The months passed, Tony still developed the Iron Man suit and with my subtle pointing discovered the new element that he promptly named Starkonium. Peggy and Bucky ended up moving in the Malibu mansion and in a joint effort we nursed him back to health. In our time we also appointed Pepper as CEO of Stark Industries until Tony decided if he wanted to take the post for himself in a foreseeable future. Another thing that Tony did in the span of those months was to obliterate all the rogue Stark weaponry that he could find, specially in a small town called Gulmira.
Tony also sat with me and told me about Yinsen, I assured him that the man was now living happily in the afterlife with his family and that if he chose so he would be reborn into the world of the living. Tony seemed happier after our conversation and less prone to blame himself for the death of the man. Bucky and Peggy also helped, for Bucky could always be found carrying heavy things for Tony in the workshop and Peggy often offered him clever ideas and a nice cup of tea. We were a family a little broken but a family nonetheless.
Interlude.
The world shifted again. Not that anyone save for Death could see it now. All other sentient beings, apart from him, where gone. Destiny and Fate were nothing more than words than humans used to describe their happenings; time was nothing more than a constant measure. Death was alone, but then again, not really. His Mistress was there, a permanent fixture that disrupted the very core of the universe. Every action that she did presented a change, a shift in the fabrics of the universe. He had seen how this very universe had gone down one first time. He could remember the screams, the chaos, he remembered dying, then nothingness, then eons of knowledge and that first breath, he remembered the color green and he remembered red and gold. It was always red and gold. He remembered another time, another place, sweet innocence, he also remembered surviving. Clawing out of the murky waters, he remembered the corpses, lifeless grey eyes staring at him. The severed heads of a family's mistakes; the rise and fall of a terrible but great man. He remembered the cold, but also the warmness that once evolved him like a thick blanket. He could remember lighting, the world in flames, and the end of it all; then calm, the beginning, like a sweet song that he didn't know the words to.
He remembered and so he knew why his Mistress fought against it all, why she kicked and screamed whenever the world was dragging her down. He understood why she had to shed the innocence and sweetness behind. He understood why she became a cold-blooded killer, why she dipped in darkness more often than not. She did it for her family, she did it for love and it was dangerous, but he understood and respected her. He understood that for this world to thrive it needed her broken and put back, it needed her good and her bad, for she was to be the catalyst for peace and victory. She was to be their hope, and he vowed to help for he had done his fair share of self-sacrificing and knew that a little help always went well along the way.
2011.
Stark Mansion, Malibu.
I watched as Tony spoke with Bucky about bringing back the Stark Expo, he laid out the plans and Bucky added his two cents here and there from what he remembered from the World Fair back in the 40's. I was a nice change of scenery seeing Bucky and Tony so relaxed. Peggy was outside in the terrace probably reading a cheesy novel, I smiled, I was less than a year away from seeing Steve again. Just the thought of it brought butterflies to my stomach, I could feel my magic thrumming slightly under my skin, I was less than a year away from seeing the person that I loved the most in this world, after Tony of course.
Since I had told Tony about me being his mother and he actually acknowledging me as such he became my sun, my everything. I breathed and lived for him, everything that I did was with him in mind and after Afghanistan something new and dark had found a home within my heart, if anyone ever dared threaten Tony again, whoever it was, would found itself deader than death. My magic sung for Tony in a way that it hadn't since his birth when I felt the actual mother-son bond form. Back at the time I hadn't really understood the feeling, but now I did. The animalistic and savage feel of a mother that would do anything for her child, the same feel that made me feel nothing while turning Obadiah's skin inside out, I smirked at the thought of Obadiah's pitiful screams, music to my ears.
I blinked trying not to get sidetracked from the lunch that I was doing, everything was in order, the quiche needed a few more minutes in the oven and the pasta was already done, I poured myself a glass of wine and went to sit by Tony and Bucky knowing well that J.A.R.V.I.S. would turn off the oven.
"So when is it going to be?" I asked, Tony and Bucky turned to face me.
"So you will really approve?" asked Tony; I smiled and nodded.
"This is your legacy Tony, you're as much as Howard's son as you're mine, I cannot deny you this" I explained softly, Tony regaled me with his best smile.
"I'll call Pepper then, what do you say?" he asked, I nodded at him, he stood up and went to look for his phone, Bucky raised an eyebrow.
"You know no bounds when it concerns the kid" he said, I snorted.
"As if you know any better" I sassed him back "If I do recall correctly you were the one riding that damned bike of yours with my kid when he was seven"
"He was too adorable back then, and how was I to know that he was going to fix the thing?" Bucky asked, I grinned.
"He's a Stark and a Noir, you should have known better" I told him; he nodded.
"We've done right by him, you've done a marvelous job with him, Steve would have loved him" Bucky said with a far of look on his face, I took a sip of my wine.
"I know, Steve would have taken him to baseball games and teach him how to ride a bike" I said absent-mindedly.
"Hey, I did those two and now your son is a proud Dodgers fan, I'm still not over the move to LA though" Bucky grumbled, I laughed.
"Well at least you can attend most of the games now that you live here in California" I pointed out; he smiled sadly.
"Steve would've chained himself to the stadium to prevent the moving, he was the hardcore fan out of the two of us" he said, I smiled too.
"He would've" I agreed.
The oven dinged and our pity party was over, I sent Bucky to look for Tony and Peggy so we could have lunch, he nodded and went off. I prepared the table taking my time with everything; reminding myself that soon I was going to have my husband back, just soon.
In retrospective thinking about the Expo and the baggage that came with it, along with Iron Man and Tony actually admitting to the press that he was Iron Man, and was one with the suit and since he was legally an adult Stern's lawsuit got nowhere. Then of course came S.H.I.E.L.D. trying to keep Tony grounded and they sent Natasha, a thing that Peggy and Bucky didn't really like but I managed to keep them grounded telling them that she held no ill will towards my kid, but she got a shovel talk from me either way because I was a really protective mom and she was a spy playing assistant to my son so I needed her to know that I knew who she was.
Then Fury actually had to dump Howard's stuff on Tony, including that emotional video about the Expo that we all watched together and of course Tony was also turning 24, a party that didn't end with him drunk but was an amenable time with family, including the Pyms, the Murdocks, Rhodes, Pepper, Happy and even Natashalie. Vanko didn't try to murder Tony cause I silently got to him first, no need to have my son worrying about crazy people when he was still tracking rogue Stark weaponry in the Middle East. We all could do without Vanko, and if Justin Hammer's facility caught itself on fire with him inside well, bad for him. Plausible deniability was a wonderful thing.
Three months later Fury and Natasha came clean to Tony and while he was a bit hurt that his new 'friend' had been a lie all along, I sat with him and explained that S.H.I.E.L.D. was filled with paranoid people (say me and Peggy) and that they needed to make sure that he was okay and not attacked by anyone opposing Iron Man, at the end of it all, Tony gained a 'big sister' in the form of Natasha Romanov, weirder things tended to happen in our small family. And while Peggy and Bucky had been angry that I let a former assassin sleep in our home for so long they understood that everyone deserved a second chance and that Natasha really cared about Antoshka in her own weird way of caring.
And when we finally thought that our life was to be back to normal I had to receive a call from Phil, who was currently stationed in Puente Antiguo, New Mexico. I sighed knowing that I was probably the only person they trusted with Mjolnir even though they probably didn't knew that it was Thor's weapon.
"Mom, where are you going?" asked Tony form the doorframe; I looked up from my overnight bag.
"Mission, S.H.I.E.L.D. called, they need me in New Mexico something about a strange unmovable thing" I explained, Tony raised an eyebrow "Peggy and Bucky will of course stay back here and secure the fort while you keep your crusade against the Ten Rings, so if you need any help you call any of them"
"So you're taking missions again?" he asked, I nodded.
"You're twenty four now, you don't need your mom all day besides I need to keep myself busy with something, it was taking missions or knitting and I'm sure you, Bucky and Peggy wont appreciate being bundled in sweaters and scarves in this California weather" I said with a smile, Tony laughed.
"As long as you're happy" he said, I walked up to him and pulled him into a hug.
"I'm extremely happy, I have a wonderful son and really fantastic friends, I couldn't ask for more" I said, Tony was now actually taller than me and we often looked like brother and sister instead of mother and son. I let go of him and smiled "You know the beard thing really does it for you" Tony grinned.
"Makes me look older, people now don't ask for my ID" he said, I laughed.
"Don't cause trouble for Peggy and Bucky, do remember that Bucky is an enhanced soldier that can still carry you around as if you weighted nothing more than ten pounds and Peggy is still a badass motherfucker that could probably kill someone with a paperclip" I said seriously, Tony nodded and mock saluted me.
Mortimer picked me up in a black sleek Audi; the drive to the airport was silent. He saluted me and smirked before he left, his eyes lit up with mirth; honestly he was really going to be the death of me one day, which was really ironic.
It took me one hour to get to the base in New Mexico. Then from there was a thirty minute drive to the Shield compound where Coulson and Clint were waiting for me.
"Mrs. Rogers, always a pleasure to work with you" Coulson said, I smiled at him.
"Of course Agent Coulson" I said, then looked at Clint "Agent Barton, long time no see kid" I pulled him into a hug and he laughed.
"I missed you too Alex" he said. I patted his back.
"I heard you found a new partner, Natasha" I said when I let go of him; he smiled at her mention.
"Yeah, she deserved a second chance" he said; I grinned.
"We all do, but now gentlemen please show me the way to this thing that you found, lets get to work" I said.
They led me to the center of the Shield made maze, there it stood mjolnir in all its glory, half buried in the ground its handle standing there as if defiantly asking to be picked, my magic could sense the hammer's magic as if it was singing, I approached warily.
"Well?" asked Phil, I turned to face him.
"How well do you know your mythology?" I asked and I have to give it to Phil he didn't even flinch.
"I'm not going to like this am i?" he asked, I shook my head.
"Paperwork will be hellish, but you'll survive" I said then eyed the hammer again "That over there is mjolnir, the hammer of Thor the God of Thunder" I said, Clint laughed until he realized that I was being serious.
"But that's impossible" he said, I raised an eyebrow.
"Agent Barton, I'm almost ninety years old and don't look a day over twenty four, I can safely assure you that I've seen stranger things than a mythical hammer appearing just because, now the real question is, where the hell is Thor?" I said, Coulson and Clint seemed to consider my words.
"If he's near he might come for the hammer" said Coulson, I nodded.
"Then what do we do" asked Clint, I smiled at him.
"We do what we always do Pinky, we wait" I said as I walked back into the compound.
"What, you wont try to pick it up?" asked Clint, I snorted and turned my head to smirk at him.
"A hammer won't tell me whether I'm worthy or not" I said and continued with my walk.
When Coulson and the other Agents went to meet with Jane Foster I decided to stay behind with Clint. As expected when night fell Thor made his way into the compound, Clint got positioned in the roof with an arrow ready while Thor beat up all the agents that tried to stop him. I told Coulson to keep out of his way as I observed Thor's actions.
"Alex, Coulson, you better call it, I'm starting to root for this guy" said Clint over the comms.
"Leave him be, he wont be able to lift it" I said, Coulson gave me a glance.
"How do you know?" he asked, I raised an eyebrow.
"He's currently mortal, that's Thor by the way, it seems that he was stripped of his powers" I said well knowing what was really happening, not that I could really remember all of it completely, but I had a general idea, after all I had been in this universe for too long now and memories from my other life had started to become blurry a few years back, which is why I kept a journal of all I knew about this universe.
"But what could actually leave a god powerless?" asked Clint.
"A more powerful god of course, probably Odin, his father" I said, Coulson seemed surprised.
"You seem to know a lot about Norse lore" he pointed out; I smiled.
"Well, when you live for as long as I have books do become a bit dull and one tends to start looking for possibilities of my particular skillset, sorry if I became a bit eccentric in my search for answers" I chastised him, he nodded.
Thor slumped next to mjolnir and Coulson gave the go to the agents as I assured him that it was now safe to approach the mortal god, the agents led him to an interrogation room and I advised Coulson to not go immediately.
"Why?" he asked.
"Observe Phil, he's talking to thin air, there's another presence here, I can feel it" and indeed I could, I could see Loki's astral projection as he talked to Thor, I kept my eyes from them so he wouldn't notice that I could see him.
"Another asgardian?" Phil asked in a whisper, I nodded, we waited for a couple minutes until Loki left. Then I pointed Coulson to go with me.
Thor was sitting in the chair that we had procured for him, looking morosely at the floor. I cleared my throat and he looked up.
"Mr. Odinson" I said catching his attention, he looked up and stormy blue eyes found mine. "This is Agent Phil Coulson and I'm Alexandra Rogers, we wish to know why is it that you are here and mortal at that" I asked keeping my voice even. Thor didn't answer, I had to restrain myself from sighing, "We only wish to help Mr. Odinson"
Thor held my gaze as if trying to find a lie in my words; since he was sitting I was staring down to him.
"You're no mortal" he accused; I raised an eyebrow.
"A minor inconvenience, I assure you I was born here in Midgard and now we wish to help you" I pressed softly, ignoring his comment about my lack of mortality but not ignoring that he could feel my supernatural presence.
"Why should I trust you?" he asked, I exchanged glances with Coulson.
"Because I'm letting you go, we will continue to keep mjolnir monitored, but when you're ready to accept our help, you know where to find us" I said, he sat there looking at me, I raised an eyebrow not amused by him "Well, go, no one will stop you"
And he left, Coulson waited until he was out of the room to address me.
"Why let him go?" he asked, I sighed.
"So we can follow, send your agents, go" I said and went back to my tent.
Next morning I woke up extremely early and had breakfast with Clint while Coulson told us about what he had gathered from Thor from the night before. We were just finishing breakfast when a junior agent came and told us that he was receiving some signals, Coulson and I stood and followed him.
"What's going on?" Coulson asked.
"I don't know sir, we've got mass energy readings out of nowhere and a surge of power fifteen miles northwest" he explained as we followed, Coulson looked at me, I nodded.
"Lets go take a look" he said as we walked out of the makeshift base and into the cars.
"I'll drive" I said, Coulson got into the passenger seat and I grabbed the comm "Clint hold the fort for us"
"Roger that" he answered.
We made way for the desert followed by a couple agents in more vehicles.
"How close are we?" I asked the younger agent that was in the backseat.
"Five miles now, energy still surging" he said, we stopped in the middle of nowhere, and all got off the cars as the clouds began to move abnormally.
"I don't like this Phil" I said as I felt the air crackling with foreign energy. A white light suddenly blinded us for a couple seconds and the air became thick with sand, I pushed the younger agent behind the vehicle.
"What is that? Is it one of Stark's?" asked Sitwell from next to Phil, I shook my head.
"Tony's style is sharper, this one looks plain hostile" I answered, Phil grabbed a megaphone and attempted to reason with the metal thing. Until it attacked, I pushed Phil out of the way and erected a shield around us.
"Fall back!" I screamed as I held my shield up. Phil stood next to me in awe, I rolled my eyes "I didn't survive the war just because of my looks Agent" I said, the Destroyer looked at me and dismissed us as it kept walking to the city.
"What do we do now," he asked.
"We wait" I said, "That thing is probably after Thor and it won't rest until it finds him" I said.
"You have powers" Phil said lower, I nodded.
"I was blessed by more than just immortality when I survived the fire that killed my parents in the forties, back then I didn't knew how to use my magic, it was untrained and the reason why I lost Steve, I was not ready, but I am now" I said, Phil nodded.
"So that's why director Fury told us to call you" he said, I nodded.
"Now lets move to the city, while I'm sure that Thor wont need our help the civilians will" I said while I got into the car, Phil ordered the other agents to return to base while we drove to the city.
As it was expected when we got there Thor had already gained back his powers and defeated the Destroyer, Phil and I got out of the car.
"Mr. Odinson" I greeted him, then I looked at the other warriors "You must be Lady Sif and you the Warriors Three, I am Alexandra Rogers, thank you for defeating that thing" I said and proceeded to vanish the remains of the Destroyer, there was no need in having Shield poke that thing again.
"You are a sorceress" said Lady Sif, I raised an eyebrow.
"You can say that, yes, although my powers are usually not used until they are a last resort" I explained, then I turned to Thor "I am glad to see that your powers have returned to you Mr. Odinson"
"I want Lady Jane's research returned to her" he said, I lifted my hand.
"Peace Thor, I will assure that not only she has her research but that she has a facility to do so after all we're working for the same goals here, fret not, she will be safe; you have a realm to save your friends need you, your people need you" I said commandingly, Thor nodded.
"My mother would like to learn about your magic Lady Alexandra" he said after a minute, I smiled.
"And my son would like to learn about your realm, perhaps in the future we can arrange such meetings" I said; he nodded.
We said our goodbyes, he said goodbye to Jane while promising to return, I went back to Coulson and gave him orders to employ Jane and Selvig, telling him that Jane could go to the Oslo base one she wrapped up in New Mexico.
"Where will you go now?" asked Coulson as I looked up to where the light beam had vanished Thor and his warrior friends.
"Back home I guess, Tony wants to build a tower in New York and I'm guessing that we will be staying around" I said.
"Will that include Mrs. and Mr. Barnes-Carter?" he asked, I shrugged.
"Not completely sure, Bucky has become quite attached to the west coast" I answered, Coulson smiled.
"And how about you Mrs. Rogers?" he said.
"My home is wherever my son is Phil" I said, in that very moment a sleek black Audi pulled over, I grinned "My drive home is here, it was nice seeing you Phil, tell Clint that I miss him and that he can visit whenever he wants to, you too"