Title: Vale: Fear

Words: 3552

Notes: As the field of battle approaches, the Asgardians expect to be able to connect more with Midgardian culture, but there is still much that each side does not understand about the other.

"Anyone who can't fly, get your asses on a jet and get up here," Fury orders as soon as the link is made. "We moved the helicarrier not far off. Rogers, you, Romanov and Barton'll be leading an incursion into the camp. Stark, we got permission for you and Banner to get into that lab- Spidey too, if he ain't up past his bedtime- to check out their data and get all you can on atmospheric disturbances so I can know when and where somebody broke the perimeter of my goddamn planet. Thor, you're bringin' Loki with us."

"What?" Thor demands sharply. "Why?"

"'Cause he's moved up from a crazy prisoner to another threat to my goddamn planet, and I want him under better lockdown than bein' in a broken-up building with just you guardin' him," Fury says. "'Sides, if we're dealin' with the Chitauri again here, he might know somethin', and if we ain't, we're still probably dealin' with whoever gave him that staff."

"He doesn't really ever try to be helpful," Tony points out.

"No, but he don't stop talking, and he might say somethin' useful," Fury says. "As Romanov noticed last year. Bring Vale too." Thor's eyes narrow.

"What do you plan to do with him?" He asks warily.

"Nothin', I swear," Fury says. "We ain't gonna touch the kid. I'm just thinkin' that if Loki's gettin' his powers back, he might be a little less inclined to try an' blow my goddamn ship outta the sky if his kid's aboard."

"He doesn't have henchmen on the outside nor his staff this time," Bruce points out. "I promise Clint and I won't break anything this time."

"You an' Barton I trust, Loki I don't," Fury says firmly.

"Will it increase your feelings of security if we join you on this quest?" Fandral asks.

"Yes, it sounds as if there is to be fighting!" Volstagg says excitedly. "Allow us to aid you!"

"Director, will it be amenable to you if the Lady Sif and the Warriors Three join the assault?" Thor asks, glancing at his friends. "There are few finer warriors in the Nine Realms."

"I'm aware of them," Fury notes. "Got 'em listed as honourary Avengers in case the WSC got questions. They're welcome aboard, long as they also ain't gonna break my ship."

"We will break only those who threaten your realm," Hogan swears.

"Good stuff. Get your asses up here now so we can finally move. Goddamn bureaucrats…" He hangs up. Tony gets the impression that the Russian member of the WSC has something to do with the delay in moving out in attack.

"Can any of you guys fly?" Tony asks the Warriors. They shake their heads.

"Thor only can due to Mjolnir," Fandral says. "None of us have the gift of flight."

"Well, there's room for you all in the Quinjet," Steve says, standing up. "Tony, suit up. Peter, suit up and meet us to the hanger. I'll lead everyone down there. Bruce, go get Vale. Thor, you bring Loki when we let you know that there's a cell ready for him."

"Of course," Thor says with a nod. As he stands up, he reaches out his hand. Mjolnir flies to his hand from down a corridor, and in a flash of light he is wearing his armour. He nods to his friends. "I shall see you in the floating fortress. I entrust you with my nephew, Doctor."

"Why do I have to suit up?" Peter asks, a little confused.

"What, do you not want to do the secret identity thing anymore?" Tony asks. "I mean, you were pretty set on it after Osborn went after your aunt. So, y'know, SHIELD's records have been having a hard time making any link between Peter Parker and Spiderman. If they even know Peter Parker exists, it's as one of the random interns that drifts through here periodically. I mean, they normally last about three days, but you're interning with Bruce instead of me so they probably put it down to that." He winks at Bruce as the doctor leaves for Vale's room, shaking his head.

"Fury knows how to contact you if he wants to, so he's given up making a big deal about it," Steve sighs, wearing the put-upon look he always has when he's putting up with Tony's illegal activities. "But the majority of SHIELD have no idea who Spiderman is, so if you're still up for having a secret identity, you'll need to suit up to be on the helicarrier, and if so you need to go get changed now. You, Tony, go, get changed, we'll meet you in the hanger."

"Wow… thanks," Peter says, looking from Tony to Steve in pleasant surprise.

"I'll go with Thor, just in case," Tony says, heading for the lift. "C'mon, kid. If we see Barton, we'll let him know."

"I already do," Clint says, stepping out of the lift as Tony and Peter head in. "Nat contacted me. We're moving out?"

"Soon as Doctor Banner gets Vale," Steve promises, throwing a warning glance at Sif and the Warriors Three.

"As Hogan said, we wish only to harm those who would bring harm upon your realm," Sif says firmly, standing. "Whatever you may think of our society and way of life, this is what we are born and raised to do. We protect. And we are proud of it."

{}

There isn't much to the briefing. Loki is sent to a cell, first thing, and when he is securely locked away, Thor joins them at the main conference table on the bridge.

The first infiltration is to consist of Steve, in a muted black costume instead of the spangled one, and Natasha, with Clint watching over them from a cliffside nearby. They're to get as much of the layout of the camp as they can- specifically where the main weapons depot is, and where the teleport device is if possible- as well as get numbers of both humans and Chitauri. With that information, SHIELD will be better armed for a full-on assault, which is the point at which Sif and the Warriors Three will be involved, probably as a distraction and to take out most of the human terrorists. Steve and Natasha are to take the camp leaders alive if possible, and preferably at least one Chitauri.

This seems to be confusing the Warriors. In fact, the entire strategy meeting seems to be confusing them, so they leave to seek out the helicarrier's gym and training room. Tony and Peter are already absent, holing themselves up in a lab somewhere more or less the moment they set foot on the helicarrier, and Bruce is babysitting Vale, so only Natasha, Clint and Steve are present with Thor.

"Don't you have strategy meetings on Asgard?" Clint asks, watching them go.

"Not as such," Thor admits. "We move at the Allfather's command. There is little strategy to it, to be truthful. When we locate the enemy, we charge. That is all there is to it. Strategy is only really something that I have come to know in my time here."

"Even when it was just the five of you?" Steve asks, gesturing to the door that the Warriors left out of. "You said that all of you went on adventures of your own a lot…"

"Six of us," Thor corrects him softly. "Loki too was with us. He was the only one with any concept of stealth or subtlety, I'm afraid. We adventured where we wished, and if we were attacked, we fought to defend ourselves. It is the kind of battle in which we have been trained. It is the way in which my father was trained, the way in which our warriors have been trained for millennia."

"All the same for thousands of years?" Steve asks. "Military practice here changed a lot in the past seventy years. Does Asgardian society ever change at all?"

"Not in my lifetime," Thor says, shaking his head. "Jane once told me the difficulties that she experienced when she first chose her field of study. She said that there was a professor at her centre of education, an old man who did not approve of omen studying your sciences, and that he made things difficult for her. She was thinking of doing something else, of changing her path, when the old man grew too old and retired. He was replaced by a new teacher, one who approved of Jane and inspired her to return to her path. On Midgard, among mortals, this happens. The elders pass on, hopefully leaving the best of themselves behind, and new people with new ideas replace them. But on Asgard, that old man would have been immortal. He would not have grown too old, and would have been a teacher forever."

"An immortal society is unchanging," Steve says, nodding slowly. It chafes him, the Asgardians' uncompromising point of view, but he's starting to understand why they have it.

"Jane would never have been able to realize her brilliance, nor would any other woman," Thor says softly, looking down. "Things would never change. This is what we are raised in on Asgard; an unchanging way of life, and we do not question it because we are told that it is perfect, and from what we see of other realms this seems true. It seems perfect, for those of us who benefit from it."

"And people like Loki, who suffer for it?" Natasha asks. The four of them have turned away from the minutiae of the strategy meeting, talking quietly together at the far end of the room from where Fury and Hill are relaying orders and directions to their subordinates.

"Rare, unusual… suppressed," Thor admits. "And I thought nothing wrong of it until I knew weakness for myself. Until I first knew how it felt to truly fail. You know, if not for Loki I would not have known," he said ruefully. "Loki lied when he told me that Father had died for my actions, but nevertheless, it was a lie that showed me the truth for the first time. The truth that I was arrogant and dangerous. That everyone like me was dangerous, and that our attempts to care without understanding became crushing…" he clenches and unclenches his fists. "Since the day two years ago when I became mortal, if only for a time, I have seen new ways of living and thinking, ways that I once would have rejected out of hand but now feel compelled to understand. Suddenly I know ways of life that are different to ours on Asgard, ways that are better for some. You cannot know how strange it is, your world where change is not only common but celebrated. It is something so large that even now, I still struggle with it…"

"What exactly are you struggling with, Thor?" Steve asks. Thor is beginning to mumble in circles and Steve wants to the heart of the matter.

"The idea that Loki has always been different… and that once, that may not have been a bad thing," Thor said, haltingly, as if expecting someone to interrupt him at any time. "I know he was good once, Captain. I know he was. And once I thought his own wild perversions drove him mad… and now I see people who would be seen as just as different in Asgard, have fought with them, and love them dear as brothers, and see them become good simply because they are not treated as evil." Thor does nothing in half-measures; everything he does, everything he feels, is to the greatest extreme. Right now, his face is twisted into the deepest, most terrible sadness. "My friends are as I once was; they cannot see his differences as a good thing. As if he could do good, even if he is different. They have never been taught or allowed to think that way of anyone. And I wonder if that thinking is what truly twisted Loki."

"You didn't turn your brother into what he is, Thor," Steve insists. "He's not just a lost child like Vale. He made a lot of bad choices of his own."

Thor smiles. "Jane said something much similar," he says. "I know he made bad choices. But so did we, Captain. And the fact that we do not wish to create monsters does not mean that we do not do so regardless. That is what I fear."

{}

Loki looks around the cell that they have placed him in. It is not dark, like his room at Stark Tower, but bright, with blank, white-panelled walls, floor and ceiling. There is nothing in this blank space save a flat cot bed and dried flakes of Loki's blood falling from his clothing. It is silent. He doesn't like it.

"Boring," he says aloud for the benefit of the tiny eyes and ears that no doubt swarm the room, watching him. "Dull. Dreary. Tedious. Must I amuse myself?"

Frivolous as they were, the tales and shows left to him by the chattering woman were a diversion, at least, occupation for his restless mind. Now he has nothing left to him but his silver tongue, the pleasure of his own voice, and he fully intends to revel in it. He is too far from any well of magic to summon up any power, let alone enough to do anything, but he can still speak words. They will still have a power all of their own.

Reciting the summoning chant of a star eagle will not cause tremendous, winged death to descend upon this floating fortress, but it will cause the mortals to panic as they try to deduce what he is attempting to do, if it is doing anything at all. He remembers his Midgardian literature and wonders what would happen if he shouted "Avada Kedavra!" at the top of his lungs, what panic would ensure.

The thought makes him laugh and he lets the laughter out, rolling around his silent cell. Let the mortals wonder what amuses him so. Let them wonder what chaos roils in the twisted mind of Loki.

He has only a brief time left in which to amuse himself. He might as well eke out all amusement he can. So he fills the silence with a song that drifts through his mind, something from the innumerable pathetic Midgardian excuses for performances that he put himself through as an alternative to ennui.

"You're in my world now, not your world, and I got friends on the other side…"

{}

"What is that?" Peter says, nodding at the screen. He's meant to be helping Tony go over the last few month's worth of northern hemisphere star charts— and he is, it's been a welcome distraction from the odd looks he's been drawing from passing SHIELD agents as they spot Spiderman in a labcoat— but he's kept a video feed to Loki's cell up in the corner of his screen. He has to admit that he's curious about the guy. It keeps sticking in his mind that the first time he ever saw Thor's crazy brother, the supervillain that first brought the Avengers together, he saved Peter's life and that of his aunt May.

"The song?" Tony says, not looking up from his own work, which involved no stars but does seem to involve dismembering a spare chest reactor with a screwdriver. "Villain song. Princess and the Frog. That slick bastard Dr Facilier. I always liked the Prince better, he got all the chicks even when he was a frog…"

"That Disney movie?" Peter stares at Tony in surprise. "You watch Disney movies?"

"Done a good few movie nights with Bruce, after ten years on the run he's almost as bad on his pop culture as Steve Wonder Boy," Tony says nonchalantly. "If Shanta's joining in, it's gotta be kid-friendly stuff. Though I dunno about some Disney movies. Have you seen some of those movies? Hunchback of Notre Dame is just sick, seriously."

"Okay… Loki watches Disney movies?" Peter asks. Tony shrugs.

"Darcy's a big believer in the healing power of Disney," Tony says. "Guess Loki took to it. So not surprised he's singing villain songs. He'd probably be a lot more likeable if he had a good villain song, though. Should we write him one? He's just a sweet trans-species/ from transsexual/ Asgard-ania…"

"Um, you might want to put that on hold," Peter says, quickly minimizing the video feed and pointing through one of the panel windows on the wall of the lab. Bruce is headed their way with a bag of sandwiches in one hand and Vale in the other. The boy is carrying one of the sandwiches, but waits until he's seated on a desk and Bruce has put a napkin on his lap before he eats. He eats in little bites, even though he's clearly starving.

"Kid, if you want to stuff yourself, just do it," Tony says, watching the boy eyeing the bag of sandwiches covetously. "This ain't a court dinner. You look famished."

"I am starving," Vale admits, looking nervously around at them. He then takes a big bite out of the sandwich and chews it quickly, trying to contain a cheeky grin.

"No need to fall on court protocol here, Vale," Bruce says, handing him another sandwich out of the bag.

"I don't know what to do otherwise," Vale says nervously. "It's still somewhat odd, making decisions without Narfe…" he looks down shyly as he says it.

"Thor said you two used to be trouble," Peter teases. Vale giggles.

"Uh-huh," he says. "We frequently would not attend class and practice magic instead, or play tricks with magic… we weren't supposed to, we were supposed to focus on learning our sword form, but magic is more fun. I would be frightened to play such tricks now, however. Before, Narfe and I were in everything together, and that made many things less frightening…" he lapses into a forlorn silence and starts chewing on his sandwich again.

"Sword form?" Peter asks. "So you've studied how to fight?"

"Everyone does," Vale says. "Everyone must. I am going to be in great trouble, no doubt… I have not practiced all month." He frowns. "Uncle never said that I had to. Do you think I will be in less trouble if I tell them that Uncle Thor gave me leave?"

"You don't like it, do you?" Bruce asks. Vale shakes his head sadly.

"I would rather study magic," he says softly. "I think it is fascinating, and that interesting things could be done with it… but I know that makes me weak."

"No it doesn't!" Peter bursts out. Everyone stares at him, and he's very glad of the mask hiding his expression. "Vale… strength doesn't just mean being able to beat people up. My uncle told me that with great power comes great responsibility, and I think that means the responsibility to use it right, no matter what kind of power it is. I've got power that makes it easy to beat people up, so y'know, I've got the responsibility to beat up the people who need beating up to protect the people who can't beat people up."

"Eloquent," Tony says, clapping. "No, really, you're giving old Bill Shakespeare a run for his money."

"What I think he's trying to say is that there's nothing wrong with not being able to beat people up, Vale," Bruce says with a smile. "Everyone's got different strengths."

"Like these guys' brains," Peter says, pointing at Tony and Bruce. Tony ducks in case a jet of web is headed his way to make him shut up (Bruce has been subtly goading Peter into doing it ever since he saw Peter do the same thing to a criminal once). "They can beat people up, yeah, but it's not their main thing or something that they really want to do. Their main thing is building a reactor that can power our world without doing any damage to it. These guys' brains are big enough to unpick the universe, so they've got the responsibility to do just that."

"I don't know whether to be flattered," Tony says to Bruce, "or mildly disturbed by being put in the same context as "responsibility"…"

"Well, blowing up your own weapons was taking responsibility for them, right?" Bruce consoles him. "You can combine responsibility and explosions."

Vale giggles. "Father used to say that studying magic meant understanding the universe itself," he says. "If I was as good at it at Father, I could do all sorts of things…" he frowns. "But I'd get in trouble. For using magic, I mean."

"Only from the people who only know how to beat people up," Tony says, putting down his reactor and screwdriver. "For the rest of us, curiosity ought to be indulged. C'mon."

"Where are we going?" Bruce asks cautiously. Tony looks at Vale.

"Feel like visiting your dad again, kid?" he asks.

"I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to have visitors on here," Peter points out.

"Not scared of getting in trouble, are you?" Tony asks with a grin, picking up Vale's bag of sandwiches and pulling the kid off the desk. "C'mon. Us nerds are in this together."

{}

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So suddenly this weird little oneshot is growing in my head into a huge fic and I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING :P Chapters will probably be slow going for a little while until I've figured out where exactly this is going.