*peeks out from bunker before throwing chapter out and slamming the door shut*
Enochian is spoken like this.
Chapter 9
It was in this position that a frazzled Loki found Gabriel barely five seconds later.
"Gabriel, you – oh, Hel!" Loki slipped slightly on the wet floor, managing to kneel down besides a still shell-shocked Pepper. "Are you all right?"
It took Pepper a moment before she managed to burst out, "Oh, Jesus Christ, yes."
Loki seemed rather flustered, patting her tentatively on the shoulder. "Yes… Yes, quite good."
"But they're not!" Pepper sounded hysterical.
"They—" Loki broke off when he saw the carnage Gabriel was sitting in. "By Odin's beard." His inane swear was quietly horrified.
Pepper giggled hysterically. "Is that all?"
Loki seemed to gather himself, coming closer to Gabriel and kneeling by him, tentatively laying a hand on his back. "Gabriel…"
Gabriel snuffled slightly in Dummy's hair, slowly drawing back to exhale heavily. "The others?"
"They saw the light." Loki's voice was quiet. "They are on the way now."
There was a clap of thunder outside and seconds later Thor's hurried footsteps sounded as he rushed into the room, Mjölnir falling to the floor with a wet thump, sending bloody flecks of water spraying everywhere.
"Gabriel…" Thor's voice was hushed and worried.
Gabriel clutched Dummy's body close. "I failed them."
Loki hesitated, reaching out to run two fingers through Butterfingers's blood-drenched hair. "If I understand what you said, you could not sense her. As such, you could not have known what she would have done."
"There are spells," Gabriel murmured. "I could've protected them, but I didn't."
"What Amora wants," Loki said quietly, "she eventually obtains. I doubt that there is anything you could have done."
Gabriel's lips quirked sadly just as the elevator doors dinged and the Avengers poured into the room. Steve was first in the room, and he skidded to a stop by Pepper, mindlessly helping her to her feet as he gaped in dismay at the sight before him.
"I'm fine," Pepper said, though the way she had grabbed hold of Steve's hand belied her words. "I'm fine."
"Holy shit!" Clint exclaimed.
Bruce's lips thinned, but he said nothing, instead clutching the bathrobe some kind citizen had given him even closer.
"I'm sorry," Pepper told Gabriel, falling to her knees beside him. "I couldn't—"
"This wasn't your fault," Gabriel interrupted her.
Pepper's lips twisted into sad smile. "How is it yours? It's a miracle you even came when you did."
"Hightailed like a bat out of hell," Clint agreed.
"It was no miracle," Gabriel said quietly. "I heard your prayer. I should've told you that you could contact me that way. I should've laid spells. I've been too lax, and this happened."
Natasha kneeled on one knee behind Pepper, laying a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Where is Jarvis?" she asked.
"I would assume that pile over there is him," Loki said without any of his usual tact.
"Loki!" Thor was reproving.
"I speak only the truth, brother."
"Have a little tact!" Thor came to stand behind him. "We have just witnessed a grievous loss. There is no need to be unnecessarily cruel."
"He refused to move," Pepper whispered, eyes screwed shut. "And then he…"
"Not her usual style," Gabriel said flatly. "I suppose she took a note out of Lucifer's book. Exploding was always more his thing."
"And…what happened to her?" Bruce asked slowly, darting a glance in Steve's direction. No one looked at Lilith's body.
"Obliterated." Gabriel's tone bode no further discussion.
"This is usually the point where I crack a stupid joke, but this…I can't…" Clint broke off, actually biting his lower lip in a fit of emotion rare for him.
Steve finally managed to gather himself to crouch besides Gabriel, his shield resting by his side. "I know what it feels like," he finally said, "to find that you're too late. I'm sorry it's happened now. With this."
Gabriel released his breath shakily, blinking his stinging eyes rapidly. There was no need to cry. There really wasn't.
"It's going to be difficult," Steve continued calmly, "but we can get through this."
"That's an understatement." Pepper sniffed, wiping her watery eyes. She gladly took the handkerchief Natasha handed her.
"It'll be fine," Gabriel said, cutting Steve off mid-word in his speech.
"It will be," Natasha agreed quietly, her eyes dry but terribly sad.
Gabriel ran his fingers through Dummy's hair one last time before he gently settled his body on the ground and looked up to the ceiling to say, "JARVIS, you good now?"
There was a disbelieving silence from the others in the room.
"What—" Clint began.
JARVIS spoke, cutting him off, "I am disoriented, but in otherwise perfect condition, sir. However, I am slightly distressed at the current condition of the room."
"Oh, Jesus fucking Christ!" Clint's fingers tightened around his bow.
"I wasn't expecting that," Bruce said.
"He's alive?" Pepper shrieked, slapping Gabriel upside the shoulder and promptly bending over her now broken hand in pain. She managed to continue to sound pissed through the pain. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"I assume because it was self-evident," Loki said dryly, smoothly standing up. "As such, he forgot to inform the rest of us." He gave Gabriel a thoroughly unimpressed look.
Gabriel reached out to heal Pepper's hand. "It slipped my mind," he admitted honestly.
"Of course," Natasha said, lips thin in disapproval.
"So Lilith?" Steve asked calmly. "Did you have to do it?"
Gabriel shot him a sharp look, fury pounding through him once again. To his credit, Steve didn't flinch.
"She hurt my family," Gabriel said in a low voice. "That's not something I'll take lying down." He'd lost it upon seeing them lying like that on the floor. He'd known it would be all right – they weren't really human – but emotionally it hadn't registered. He'd seen their bodies, and he'd reacted.
"If you would, sir," JARVIS interrupted softly, "the others are quite distressed."
Pepper hiccupped slightly. "Are they all fine?"
"How?" Bruce asked.
"Artificial intelligences," Gabriel said, "not human. I made sure that if their human bodies ever failed, they'd go back to their original."
"So magic," Bruce said.
"Yes." Gabriel tilted his head to the side, focusing on where he could feel his children all the way over in Malibu; they really were frightened. "If you'll excuse me, I've got something to take care of."
Before anyone could protest, Gabriel had taken himself to Malibu, landing directly in his workshop.
He didn't even have time to blink before he was bowled over by a frantic Dummy, Butterfingers and You close on his heels.
Gabriel barely budged when Dummy slammed into him, only stepping back a little so the bot wouldn't damage himself. He brought his hands up to wrap them around Dummy's arm, stroking a thumb up and down the metal soothingly.
"It's all right," he said quietly, feeling Butterfingers and You grab onto his clothes. He let Dummy go to soothe them in turn. "It's all right."
They whined in distress, tugging at his shirts.
"It's okay." Gabriel let the Enochian roll off his tongue, his natural language soothing himself as well. "We're all right, guys."
He sunk down to sit on the ground, his kids crowding him in and remaining in contact. There was a faint electronic crackle and JARVIS materialized in a holographic body to also join the huddle.
"It's fine," he said softly, his blue face worried.
"It is," Gabriel said. He repeated it in English. "It is."
"They are worried," JARVIS said eventually, referring to the Avengers. "I believe it is the bodies."
Gabriel said nothing but closed his eyes, bringing the bodies to the Malibu house and putting them elsewhere so the bots wouldn't get even more distressed.
"We're all right," Gabriel said in Enochian once again.
And he pulled the souls of his kids out and towards him, embracing them with his wings.
They shivered at the ephemeral touch, moving to huddle closer to his true form.
Gabriel made sure to cloak his true form further so he wouldn't inadvertently hurt them, though he unveiled enough that they were comforted.
They would be all right.
After Tony left without an even by-your-leave, Steve felt rather betrayed despite his better inclinations. They had all just had a big shock, and to find out that Tony's kids weren't dead after all only for Tony to leave immediately afterward was disconcerting.
Not to mention the bodies that were still lying there.
"She's really dead," Bruce said, crouching by Amora's/Lilith's body and checking her pulse.
"If I understood it right," Loki said, "she is not dead but wiped from existence altogether. Her soul is gone."
"That's even creepier," Clint said.
"It's a smiting," Pepper said evenly. "He said I'd know what a smiting is, and that was one."
"It hurt our eyes." Clint reached up to touch the corner of his eyes, where blood had leaked out when he'd looked at Stark Tower earlier. Surprisingly, Steve hadn't been affected. It had been bright, but he hadn't suffered adverse effects the way Bruce, Natasha, and Clint had.
"Mr. Stark has said it would burn out the eyes of humans." JARVIS sounded subdued.
"There is too much for a mortal to see," Loki said. "His true form is vast."
"That's great," Bruce said, "but we're still stuck with this." He didn't look at the other bodies.
Pepper hiccupped noticeably and turned her back, blinking rapidly. "I can't." Her voice was carefully even.
"I…" Natasha's lips were pinched.
"Me neither." Clint was pale.
Bruce shook his head, stepping away from Lilith's body. "I've seen enough."
That left Steve, Thor, and Loki. Steve really didn't want to even though he knew the kids were all right. He couldn't separate himself from the notion that those bodies were them. And he'd grown too attached to them to be able to manage anything without breaking down.
"You are all so human," Loki scoffed.
"Can you handle it, brother?" Thor asked softly. "I cannot."
Loki hesitated noticeably, and that was all the answer they needed.
"I can inform Mr. Stark," JARVIS offered.
"Please do, JARVIS," Pepper said, sounding utterly relieved.
There was nothing more from JARVIS then, but the bodies disappeared within seconds. The only thing left was Lilith, the bloody water, and the remnants of what had been Jarvis.
Steve wondered what Tony would do about that, though it probably wouldn't be much of a problem for him. He'd made them bodies before, so he could do it again.
"How nice of him," Pepper said, glancing down at the carnage. "I suppose I should call the cleaning service to deal with this?"
Surprisingly, JARVIS didn't answer.
"No cleaning service would deal with this," Steve said eventually. "We can all pitch in. Tony doesn't need to see this."
He didn't need the reminder that his kids had been violently torn apart.
Steve wasn't a father, but he'd seen bereft parents during the war. It wasn't pleasant, and even though Tony was the archangel Gabriel, he had no doubt it wouldn't be easier for him. Tony loved his kids.
"Where are the cleaning supplies?" Steve asked Pepper.
Pepper huffed out a breathless laugh. "If they're still where I had them assigned, I'd be surprised. I found a mop in the pantry one time, and the flour where the bleach is."
"The duster was in the vents just last week," Natasha said dryly. "Why don't we take a look and see what's there?"
"It's mind-boggling," Clint started as the women left, "because he doesn't actually clean. So why was the bleach in the fridge last week?"
"It's the kids," Bruce said. "I think they're pranking us."
A small smile was tugging at Loki's lips, raising Steve's suspicion as to whose idea it really was. He said nothing, though, as Loki keeping busy with small time pranks was better than he turning the Statue of Liberty rainbow because he was bored.
"We have it," Pepper announced moments later, bringing in some mops, paper towels, and a bucket. Natasha had several bottles of bleach and garbage bags.
"Mops," Clint said, grabbing one Pepper was holding out. He was also handed a bottle of bleach from Natasha.
"Anything you want us to avoid?" Steve inquired.
"Oh no." Pepper looked down at the ruined carpet and furniture. "Don't bother. He'll likely fix everything up anyway. Let's just clean it up."
Grimly and quietly, they proceeded to do just that.
About an hour later, they'd gotten practically everything bleached and cleaned. They'd had to fetch another bucket and more paper towels, but the job went quickly considering they had three pairs of stronger-than-average hands helping out.
In the end, Pepper deemed the carpet a lost cause unless Tony did something angelic. The floor was tile, meaning it was easily cleaned up, but blood and water had gotten to places where it wasn't so easy to clean. Then there was also Jarvis's body to clean up, and it was Steve and Loki who managed that.
By the time they finished, they were all slightly queasy and glad it was over. They were warriors, but that didn't mean cleaning up the remains of loved ones was any easier. Steve hoped it would never be easy, but it also shouldn't happen again.
They'd just put away the cleaning supplies in their assigned spots when Steve got a high-priority phone call from Reed Richards. Considering the man wasn't even supposed to be on Earth, he took the call cautiously.
"Avengers." What? It was the official line for emergencies; Steve wasn't going to answer informally!
"Oh, fantastic, Captain," Reed said, sounding supremely relieved to have gotten ahold of him. That set off Steve's alarm bells. "I couldn't get ahold of Tony."
"Where are you?" Steve asked, instantly getting the attention of the others.
"That's actually an excellent question. If I look out the window it's New York City, but we also could be in an illusion—"
"It's New York, Steve," Sue interrupted calmly. "I just turned the news on."
"You managed to get back?"
Sue hesitated slightly. "It wasn't anything we did," she said quietly. "We were hoping Tony had managed it."
Steve shot a look at his team, reading comprehension in their faces. "We'll be there in a moment."
"Thank you, Steve."
Reed took the phone at that point. "Speed would preferably be of the essence."
"Being something to drink!" someone who sounded like Johnny hollered.
"Johnny—" Sue's scolding was cut off as Steve hung up.
"The Fantastic Four are back," he said without any preamble. "Considering what just happened here, we need to go over and check it out."
"Who's going to call Tony?" Clint asked.
Steve shrugged, holding up the phone that was even now dialing Tony. "I'll leave a voicemail if he doesn't pick up. Besides, praying works."
"Would it work if we don't believe?" Bruce mused.
"You believe in Gabriel," Loki pointed out. "Thus, your prayer will reach him."
On Steve's phone, he reached Tony's voicemail. "Tony, just got a call from Reed. They're back. We're going over to check up what happened." He paused, then tentatively added, "Hope you're fine." Then before he could make even more of a fool of himself, he hung up.
"I have left a prayer as a voicemail," Loki announced calmly.
Steve frowned, tucking his phone away in the pocket he had in his uniform. "You can do that?"
"He's talking out of his ass," Clint said. "He just prayed. You can't delay a prayer."
Loki looked sternly disapproving but said nothing.
"Let's just go," Steve interrupted firmly, having no desire for Clint to further snipe at Loki.
"Tony will show up when he does," Pepper said resignedly, wiping her hands off on a towel. She threw it in the bag Clint automatically held open.
"Then shall we go?" Thor asked. "Time will not stop for us, and Reed sounded most distressed."
"It will be faster if we travel my way," Loki said, stepping back into the middle of the room. "Circle around."
"I feel like I should have a candle and robes," Clint muttered, shuffling into place besides Natasha. "And maybe a magic book."
"Your magic books are useless," Loki scoffed, wiggling his fingers.
Before anyone could protest at this slight against humans, Loki's spell snapped into action and transported them directly to the top floor of Baxter Building, startling the four superheroes there.
Ben jumped into a fighting position, Johnny burst into flames, Sue turned invisible, and Reed immediately darted away to the upper balcony.
Steve and the others weren't exactly raring to fight, though. Steve was slightly disoriented from the transport and the others, save for the gods, were looking rather nauseous.
"Excuse me." Clint put a hand up to his mouth, swallowing convulsively. Natasha was much more discreet.
"Give us a little warning!" Johnny demanded, the flames dissipating to reveal his uniform.
"Usually you don't react like that," Steve pointed out.
"These are special circumstances," Reed said, slowly clambering down to resume normal size by Ben's side. "Where's Tony?"
"He's got a different ride," Steve answered. "He'll be here soon." Hopefully. "What's the problem?"
"The problem?" Ben grunted in disgust. "What just happened is the problem!"
"I beg your pardon," Loki said, affronted.
Ben shook his head dismissively. "Not you."
Loki didn't seem appeased. "That still sounds aggressive."
"Peace, brother," Thor said calmly. He looked at Reed. "If you would explain?"
Reed shifted nervously, eyes flickering around the room anxiously. "We're good, right?"
"This is New York," Sue said.
"We think," Ben added.
"I can't flame on anymore," Johnny complained, looking paler than usual and rather shaky now that the adrenaline seemed to be fading. "Shit…" He tipped sideways, only for Ben to catch him by the shoulder and prop him upright.
Steve stepped forward unconsciously, halting when all four stiffened. "You're good?" The state of the room caught his attention now. It was in even greater disarray than normal. Equipment was strewn all over the place, and some of it seemed to be smashed behind repair. There were also dark patches of what looked to be blood, though none of the four were sporting visible wounds.
"We're good," Sue replied evenly. Her hands shook slightly where she had them out in preparation of forming a shield.
"Speak for yourself," Johnny groaned, leaning heavily against Ben.
There was a noise from the doorway, and while Steve's team reacted normally – meaning they looked over to check it was normal – the others exploded into motion. Or tried to. Johnny's flames sputtered out seconds after they turned on, and Sue's force field was crackling weakly. Even Reed and Ben looked tired.
"Hoo boy," Tony said, raising an eyebrow at the rather sorry sight. "Bit of an overreaction for little ol' me, don't you think?"
He looked perfectly fine, dressed in normal clothes that were spotless. There was no sign as to what had happened before.
"No," Ben said, "not really."
Tony's brow furrowed. "Why?"
"You're an ass," Reed said suddenly, surprising Steve with the use of his language.
"And you're a stretchy pain in the neck," Tony retorted smoothly. "And checkmate, Reed, for the thousandth time in the row, because you always pick white."
"White gives you an advantage."
"It's the advantage taken by the weaker player."
"You count cards."
"Poker now? I prefer corbomite."
Reed cracked a weak smile now. "Live long and prosper."
"I prefer short and dirty," Tony said, "because YOLO."
"No, stop," Clint groaned. "That is so overdone."
"You added that," Reed said, smiling tiredly.
"Well, sure." Tony smiled back easily. "Need a little spice in our lives. Though I gather you've had enough for a lifetime?" He tilted his head, eyes scanning over the mess in the room.
"Please," Johnny said. "And can I have a chair?"
Thor slid one over, and Johnny gladly collapsed into it, head lolling back in utter exhaustion.
"I'm going to collapse right on you," Sue informed her brother.
Tony brought over two, sliding them to Reed and Sue before he stood by Steve.
"Where were you?" Tony asked without preamble.
"We don't know," Reed replied, sounding utterly exhausted now that he was sure he was safe.
"It was colorless," Johnny offered, head still lolling back.
"There were colors," Reed disagreed.
"Washed out blue and gray isn't what I consider colorful."
Tony's tone was carefully even as he asked the next question. "What was there?"
"Vampires," was Johnny's instant reply.
"Vampires don't exist, Johnny," Sue said. It sounded like they'd had this argument numerous times lately.
"They had teeth!" Johnny demonstrated with his fingers, but there were much more than the usual two. "Everywhere. They weren't even good vampires!"
"At least they had vampire teeth," Ben said. "And no sparkling."
"They were vampires?" Steve asked just to be sure.
"No," Reed said just as Johnny said, "Yes."
"They had sharp teeth?" Tony asked.
"Yes." This time the answer was in complete agreement.
"One tried to bite into my neck," Ben said. "Broke its teeth."
"Question," Clint said. "Why would a wannabe vampire even try to bite into something that looks like orange rock?"
Johnny snapped his fingers. "That's what I wanted to know!"
"They weren't vampires," Reed cut in, his voice boding no further argument.
"What else?" Tony pressed. "What happened?"
"I don't…" Reed closed his eyes, taking several breaths. "I was working on something," he continued calmly, "when there was an incident. I'm still not sure what. When I woke up the entire tower was in this…other dimension. It was a type of forest, and we were right in the middle of it."
"Phones didn't work," Sue said. "Neither did anything else we had."
"There were things," Johnny added, shivering slightly. "I was on one of the lower floors when it happened. I'd gone down to the first when something nasty broke in. Some sort of shadow thing." He shrugged once. "Vaporized it with flames."
"We met on the top floor," Reed said, looking round the room. "We decided to check out the area."
"And what a wise idea that turned out to be," Ben added disgustedly.
"We almost didn't get back," Sue said quietly.
"Vampires," Johnny said firmly, ignoring the sharp look Reed sent his way. "And werewolves."
"We went on," Reed said, ignoring Johnny's input. "But there was nothing other than forest and what seemed to be other people. But not. They weren't exactly…human."
"Vampires," Johnny repeated.
Reed was completely fed up. "Vampires don't exist."
"For the sake of argument," Tony interrupted patiently, "let's say they do. Let's say every supernatural creature you've ever heard of exists. What changes?"
Although Tony's tone was casual, something in it had Steve's hackles raising. He sent a surreptitious glance around, only to find that aside from him, only Loki looked vaguely suspicious as to what Tony was driving at.
"That can't be," Reed said, frowning.
"But it makes sense," Johnny said. "Vampires, werewolves, demons… I think we saw it all."
"We almost got eaten," Ben said. "And it wasn't by anything I've heard of before."
"Did it look human?" Tony asked.
"Moved too fast," Johnny admitted. "But it fried after it went after me and I set it on fire."
"We got split up," Reed admitted. "And then we got back together again. Only it wasn't really us. Some sort of illusion or something. When we took care of that, we decided to head back."
"We ran into something else," Sue said. "It gave us dreams. Made us believe we were already home." She swallowed, eyes shining.
"I was kind of being hunted down at that point," Johnny said. "So when I ran into these guys practically drooling in their sleep, I didn't waste time wasting the bad guys and getting us out."
"We managed it," Reed said. "But they were already in the building. We came up here using all the back ways we knew and holed ourselves up."
"They chewed through the walls," Sue whispered, horrified. She looked up, and Steve followed her eyes to find himself looking at several large holes in the ceiling.
"I said vampires had teeth," Johnny said, shuddering, "but those were nothing compared to these guys. They just kept eating. And eating. Nothing we did stopped them."
Something dark flashed through Tony's eyes, and Steve was suddenly very aware that this was an archangel standing next to him.
"And?" Tony asked quietly.
"I don't know." Reed seemed frustrated. "Something happened then. It was…loud. And powerful. It stopped those creatures because they fled. We ended up here then."
"All of a sudden?"
"All of a sudden," Reed confirmed. "I thought it might've been your work."
"No." Tony flashed his patented media smile. "It wasn't. I was working on it, though."
"Do you have any idea what happened?"
"To be honest," Steve said, "we thought it was one of your machines."
"It wasn't," Tony said before Reed could. "Too many things at the same time for it to be anything but planned."
"Doom and Amora were working together?" Natasha asked.
"Yes." Tony nodded once, eyes hard. "Amora had the power for a large jump like that."
"I'm sorry," Reed interrupted. "Amora?"
"She is not your concern," Loki said.
"What happened makes her our concern," Ben growled.
"Not anymore," Tony said calmly. "That place you were in… Anyone you meet give it a name?"
"They didn't really call it anything," Sue said. "We were a bit too busy keeping alive to listen to what they said."
Reed was studying Tony. "Do you know something?"
Tony considered the question, brown eyes flickering over to Steve. "No," he said eventually. "You're the expert on dimensional physics. Best bet I've got is you landed somewhere nasty."
Johnny snorted. "Understatement."
"So what now?" Sue asked.
"I'll check you guys over," Bruce said, rolling up his sleeves. "Make sure everything's okay. These guys can go back, make sure everything's been cleaned up from Doom."
"I am not a glorified taxi service," Loki said.
"Taxis don't make me sick," Clint agreed.
"It is not my fault your constitution is so delicate."
"Enough, gentlemen." Tony shot them both a quelling look. "We'll leave Bruce here then. Drop me a call when you need a ride back," he told him.
"Sure." Bruce went over to Johnny, fingers going to his wrist to check his pulse first thing. "You guys might want to give me your base stats so I know what I'm doing."
Steve followed Tony out the room, the others close on his heels. "You know where they were?" he asked quietly.
"Yeah," Tony responded.
"Where?" Loki pressed.
Tony's smile was brief. "Purgatory."
"Purgatory?" Loki narrowed his eyes.
The answer was curt. "Humans might also know it as limbo."
Steve didn't even have time to blink before Tony snapped his fingers and they were back in the tower. Now his stomach roiled, displeased at the sudden displacement.
"I take it back," Clint moaned, clutching his stomach. "Your way is so much worse, Tony. I think I've just been constipated."
"Sorry." Tony didn't sound very sorry.
"I'm good," Steve said, inhaling deeply several times to calm his stomach. He'd traveled with Tony before, and it usually wasn't this bad. He must be upset.
"Oh, hello," Pepper said, catching his attention. "How nice of you to tell me that you'd be coming back."
"Pepper." Tony's smile was more relaxed now. "How are they?"
"You can see for yourself," Pepper said. She raised her voice. "Boys!"
Steve had enough time to brace himself before the three kids zipped into the room, followed more sedately by Jarvis. They leapt onto Tony, dog-piling him.
Tony didn't wobble. "I did say I'd be all right."
"We find it more reassuring to actually see you, sir," Jarvis said cheerfully.
"They are well?" Thor asked anxiously.
"Oh yeah," Tony answered. "Gave them protection this time. Inscribed Enochian sigils right into their ribs."
"You what?" Pepper sounded alarmed.
"It's a bit like an alarm system. I can find them, but no one else can. And I'll be warned if something happens."
"So you tagged them with microchips."
Tony made a face. "They're not pets, Pepper."
"It's a protection system?" Natasha interrupted.
"Alarm system," Tony explained. "But not really, because it's supposed to read bad intentions and protect them accordingly."
"Could you teach me this?" Loki asked.
Tony studied him consideringly. "That depends," he said slowly.
"On what exactly?"
"What you plan on using them for."
"What I drew," Pepper said, "that was Enochian?"
Tony nodded shortly. "Banishing sigil. Doesn't work great on me, but on the lower ranking angels it will." He smiled dryly. "Then again, there's only me."
"Can you teach us?" Steve asked. "I'd like to know how to protect ourselves."
"Now, that," Tony said, "I can do."
"Can we help?" Butterfingers asked innocently from her spot on Tony's arm.
"You can learn," Tony said, smiling at her.
"Hey," Clint said, looking down, "the carpet's new."
The carpet was now a bright red and gold, and whatever other stains they hadn't managed to get out were also gone. There was also another coffee table, as the last had been completely wrecked by Lilith.
"Okay, kids"—Tony's voice caught Steve's attention—"grab a seat. This is going to be long."
Tony's voice was light, but Steve could still remember the underlying darkness that he'd had when talking to Reed. Whatever purgatory was to Tony, it wasn't anything good.
After Amora and what happened with Reed and his family, Tony kept a closer eye on what happened outside of his immediate world. He'd been neglecting to do so lately, too immersed in the family he'd made here. And he'd paid for it, though thankfully not permanently.
In any case, that wouldn't happen again. Steve had agreed to Enochian sigils on his ribs, and so had the rest of the team as well after some days to consider the offer. Pepper had been initially reluctant to be "tagged like a common pet", but had given in after Rhodey had jumped at the offer.
"In my line of work, you don't turn down a card like that," had been his explanation, which Steve, Natasha, and Clint had agreed to.
Gabriel had taken a look at the work Castiel had put into the sigils inscribed on the Winchesters, and it really was quite ingenious except for how Castiel was unable to find them himself. Since Gabriel had a better mastery of the Enochian language than Castiel, he'd accommodated for that so he could find his family. Still, if he ever saw his little brother again, Gabriel would thank him for the idea.
In the meantime, Tony continued to act as an Avenger. He also went to Asgard at one point to check up on what Odin had done with the Tesseract, and he'd left upon being satisfied with the protections the gods had put around it. They were powerful enough to deal with anything short of Gabriel himself. And if something on Gabriel's level was actually after the Tesseract (or even here in the first place), then they were all fucked anyway.
To sum it all up in a nice little package, life was practically back to normal now. And it was while life was normal that shit generally hit the fan, so Tony kept a watchful eye out.
Still, nothing happening meant that Tony got bored. And when Tony got bored, Pepper noticed. And when Pepper noticed it, she took action.
Meaning that Tony was sent off to Japan on a business trip to market the arc reactor and the computer chips SI was making lately.
He did so love business trips.
"Now remember," Pepper told him in the car on the way to the business gala, "nothing outrageous. That means no pranks, no taking anyone to bed, and nothing else that involves magic."
"Grace."
"There's nothing graceful about you, Tony." Pepper arched her eyebrows meaningfully. "And I don't care if you've taken women to bed before. The culture is different here."
Tony refrained from pointing out that he'd been there to see what Japan did through the years. "I speak the language, Pepper."
Pepper didn't sound very impressed. "You speak every language ever spoken."
Tony beamed. "Isn't it awesome?"
She rolled her eyes. "That said, nothing outrageous."
Tony affected a pout. "Fine. I'll keep it to human constraints."
"Nothing dangerous."
"Would I?"
"Yes," Pepper said as they arrived, "you would."
The door was opened then, and Tony stepped out first before helping Pepper out, mindful of her high heels.
The paparazzi here wasn't as crazy as in America, meaning they weren't hounded by camera flashes and questions every step of the way. They parted ways once inside, and Tony slowly meandered through the large room, in no hurry to start the schmoozing he would need to do.
He absentmindedly picked a champagne flute off a passing waiter's tray, swilling the liquid around as he took in the guests. Something pinged at his senses, but it wasn't anything dangerous.
He was then accosted by a white-haired man who was grinning toothily. "Mr. Stark!" His English was heavily accented.
Tony smiled back automatically, sifting through the other man's mind for his name. "Higurashi-san, how are you?"
Higurashi beamed at him. "Very pleased to see you here, Mr. Stark!"
"It is my pleasure to be here," Tony said in Japanese. "I find this gala to be extraordinarily well done.
Higurashi switched to Japanese as well. "Isn't it? We have Mr. Fujikawa to thank for this."
"And his lovely daughter? I've heard much about her in America."
"She is absolutely charming," Higurashi agreed. "But, Mr. Stark, I was most interested in talking about the technological advances your arc reactor makes possible."
And here it went. Tony put on his best smile and began talking.
In the next two hours, Tony went through five different businessmen, all of whom were salivating at the chance to get at the arc reactor. The sixth one was more interested in selling his own stuff, which happened to be run-of-the-mill toasters (it might've been solar panels, but Tony had already tuned out by then). Regardless, Tony wasn't exactly sure what the guy was doing here with that.
He was just wishing for a very stiff drink or something sweet to nibble on when what he'd felt earlier again pinged his senses. He'd felt it on and off this evening, but because it wasn't in any way threatening, he hadn't wanted to do anything about it.
Still, the fact that it kept doing so was irritating because he wasn't just going to ignore something like that. What was even more irritating was that he wasn't sure what it was without prying further.
Mentally heaving a sigh, Tony began scanning the room for the source. He'd find out who or what it was and then decide what to do about it.
With the other guy continuing to blabber on, Tony screened him out and concentrated on finding the source. It took him only a second to narrow in on the back of Rumiko Fujikawa, who was standing across the room and chatting to another man.
She gave no impression of having attracted his attention, so either she was a very good actress or was completely unaware of what she was doing. Either way, Tony wasn't about to let it go because the aura she was giving off was so damn familiar. And since familiar in this case meant it was coming from his universe, that wasn't good.
He narrowed his eyes and looked deeper, prodding to try and find just what made her feel so familiar.
Rumiko didn't react in any way that signaled she could feel him poking around in her soul, so she was clearly human. Her soul felt human, too, but just so damn…oh.
Well…this was rather unexpected.
Smiling politely at the other man he'd been "listening" to, Gabriel shamelessly used a touch of Grace to send him elsewhere without him being any the wiser. Then he was winding through the crowd, his eyes on Rumiko's back.
"Tony." Pepper stopped him with a hand on his arm. "What are you doing?"
Gabriel didn't look at her, unthinkingly shaking her hand off. "Just caught sight of an old friend."
"Friend?" Pepper sounded vaguely alarmed.
Now Gabriel did look at her. "Trust me, Pepper."
After a scrutinizing look into his face, Pepper nodded and let him go.
Free now, Gabriel placed himself beside Rumiko within a minute, waving off the man she'd been chatting to. He went without any fuss with an intense desire for sushi.
"Fujikawa-san," Gabriel greeted quietly, giving her a charming smile.
Rumiko's answering smile was rather plastic. She'd evidently had her fill of "charmers" for the night. "Mr. Stark," she replied in lightly accented English.
Gabriel took two champagne glasses off a passing waiter's tray and handed one to her with a small smile. "How are you this fine evening?"
"Perfectly adequate, thank you."
Lightly resting a hand on the small of her back, Gabriel leaned down slightly to whisper, "What do you say we take this elsewhere, Raphael?"
Raphael (his sibling) stiffened for a split-second before she relaxed, giving Gabriel an incredulous look. "I'm sorry, Mr. Stark. You must have me confused with someone else. Perhaps you seek someone better able to fulfill your needs?"
Gabriel spoke now in Enochian. "Really, Raphael, you're going to pull that trick?"
Raphael jerked away from Gabriel, eyes narrow as she glared at him. "Zachariah," she said in Enochian, "l had not expected to see you here."
Gabriel affected a wounded look. "Zachariah? Really?"
Raphael's brow furrowed slightly. "Then who?"
"I came up with the platypus."
Surprise flashed across Raphael's face. "Gabriel."
Gabriel smiled in answer. "Yes, sibling. It's me. I didn't expect to find you—"
"Alive? Human?"
"I was going to say here," Gabriel said, "but that works fine, too. Did something happen?"
Raphael's eyes darted around the room. "Not here," she said finally. "Come, Gabriel."
She took hold of his hand and began guiding him through the room to a door just off the side. Raphael was more handsy than Gabriel remembered her being, but she was also human now.
"We have privacy here," Raphael said once they were in a small alcove. She had slipped back into English. "How did you know it was me, Gabriel?"
"I recognized you. Took me a moment to figure out who you were."
"How? I have no angelic senses left save for my memories."
Gabriel's lip twitched unhappily. "I would've thought you'd be the same like me." It was why he'd had trouble placing Raphael.
"Same?" After a moment's confusion, Raphael's eyes widened in realization. "You're still an archangel?"
Gabriel shrugged lightly. "Yeah."
"So it was you who allowed me to regain my memories," Raphael murmured. "You regained your Grace about two years ago, did you not?"
"Roundabouts." Gabriel tilted his head at Raphael. "What about you?"
"Nothing." Raphael's tone was flat. "Since I've remembered, I've looked everywhere I can. I've found nothing."
"I could—"
"Don't bother, Gabriel. An archangel's Grace is a powerful thing. You would have sensed mine long before if it was actually here."
"But why?" Gabriel repeated his earlier question. "We're both the same. Why me and not you?" Because Raphael had started the apocalypse with the rest of heaven? In that case, Gabriel was just as culpable for letting it happen in the first place.
Raphael looked steadily at Gabriel. "I think only you can answer that." She looked weary. "I need a drink."
Gabriel wordlessly handed her a stiff scotch, creating nothing for himself.
"They stopped it, you know," she began casually after swigging down half of her drink. "The apocalypse. It was ingenious actually. Never would've expected it."
"But?"
Raphael smiled wryly. "But it wasn't over. I pushed for opening the cage again. It would've been easy; all we had were the seals, and not even that since the last was already gone. But Castiel disagreed."
Gabriel gave a small grin. "Of course he did."
Raphael shot him a reproving look. "He rebelled, Gabriel. And for that our Father brought him back again, more powerful than before. Lucifer had killed him – we all felt it – but he was brought back within moments."
Gabriel gave her an incredulous look. "And you didn't think that meant something? That maybe he was doing something right?"
"We wanted Him back," Raphael said tiredly. "If by going against His will meant it would happen, so be it."
"It didn't work," Gabriel said flatly.
"Little Castiel dug his heels in and refused to move. He surprised me, opening the gates to purgatory with the help of a crossroads demon."
Gabriel felt a shiver run down his spine at the mention of that place. He remembered the Fantastic Four. "Purgatory?"
"Indeed." Raphael smiled dryly. "Swallowed all the souls within that accursed place and then obliterated me. I was not myself until you found your Grace."
That…wasn't exactly good news. Castiel had more likely than not bitten off more than he could chew. Even Gabriel wouldn't have dared to do what Castiel did. Purgatory was sealed off with good reason. Most of what lay within wasn't a threat to the average angel, but there were things that were.
Hopefully the Winchesters had managed to pull something crazy again and fix it.
"Are you the only one here?" Gabriel asked eventually.
"The only other former angel, you mean?" Raphael shrugged, swigging back the rest of her drink. "I wouldn't know. You're the first I've seen. Then again"—the look she shot him was dry—"you're still an angel."
"I don't know why."
"How are you here anyway?" Raphael said. "I hadn't heard a whiff from you in millennia. Now you're here. You go and get yourself killed?"
"Something like that." Gabriel smiled blandly, touching a finger to her glass to refill it. "I took a stand. Got myself killed because of it. Glad to see it wasn't for nothing."
Raphael arched an eyebrow. "Because I'm here you mean?"
"Because the Winchesters succeeded." Gabriel smiled sardonically. "I'm on their side, Raphael."
The ire he'd expected didn't show. Instead there was only a flash of tired anger before that faded as well.
"I see," Raphael murmured. "I wouldn't have expected it of you, Gabriel."
"Dean's got a way with words." Gabriel's words were easy. "Threw my lot in with them."
"And do you regret it?"
Gabriel smiled wistfully. "Regret saying no to the apocalypse? No, I don't. I might've resented that it left me here, but not anymore."
"It's so quiet, isn't it?" Raphael mused. "I'm still human, and yet I know there is something missing. I'm alone in my head." She tilted her head at him. "What is it like for you?"
Painful, even now. "Lonely," Gabriel admitted quietly.
"Isn't it?" Raphael smiled painfully. "We're not designed to be lonely, I think."
"I don't think anyone is."
"One wonders," Raphael said, "if our Father didn't want us to be alone the way He was before He Created. And yet here we are."
"Not entirely alone," Gabriel disagreed.
"Do you mean our human families?" Raphael looked vaguely amused. "Yours is dead as far as I know. Mine is more concerned with appearances. Of course…nothing will compare to the Host."
"I met Azazel," Gabriel said. "Or Justin Hammer as they know him. Lilith was here as well, though as an Asgardian."
"Hm." Raphael looked interested in a way she hadn't before. "Did you really?"
"Yes."
"Two demons and two of us. And only one of us is still fully himself."
"I can look for it," Gabriel offered. "It might not be on Earth. There are other worlds here."
"I won't ask for it," Raphael said. "Do what you will, Gabriel."
"Y'know," Gabriel began slowly, "He spoke through me."
Raphael's eyes snapped on him so quickly Gabriel was mildly surprised it didn't make her dizzy. "What did He say?" she demanded.
"He didn't speak to me," Gabriel said, keeping calm. "He spoke to Azazel. He offered redemption."
"Redemption?" Raphael sounded incredulous.
"He could come home if he wanted to."
"Azazel?"
"Is it so hard to believe?" Gabriel demanded. "You worked with him to bring about the apocalypse."
"You stood aside and watched." Instantly after her biting retort, Raphael visibly bit her tongue and sighed heavily. "No. This is useless. We will not argue over this, Gabriel. What is done is done. We cannot change the past."
Gabriel nodded stiffly. "Right."
Raphael's face softened slightly. "What's your point, Gabriel? Our Father offered redemption to our fallen brother… You're the messenger; what's the meaning of it?"
Gabriel pressed his lips together in a pained smile. "Samael can come home if he wishes to. They were always forgiven, Raphael. Our Father never cast them out; they left purposefully, following Samael's fall themselves."
Raphael's eyes widened slightly. "Are you serious?" She sounded painfully human in that moment, and Gabriel was abruptly reminded that this was not the same sibling he had spent most of his existence with. She was human now.
Inadvertently, he gentled his voice. "Yes. It's for you, too, Raphael. If you want to go home, you can."
A longing expression filled Raphael's face for several seconds. It was soon replaced with a resigned one. "I understand now," she said quietly, a wistful smile tugging at her lips.
Gabriel frowned slightly, not having expected this reaction. "What?"
Raphael's smile turned fond. "You always were the youngest of us, Gabriel. You loved us perhaps too much and left because you could not bear our fighting. I am sorry for that."
"Raphael—"
"Please let me speak, Gabriel." Raphael twirled her glass within her fingers, letting the light glisten off the crystal. "I have noticed that it is a tendency for younger siblings to idolize the older," she began quietly. "Among humans this is so, and now I find that we are truly not so different from they. Did not the younger ones idolize us?"
The question was clearly rhetorical as she didn't wait for an answer. "You fled when Michael and I fought. When we led the young ones astray. And you refused to take a stand when we made our move. Until you did."
"I died."
"You are alive," Raphael said. "As am I, despite all I did in my zeal to restart the apocalypse. Michael is locked in the cage with Lucifer. Castiel was driven to devour all of purgatory in his quest to stop me, and he succeeded. You are the last archangel, Gabriel. I understand why now.
"Of all of us, you understood them perhaps the best." Raphael's eyes flickered towards the door. "You sided with them in the end, fulfilling our Father's last request. You said His message was redemption? Gabriel, this is my penance."
Despite his intelligence, Gabriel was having trouble understanding exactly what Raphael was driving at. His sibling had always been rather bad at getting to the point. "You want to stay human?"
"It sounds so terrible when you say it like that." Raphael sighed lightly. "You know my true vessel was a formidable sight on Earth. Humans fear that which is different, and dark skin continues to carry that stigma even now. I enjoyed inflicting that fear. When Balthazar destroyed my vessel, I was left with my vessel's sister. And now… I am a woman." Her lips curled slightly. "The two sets of memories I have are confusing, as I am Rumiko and I am Raphael. One part says I am weak, but the other says I am not. I am human. And I have discovered now that humans have their own strengths that we as angels lack."
Gabriel was smiling now. "It's surprising, isn't it?"
"You understand even as an archangel. I would not have." Raphael smiled self-deprecatingly. "As I said, this is my penance. When I die as a human, I hope to be welcomed back into our Father's arms."
"You will be."
Raphael smiled at him, reaching up to rest a hand on his cheek. "And this is why, Gabriel. You did the right thing in the end. You fulfilled our Father's last order, and He has given you this in reward. You are His messenger."
Gabriel rested his own fingers lightly on the back of her hand. "Not many people to deliver it to."
"I suspect they will come." Raphael withdrew her hand, extending her other to give him the glass back. "And now…I think it's time we rejoin the party, don't you, Mr. Stark?"
"Indeed, Fujikawa-san," Tony said, smiling at Rumiko and lending her his arm.
If she didn't want it, he wouldn't go looking for it. But an archangel's Grace was a powerful thing, and Gabriel wouldn't be responsible if he just left it lying around where anyone could stumble across it.
If little Castiel could open the gates to purgatory and swallow its souls, someone here could find an archangel's Grace and put it to use.
When he finally rejoined Pepper at the end of the gala, she shot him a concerned look.
"Everything all right?" she asked quietly.
Tony gave her a soft smile. "Yeah."
Pepper left it at that until they were alone in the car and the partition had been raised between them and the driver.
"You spent a lot of time with Rumiko," she noted calmly.
"I found a sister," Tony said. "Raphael."
Pepper's eyes widened slightly. "An archangel?"
Tony smiled weakly. "Human now."
"Like you were?"
"Yeah." Tony turned to look out the window. "I'm going to be out of touch for a few days, looking for her Grace."
Pepper's tone was even. "Completely out of touch?"
"You can still reach me by prayer."
Pepper snorted lightly. "Never thought I'd hear something like that." She arched an eyebrow. "You'll stay safe?"
"Who do you take me for?" Tony asked, affronted.
"The man who gleefully lets his children play with fire with no precautions."
"I have J watch out for them. That's a precaution!"
"Jay is just one man. You have three wild kids."
"He multitasks."
"So do I. I can't handle three of them."
Tony refrained from pointing out that Jarvis had been designed with multitasking in mind, and this included taking care of three bots with more energy than they could handle.
"What should I tell the team?" Pepper asked.
"I went on a trip," Tony said. "Should be back in two days. J's got Iron Man handled."
"They're going to ask where you went off to."
"Forty-two."
Pepper's brow furrowed. "What?"
"The answer's forty-two," Tony repeated, grinning.
Pepper wasn't at all amused by his wit. "Tony—"
But he was already gone.
He sought Raphael's Grace. It wasn't on Earth; he knew this. So he went elsewhere. He went to Asgard, skimming through the world until he was forced to concede it wasn't there (probably for the better considering Lilith). He went to Jotunheim and came away Graceless and with a new appreciation for penguins and polar bears. He went to Svartalfheim. He went to every single realm on Yggdrasil and even in-between the branches to the nether-regions Loki had spoken of.
It was there that he ran into the critters Lilith had spoken of. Nothing so foul that he couldn't take care of himself, but things disturbing enough. There was something resembling a zombie that he'd smote without thinking, not wanting it to spread further. There were things that ate light, leaving nothing but darkness. Gabriel fled from them quickly, not wanting to waste energy smiting them. There were things that were slowly chewing away at the trunk of Yggdrasil, bringing the world closer and closer to Ragnarok. Gabriel took care of those without regret.
It wasn't all horrible, though. There were some truly beautiful sights as well. Gabriel saw Yggdrasil in all its beauty numerous times as he flitted through space. At one point he even reached the roots, but the great creature that guarded the roots (and Hel) led him to leave rapidly; Grace had no place in the world of death.
In the end, he was forced to admit defeat. Raphael's Grace wasn't in this universe. Wherever it was, Gabriel couldn't find it. And if he couldn't, it was unlikely anything else would either.
Thus, giving up, he headed back to Midgard, stopping by his tree before he headed back home.
Once he materialized in Earth's atmosphere, he took a deep breath of the cool desert air. It was night, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. The silver moon lit the entire area with an eerie glow, and his tree looked holy in the light.
Gabriel studied it for a long moment, the dry wind brushing through his hair. "Why me?"
His tree offered no answers, and Gabriel moved slowly towards it, glancing down at the spot where the arc reactor was still buried.
"I don't regret it," he told his tree. "But sometimes I wish I wasn't the only one." He reached out to rest his fingers against the bark, feeling the lingering remnants of his Grace. "I looked… I can't find Raphael's Grace."
His fingers clenched slightly, digging slight grooves in the bark. "It's just me," he said quietly. "Only me. And I don't know why." He smiled sadly, craning his head back to look up to the branches, the leaves lit by the moonlight. "But I've got a home now. So it'll be all right."
Tapping his fingers lightly against the bark, Gabriel let his hand drop, stepping back from the tree. He bowed his head for a second before stretching his wings and flying home.
...Did you guys really think I'd kill off the kids? It was already mentioned earlier that there was the possibility that they could move from body to body. Some of you guys caught that, but I think most of you were too shocked to remember that. Besides, it's Supernatural. How often has a character stayed dead? Like, even the main characters don't stay dead.
As for Raphael, I'm aware that his personality is in no way similar to Rumiko, who was Tony's lover in the comics. The reasoning I used was that God wanted Raphael to be taken down a peg, to learn what it was like to be human. Besides, this is MCU-verse, so I've taken liberties with Rumiko's characterization. Look at what they did with the Mandarin. This isn't nearly that bad, is it?
The platypus thing is something I picked up from a really gorgeous piece of work on tumblr. Can be found here: inukagome15 dot tumblr dot com slash post/60228075725/consul tingsinnerman-catinthefedora
Please drop a note! I hope you've recovered from the shock... *offers cookies as an apology*