit she probably wouldn't have been able too.

Natasha's respect for the woman that her teammate called sister was also growing. To have thrived in those circumstances was a real show of strength.

Thor continued. "And so when Vali was born, he and Fenrir grew up as close as twins. They were quite the pair. Before he learned to transform into an Áesir form, Fenrir would carry Vali around on his back, charging through the palace halls causing mayhem. Fenrir grew large quite quickly, but it was nothing on Jör's size. My nephew soon dwarfed the palace when in his serpent form. It was a golden time of my childhood. My brother adored Sigyn for what she had done for is son, he was the happiest I ever remembered him.

"Mother and I were overjoyed to have gained so much family, and even father was less angry with Loki. Though he made no move to hide his disgust of Fenrir and Jör, he seemed to think that Loki would finally be faithful to Sigyn, that there would be no more illegitimate children in his halls. We were happy. If only we had known how limited this time was."

The picture Thor painted was a pleasant one. He thought back to those times, swearing that little Sigynsdottir would have such a childhood, and that he would let nothing ruin it. The girl was falling asleep in his hold now, lulled by the low constant tone of his voice. He remembered Hela used to do that we Loki held her, his brother had been able to simply talk her to sleep, where any other had to rock her, or sing to her.

"And then when I was perhaps 250, and Loki 190, the völur came." The thunder god said darkly.

"Völur?" Pepper asked.

"A prophet." Erik explained. "A speaker for the Norns."

"Aye." Thor agreed, nodding. "Centuries later, we found that she had been banished from the order for starting a war by making false prophecies. If only we had known that then.

"She asked for the right to speak before the full court, and my father granted it. She spun a grand tale of her wandering faraway lands and connecting fully with the Norns, and how they had gifted her the True Sight of the end of Yggdrasil. She said that Ragnarök was come, and that all the realms would burn with it. She said that Loki and his monstrous children would burn the worlds.

"I remember there was silence in the court, and Odin asked her to recount her vision. She spoke of how Jörmungandr would grow large enough to encircle Midgard's oceans, of how Fenrisúlfr would be great and fearsome, how he would maul his teacher and be chained in the great valleys beyond Asgard. She spoke of how Loki would have a daughter who would be Queen of Death.

"And then she said that Fenrir would break free of his chains and swallow the sun, and Jör would swallow the Earth, and that I would do battle with my nephew and smite him dead, but that a great fang would piece my side and slay me. I would walk nine steps, bleeding, and die at Loki's feet. She said that Fenrir would eat my father, and Loki and his daughter would lead the armies of the dead to destroy the realms.

"A great war would break out. The last great war. And Loki would slay Heimdall to open the gates of Asgard, but would take a grievous wound. That he would stand atop the pile of corpses, the last living being in all the realms, and he would laugh at his good work, before dying. And his death would be the wildfire that would burn Yggdrasil to ash."

Clint broke the silence. "Well. That sounds like fun."

"None really believed her words, the Allfather let her stay in Asgard, but demanded proof for her claims. She said that proof would show itself in time."

Tony looked incredulously at Thor. "Has none of you ever heard of a self-fulfilling prophecy?" He asked. "Half that thing was very unspecific and the predictions that Loki's already massive kids were going to grow were bound to come true! Your brother had four kids already at like- how old J.A.R.V.I.S.?"

"Between 14 and 15, Sir." The AI replied.

"So as a teenager he had four kids, by two women and a horse. It's a safe bet he'd have at least a couple more, and statistically he was due a girl right? So 'Queen of Death' was gonna fit no matter what happened. The whole thing was gonna be believed as soon as anything else happened cos people want to believe melodramatic stuff like that." He said.

"And then when it did, everyone would jump to it being true so fast they'd probably alienate the kids, making them more likely to actually cause the end of the world." Bruce finished.

"Yes." Said Thor. "That is what happened." He hoped his friends would not judge him too harshly when they heard what he had allowed to be done to his brother's innocent children.

- x -

Thanks for reading! Please review, let me know what you think of my warped version of norse mythology, tell me what you like/hated.

Nest chapter should be up in the next few days.

Hope you enjoyed it, C.A. xx