SoA- Part 3
Chapter 10 – Preparing to Return Part II
Brainiac quickly dived back into the SHIELD databases. Their firewalls were like tissue paper and he didn't even try to hide his actions, he just plowed through them, setting off alarms and alerts everywhere. He quickly found the connection protocols for the World Council and dived through them and followed the leads to each of the members. He got their names and then opened the search wider looking for all properties, businesses, family members and their accounts and connections. Once he had at least all the accounts of these people and their closest family members he alerted Kara. The entire action took twenty seconds.
Kara had been half-listening as Fury told them he could only do so much against the council but was fighting to keep the team free of their influence.
"It helps that I have no authority over The Asgard Royals, which is what I called you when they asked who you stood with." He had finally added when Brainiac alerted her that he had the information.
"Burn them Brainiac." Kara ordered loud enough that everyone turned to her.
"Burning commencing," Brainiac stated through JARVIS's speakers. "All accounts are frozen."
"Properties are being listed as contaminated with dangerous substances with local authorities." JARVIS reported.
"Just what is going on?" Fury asked with tightly reigned in curiosity.
"They shouldn't have annoyed me." Kara told him with a glare.
"Warrants for their arrest, and for those of at least one of their closest non-juvenile relatives have been listed for terrorist actions with INTERPOL, CIA and their home Agencies." Brainiac added. "They will have problems having those warrant removed without our help."
"Well that should keep them busy for the next, oh three days." Kara smiled evilly.
Loki looked impressed by her antics. Tony just looked proud and he came over and placed his arm around her shoulder. "Chip off the old block." He crowed. He kissed her temple. "That's my girl."
Fury looked speechless. "You unmasked the Council, placed them under international warrants for their arrest, and froze their bank accounts?"
Kara nodded sharply. "I did not out them as World Council members, and it's only for three days, then Brainiac will wipe the information. It's also for their immediate family members… Tell them the next time they meet, not to annoy me. This was a warning shot. Go after my family, friends, or anyone I consider an innocent again, like they did in New York, and I will find them and kill them. No second chances. They have twenty-four hours to back off, or at the end of those three days it all stays up and I go hunting." Her voice was as frosty as if she had used her powers.
Everyone who didn't know Kara very well stopped and stared at her in fear or awe. Loki and Thor looked impressed with the non-bloody way she had dealt with an enemy, while Cap, Widow and Fury all looked degrees of unnerved and lost at the amount of technological power she had displayed. The fact that Tony could likely do the same as she had, but let her do it instead wasn't lost on Widow. She had seen the nod Tony had delivered to Kara. She was now more concerned about what Kara and Tony could do together, more than the implications of The Asgard Royals and what they were capable of.
Cap hadn't missed any of it, but he was slower on the uptake due to his lack of knowledge of the new world he had found himself in since he had woken up just over two months ago. He still came to the same conclusion several minutes after Widow. Kara was much more dangerous than people assumed, much like him, when he thought about it.
Most people didn't remember that Steve's official kill count for WWII was over two hundred HYDRA operatives. Unofficially he had killed closer to seven hundred since HYDRA weapons didn't leave much, if any traces behind to be counted. The list of MIA's on the enemy side was in the tens of thousands mostly due to HYDRA weapons being deployed against them by The Howling Commandos. He'd personally appropriated several high grade explosives made with Tesseract technology, and detonated them in HYDRA bases over the course of the war, killing all inside without someone to officially count or collect the human remains.
The white-washing of his reputation didn't bother Steve. He actually found it easier to maneuver around SHIELD because of it. People underestimated him constantly. He was only just realizing how much they had underestimated the young girl in front of them because of her looks. He kept forgetting she wasn't human, and neither was Thor or Loki. They had different morals and codes of honor.
Barton was unsurprised. He'd seen and heard about Brainiac from Coulson after Fury had tried to recruit her. He'd also seen it in action once, but not to this level of infiltration. He was certain the supercomputer knew he had files not-accessible online that was a danger to Zor El, but they hadn't done anything about them. Still unlike the others he knew she was as much a soldier as any of them.
Tony had made these plans originally when he first became Iron Man for when the council got out of control. Kara had found them and expanded them a little further. Tony would have never gone after the immediate family members. Kara had insisted that people as used to being in power as the council, would need an extra scare in order to understand they had pissed off the wrong people. They had to understand they were going to be held accountable. That was something this council didn't seem to be. Kara and Tony both hadn't found any oversight, which is why the Council thought they could get away with firing a nuclear missile at a populated civilian city. They had never planned to take responsibility.
The warrants Kara had issued were not actually for that nuclear strike. The offense was listed as a planned terrorist action against New York, not an already fired nuke. There would be no hiding the fact that Tony had personally re-routed a nuke into the Space Portal and saved all of New York though. Kara had Brainiac send that information at the same time to the news media, but not linked the warrants to the Strike or Battle.
Every agency out there would be looking for the source of that nuke, and not the new terrorist group, even if they were high profile people in intelligence circles. By the time the information would be seriously looked into Brainiac would be scrubbing it. The idea was to scare the hell out of the Council, not actually have them arrested. The fact that a well-liked senator was on that list meant that authorities were going to be careful and finding a warrant without court paperwork to back it up meant it was going to be hailed as a hacking event. It would take a few news cycles to figure that out, but harm would be done to their reputations regardless.
Even as they were sitting there and Fury was processing the information, News Stations all around the World were getting tips that the missile seen in footage of the Battle of New York, as it was being dubbed, was actually a nuke that had been fired by a covert terrorist cell that had access to a rogue Nuke that had been smuggled into international waters just off the coast of the US. It was going to be a huge scandal.
Kara and Tony hoped this council wouldn't still be the same people in twenty-four hours, but a few might make the cut. The new council would hopefully be both; smarter, and more respectful, group. Kara and Tony weren't holding their breath on that outcome actually happening. More likely the group would hold onto that power with everything they had. This should give them a wake-up call. They were no longer anonymous and never would be again.
Fury of course didn't know any of this until he got a call a few minutes later from Hill. SHIELD was trying to suppress the news organizations from going to air with the unconfirmed rumors and he suddenly had to leave. He glared at Tony, Loki, and Kara before leaving without a word. It went without saying who had leaked the rumors since he had watched her do it.
Kara took advantage of Hawkeye being in the room to ask to speak to him privately. The two moved onto the balcony and went to were the railing was still in place looking over the damage to Park Avenue.
"When we checked and healed Loki with the Soul Forge we found the magic residue that was left behind by the scepter." She explained quietly. "The machine knows what to look for and how to clear it out if you are interested." It was the second time she had brought it up. She didn't want to push, but she was running out of time. She had no idea how long they would be gone when they had to return to Asgard.
Clint wasn't looking at her but looking down the street at the cleared rubble and the stains left behind by the whale guts after Loki had transported the bodies to Hel. "What are the consequences of leaving the residue?" He asked thoughtfully.
Kara scrunched up her face in concentration, "Susceptibility to suggestion, easy manipulation of your agenda for another, especially if it lines with what you were ordered to do before. Go against SHIELD, and whatever else you were ordered to do." She told him honestly. "You also would be likely to fall into a passive compliance if someone gave you orders in the right way." She left out the possibility of the influence being sentient and slipping back in since that was just speculation.
"So I'd be open to suggestions while planning ops, or training agents," Clint winced as he thought how glad he was that Loki had basically ignored the fact he had a wife and children. Loki had just nodded and seemed to ignore that bit of information when he'd spilled all his secrets to him, "and killing my fellow SHIELD agents."
Kara's face showed sympathy as she placed her hand on his arm and he turned to face her. "I know you have been told it wasn't you who did those things." She shook her head, "But they are wrong. You did do them, the only thing that you have to remember is that you didn't do those things willingly. It was not your choice to do them." She knew that it had been his skills, his thought processes that came up with the plans. He'd done those things to the best of his ability because he believed in the mission while under the scepter. She wasn't going to belittle his experience by saying 'you didn't do it'; just that he wasn't responsible for the outcomes.
Clint gave her a firm nod. Everyone had told him variations of 'it's not your fault', even Natasha. Somehow not making excuses for forgetting it was reassuring. He didn't want to forget, he wanted to fight it. "Will I remember?"
Kara nodded sharply. "The procedure would remove the magic, and the suggestions it placed in your mind. You will remember the actions you took, the reasoning you used. Without the magic there you will see the influence of the magic, and the power it had over you that you cannot see now. It takes time for the magic to fade completely, but you will be safe from the influence and manipulation of others who know about the spell." It would also allow him to see the differences in what he would chose to do if he had really been in control. Whether that would be a good or a bad thing for his mental recovery would be up to how he accepted that this magic was so powerful it took over an Archmage. A human without magical training had no chance at resisting a spell this powerful.
"I'll know what was me doing things on my own because I wanted to and what was force by the compulsion, is what you are saying?" Clint asked, wanting clarification before he agreed to her messing with his head. Had it been anyone else, except Kara or Nat, he'd have told them to fuck off. Kara nodded with a look of hope and longing. She really wanted to help he realized. He was reassured by the clarity of her motives.
"Pretty much, it's a matter of what do you want to do. I will not force you to do this." She looked at him beseechingly however, "But I will ask strongly that you do. Not for Loki's sake, not for my sake, and not even for SHIELD's sake. Do I want my friend to be whole? Sure I do, but I want that man I met who protected me even when I didn't realize I needed it, to be the one in charge of his own mind because that is the man who Earth needs to be its protector going forward." She had tears forming in her eyes and he knew he couldn't say no.
Clint shook his head. "If I do this," He gave her a pointed look, "I am going to need some assurances of a few of your motives."
Kara looked puzzled as she stared at him. "My motives?"
Clint snorted but gave her a look that suggested that he knew something. "You are not Supergirl all the time Kara." He replied causally.
Whatever else Clint was about to ask it was instantly circumvented by Loki who instantly was between Kara and Clint and had him by the throat. "Perhaps this conversation should be taken away from here." He snarled over his shoulder at Kara.
"LOKI! Put him down!" Kara snapped as she squeezed Loki's wrist forcing his fingers to slacken for a second to allow Clint to land back on his feet.
Kara spun Loki around and glared at him. "How dare you attack him."
Loki snarled back at her. "How dare he threaten you. That mewling quim of his was barely holding her smug satisfaction in check while she recorded this conversation."
Kara rolled her eyes. "You can wipe her memory of the conversation." She reminded him.
He snorted. "Already done, and she won't be getting up anytime soon either."
Clint backed away quickly while massaging his throat. "What did you do?" He managed to cough out.
Loki turned and glared at him. "She has already figured out she could manipulate you, she was recording and watching the conversation out here."
Clint closed his eyes. While he would love to defend Natasha, he knew that was exactly what she would have done, and likely did to manipulation him into doing exactly what he was doing. He'd never planned to out Kara Stark to SHIELD. Nat had proposed that Zor El and Kara Stark were one and the same. The only 'proof' they had that they were not was surveillance footage of both of them talking in Tony's lab on only one day, and the facial recognition data that said they were only a twenty percent match, which basically said they were the same gender with hair about the same length. The fact Kara Stark was an eighty-nine percent match to Loki, basically the gender issue was the only difference. Kara Stark and Loki could be siblings, which was the tipping point for Natasha. Magic after all could account for her identity.
"JARVIS?" Kara called out. "Did SHIELD get any of that?"
"No Miss Zor El," JARVIS replied quickly. "I faked the connection and the recording was not made by any outside sources."
Clint closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "SHIELD needs to be kept-"
Loki snarled. "SHIELD will soon learn that just because I no longer have access to an army, does not mean that they are in the clear if they so much as hurt My Kara." Loki's use of his pet name for her made it obvious that Kara was her name. While the 'my' portion was still in Kryptonian and sounded like 'khape', the Kara portion was obvious. 'Khape Kara' wouldn't make any sense except in this context.
Clint turned to her. "What does that mean?"
Kara bit her lip and looked at her feet. "It means 'My Kara'." She told him.
Clint nodded, "You called him something else. It's close but not exactly the same."
"Khap Loki." She clarified. "That means 'My Loki'. Khape is the feminine use of the word my, sometimes." She sighed with a weariness she hadn't felt in a long time. "Kryptonian isn't really compatible with English." She explained softly. "And Allspeak translations aren't always the best, which is why we at times sound a little Shakespearian when we talk."
"So you two are a couple." Clint gave her a knowing smirk. "We kinda figured that."
Kara was surprised by the assertion and the stance of the others who had now come and gathered around them, except Banner who was attending Widow inside, suggested they all agreed with that statement. Only Thor beginning to laugh and Loki looking confused at their conclusion hinted that they were wrong.
Kara looked at her feet trying to hide the hint of a blush that stained her cheeks. She hadn't admitted to Loki that she had used the fact that their mother was suggesting a betrothal as an excuse to mourn longer.
"They have called each other such since our Sister began to teach him the language." Thor chuckled at their confusion. "Either that or her other nickname of 'Little One'."
"It started as a way to differentiate between the male and female pronouns." Kara added softly.
"So it's like French." Tony asked as he stepped up beside Kara and placed an arm casually around her shoulders. "Male I, you, we, and, female I, you, we."
Kara was about to answer when Loki lifted Tony's arm and pushed it off Kara's shoulders with a snarl on his face. "Regardless of whatever you all believe, My Kara will not be threatened again or your will face me in a duel. Are we clear?" He snarled at Clint and the group in general.
Loki was looking every bit the offended suiter and none of them was really sure what he was capable of. There was also no reason to push the incident. "Crystal." Clint smirked. "Though thank you for the confirmation of her identity."
Steve looked to Clint for some type of clarification but Tony's face clouded with anger. He agreed that SHIELD couldn't be trusted with the information and he was silently siding with Loki on this one.
"Loki, please don't." Kara called out as he raised his hand to erase the last few minutes from their minds. "Please, we have to trust them. We will be working with them in the future, please. Clint can be trusted." She looked at Steve and saw his own convictions were not in conflict. He trusted her as a warrior-in-arms, and he nodded his head firmly letting her know she had his silence.
Loki turned on her scowling, ignoring the byplay between Kara and Steve. "No, he cannot. That woman in there holds power over him." His voice laced with anger and protectiveness. "That woman knows nothing of loyalty to anyone, only to whoever holds her leash. Right now that is Director Fury, whom we do not trust."
Clint realized there was no way he was going to win this argument. Loki was right. Natasha did have power over him. But Loki was also wrong. Natasha was loyal to SHIELD, but her loyalty was stronger for Clint than it was to Fury. He also had power over her too. He was her only family, him and his wife, his kids, not that anyone but Fury and Coulson knew about them.
Clint held up his hands to show he wasn't going to attack or anything equally as stupid. "I'll agree to the healing." He finally capitulated. "But if you want to earn her trust, and win her loyalty, it's going to be a long road."
"Will you help us do it?" Kara asked him hopefully.
Clint felt his own will crumble against the emotions in her eyes. She was happy he was going to allow her to heal him. She was also so hopeful that she and 'The Avengers' would be a force of good for Earth. He couldn't stand in the way of that. "I will help." He agreed a little reluctantly, but mostly grateful that she was so transparent in her motives.
"That trust is a two way street Bird Brain." Tony added cautiously. "You and Steve she trusts, but Banner and Widow need to earn her trust before she lets them in… Capeesh?"
Clint agreed slowly and reluctantly. Steve looked a little apprehensive but held his tongue since Loki and Tony both seemed to be in an uproar about Supergirl's secrets. He could understand wanting to know them better first.
Banner had no issues not knowing what the confrontation on the balcony had been about. He'd actually rather not know for certain, because he was positive he knew who she was already. There weren't that many people who could quote one of his papers on an exam for a Master Degree. Kara Stark was one of two, and the only one under the age of twenty-one. Bruce kept his suspicions to himself after witnessing Loki take Natasha down and rending her unconscious with a wave of his hand.
Clint pulled Widow aside when she awoke and explained everything that was going to happen. She had put up a long argument but he held fast. He told her that Zor El would reveal her secrets in her own time and SHIELD had been fine with that before now. They would have to accept it going forward.
Kara had setup the remote feed into the Healing chamber of the Fortress. Brainiac and JARVIS both were going to cut the feed if she tried to trace or tamper with anything on the computer. No one trusted her, they all expected her to try and pry some type of information out of either Clint or the feed.
Kara had shown them both a video feed of the device working on her when she had been getting her scar removed. The spoken languages recorded were Old Norse so they had trouble following the conversation between the Thor, Loki and Kara but they could see the way the device seemed to work with light and lasers, slowly removing the scar tissue and when Kara stood the scar was completely gone. She explained it was basically a quantum field generator with additional healing factors. When pressed about those added features by Tony and Bruce she smirked and said "Magic". That ended the conversation as far as Clint was willing to go. It opened a huge can of worms for Tony, Bruce and Loki to debate over.
When it was finally time to go to the Fortress Loki stepped up beside Kara and extended his teleporting field over both of them and Clint, taking the three directly to the Healing chamber. This way Clint had no idea how far or where in the world he was. The Fortress was underground but from inside the crystalized architecture there was no way to ascertain that. The light given off the Crystal columns worked much like florescent lighting, providing light everywhere, and in some cases it was hard to tell if it was filtered sunlight or not.
Kara smiled at Clint as he gazed around the room in awe. The entire place was so very alien and yet beautiful.
"All you have to do is lay down on the platform and the Soul Forge will do the rest." Kara reminded him softly as he turned back towards the machine.
Clint took his time looking over the machine before he got up on the platform. "So I will be awake for this right?" He asked carefully. Being an operative meant that he really shouldn't allow anyone to put him under. There was always the possibility of extracting secrets from agents in that way.
Kara scrunched up her nose. "It's not ideal when doing brain work, but I am aware of the worry of telling secrets while under the influence of a foreign power." She conceded with a pout. "I was kinda hoping you would trust me enough to let me put you under with Widow watching to see the results, but I won't push it."
Clint nodded slowly. "It's not a lack of trust. It's conditioning." He reasoned delicately. He really didn't want to offend her. "I would not feel safe if I was under and I would fight it."
Kara shrugged knowing he didn't understand just how deep the Soul Forge would make him go if he allowed it. "Even Loki can't fight the Soul Forge's ability to put him out, but I won't force you." She promised.
Loki behind her snorted with a touch of both mirth and annoyance, "You forced me to be unconscious."
Kara leveled a playful glare at him. "You're family, I can do whatever I want to you. Agent Barton is a guest."
Barton nearly snorted himself at her words and the pout Loki was giving her. "According to you I was a guest too." He reminded her of her enforced Rite.
Kara actually giggled. "That was later. When I was trying to make sure you and Thor didn't pull the Fortress down around our ears."
Clint had to admit that their banter was helping him to see Loki as a person, rather than the man who had controlled him. He was completely different standing there in dress pants and a button down shirt. Gone was the imposing tall warrior. In his place was a well dress and slim, lean looking early twenties man next to his stereotypical looking high school, cheerleader girlfriend. Kara's tights with long blue sweater that came down mid-thigh was the type of casual outfit that most teens wore. The image was too domestic for the setting. The crystal architecture was most definitely alien in origin, and Clint couldn't help but feel the cold radiating from the floor of the room despite the heating coming from the walls.
He laid back and took a deep breath. "I'm ready." He informed them.
Kara looked down at him with an encouraging grin. "Keep your eyes closed, otherwise the lights are going to give you a headache." She warned him. "We think this should only take at most an hour." She told him, giving him an inflated amount of time. She really would be surprised if it took more than ten minutes. The Soul Forge was going to do as much healing as it could in that time. On a human than should be quite a bit. As the first scans started she could see several repeated injuries to his right shoulder, and his knees were a bit of a mess. There were several old stab and gunshot wounds to his torso and damage to his ribs that were going to get a full treatment too.
"Here we go." She warned him as she started the healing process.
For Clint the sensation was strange. In some places he felt light fingers massaging his injuries. In his brain which held most of his attention the feeling as a light caress of warmth over the bridge of his nose and then he felt the warmth spread deeper. There were no nerves in the brain to perceive the penetration of the 'magic', but all the same he felt the light touch go inside his skull. The feeling was concentrated under his forehead. The sensation began to pulse softly. It felt like waves of heat, like when he's managed to find time to lay on the beach with the sun's rays soaking in. It was relaxing.
It wasn't long before the concentration of the soft waves had moved to other parts of his body. His knees and shoulders, which he'd felt small aches and pains worsening over time, were soaking up the power and he smirked. Kara was a good upstanding hero, he should have known she wouldn't pass up a chance to heal more than just his head.
"You are sneaky." He whispered to her. Both Kara and Loki looked towards him.
"I learned from the best." She smirked back proudly.
"From me?" Loki asked playfully. Clint could tell the machine had worked, because he no longer felt the overwhelming urge to break Loki in half for failing to complete the mission, or for taking control of his mind. Not that he realized until now that the first part was even a reason for his dislike of the alien.
Kara snorted loudly. "Hardly, mother taught me everything I needed to know about being deceitful."
Loki sighed as if offended but his own grin made it obvious he was amused. "Where did you think I learned it?"
Kara laughed. "Certainly not for anyone else we know."
Even Clint had to laugh at that, through the speakers they heard Thor laugh along with them. Nat's light breath on the speakers told him she'd managed to keep her amusement to herself.
"Are you alright?" Natasha asked Clint once the lights that were doing the deeper healing dimmed.
"I'm going to be better than new when I get out." He looked towards where the camera was so Natasha could read his facial expression. "Sneaky girl over here is fixing more than just my head, which is feeling better than before. My torn rotator cuff and my knees are both being fixed up too."
Kara looked over the machine and read the readout on his injuries. "It's just soft tissue damage being repaired, the Forge is using your body's abilities to regenerate it. You'll need a Thor or Captain Rogers sized portion of dinner to help replace the calories the machine is using to do so, and a good night's sleep afterwards." She admitted sheepishly.
Clint chuckled and threw her a grateful smile and wink to let her know he wasn't angry. "I'm not going to complain about the healing. Next time, be upfront about it." He warned her with a soft growl.
She took his rebuke at face value. "I promise. Even if it was to help you, I really should have asked first."
Loki sighed in exasperation and hugged her from behind. "You need to learn to not take friendly criticism so hard. Even without directing the Soul Forge to do so, it would have started healing those injuries anyway while it worked on his head. That is the function of the Forge after all."
Kara's brow crinkled. "I haven't had many friends, so I guess I do take their 'rebukes' more seriously."
Clint smiled as he was now a little more certain of her intentions, and he was appreciative of her thoughtfulness. "Well, it was meant as a friendly reminder, next time, ask first please. Or at least warn a guy."
Kara nodded and sat back to explain what the machine was fixing. Clint was interested in the machine's ability to stimulate the body to reproduce tissue that normally wasn't reproducible, like brain matter. It didn't replace the memories lost, but it could replace the missing cells so skills could be relearned. Impossible to heal injuries like spinal cord injuries could be fixed within hours, and the cervical nerves could be regenerated. The person would still need to relearn how to walk. It would just be guaranteed, instead of a slim to none possibility. Unfortunately this technology was currently out of Earth's reach since they couldn't manipulate the 'magic' needed to operate it.
Clint felt honored that she was willing to use it for more than the magical damage and made sure she knew he was thankful for the extra healing. Loki had been smiling proudly at her in the background. Once Clint was up he'd moved away so Clint could approach him when he was ready.
It only took as long as it took for him to thank Kara before he walked up to Loki and put out his hand. "I guess we are really meeting for the first time now."
Without the blue haze Clint was able to remember things that he'd brushed aside before. Like Loki sitting quietly meditating and then suddenly lurching sideway as if he'd been hit in the head. He also remembered seeing large scars and burns covering most of his body in the first few days before Stuttgart. The blue haze hadn't wanted him to remember that. It had wanted him to see that Loki as his leader, that was all.
"I am Loki of Asgard, and I am proud to meet, and greet you as a fellow warrior." Loki grabbed his arm just below the elbow. Clint instant recognized it as an old style greeting and returned it.
"I am Agent Clint Barton of SHIELD, and an Avenger. I am proud to meet, and greet you as a fellow warrior." He had no idea if what he'd done was right, but when in doubt copy the guy with the best manners. It had served him well so far in his life.
Loki smiled and laughed. "Well done." Kara looked on with glee.
"Now we just need to get Selvig here and hopefully we can heal him then go back to Asgard." She remarked as she placed her hands on their shoulders.
It took several days and a 'portkey' before Selvig was convinced to go to the Fortress for his healing. Loki was not to come anywhere near him. He also was reluctant to go through with the healing if it would take the knowledge from his mind that the Tesseract had bestowed. Kara had promised to not remove any knowledge. The Soul Forge had taken quite some time on him. Like Clint she had heal some of his soft tissue damage, which there was quite a bit of due to age. Mostly joint regeneration was completed, and some minor organ repair (mostly his arteries and lung damage).
His brain was still a little scrambled. The Tesseract had written over certain parts of his frontal cortex, in part to make him more compliant, and more willing to do what was asked of him to make the doorway. The fact he'd managed to build a fail-safe into the device was a miracle. He had access to portions of the brain that most humans did not, and it was playing a little havoc with his behavior. The difference was still noticeable. He'd be considered eccentric or a little crazy now, rather than bat-shit insane as he had been before treatment. He's paranoia had also come down to a manageable level. Drugs would not be effective in treating him, and Kara was concerned for him. There was still some blue left behind. It was impossible to remove all the blue magic and not take the knowledge with it. Kara had warned him of the bit left behind and he had brushed her concern away.
Jane Foster had come through again. While they hadn't been on good terms this past year, the woman was still willing to drop everything and help Eric. Eric had not wanted her to be near SHIELD or Stark. As a result their relationship had suffered while he was on top secret projects, and she was trying in vain to build her Bifröst without much help from Kara, other than financial.
Selvig had agreed to move to her lab and work on the things the Tesseract had shown him, including helping Jane with her research. It was temporary, as SHIELD was going to want him back. Kara thought it unlikely he'd ever be able to pass the psych evaluation to get back on a science team. He was a walking, talking security risk. At least working with Jane out of a lab owned by the Starks the risk was being managed. SHIELD would want access to his knowledge, but not have him in their facilities and files. This really was the best of both worlds for everyone.
Darcy also took advantage of the situation to move out of her apartment and move to one on a different floor, so Selvig could be next door to Jane. The two needed a little more separation if Thor was going to be visiting in the future was Darcy's excuse. In truth it was because the other apartment was bigger and had a better view and a balcony she could sunbath on.
The next day Kara finally found time to confront Tony about his statements before his attempt at accessing the portal with the nuke.
"Tony!" Kara yelled as she entered the New York Penthouse. She saw Pepper, Happy and Darcy in the room and Tony was behind the bar looking a little nervous as she stormed into the room, he knew it was time to discuss her adoption. This was the first time they had a chance to discuss it since it was the first time she had been willingly away from Thor and Loki since the battle.
They were both at her apartment, trying to have a civil conversation about seiðr. Loki was giving Thor lessons in the basics; First year at Hogwarts type knowledge for a Muggleborn type basics. Kara was still wondering if she'd have an apartment when she returned. Loki could put seventh year Hermione Granger to shame with his condescending attitude when teaching first year type material. He'd been patient with her, but only because he knew he was only teaching theory, which was mostly 'read this and we will talk about it next time we meet to see if you understand it'. Thor had the unfortunate issue of having had these basics taught to him before and ignoring them. Something that Loki wasn't that good about forgiving.
Tony held up a decanter. "I have Crown Royal Rye, your favorite."
Before Tony could get a good ramble going Pepper stepped forward. "I should tell you that I approved of this idea before he did it." Her confession derailed Kara somewhat and she turned to her in disbelief.
"You approved!" Kara cried out. Pepper grabbed her in a hug that Kara reluctantly returned. "Why would you do that?" She asked with a confused and annoyed tone in her voice.
"Tony needs an heir, or heiress as the case may be, dudette." Darcy pipped up, she looked like she was having the time of her life jumping in and out of the Loki-Hulk hole in the floor. "Is your brother really this tall? Man, I have got to see if he's as climbable as he looked on TV." She chuckled as she looked back at Kara.
Kara turned her glare on Darcy as her words filled Kara with a rarely felt emotion from her, jealous anger. "Yes he is that tall. Try it and I'll cut off your arms."
Darcy chuckled but smiled and backed up with her hands up. "Don't shoot. I'm unarmed in the only good way there is, and I'm so not going to fight you for him. Though I am sure he's godly enough to fight for, I'm just not going to fight you for him."
Happy snorted but quickly straighten up when Kara's gaze swung to him. "Is he in the know?" Kara asked.
Tony nodded slowly. "I needed him to witness and he wanted to know why before he let me sign away my fortune."
Kara sighed and sat heavily on the sofa. It groaned loudly but stayed on its feet. "Why me?"
Pepper shot Tony a look that told him to let her handle it, and even Darcy understood to back off so she headed over and sat at the bar to watch her idol at work.
"You know about what happened when Stane tried to take over the company." Pepper started. Everybody who was close to Tony knew about what happened with Stane. He'd tried to kill Tony so he'd be the sole majority owner of SI.
"Since then Happy, Rodney and I have been Tony's heirs in case he manages to kill himself in that suit of his." Pepper's voice had a hint a fury under the surface. Kara had a feeling she was still working on the anger she felt with Tony for going through the wormhole.
"If that happens SI would be torn apart if the three of us don't always agree." She looked a little concerned on that score. "I'll be honest I don't think we'll agree enough to keep SI on the track it is on right now if we do split the company."
Kara agreed silently. Rodney for all his assurances that he wouldn't share the Iron Patriot Armor with the US Air Force was a military man. He'd want the company to start building weapons for the US again. Something that at this point with the types of weapons Tony had designed for his suit could not be placed in the hands of people like General Ross or Talbert, both of whom should be very glad they had never met Kara in person so far.
"And you think making me your daughter will make everyone back down and not fight me when the time comes that something happens to you." Kara snarled at him, "You who won't even let me take the shrapnel out of your chest! I could fix that!"
Tony sighed. "As part of my apology to you for going behind your back to do this, I will let you removed the damn shrapnel." He gave her his best puppy eyes, which were just pathetic. "I trust you to do what is right for the company and for Earth. That's not something I can say for Rodney, and I consider the man my best friend. That's another reason why he's not in the know. I don't know that I can trust him not to tell your secret."
Kara just sighed. "Why not just give him money and not part of the company… Why go down this road?"
"Honestly?" Pepper said to regained her attention. "We are hoping with the official announcement that you are Tony's daughter and heir that SHIELD is going to back off Kara Stark."
Kara snorted. "How do you figure that? It's never gotten them to back off before."
"Actually it did." Tony chimed in. "Coulson put a 'do not approach Kara Stark' order out a little before Christmas last year. His reason was you were likely my biological daughter and pissing me off was not in SHIELD's best interest."
"And Coulson is now dead." She ran her hands through her hair as he duck her head to hide her face. Mentioning the Agent was still hard for her. She'd actually liked the man.
"The order still stands. And Tony's little statement on the open comm had SHIELD scrambling to find out what they can about you, but the order still stands." Pepper repeated as she filled in the blanks for her.
"They are trying to see if there is any connection to Loki since Kara Stark looks like a female Loki." Happy added primly from his spot by the door. "There have been several attempts to see what you were doing during Loki's arrival. We allowed them access to the surveillance video when they asked since you were in the lab at the time and we had the footage to prove it. JARVIS was ready if an emergency popped up, but SHIELD never got any footage that told them otherwise."
Kara nodded slowly. She knew SHIELD sometimes did that. They also would tap into the live feed at times too. JARVIS and Brainiac were quick to clue her in when it was happening. She recalled that happening a few hours after Thor's arrival. She had been on her way to New Mexico at the time so they had only seen her empty lab at the time.
"So what happens now?" Kara crossed her arms over her chest petulantly. "Kara is now a 'real Stark'?"
Pepper nodded sternly. "Legally on Earth yes, Kara Stark is now a 'real Stark'. There will be some scrutiny. Hopefully we can get that dealt with quickly. Its old news that you are Tony's daughter as far as the media is concerned." Pepper reminded her. "No one is really going to care, and it's not as if SHIELD can do anything about it. Kara is likely going to need to do an interview with SHIELD's Director Fury."
Kara growled and stared at Tony. "You just had to go and do this without talking to me. Do you have any idea just how bad this could screw things up on Asgard?"
Pepper, Tony and Happy all looked shocked as they had obviously not considered that. Darcy decided to drop the truth on the other three. "Totally patriarch warrior society, by becoming your dad Tony's pitted himself against the Queen of Asgard. Odin has to accept you as his, and supersede Tony's claim, or ignore it and you lose your honorary Princess status." Darcy laid out for them. "Totally should have check with me first Mr. Daddy Warbucks."
Pepper looked concerned and bit her lip. "I had not thought of that." She admitted. "I was only concerned with US inheritance laws."
Kara rolled her eyes. "Well luckily most of Asgard and especially Odin considers Midgardians to be nothing more than animals, primates at best, so as far as Odin is concerned I can't be adopted by monkey, hopefully." She glared at all of them. "No one in this room is ever to admit they know for a fact Supergirl is Kara Stark. Clint and Steve know, but they're the only Avengers other than Tony who knows right now."
They all agreed and Kara stalked off and took off for her apartment from the balcony.
"Did we really possibly mess up her life on Asgard?" Pepper asked Darcy.
Darcy thought for a moment and shook her hand side-to-side. "She gets a ton of authority from her position as Ambassador. Take that away, and she gets persuaded by assholes like Ross and Fury. But she is right in that Asgard isn't going to throw away a big strong warrior like her over the adoption of a tribe of monkeys."
"That's not something I had thought of. Blue doesn't act like that's how she grew up thinking of us." Tony took a deep sip from his glass. In all the conversations he'd imagined in his head, Kara being this upset over his adopting her hadn't been a consideration. He'd thought she might be concerned or upset about the not telling her first bit, and he had meant to, but the battle happened too quickly. He'd filled the paperwork about six months ago and forgot about it since even with his clout adoption of anyone, minor or adult took time. She'd been still too upset, and Barry had left not long before at the time. She had still been watching the computers with a close eye, looking for signs of Barry's return back then.
"That's because Frigga is kick ass and wouldn't let her absorb that type of shit thinking." Darcy told them proudly. "Thor had that knocked out of him by 'yours truly' and Janie. Don't know what Loki thinks, but like Kara he was closer to Frigga than Odin because of his magic."
"Can we limit the exposure of the news?" Tony asked Pepper. "It was a closed adoption right?"
Pepper nodded quickly. "All adoptions of minors are confidential, even emancipated minors like Kara Stark have a right to privacy."
"Someone would have to go looking for that on purpose." Happy added. "Only anyone who was tapped into your comms knows about it."
"Which would be just the Avengers and certain SHIELD people like Maria Hill," Tony said thinking out loud. "Pepper you should call Fury and explain that no one is to know about the adoption and I will personally destroy any server that does mention it."
JARVIS spoke up. "The information is right now only on Fury's private server, however there has already been some chatter on SHIELDs email and internal chatting that mentions her as certain clearance level 7 people have been ordered to investigate her. There is some chatter of the adoption so far, but nothing at the lower levels. All of it is with high status agents like Barton."
"Let's make sure it stays that way." Pepper ordered firmly as she reached for her cell phone and began to make a few calls. "And let's see if we can get even that quashed."