Chapter 6: A.E. - 130 Days Later
Inessa released Bucky's hand and lightly pushed him away. She held her hands out to the side slightly and stared levelly at Heimdall. Bucky was fairly certain he could at least distract the warrior, if his abilities were comparable to Thor's. Inessa wasn't escalating the situation though, so he decided to take his cue from her, for now.
"You've made quite a name for yourself since you were last here, little one."
"The name was given to me, it was completely unsolicited."
"Oh no," he shook his head and kept the blade level, "you're confusing 'unsolicited' with 'unwarranted'." At last he lowered his blade, but the glower remained, "I know why you are here. They arrived yesterday in Muspelheim. You have no right to involve the nine realms in your schemes."
"Does that mean you turned them in?"
Again Heimdall shook his head, "I want your mission to succeed, little one, but not at the cost of innocent lives should the Allfather find out. I sent them on to Svartalfheim before their presence drew attention. You will need to find Fandrel and convince him to show you the path as he was once shown by Thor. King Odin ordered the Bifrost closed to all new business and trade until you are apprehended and executed."
Inessa let out the breath she'd been holding, "Good thing my visit here was old business then."
"Indeed." His expression softened slightly.
"Who are these 'new friends'? More allies?" Bucky wasn't afraid of Inessa's glare. He'd been reasonable so far, now he wanted intel.
Heimdall glanced over and sized Bucky up, "You brought James Barnes with you. The price for that is a high one."
"What's Sam going to do? Expel me from the Avengers then kill me?"
"Don't talk around me," Bucky commanded, "talk to me, or send me back to Earth. If you don't start answering my questions then I don't know how to help you, Inessa. Ignore me one more time and I will sit here and refuse to move." Juvenile? Yes. Was he serious all the same? You bet your ass.
Inessa looked to Heimdall, "Take us to Odin?" the keeper nodded and Bucky began to squat. She stopped him with a huff and a wave of her hand, "You can ask whatever you want between when we leave this room and when we step into the palace. If it's something I can answer, I will. Then you shut up and just follow the plan."
"Fine by me, I just need to know what plan to follow." he accepted a long cloak from Heimdall and began to tug it on one-handed. He remembered suddenly that his metal arm was returned and quickly straightened it out. The golden man watched him a moment before pulling a flask out of his pocket and tossing it to Bucky.
"You have been tortured and starved recently, your body is exhausted," Heimdall motioned for Bucky to drink up, "that will restore your strength for what is to come." Bucky eyed the flask wearily, sniffed at the contents, then took a hesitant sip, not even enough to taste it. "The whole thing."
He took a larger drink and shivered as it slipped down his throat. When he drank, the liquid tasted slightly sweet, like water mixed with some kind of berry. As soon as he swallowed it became ice cold and left his throat and stomach chilled. In comparison, his skin felt warm, almost hot. The more Bucky drank the more the warmth of his skin became a comforting heat that slowly spread to his insides. By the time he was finished Bucky felt no pain, no weariness, and no hunger. He felt refreshed, alive. To be frank, he felt better than he had since before he was even a Howling Commando.
Heimdall smiled at the expression on Bucky's face and glanced over at Inessa. She was making a point of not looking at her companion, "Can we get going now?" The young were always so impatient.
Bucky handed the empty flask back to Heimdall with his most sincere gratitude and the keeper of the Bifrost retrieved his sword from the controls, "We may go, little one. Keep your hoods up and your eyes down. It is not safe for Midgardians in Asgard right now." There was something beneath his words, a warning he couldn't give aloud. Inessa followed him without reservation, but it made Bucky uneasy.
Thanks to the Counsel of Yggdrasil they were in enemy territory- up shit creek with no paddle. It was open season on Inessa- maybe on him too. He had to stop being reactive and start being proactive. He tried to slip into the mentality of the Assassin, but Vision's words drifted back to him, "We need the Nomad". He adjusted his focus away from who he could kill to how he could help.
Inessa was focused on her target at the exclusion of all else, so he needed to take up the slack. From beneath his hood he peered at everything around them- the edges of the Bifrost could hide enemies underneath, balconies that they passed would allow for an ambush, bushes in the hills weren't the hiding place of a professional, but never overlook a civilian meaning to make a name for themselves. Bucky was also choosing his questions carefully, what would get him the most intel without wasting time?
"Who are your friends? I take it we're joining with them later?"
"We are, and I can't answer the first question."
Rather than waste time arguing, he moved on, "Sam says Steve and the others died in the explosion, but you say they were gone before that. Elaborate."
"I was in the Tower. Sam, Vision, and Wanda were coming in from another base, they weren't there yet. Things got too quiet, so I went looking around. None of them were there. I looked for their signatures in the Valley in time to see Natasha's vanish. Whoever has them took them away. Far away. That's how I know they're alive, that they were taken."
"Why was there a door covered in Nadya's venom?"
Inessa's body language was totally unknowable under the cloak, but her voice was a touch softer, "After I noticed they were gone someone pinned me down with that frequency Tony's buddy created. The room I was in was sealed off, Nadya tried to break the door down. I found the emitter and destroyed it, then got the hell out before the Tower went boom."
"Why were you smiling when we fell off the Tower?" That bothered him the most- that grin.
Her voice was hard again, "Something finally played out in my favor. There's nothing wrong with appreciating good luck."
"I felt the frequency. You shouldn't have been able to use your powers at all."
Inessa laughed, "Three years ago I had a friend hack JARVIS and edit the frequency. In case you didn't notice, the thing on my neck isn't inhibiting me either. The Shadow King on Niflheim and whoever took the Avengers used the old frequency. That's why we're here- looking for answers. Sam and his gang will never be able to hold me with what they've got. JARVIS doesn't even remember being hacked."
Bucky was amazed at that, "Who the hell is your friend?"
"Amadeus Cho, my lieutenant... Former lieutenant..." the mirth was gone from her voice.
"Is he with Sam's gang?"
Bucky glanced over and saw the hood nod, "Knowing him he joined to try and convince Sam to put me on trial or something. He's loyal, he'll try to catch me, not kill me. If they come this far." Now she sounded sad.
"Ask your last question," Heimdall advised. They were entering the shadow of the Palace.
"What exactly is the clue that brought you here?" She'd hinted at some things, but Bucky wasn't about to rely on guesswork.
"I've been helping Asgard with a problem for a while now. On my last mission, in Niflheim, the Shadow King used Tony's frequency against me. Trapped me in the Valley in Shadow form for two days before my allies here, Thor's Warriors Three, got to me. The Shadow King did something to my body, caused all sorts of trouble for me later down the road. It was the beginning of the end. When the Avengers were taken, that frequency was used again. King Odin is the only one who might know the unaltered frequency- Thor gave it to him a long time ago, we didn't think anything of it at the time. It began here, the trail leads here, so we start here."
"One last question," Bucky stopped on the threshold where the rainbow bridge of the Bifrost turned into golden tile. Inessa stopped too, "Before you knocked me out of the way of that creature, Muhammad was showing me something- the things that changed because I told the others about my visions. I didn't see what the last thing was- but I know you were involved somehow. What did you do?"
Inessa immediately stepped over the threshold and stopped by Heimdall's side. Bucky glanced at her fingers peeking out from beneath the sleeves- she wasn't just trembling, she was shaking.
"CLEAR THE THRONE ROOM!" Heimdall's deep voice cut through the chatter of the guards and nobles in the Allfather's court. Silence fell as the people looked to the speaker then promptly left through the nearest door. When the keeper of the Bifrost demands a private audience with Odin, he gets it. Fast. Especially since the murderer of the Allfather's only son and heir is on the other end of the bridge he guards.
Bucky peeked through the hood of his cloak, but he couldn't see far in front of them. All he made out were the bases of several alabaster columns. Judging by the echo as Heimdall spoke and the others departed it was a massive room, like the halls they'd walked to get to this place. He had the distinct impression that the moment he was free to look around he'd feel like an ant in the home of a giant. Bucky laid a hand on one of the knives in the belt of his old uniform. Hopefully someone had thought to keep the blades clean and sharp over the last five years...
"Who are these people?" An old, deep voice reverberated around them. He spoke softly and with a friendly tone, but if he'd shouted the impact wouldn't have been greater. There was no doubt in Bucky's mind that this was a leader used to commanding massive armies into battle (As if Thor's stories had ever left that in question).
"An Ambassador from Midgard and their escort, my King."
"Did I not order you to close the Bifrost?" the voice crew quieter, colder.
"Yes, my King, to new business. The Ambassador arranged for this visit several months ago."
When Odin spoke next his voice had returned to the more mild tone, "You must forgive a grieving father, Ambassador. My son was killed on your world only a month ago." he sniffled with false grief, "I am unwilling to meet with dignitaries at this time."
Whoever he thought the Ambassador was, it certainly wasn't Inessa, "Cut the bullshit." She removed her cloak and Bucky quickly followed suit.
He was right. He felt like an ant. Dozens of gleaming columns lined the throne room, holding up a golden ceiling high above. The room had been built to hold hundreds, maybe even thousands. The floors were golden tile, the walls rose-colored marble (or something similar), and light flooded in from every angle. It felt like they were standing in the center of a sunset. Roughly fifty yards away sat the king on a massive golden throne with a pointed spear-like weapon set into one arm. If Thor wielded Mjolnir, what kind of weapon would the King of Asgard keep for himself?
Odin himself was the perfect image of a warrior-king. He wore golden battle armor, bracers, and grieves. A helm and gauntlets sat on one arm of the magnificent throne. His platinum eye patch twinkled as he leaned in to take a look at them, then glare up at Heimdall, "Leave us now. We will discuss your treachery later, Heimdall."
"Yes, my King," their escort bowed and turned. He cast a quick, worried look to Inessa, but she kept her eyes locked on Odin. If she was going to keep facing down her enemies like this then Bucky really had his work cut out for him. Would a little subtlety kill her?
"Nadya Ryker, killer of Thor," he sneered, then glanced at Bucky and his metal arm, "James Barnes, the Winter Soldier."
"Nomad. I'm just Nomad now," he glanced at his comrade, "and I'm fairly certain she would prefer 'Inessa'."
"Cute," he hated Odin after just the one word. "What do you think you are doing in my presence?"
Inessa had a familiar look to her, but Bucky couldn't place it. What was she up to? "I came for information."
"I could kill you in an instant," Odin mused, "no one would question it. Not even Heimdall."
"You're going to answer my questions."
"Am I now?" Odin's eyebrows rose, "I would be interested to know your reasoning behind that."
She bristled slightly, but that familiar coolness returned almost instantly, "Because it's in your best interest to do so."
"How's that?"
She's bluffing? That was it, the familiar look. Inessa was a wicked card player, even when she was recovering from the trauma of what he'd done to her during her time in Hydra custody she could always manage a poker face. She hadn't been able to look people in the eye, or at any part of anyone really, but she'd kept a cool, even look whenever they played. She was doing it now, playing a game. He said a silent prayer to anyone listening that she had a good hand.
"Answer my questions- truthfully mind you- and I leave peacefully. Don't answer my questions, touch that weapon, and I melt away. You'll get to spend the rest of my lifetime watching over your shoulder and waiting for an attack." Odin's face was reddening, he wasn't someone used to being threatened, "Tell me, how long do you think you can stand to stay in the light?"
"YOU DARE THREATEN ODIN BORSON, KING OF ASGARD?!" He slammed a fist on the arm of his throne and stood. Bucky whipped out a knife and braced for an attack.
"No," Inessa kept her voice level and did not raise it in response to his rage. She was ready to make the gamble, "I dare to threaten the imposter who sits on his throne, Loki. I dare to threaten the Shadow King."
For story notes visit ProjectEchoFanfic dot tumblr dot com.
I know Loki and the Shadow King are 2 different characters in canon, so consider this a new Shadow King :)