Jay regards Natasha. "Okay let's be objective," she says, sliding into researcher-Jay, the version where she is in control and smart. At least that's how she tries to be. "Are we absolutely positive that I am the only heir to the throne of Vanaheim? We have no idea what Sigyn did once she vanished from Asgard. There could be other potential heirs."
Natasha gives her a critical don't-be'naïve-look. "It's hardly likely that there is that would be a good fit when compared to you. I'm given to understanding that the Vanir like having rulers strong in magic on the throne. Your telekinesis and telepathy are a pretty strong argument."
"Could there possibly be another living heir?" Jay persists. "Surely Sigyn had siblings."
"It's highly unlikely," Thor says. Jay just catches the look of shame that flashes through his eyes before he looks away from her critical gaze.
"You know it refers to you," Natasha is saying but Jay's focus is on Thor which brings the rest of the room's attention to land squarely on the god of thunder. She narrows her eyes and he tries not to meet her eyes without being too obvious about it but Thor has never had a good poker face.
"Don't make me read your mind, Thor," Jaycee warns, the big Asgardian looking at her with trepidation. "I know I'd rather hear it from you than see something you don't want me to see."
Thor, god of Thunder, actually bites his lip in consideration, looking at her with a haunted gaze that has Jay reeling. She expected it to be bad, shocking, but his reaction says that it's something he never wanted her to know.
"If you won't face your shame, I will," Loki says to his former brother. His eyes lock with Jay's, something malicious there, like he's going to relish hurting her with this new revelation. "The royal family was assassinated less than a year after Sigyn disappeared. She would have been the only survivor if we had known she was still alive."
Jaycee's eyes are wide and horrified but her voice is calm. "By whom?"
"The Vanir royal family was exiled to the Ice Peaks of Vanaheim after Sigyn disappeared," Loki says. "An assassination squad found and slaughtered them, removing any heirs to the throne and resistance to Asgardian rule at the same time."
"Who were the assassins?" Steve asks. Loki gives him a malicious grin and Jay can already hear the answer coming, knows in her bones as if she was there.
"Asgardian high guards in Odin's personal service."
There is a beat of silence and Jay looks at Thor, hiding everything she is feeling in order to verify the facts. "Is it true?" she asks and some of the grief she feels slips into her voice. "Did your father have them assassinated?"
They all note that she avoids saying "my family." Jay looks slightly grey, as if her ebullience is fading as they watch. Thor looks at her and nods slightly. She curls her arms around her stomach, pulling herself in close.
"There's no doubt of it," Loki is the first one to speak. "Whether or not you accept it, you are the queen of Vanaheim."
Jaycee looks at him, something inside of her still denying it with everything she has in herself but he can start to see resolve sink in. "Is Vanaheim strictly a monarchy?" she asks.
Loki raises an eyebrow. "I don't see why you need to clarify that."
"If Vanaheim was open to a new form of government or a different ruler…," Jay trails off. All the Avengers are looking at her with varying degrees of incredulity. "You can't seriously believe that I would make a queen," Jay says a bite in her voice. "I can do anything I set my mind to but I have no desire to rule a people that I don't know. They would best be served by someone who knows Vanaheim, who can meet the needs of the Vanir people. I am not that person."
"You sure can make arguments like a political leader," Tony weasels in.
"That's not my point," Jay scowls at him. "I have never even been to Vanaheim, know nothing about Sigyn except what I see in memories and can barely keep my life in order for me, let alone for an entire realm." Her voice creaks at the end, unsure and full of self-doubt. She looks at Thor, not wanting to see the scorn in Loki's eyes at her rejection of the throne. "Is there a way to abdicate, to appoint another to rule?"
Thor considers seriously, understanding that she is desperate for a way out. It doesn't matter that he thinks she would make a fabulous queen; she is right about what the Vanir people need. "The Vanir are a very traditional people," he tells her. "They adhere to the old bloodlines, recognizing only the true line of Vanaheim. There have been civil wars on Vanaheim and in other realms due to competing claims to the throne that have decimated the populace of those realms. Maybe they would be willing to let you choose another family to rule but it is more likely that your choice would upset another noble family."
"They would need someone on the throne they could trust to have Vanaheim's interests first and as much as you don't want to hear this, you would be an impartial party specifically because you have not lived among the nobility on Vanaheim," Rogers says. "You may not know the people of Vanaheim but they could trust you to decide fairly."
Jay worries her bottom lip between her teeth. "You all really want a crown on my head that bad?" she attempts but the joke is weak.
"Well it might get tangled in those curls of yours," Tony says, ruffling her hair. She swats at his hand, upper lip curling away from her teeth.
"Would it be possible for Jay to visit Vanaheim, to introduce her to the Vanir people," Bruce speaks up for the first time.
"With the possibility of Tyr being on Vanaheim, I doubt Fury would approve that," Barton snorts and Bruce looks crestfallen. He doesn't speak up often and when he does he can't really speak to tactics and planning, just science.
Seeing his embarrassment, Jay shrugs, "I think visiting Vanaheim is a smart idea. The Vanir resistance clearly knows about me, so there's no point in pretending that I'm not here."
"But putting you anywhere near Tyr is not," Steve says, crossing his arms. They stare each other done for a moment. "He may even be behind this rebellion for all we know, to try and flush you out."
"Interesting point, Spangles," Tony says. "Ol' One-Hand may be trying to lure you in, Xena."
Jay turns to Natasha. "What has the resistance been targeting?"
Romanoff raises an eyebrow, not understanding the significance of the question but gives an answer anyways. "They've hit supply stores here and there mostly, robbed some vaults of wealthy Asgardian nobles living in the major citadels, very Robin-Hood activities all in all."
"But they haven't made any move on the palace? They haven't declared war on Asgard?" Jay asks.
"Not so far," Barton says picking up on Jay's train of thought. "You think they are trying to get rid of corrupt officials that are sympathetic to Asgard. Send a warning. 'We're coming and beware, we have a legit queen'."
"It wouldn't be too far-fetched," Jay points out. "I very much doubt that a resistance movement planned by Tyr would attack Asgardian households. He would burn farms to the ground and terrorize the Vanir people not the Asgardians."
"She does have a point," Bruce says and shoots Jay a grateful smile for supporting him earlier.
"I vote you send her to Vanaheim," Loki says from the corner where he is picking imaginary dirt out from under his fingernails. "Better to make an effort for the throne than pretend you're not the rightful ruler, am I right?"
Steve snorts. "Which you know from experience doesn't work," he says in a low voice. Loki shrugs at him, that sneer that drives Steve crazy plastered on his face.
"At least I'm honest about wanting to rule," he says with a pointed look at Jaycee.
She glowers at him, eyes narrowed. "I'm not lying. I don't want to be a queen."
He shrugs again and plops down on the couch, putting his feet up on the coffee table. Just then Jane comes in. She gives Loki a very disapproving-Jane face and puts her hands on her hips, staring him down until he takes his feet off the table. "How can you stand that scary face on your girl, Thor?" he mocks his brother.
Jane ignores him. "Sorry to interrupt but we really need to be getting ready to go?"
Jay starts and looks up and out the window. The sun has already started to set; they must have been talking for longer than she thought with all the activity of the morning. "Oh no." Her voice is full of very real terror.
"What?" Steve asks, instantly attentive to her, worried that she is sensing something.
Jane smiles at the super soldier. She grabs Jay very firmly by the wrist and pulls her up. "Don't worry Steve. Jaycee may be one tough cookie out on the battlefield or in an Avengers meeting but for some reason Darcy wielding hairbrush is the most terrifying thing in the world for her. We've got a banquet to get ready for."
"Steve, save me!" Jay whines as Jane drags her away to get ready for the banquet, reaching a forlorn hand towards him. He raises both of his eyebrows at her and makes as if he is going to run after her and then shakes his head.
"Revenge is sweet," he says and Jay practically growls at him. He laughs for the first time in a while as Jane tows Jay towards certain doom by dresses and makeup.
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"Ow!"
"Stop whining and fretting or it will take all night!" Darcy orders, pushing a pin against Jay's head to hold a curl in place. "If you mess up this hairstyle I am going to be furious with you. I might even tell Tony you secretly read Twilight."
Jay gives Darcy a very pointed death glare in the mirror, wishing she had laser vision and could singe the smirk off Darcy's face. "This is so stupid," she grumbles, crossing her arms like a petulant child. "This is torture of the worst kind."
"Blah, blah, blah," Darcy says, jabbing another pin against Jay's scalp. "You have curls I would kill for and you just lump them on your head in that ridiculous bun everyday. Now that's criminal."
Jay practices her angry faces in the mirror as Darcy tugs hard on her scalp. Darcy pulls hard on her curls and Jay mutters another "Ow." "No brow furrowing," Darcy commands, "You don't want to be a wrinkled royal old lady by thirty."
The joking demeanor drops out of Jay so fast that she feels empty. Darcy notices and stops tugging on her head for a moment. "What?" she asks Jay.
Jay wants to bite her lips but Darcy smothered them in lipstick and if she ruins it or gets red on her teeth she'll have to have it redone. Once was enough, thank you very much. "Can we not mention royalty and queens anymore?" Jay asks hesitantly, not wanting to sound weak. "I just…I don't want to talk about it right now, okay?"
Darcy looks at her in the mirror, one hand on her hip, the other wielding the hair brush. "Okay," she says quietly and that is how Jay knows Darcy understands. "But one more comment, please?" Darcy asks in her I'm-begging-you voice. Okay maybe she doesn't understand.
Hoping she's not setting herself up for a lecture on why or why not she should accept that she's the queen of Vanaheim, Jay mumbles, "Okay, just one."
Darcy pulls hard on the last curl and Jay says something filthy in Ukrainian. "Really?" Darcy asks. "Foreign languages? You know guys dig that?" Jay smirks despite herself a laugh working it's way up her throat. When she looks relaxed Darcy plays her card. "You may not want to be a queen, but you sure look like one."
Jay catches her breath, really looking at the transformation Darcy has wrought for the first time. Staring back is someone she doesn't recognize. Darcy smiles at her. "All thanks to me of course."
The moment is over and Jay turns to grab the brush from Darcy, waving it menacingly towards her. Darcy yelps and runs to the other side of the room. "Oh no you don't, you savage!" she hollers at Jay who is advancing on her threateningly with the hairbrush held like a club. "I spent hours on my makeup, stay back heathen!"
Jay dissolved into helpless laughter as Darcy picks up curlers and starts pelting her with them. Just at that moment Bruce walks in to check on them and a hair curler boinks into his forehead, dead in the center. Darcy covers her mouth with her hands, afraid she may have just triggered the Hulk while Jay nearly falls over she is laughing so hard.
"Um, I was sent to tell you the limo's here," Bruce says, cheeks red instead of green. He backs quickly out of the room looking so flustered that the moment he is gone Darcy collapses against Jay in laughter.
"We better go!" she says between hysterics.
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"What was going on in there?" Jane asks Darcy. Darcy pretends not to hear the question but Loki catches the sly smirk that creeps across her face when she turns away from Jane.
"Jace, come on!" Darcy bellows from the doorway. Loki leans against the wall, arms crossed across his chest as he watches Jane and Darcy fuss about before they leave for the astrophysics banquet. He will be left here under guard with Thor and it's irritating him that they are purposely leaving him with the Avenger he despises the most. But it's been close lately. Captain America has been getting on his nerves pretty badly recently.
He doesn't understand why Darcy is going since these discoveries are Erik Selvig's and Jane's and yes, Jaycee's as well. Erik is already at the event, not being comfortable with Loki's presence in the condo. That may or may not have something to do with Loki sneaking up behind him and saying "boo" at breakfast this morning. A limo is waiting outside to drive the women to the event, if Jaycee is ever ready to grace them with her presence.
"Jay!" Darcy whines. They hear the clacks of high heels on the hard wood floors of the hallway and then a stumble. Loki smirks to himself. Clumsy Jaycee in heels might actually be truly entertaining.
"I feel stupid and I can barely walk," Jay grumbles as she comes around the corner.
You could hear a Frost Giant sneeze from here, it gets that quiet in the room.
She is wearing a deep purple gown that plunges in sleek lines from her shoulders to her ankles, so dark it's almost black. There are strappy gold heels on her feet that wind up her ankles and a black lacy shawl draped over her arms and back which cover her scars. Simple gold chains of varying length hang from the smooth skin of her exposed neck and golden hoops gleam in her ears. Her nails are done, clean and rounded for once instead of the shorn and torn state they are normally in. Her lips are a coppery red below eyes lined and bronzed and her face is all sharp, beautiful planes.
But her hair is what really catches the eye.
Her thick curls have been split into sections and bound with small gold bands. The whole mass is pulled together at the nape of her neck and braided thickly down her back to hang between her shoulder blades.
Only Thor and Loki really understand the significance of what they are seeing. This is how Sigyn used to look, the way a queen's hair is done on Vanaheim. Jaycee must have pulled this style from her memories, from the time when Loki shattered the barrier in her mind placed there by Tyr. She looks like a Vanir princess.
Thor glances at Loki as surreptitiously as he can. He brother is quiet, eerily so, eyes glazed bright with memory. He realizes what Loki must see. Jay has become Sigyn in his mind and he sees the woman she was before the day of the failed marriage ceremony to Tyr. This is what Sigyn would have looked like if she had become the queen of Vanaheim. Even though Loki is closed off about everything else in his life, it is clear as day to Thor that what Loki felt for Sigyn was real, not part of one of his elaborate schemes. It makes him realize just how much Loki has lost.
Thor wants to put a comforting hand on his brother's shoulder but as if Loki can sense his intent, he moves away, the familiar look of disdain painting his face once more.
"What did I do now?" Jaycee asks with a defeated sigh, her shoulders slumping. Without the proud pose, without her head held high, the illusion of Sigyn vanishes and Jaycee is standing in front of them. It takes Thor a moment to pinpoint why she looks so different from Sigyn and then her shawl slips from her shoulder and the ugly scars they gleam white against her skin.
"Oh my god, you're gorgeous, don't pay any attention to these noodle-brains!" Darcy squeals. She grabs a stunned Jay's wrist and pulls along in a whirlwind of jewels and silks, out the door and into the limo. Jane's jaw is hanging open and she snaps it shut with a knowing smile at Thor. He follows them out, helping Jane into the car. Loki watches in silence.
"Enjoy yourselves," Thor says and helps Jane in gently. Darcy is popping a bottle of champagne and Jay is looking nervous and uncomfortable. As the door closes she shoots Loki one last "save me" look before the limo pulls away.
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"They are leaving the condo now," Bjern tells the squadron grouped together on the top of the roof a couple buildings down from where the Avengers are staying.
"Are you positive she's with them," Remorag asks, permanent grimace deepening. "We don't want to risk picking up some random mortal from this realm."
"I'm sure," Bjern tells him from his prone position on the roof. "Have a look."
He hands over the looking glasses to Remorag who hunkers down next to him to peer down at the sparsely lit road. Syvlk joins them, waiting for Remorag to finish before taking the glasses from the now bewildered looking commado. Remorag looks at Bjern in absolute shock and Bjern nods at him with a small smile. "The likeness is uncanny, isn't it?" he says.
Syvlk has to agree from his position as well. The woman was only briefly visible before the long horseless carriage pulled away but the glimpse he got was so startlingly like the lost queen that there can be no doubt. That woman is most definitely a descendant of Sigyn of Vanaheim.
"Your orders?" Bjern defers to Syvlk.
"Njordon wants her on Vanaheim as soon as possible to break the backs of the Asgardian nobles and from the conversation we overhead earlier, these superhumans don't seem likely to let her go. She'll only have humans as protection at this banquet. We don't want to involve these 'Avengers' if we don't have to and certainly not Thor," Syvlk considers aloud for the benefit of the strike team. "We'll make our move once they get to their destination."
"What about the trickster?" Remorag asks, hate slipping over his features. "There's still a sizable bounty for him brought back to Vanaheim alive."
Syvlk shakes his head. "Our orders concern the queen not the trickster. We leave him out of this. No need to probe that old scar unless the operation goes south. We move out in five. Take separate routes to the banquet hall and regroup there to wait for my signal. It's been far too long since Vanaheim had a queen. Let's bring her home lads."