Okay so I fucked up the timeline just a little bit. Thought someone might mention it so you'll have to get over it. Anyway, on with the show!
I broke the code on Tony's phone. They'd encrypted his number to keep him being bothered. The thing they didn't know was that I could hack anything. When he picked up I felt a smile break on my face.
"Phone privileges reinstated already?" His voice was filled with amusement. Just knowing he was alive made me happier than you could know.
"Not really Mr. Stark, just checking to make sure you really haven't killed yourself yet." For a moment there was silence and then a really loud laugh from the other side of the line.
"Really kid? I gotta say I'm pretty glad you aren't dead. I couldn't live with that on my conscience." I knew he was joking around, but there was a good hint of relief hidden in his tone. That was just how he was though, making fun of the things he worried about the most.
"How are you Tony?" I asked, toning the conversation a bit more somber.
"I'm just fine kid, no need to worry about me. I've found a way to replace the palladium and you won't have to plan a boring funeral. How about you, are you okay?" There was so much sincerity in his voice that I almost wondered what had happened to my Tony. He must have been really worried.
"I'm fine, looks like my special energy healed me completely. Fury said it took all of a minute for my skin to reform." I looked down at the flawless skin of my arm. I'd never gotten scars before, it was something I just came to except. All those beatings should have left a mark too but somehow I'd always healed. While strange it came in handy and it seemed once again the healing had saved my life.
"You really are a superhuman aren't you? I have to see this healing thing sometime." He was joking of course, he'd never hurt me on purpose. It made me giggle.
"You want to hurt me Tony?"
"Never! ...Maybe just a small prick on the finger at some point…" I could practically hear him smiling over the phone.
"So I'm guessing this isn't for just a friendly chat right? What's up?" Tony asked curiously. I sighed, not really sure how to explain my interest in the current situation without giving too much away.
"I'm working with SHIELD on a mission I found of interest." It was essentially all I could say at this point. It was the truth, just not the whole truth. I didn't know how much Tony would actually believe anyway.
"Being Fury's lapdog? That's not your style Nai." I frowned at both the name and the implication.
"I'm not helping because he wants me to, I'm helping because I'm interested. A hammer called Mjolnir crashed into the desert in New Mexico. It looks just like the legendary Norse hammer held by the god of thunder." There was silence for a few moments.
"You get a god and I get footage you understand?" I laughed out loud. Of course that's what Tony would say. Why was I so worried anyway? He'd seen some pretty weird stuff after all. Then again I was quite sure he was joking around at the same time.
"Alright deal." I grinned and looked around the back of the black car I was riding in. The air conditioner was turned way up and the leather seats were cool against my skin. I had opted for a pair of dark blue jean shorts and a ruffled black peasant shirt with off the shoulder sleeves. I'd even gone far enough as to wear my lime green Nikes. I was a Stark when it came to standing out.
"Be careful kid, just come back safe or I'll wring Fury's neck." I doubted Tony could fit his hands around Fury's thick neck but I wasn't going to say that.
"As much fun as seeing that would be I'll come back in one piece whether I agree with it or not." I ran my hands through the ponytail at the back of my head. The loose crimson curls looked more like waves in the humidity.
"Love you Naiira, always." Tony wasn't always very open with his affection so it made me feel special that he said it now.
"You too Dad, you too." I couldn't help the familiar name slip out. He didn't seem to care as we said quick goodbyes. He had to finish his work and I had to focus on the mission ahead. Coulson turned around in the front seat to face me. His face was lit up in a friendly smile.
"You sure about this? I don't know anything about your training…" I raised a hand, showing off the glimmer of my silver thumb band.
"No problems Phil, I can take care of myself if I need to." He nodded and turned back around. The driver was someone I didn't know, another agent I assumed. All of the agents on this mission were the lower end people who regulated more than anything else. From what I understood, I was the only so called superhuman here. It was uncomfortable, but it seemed that no one expected anymore from me than from anyone else which helped my nerves a good bit. I had chosen to ride with Coulson since I was familiar with him if only just a little. Natasha had promised to keep an eye on Tony and Pepper for me as long as I kept an eye out for Hawkeye who I had yet to meet.
We pulled over the car in the middle of the desert. A good number of people were crowded around a large crater. I slipped out of my seat, opening the door and letting the sun in. The other agents had already moved out, making the rednecks leave. Most of them looked highly disappointed as the government agents started setting up perimeters around the site. I put on a pair of plain black sunglasses that had at one point belonged to Tony.
"The tents will go up in a matter of minutes sir." One of the agents appeared to report. I walked away from the cars and into the crater. The last of the civilians were packing up and leaving the premises. Many of their eyes followed me as I approached the extremely obvious silver hammer sticking out of the ground. It was stuck in a pillar of hardened sand, the actual blunt end bent at an angle. The handle was covered in crisscrossed red leather that looked like it had been a bit worn with use. On either side of the hammer a beautiful celtic design ran around the edges. I touched the symbols, the metal cool beneath my fingers.
"Mjolnir, it's a true pleasure." I whispered. The hammer tingled under my soft touches. It was most likely the lightning that the legendary weapon was said to control. I felt the beauty of the object just by looking upon it. As I ran my index finger over the center of the metal, a new symbol appeared. The joined three celtic rings that was used as a symbol for witchcraft in television shows was etched into the body. A whisper rose from the weapon, a ghost of the magic that was placed upon it.
"What do you think Agent Stark?" Coulson had come to stand next to me.
"I think I was right to come along."
!
!
!
Loki POV
To a simple mind, the path would have been clear, but to Loki it was all the more complicated. Odin had fallen into the Odin sleep, Naiira had disappeared from his mind, and now his mother had handed him the spear of the All-Father. He had never wanted to be king, which was supposed to be Thor's job. Yet this brought new opportunities. Perhaps it could be possible to work out a way to benefit from this madness.
True, Loki had provoked Thor to go to Jotunheim and true he had expected him to be punished, but banishment had been a bit much. Then his own trick had turned sour after learning he himself was the monster that all Asgardians hated and feared. It really did make sense now that he fully thought about it. Thor hadn't known, he couldn't trick himself otherwise, but he had allowed Loki to stand in his shadow for years. His mother and father knew, it was why they had treated him differently.
It didn't matter that they said they loved him, he wasn't worthy of that love. He was a monster, a disgusting creature that deserved to be put down. And yet, when faced with his new found form Naiira had told him he was beautiful. The entire thought alone had baffled him. Jotuns were horrible, she couldn't know that, couldn't see what he could do. He convinced himself that if she knew their nature, his true nature, that she would hate him just like everyone else.
He was consumed by this self loathing, hoping to prove himself now more than ever. He sat and waved a hand over the shadows. A smoky form appeared, taking on the shape and color of the one person he thought was innocent in the whole matter.
"Naiira, why do you fascinate me so? There is a weakness I feel for you. Your kindness is like a beacon to this dark prince. If only I was worthy…" He felt his heart harden at his own words. The smoky hologram of the young mortal pressed a hand to his cheek. She was smiling beautifully, the slight line of the plump lips visible in a bright pink. Loki found himself suddenly hating her. If it wasn't for this woman he would at least be logical about things. He would be alone as usual, something he was used to. Yet now he had a friend, someone he didn't wish to lose. How dare that female ever try to break the ice around his Jotun heart. The form before him wavered at his anger. He waved his hand and the smoke disappeared. Yet her image was burned into his retinas.
Loki looked down at the magic glass before him. He had found Mjolnir and in return found her as well. She was gracefully running her fingers over the hammer, a rather determined look on her features. He gripped his throne angrily. She was even more beautiful to behold with his own eyes instead of his minds eye. He would continue with his plan and then he would finally get the attention he rightly deserved. It wouldn't just be from his family however, he would catch Naiira's attention as well.
!
!
!
Regular POV
I found a way to break away from Coulson just long enough to get a cup of coffee in the tiny little café in the even tiny town close to the crash site. This place was in the middle of bum fuck nowhere. Literally guys, the town was surrounded by miles of desert. Figures something weird would happen in a place like this. The waitress behind the counter kept looking towards the door, her face anxious. In fact, a good few patrons were doing the same thing.
"Excuse me?" The woman jumped, almost dropping the coffee cup she was drying.
"Oh yes miss?" Her thin voice was strained.
"Why is everyone looking at the exit?" I asked. She blinked a few times.
"Some fella started trouble earlier. We were just makin sure he don't come back in." One of the men sitting in a booth spoke up. He was wearing a trucker cap and plaid flannel shirt.
"What did this man look like exactly?" I raised an eyebrow. The waitress blushed.
"Oh, well he was quite large with long blond hair and blue eyes." She was fidgeting uncomfortably as her face heated up.
"What did he do?' I inquired. A few people looked around uncomfortably.
"He smashed a few cups and he ate half our kitchens worth of food. That man was a barbarian." An old woman sitting at the bar spoke up.
"Haven't seen anyone that big around here either. He was a giant, a handsome giant." The waitress giggled. A large and handsome man with blue eyes and long blond hair.
"He sounded weird too, kept speaking some sort of foreign sounding something. Sort of like old English or something." Another of the men muttered. How odd, maybe it was worth checking into.
"You're one of them military people that took over that weird hammer thing aren't you?" The man from the booth asked.
"Yeah and before you ask I'm afraid it's classified." I drank down the rest of my coffee, paid for it, and left.
It was a long shot, but maybe this would lead to something more. Anything out of the ordinary out here was worth checking out. I started asking around about the man. A few people had seen him leave the cafe with a woman. Apparently her name was Jane and she was some sort of scientist that had set up shop in the old Drive-Thru at the end of the road. In such a tiny town news travelled fast so new people were noticed quickly. The blond man had just appeared recently, most of those I asked said it hadn't been more than a day or two ago. That fit the timeline, this guy might have something to do with the hammer.
Without authorization I decided to go ahead and check out the old Drive-Thru, maybe ask a few questions. Maybe they could help me out. All I could think about was finding the hammer's owner and maybe getting them to help me find Loki. If the mythology was true than Mjolnir was owned by Thor, who in real life was Loki's older brother. I needed this.
I walked down the street with my mind whirring and immediately saw the old decrepit building at the end of the stretch. It looked like a 50's diner that hadn't been taken good care of. Age had given a cover of dust and grime, the sign having fallen off a long time ago. There didn't seem to be anyone around as I approached the door so I went ahead and let myself in. I probably shouldn't have just broken in but since I wasn't there to do anything horrible… If I wanted to be honest with myself I really just wanted to follow my lead as quick as humanly possible.
The whole place was gutted, a bunch of loose wires were scattered about along with a good few blank sheets of printer paper. I noticed a good few stains from when the place was a drive thru restaurant and even a few less dusty spaces of floor. There had probably been some sort of equipment, but it was gone now. I wondered if they had moved out or something.
"Turn around slowly and no funny business, I have a Taser!" I slowly raised my hands as a sign of surrender. As I turned I assessed the woman holding out a black plastic Taser. She was about my height with long dark brown hair that waved down the back of her black coat. She wore a hat to match, flat and almost low enough to sit on her black rimmed glasses. Those inquisitive blue eyes were watching me warily.
"I mean you no harm, not like you could really Taser me if I did." I faced her fully, smiling brightly. She looked horribly confused.
"There's nothing left to steal if that's what you're after." She glanced at the patch on my skin tight sleeve. So S.H.I.E.L.D had taken all of the equipment in this lab. Somehow that wasn't too surprising.
"I'm new, wouldn't know about that. I'm looking for a large blond fellow. Probably amazingly gorgeous, bright blue eyes, sound familiar?" I asked. From the hesitation I could tell she knew him if not where he was.
"What do you want with him?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I just want to ask him some questions, probably personal ones but still." I clicked my tongue as she poised her finger over the Taser button. In theory it shouldn't effect me, but I hadn't been Tasered before so I wasn't really sure. Maybe now would be a good time to test how I held up against the energy of electricity. She fired and the prongs stuck to my loose black shirt. I felt absolutely nothing, but the fact that the slight clicking noise was coming from the gun meant that electricity was running into my body. The girl looked amazed, fear flashing in those more delicate eyes. I pulled the prongs off and walked forward. She started backing up, practically tripping over an empty drawer.
"Don't tell me you're a god too?" She asked fearfully. I chuckled.
"Not to my knowledge, just a very special person. Now about that man…" I reached out my hand, a smile still on my face.
"By the way, my name is Naiira Stark, sorry if I freaked you out too bad." She looked rather incredulous and was reluctant to shake my hand.
"Darcy." Was all she said. I retracted my hand.
"Pleasure Darcy, now if you could point me in the right direction I'll be on my way." She shook her head.
"Even if I knew where he was right now I wouldn't tell you." She snarled.
"You said he was god? He wouldn't happen to be called Thor would he?" I asked. Her eyes twinkled.
"You know something I don't?" I found myself laughing. Yeah I did, the guy was telling the truth.
!
!
!
Darcy actually started following me around for some reason or another. It seemed her fear had turned to fascination. She kept looking at me like I'd spontaneously combust at any moment. I didn't mind too much, mostly I just ignored her. Although, I had insisted on staying until Thor turned up. I'm pretty sure my intentions were still being questioned, but I doubted I could hurt him even if I wanted to.
While we were talking it had turned dark, rain beginning to pour down upon the dry sand of the desert.
We made tea and Darcy told me her general understanding of the research that Jane and Dr. Selvig were doing. She was a political science student who was interning with them. I was told not to ask why, but I did wonder what she was doing interning in Astrophysics. Through my second cup of tea a knock came on the door. Coulson was smiling and waving outside the glass with a large black umbrella overhead to keep him from getting wet. Figures I wouldn't be able to sneak away for too long.
"Well, there's my baby sitter. It seems we shall have to cut this short." I had been hoping to wait for Thor to return, but it didn't look like that would be happening. I bid Darcy goodbye and left with Coulson. He was grinning from ear to ear. He held up the black umbrella to cover us both as we walked out into the downpour.
"It seems we may have captured someone interesting." He spoke. I raised an eyebrow.
"Oh?"
"He tried to take the hammer, looked positively depressed when it wouldn't get out of the mud." I grinned, looks like this would work out after all.
!
!
!
It was still raining outside when we got back to the base. The place was a mess with people running about. There were puddles everywhere and the wet sad made some of the most disgusting mud I'd ever stepped it. It coated my sneakers no matter how hard I tried to stay out of it.
"He's waiting in the interrogation room Agent Coulson." I watched as an agent came forward. He wore mostly black, but his top had some sort of purple stripes on it. A quiver of arrows was strapped to his back, his bow in his hands. His dark brown hair was spiky, his matching eyes critical as he watched me.
"Ah you haven't met Agent Barton yet have you Naiira?" Coulson looked as jovial as usual. I gripped the newcomers hand. He showed no emotion as we greeted one another.
"Most people call me Hawkeye." He huffed. His gruff voice was quite attractive actually.
"Naiira Stark. Forgive me, but I have heard of you from Natasha." He looked slightly interested, but didn't say anything on the subject.
"Another Stark? Sounds like trouble to me." Was he joking? No that look on his face said otherwise.
"Of course, but what would you do without us?" Hawkeye grumbled something under his breath, but I ignored it. Coulson cleared his throat just as Hawkeye released his grip on my hand. I could still feel the firm pressure that he had used on my fingers.
"Well then, I think you should go on Naiira. I need to talk to Agent Barton so you can go rest if you want." Coulson pretty much brushed me off. I didn't care either way. I had no intention of going to my room though. I nodded and walked off into the make shift plastic home. A bunch of the men were talking about the intruder they had taken into custody, the one in the only holding cell. I walked in that direction seeing only two guards. No way they would let me get through. From here though, I could see through the one-way glass. He was indeed a large fellow, his rippling muscles barely contained by that tight shirt. His wavy blond hair was wet, his matching beard caked with a bit of mud. His icy blue eyes were focused on the floor.
"Excuse me, I've been told to watch the prisoner for a while." It was worth a try. The guards looked at one another.
"We weren't told about any shift changes." One gruffly muttered. I smirked, it was time to see if I could lie like an expert.
"Oh? Well I was told by the higher ups that since he took out so many agents it would be safer to have me watch him. It's mostly for your own safety if he decides to try and escape." The guards looked a little skeptical.
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I just get the orders and follow like everyone else." I shrugged. One of the men laughed.
"Yeah tell me about it. Watch him really carefully will you?" I nodded, saluting them both as they headed out. Maybe Loki was beginning to rub off on me much quicker than expected.
I opened the cell and walked in. The man looked up as I entered. The lightning behind those eyes was almost entirely obvious, to me anyway.
"Do pardon the intrusion Thor, but I need to ask you a few things before the agents ruin it." I closed the door and sent a shot of energy through the keypad. It short circuited, no one would get in here for a little while at least. That glass was thick enough to stop a barrage of machine gun bullets. He looked curious, not fearful like most people would be.
"How do you know me?" He asked. His deep voice boomed a bit in the small space. I let a grin break onto my face and he seemed to flinch.
"I've heard of you a few times. My name is Naiira Stark and I know your brother." Thor's eyes burned into my own. He was curious now.
"Naiira, I've heard that name. My brother has whispered it in his sleep." He looked cautious, but still not afraid. His eyes trailed my body, but the gaze was not wholly uncomfortable. Loki would have murdered me if he were still able to read my thoughts.
"I have telepathic abilities and Loki contacted me. Though, he broke the contact a while ago…" I didn't know how much I should have said, so I kept his break down a secret.
"So you know, who I really am and believe it." He asked. I smiled and nodded.
"I suppose you could say I'm an ally." I muttered. There was a pounding on the door. Here I thought it might be at least a few more moments before anyone showed up again. Guess those guards weren't horribly stupid. Time was short, I would have to be a bit more forceful. I gracefully moved to his side and bent before him. The banging was coming harder now.
"Listen to me Thor, something is wrong with Loki. The way he left…it awoke an anger in me. I need your help, I want to help him." He looked confused, so he didn't know.
"I'm not sure as to what you refer Lady Naiira." I shook my head.
"You wouldn't, Loki said you tended to stay oblivious of any problems that weren't your own. Forgive me if that insults you, but I can't do this without you. He's your brother, if you knew he wasn't okay you'd do most anything for him right?" The door was being pushed open. Thor's eyes glistened with unshed tears.
"Yes."
