Part Two: The Puppet Master
-Chapter Twenty-Five-
: 2 months later :
5:27 a.m., somewhere in New Mexico
The first thing Avery did every morning, as a matter of necessity, was water her succulents and check the morning classifieds for suspicious deaths. Every morning for the last two months, she dribbled water over her little plants and perused the newspaper without any sense of urgency whatsoever. On the morning of July 2th, she thought she would so the same. Instead, she woke up to the sound of her door slamming open.
"This is depressing," The voice said, bouncing down the empty hallway towards Avery's open bedroom door. "I see she still has her nutria."
"Ooh that's a good one. I was thinking capybara." A long pause, then a small laugh. "No, I didn't think so."
Avery groaned and rolled over, eyes foggy and limbs heavy. She reached sideways, fingers probing her bed as she looked for Mandu. He liked to sleep on his own pillow, pressed up next to her as close as possible. When she touched nothing but cold sheets, she blinked, realizing that she hadn't made up the voices currently in her living room. Her muscles instantly tensed as she sat up in bed, hand hovering over the cellphone that sat, mostly unused, on her nightstand. She entertained calling the police for a moment, before she realized that would involve letting them now that her little oasis existed.
Call her dramatic, but she would rather die than let anybody but Steve and Tony know where she was.
She looked around her room, trying to find something that she could use as a weapon before she set her sights her pair of knitting needles. Perfect for goring and easy to clean.
The brutality of that thought startled her, making her realize that, perhaps, her habit of cataloging weird deaths around New Mexico might have gotten to her.
She jumped out of bed, groaning when she got tangled in the ridiculous amount of blankets she slept under before she barely moved two feet. She slammed face-first into the carpet, legs still wrapped up like a swaddled baby.
"Did you hear that?"
"Bedroom," The second voice said, sounding vaguely familiar to Avery in her panicked state.
Avery inched across the floor like a worm and grabbed her needle. She pressed her back against her bedroom door and leaned sideways, peering out into the dark hallway. The people moved towards her, faces obscured by the dim light of pre-dawn. She took a deep breath and leaned back, pulling herself up the wall and into a standing position.
"We should have called first."
"And ruin the surprise?"
"She's going to be pissed. She looks like she's made quite a living as a self-proclaimed plant hermit."
"Do you think she's been growing weed?"
"God I hope so."
They both laughed.
Avery scowled at the needle in her hand as she pulled it close to her chest, fingers flexing. The footsteps moved closer and Avery prepared herself.
"Wakey, wak…"
Avery yelled and jumped at the person standing just outside her doorframe. For one glorious moment it seemed to work, until her feet got caught in the blanket still wrapped around her legs and she stumbled forward and ran into the person's chest. The other person grabbed her arm and twisted it back, forcing her to drop the needle with the sheer strength of the grip.
"Hi Avery."
Avery looked up.
Clint smiled at her and stepped back, holding out his arm to help her into a standing position. He didn't seem bothered by the fact that she had just tried to stab him with a knitting needle, but then again, he had shown up at her house uninvited and unannounced at just past five in the morning. Natasha, who up until that moment had kept her vice grip on Avery's arm, stepped back and leaned against the wall, smirking at the pair of them.
"You've definitely embraced the isolation, Avery."
Avery looked between them both, not sure if she liked the idea of why they were there, before she decided that the first thing she needed was a strong cup of coffee. Perhaps two.
She kicked the blanket off her legs and pushed past them, grumbling to herself incoherently as she walked towards her small kitchen. They both followed, clearly unbothered by the annoyance she felt. She walked over to her coffee machine and opened it, stuffing the grounds in in an almost savage manner. She wanted them to know how she felt, at least for a moment, before she actually greeted them properly and with the right amount of enthusiasm. Truly, she was happy to see them.
Two months on her own had been therapeutic, calming and nurturing in the exact way she needed, but the isolation had started to manifest itself in weird ways.
For one thing, she had developed a bit of a Georgia O'Keeffe level of weird when it came to her recently acquired hobby of painting. It was shittier than even she cared to admit, but all her attempts were now displayed proudly on every square inch of wall space she had in the tiny two bedroom house. Including, embarrassingly enough, her pathetic attempt at painting all her teammates.
Second, she had acquired a rather large collection of house plants, varying from the normal, like the succulents, to the bizarre, like her massive Venus flytrap.
And finally, she had taken to spending a great amount of time, much more than she cared to admit, standing in the desert completely naked.
She supposed she should be thankful she had fallen asleep in her large t-shirt.
"Do you guys want coffee?" Avery asked blearily, turning away from the pot to look at the other two. Clint nodded, while Natasha shook her head as she took a seat at the small kitchen table. Avery blushed and rushed over, snatching away her latest project before Natasha could see it. "Anyway, nice to see you both."
"Yeah, we can tell you're positively over the moon. Did you knit all these pot covers?" Clint asked, pointing at the bright green, large knit plant cozy.
"I did. I thought I'd start selling them," She said, not entirely sarcastic. "If I decided to stay, of course."
"How close are you to the border?" Natasha asked, looking around the small space with interest. She eyed the paintings on the kitchen wall with a slight smirk before she looked back at Avery. "Ten minutes? Twenty?"
"About thirty-five."
"Have you been crossing?"
"Most days," Avery said with a shrug, moving over to her fridge.
"You've been flagged. You shouldn't have been able to cross."
"I don't have a passport." She eyed the 2 day old pizza for a moment, debating with herself at the thought of eating something like that so early, before she shrugged and grabbed it.
"I don't want to know," Natasha said, sitting back in her chair with a look that was both annoyed and impressed. Avery dropped the pizza in front of her and went back to the coffee, pulling out two mugs. "How have you been?"
"Good. I've been really embracing the whole dessert lifestyle. I haven't had to wear a bra in 2 months, so that's also a bonus," She paused, smirking to herself. "Also, I haven't caused any disasters or blown up any multimillion dollar labs. I've been good."
"Must be all the heat," Clint mused, dropping into the seat opposite Natasha. He opened the box of pizza and took a slice, biting into it before he realized it was covered in anchovies and pineapples. "God, what is this crap?"
"A delicacy." Avery took the slice out of his hand and ate it happily. "So, why are you guys here?"
"Just checking in. What have you been up to?"
Avery bit her lip and swallowed the bite of food she had in her mouth, mulling over the question for a moment before she gave them her answer. She dropped the slice and wiped her hands on her shirt, closing the box to stall for a bit longer. She wiped her mouth and smoothed her hair, fingers catching in the tangles. "Can I show you something?"
They shared a glance, but said nothing, both standing up to follow after her as she walked out towards her front door.
The heat assaulted her as soon as she opened the door, despite the fact that the sun wasn't even up yet. It was going to be a scorcher of a day, as most days in July usually were, but she couldn't help but feel annoyed with how much she was already sweating. Still, she toed on her boots and walked out towards where she kept her small, two door car. She kept walking for another hundred feet, and then another hundred, before she got to the place she had cleared out a week after she got there and walked to stand in the middle. She found her usually shoeprints, worn down in the dirt from standing the same place for two months straight and bounced up and down on her feet, turning back around to face the other two.
"I've, uh, been practicing," Avery said, nervous to show them.
About two days after they made it to New Mexico, when Tony and Steve were completely sick of each other and yelling over something nonsensical, Avery had accidentally made another shield in between them. It had thrown them both back and pinned them to the wall, effectively stunning them both into shocked silence. Neither of them were hurt of course, mostly just surprised, but it had shaken them a bit more than Avery would like.
The first thing she did after they left was clear this little spot and try to actually make a shield.
It hadn't worked.
In fact, it was such a pathetic attempt that she popped a few blood vessels in her eyes from the strain.
It had taken a solid week before she was able to do anything. It had started out small, nothing more than a pea sized little blob floating in front of her face before it spluttered out. She tried again and again, producing the same thing for four days straight until it turned into anything real or tangible.
After that, she had been able to do more. Nothing like the one that had separated Tony and Steve, but they were sizable enough.
And then they got bigger.
She was rather proud of that fact.
"Practicing what?"
"Stay back," Avery said, holding up her arm when Clint took a step too close to her circle. He raised his eyebrows, but held his arms up, nodding at her. She smiled slightly, closing her eyes as she started to get back in the right headspace for what she was about to do.
When she was seven, using her first powers without meaning to, it had felt like she had no control. It wasn't like she could feel the energy, but she could feel the effect, like the scar left behind from her mind reaching out and latching onto all the things people tried to keep hidden from her. The shield was different. Where her other power felt like water slipping away from her, the shield felt like fire. She could feel it in her veins, deep in her gut, all over her body. It didn't hurt, per se, but it wasn't pleasant.
She took a deep breath and turned her hands over, holding out her palms upwards as she started the process. First, she collected all the spare energy in her body. She couldn't explain it, and she probably wouldn't ever be able to, but she could. She focused on her hands, moving everything in that direction while she took a few more steadying breaths. Second, she pushed it to the surface. That was the part that hurt, like she pushing her very being out of her own body, but she did it anyway, knowing that the feeling would pass after a few moments. Third, she made it solid.
She cracked open an eye, hoping that she hadn't just embarrassed herself in front of the other two, but smiled brightly when the saw the shield shimmering about three feet from her outstretched arms.
"Holy shit."
Keeping her arms out, Avery walked forward, chest welling with pride.
Two months she had been working on that. Two months she had been out there every day in the sun just so something like what happened in Tony's lab wouldn't happen again.
"What is that?"
"Energy shield," Avery said, not really sure how else to describe it. She had never been able to test its strength, but she assumed, like the one with the Chitauri, that it was reasonably strong. "I've called Jane and Bruce to ask them what they think, but without taking a sample they weren't much help."
"Is this coming out of you?" Clint walked closer to it, mouth slightly agape. She didn't know if he was impressed or confused, or perhaps a little bit of both, but she was just happy he didn't seem angry. "Can I touch it?"
Avery considered it for a moment, not sure what the outcome would be. She scooted closer and held her arms around it, fingers spreading out as she focused her mind back on maintaining it. "Carefully."
"This is what blew up Stark's lab?" Natasha asked, stalking around to the other side of the shield. The golden color reflected on her face. "It's," She paused, lips quirking. "This is, well, I don't know what this is. I've never seen anything like it."
"My mom never told me about anything like this." Clint kept moving forward as Avery spoke, moving so that the three of them formed a circle around it. "We always talked about the first thing, but never this. I've got nothing. I don't know if she didn't know I would be able to do this, or hoped that it wouldn't ever come up, but the only thing she made an attempt at helping me with was controlling the mental powers."
"Is it solid?"
"Did your mom have powers?"
Avery shook her head, looking down at her feet. "There's a lot my mom didn't tell me. She could have, probably did actually, but she never once even hinted that she did." Avery tried not to sound too bitter, but she couldn't help it.
As much as she had improved, and she acknowledged that this was barely the surface, her bitterness and anger towards her mom had also deepened. She had never considered herself to have a very strongly mothering instinct, but the thought of doing what her mom did to her own child made her skin crawl. It wasn't right and she couldn't help but feel like her ten year tailspin had been caused by the woman who was supposed to care for her above anyone else. If she had just been told she could have been working on it, improving it and figuring out that stress was her trigger for losing self-control, instead of running away from it all.
But then again, perhaps she had inherited that from her mother.
Running away to another planet seemed like the ultimate in flightiness.
"Thor would have been a good source for this," Avery admitted, disliking that it highlighted her immaturity to do so. "But it is what it is."
"I'm going to touch it." Clint didn't wait anymore and pressed a single finger to the shield. It didn't give in the slightest, but the shimmering color gathered around the point, brightening ever so slightly. When he was sure it wasn't going to do anything, he opened his palm and pressed his entire hand to it, pushing forward until the muscles in his arm strained. "It's solid." Clint pressed his even more, but it didn't budge.
"They definitely don't explode anymore," Avery mentioned casually, shrugging her shoulders.
Clint immediately pulled his hand back, scowling over at her. "You couldn't have mentioned that before I started fondling it?"
"It's perfectly safe."
"Is this not the same thing that destroyed an entire lab?"
"The very same thing?" Avery smirked and stepped a little closer to her own shield. "No. In the same family? Yes."
She touched her hand to it, feeling the warmth of the smooth surface with a faraway look on her face. It seemed to respond to her touch, although she couldn't explain how or why. After a moment, she flattened her hand and pressed it forward, moving it into the shield until her fingers pierced the surface. The shield flowed around her arm, shape changing to adjust to her as she pressed her hand into the middle. She flipped her hand over and flexed her fingers, cupping them up as she started drawing the energy back into her. The shield shuddered for a moment, seeming to not do what she wanted, before it started shrinking back down into her hand. It kept getting smaller and smaller until it was no bigger than a sparkly lemon, hovering above her cupped hand. She wrapped her fingers around it and squeezed, forcing it even smaller until it disappeared entirely.
"I want breakfast," Avery said, turning to walk back to her house without mentioning what had just occurred.
Her body was buzzing from the energy she had just reabsorbed backing her twitchy, but she shoved her hands together to keep them from visibly moving, and marched back to her house. She always felt like she had stuck a fork in a socket for a few hours after she reabsorbed, but the thing she had found that helped the most was a large plate of eggs and a can of tomato soup. She didn't think either Natasha or Clint would care for that sort of meal, so she decided fried tomatoes would have to do. She had managed to grow some, with more effort than they were probably worth, that had just ripened.
She kicked off her sandy boots when she was back inside and dropped down to her knees to give Mandu a good morning kiss between his eyes. He diligently followed after her, passing between her legs as she walked to the kitchen.
She heard the sound of her front door closing as she started pulling out the ingredients. Mandu hopped up onto the counter and watched her, eyes following her every movement. It was part of their morning ritual and she wasn't going to let that change just because they had a few visitors.
"You've really carved out a little life here," Natasha said, walking into the kitchen.
"It's okay," Avery said, pulling out a bowl to start cracking eggs. "It's exactly what I needed."
"You planning on coming back?" Clint asked. He leaned on the door frame to the kitchen, arms folded across his chest. Normally, such a posture would seem threatening, pressuring somehow, but she found she didn't mind. She was just happy to be seeing people.
"Maybe. I've been thinking about it a lot," She admitted, finding that it was even truer once she said it out loud. "I've been doing really well. No incidents, nobody's gotten hurt."
"You don't have to."
"That's not why you're here?"
"No."
Avery scrambled the eggs a bit more forcefully, looking down at the bowl just so she didn't have to look at them. She added salt and pepper, scrambling the eggs again. "The time off has been good."
"But?" Natasha prodded, propping her legs up on the other chair.
"But, I'm worried that I'm not ready to jump back in. I don't know if I can do what Fury wants. Not yet."
"Have you talked to anyone?"
"Like, in general, or in the clinical sense?"
Clint snorted and repositioned himself, seemingly quite comfortable in her little kitchen, surrounded by her plants and knitted doodads. She felt a rush of affection for him in that moment and was reminded, quite suddenly, of the fact that he was apparently a big part of what she was able to take the time she needed in the first place. "Tony has been really good about calling once a week. Steve does as well, but that's only every three days or so. Other than that, it's been me, myself, and isolation." She could tell they were sharing a look behind her back, but she found she didn't much care. If they weren't there to bring her back, and she didn't really buy that they were only there to check in, she wasn't sure what their purpose was. She bent down to grab a pan and placed it on the stove, turning the heat on just low enough that it would melt a small pad of butter. She turned back around and looked at them both, shoulders slumping slightly. "I'm sorry I haven't kept in contact."
"You know, this is my first day back too," Clint said, avoiding her gaze for a moment before he looked back up.
"Loki?" Avery asked, feeling the heat from the stove on her lower back. She moved away from it and grabbed Mandu, depositing him next to his empty food bowl. She grabbed a can of wet cat food and popped it open, holding the lid down for him to lick before she set it in his bowl. She then grabbed the shredded cheese she was going to use for the eggsand sprinkled a few bits on top of his food. "He messed with you pretty bad."
"He put my brain in a blender and used me to instigate an alien attack on New York City, so I'd say so, yeah." Avery grimaced, not meaning to offend him. "Calm down, I'm not mad. It's a fact. I've been working through it for the past two months with my wife and kids."
Silence.
"I'm sorry, your…"
"My wife Laura, and my two kids."
"I'm not doing anything," Avery said, immediately going through her body check to see if she was accidentally forcing that information out of Clint. Just as her shields had stabilized, so had her ability to force people to reveal their secrets.
"I know. I'm telling you because I want to. Also because we're in the middle of nowhere and I expect this information to never leave this room."
"I would never, I mean, you don't have to worry, Clint."
Clint smirked and shook his head. "You're always so high-strung. Calm down before you have a coronary." He walked over to the stove and grabbed the bag of cheese, tipping his head back to eat a bit before he continued, "Anyway, for the first week or so I couldn't sleep. My wife didn't understand, but she helped the best way she could, but there wasn't much she could do. I stayed away from the kids, just in case that greasy bastard left anything behind. They didn't get it either. After that, every day was a little better. Some days were hard, some were easy. My wife made it bearable until the voices stopped."
"Why are yo…"
"I took the time I needed. You did the same. You can come back when you're ready, just like I did. We just came to check on you, nothing more, nothing less."
12:20 p.m., Stark Tower
"No, no, no!" Tony shouted, jumping back when the gear shaft he was working on burst into flame. How that happened, he wasn't entirely sure, but he threw it to the ground and started stomping on it. It left behind a sooty smear, causing Tony to sign heavily as he looked down at his latest setback.
"Why does it smell like burning hair?"
Tony glowered at Peter.
"Don't you have homework to do or something?"
"I'm interning with you. Did you forget in the last five minutes?"
"No. I was just hoping it was a fever dream induced by being awake for too long."
"No such luck," Peter said, hopping up onto the counter. He shoved aside one of Tony's projects and crossed his legs, picking at his nails with a small screw driver. "So what does this suit do?" Tony waved his hand and brought the schematic up, enlarging it until it filled up the middle of the room. "The Rubber Duckie?"
"Deep sea exploration. High pressure, low temperature, the works."
"Could it work in space?" Peter asked, looking up at the plan with a fascinated expression. He didn't notice the look of slight pain on Tony's face, even if it was only there for a second, as his eyes took in every detail. "It's pretty similar to the bottom of the ocean."
"Except for the water."
"Yeah, but, the same kind of harsh environment."
"They're really nothing alike."
"If you…"
"Peter, drop it."
"Did you forget the venders were coming over early to set up for the party?" Pepper asked, swanning into the lab in a way that only she could pull off and providing an out for Tony just when he needed it most. She smiled over at Peter as she walked over to Tony, holding out a plate with a turkey sandwich on it and a pile of salty chips. "Peter, I didn't know you were still here. I can go make you another sandwich."
"Uh, no thanks, I was just about to leave."
"How is your aunt doing?"
"Aunt May is good. She's really appreciative for this opportunity."
"Well, it's not charity," Tony said, swirling around in his chair. "You've done good work, kid."
"You should invite May to the party. She's already met Steve, correct?"
"Yeah, he and Avery came over for dinner a while back. Gwen invited them."
"Sweet girl. Is she still interning at Oscorp?"
"Last we spoke, yes."
Pepper looked down at her hands at the tone of Peter's voice. She glanced over at Tony, who simply shrugged and swiveled around again. "First love bites."
"Very helpful," Pepper hissed, smiling sympathetically at Peter. "My first boyfriend and I broke up right after high school too."
Peter nodded, clearly very uncomfortable with the two of them staring him down. Tony rolled his eyes and stood up, leaving behind the plans that had been given him fits for the better part of the working day. "Bring your aunt by. Steve could use some more familiar faces besides me and Brucie."
"Will there be alcohol?"
"Of course…"
"Not for you," Pepper finished sternly, shooting another look at Tony. "Now, Tony's kept you long enough. Tell May I say hello and that I look forward to meeting her."
"Will do. Thanks Ms. Potts. For everything."
"Of course. I'm just happy this is the right fit. It will look fantastic when you head to NYU, if that's still the plan?"
"For now, but who knows."
"It's the summer. You don't have to decide right now."
Peter walked towards the lab door, hand hovering over the control panel for a moment. "I'll see you tomorrow, Tony. Bye Ms. Potts."
Pepper waited approximately half a second after Peter left before she rounded on him, arms folded across her chest. Tony stood up and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, leaning in to press a slobbery kiss on her check that broke the annoyed façade instantly. "I've missed you."
"The board has been a nightmare, but I'm home for a while now."
"Good."
"Is this a new suit?"
Tony pulled back from her and turned around, hiding his expression so she wouldn't see that he had been thoroughly caught. He hadn't planned on her finding out about his latest project, imagining that she wouldn't be very happy if she found out just how many suits he had made in the last two months. The Rubber Duckie was just the latest. Granted, it was a little more than a skeleton frame and an idea, but his ideas, more often than not, manifested into reality, so he imagined it wouldn't be long before he got it up and running and at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
"It's not, not a new suit."
"If you don't want to tell me, that's fine."
"It's nothing to worry about, Pepps."
"Bambi informed me that Reed Richards called."
"About?"
"He wants funding for a mission to space."
Tony flinched, but tried to recover without her noticing. "Why us? Von Doom has the space contracts."
"We have to fund some projects besides your own."
"Doom just put that station up. Richards can go to him."
"This rivalry is silly."
"I am a grown man, Pepper. I don't have time for rivalries."
"So Justin Hammer, Hank Pym, Norman Osborn, Victor von Doo…"
"I am an innocent party in all of that."
"Right." Pepper smiled at him and leaned forward, returning his kiss from earlier. "Eat your lunch and I'll quit bothering you. I have a lot to get done before the party anyway. I'll see you at dinner tonight."
"Wouldn't miss it."
12:35, Midtown
"So what you're saying is that is uses radio waves to…"
"Transmit information and data across large distances," Bruce finished, perusing the pre-bottled smoothies the small café had with sour look on his face. His hand hovered over the blueberry before he sighed and grabbed the green one. The one without anything exciting in it. He missed eating exciting food, but the Other Guy liked it too much. Too much spice, green. Too much caffeine, green. Too much dairy, green.
"And it's everywhere?"
Bruce nodded and turned around, taking note of the confused look on Steve's face. He didn't envy the man. He could only imagine what a shock it would be to go to sleep in 1945 and wake up to the miserable reality that was the 21st century. The food was better, Bruce supposed, except for the obsession with putting kale in everything. There was a definite lack of people dying from polio, which was always a good thing. Even so, Bruce couldn't help but wonder if his life would have been simpler if it had been him.
"Number 87!"
Steve raised his hand and walked to the counter, thanking the worker with a smile before he walked back over to Bruce. He handed him his sandwich, eyebrows knitted together like he still didn't understand what Bruce had been trying to explain to him for the better part of an hour. He didn't mind, however. Steve was a mellow presence, the sort of polar opposite of Tony in the way he tried to not upset anyone or say anything offensive.
"I still don't understand."
"You don't have to get it in a day."
"I feel like I'm a kid again."
Bruce nodded, walking up to the counter to pay for his food. He handed over a twenty to the kid working the register. "You're getting it a lot faster than most people turning 94 in two days."
"Don't remind me," Steve said, shaking his head. "Tony insists on throwing a party."
"Not your thing?"
"I don't exactly have a lot of friends."
"You haven't talk to Avery in a while, have you?" Bruce asked, turned back around once he got his change.
"She doesn't have much access to a phone."
"So her cell service is…"
Steve frowned at him, not understanding for a moment before he rolled his eyes. "Her cell service is bad because she is in an area of weak reception."
"Because?"
"There's not many cell towers."
"And you said you didn't get it." Bruce looked around the small café for a place to sit, noticing, to his great chagrin, that there was only one small table open, jammed in between three others.
"Thanks for talking it through with me," Steve said, noticing the small table as well. "I know you're busy."
"No, I've enjoyed it. I miss teaching," Bruce admitted, weaving his way towards the small table. He was trying to be normal in room filled with so many people, but he felt like all eyes were on him. "And you're a good student. Better than undergrads, at least."
"Avery doesn't like large crowds either, you know."
"What?"
"We can get this to go, if you want."
Bruce immediately shook his head and sat down in the seat facing the door. "No, I need a break from the lab. The fumes were getting to be a bit much."
"And Tony."
"And Tony," Bruce agreed. "He's…"
"Tony."
Steve took a bite of his food as they fell into comfortable silence. It had been a long two months for everyone who lived in the tower, but Bruce thought they would have been especially hard on Steve. Bruce, Tony, Natasha and Clint, when they were there, tended to be more isolated people. Bruce liked his alone time, with only his plants and the whirl of machines and the warm glow of overhead lighting to keep him company. Tony was the same, when notable breaks for Pepper and making the requisite societal appearance that came with his name. Steve was different. He needed people. But more than that, he needed people who would understand him.
"Has Avery said when she's coming back?" Bruce asked, taking a sip of his smoothie.
It tasted like grass.
He tried not to let that fact bother him as he took another sip.
"You mean if she comes back."
"Does she like New Mexico that much?"
"She hasn't said." Bruce didn't want to tell him that he thought it was probably better if Avery wasn't with them in the tower. He didn't have anything against her. In fact, he liked her personality quite a bit, but their mutual tendency for being a human disaster didn't exactly bode well for potential future friendship. Despite that, she had called him about two weeks after she left to apologize. He figured Dr. Foster and her friend got similar phone calls, but didn't ask them. "Anyway, I think it'll be good for her. Some time alone. No stress. Just her and the cat."
"She could have at least arranged visitation with Mandu for you."
"Now you sound like Tony," Steve said, leaning back in his chair with a small smile on his face. "Now, what's next?"
"Google. It'll change your life."
8:47 p.m. by Midgardian reckoning, Private Royal Quarters
"We should bring her home," Frigga said, clearing her throat as they finished up their evening meal. They had taken their supper in their private quarters, the Alfather, Frigga, and Thor alone, but the absence of Loki was felt. He never cared for going through such motions, but he had always obliged, perhaps more so for her sake than anything else. Now, he spent his days in his cell, speaking to no one but his guards and the handmaiden who brought him his meals.
It was the isolation that disturbed her, even though she knew he deserved it.
"She does not wish to come," Thor said, spoon hovering over his bowl of fruit. He looked weary, with deep circles under his eyes and a tenseness about his shoulders that she didn't care for. "Fulla made sure she did not know about who she was."
Frigga felt her chest convulse when her son said the name of her youngest sister. She missed her terribly. Fulla had been the more carefree of her two sisters, which seemed only natural from being younger twin. Forra was intelligent and pragmatic, calculating each move they took just to avoid making a mistake. She was the protective of the two, the one who trained with the warriors and considered giving her life to the Valkyrior before Baldur came along. Her protectiveness had only become more pronounced, her shields, which were her gift, became stronger and lasted longer.
They could not prevent the space pox from taking her, however.
When she died, Fulla had been inconsolable.
Perhaps, Frigga should have seen it coming, her eventual need to get away, but it still upset her all the same when Odin handed down her banishment.
"Tell me again. What is she like?"
Her husband, who had remained silent up until that moment, set down his own fork. "Frigga, this will only cause you further pain."
"Is she beautiful like her mother?"
"She is like Fulla and Forra," Thor said, voice careful and kind. "Except for her eyes. Those are hers alone."
"I want to meet her," Frigga said, repeating herself for what felt like the hundredth time.
Avery Gudrun. The niece she didn't know she had, living alone and without her family for over ten years. The pain she felt at Loki's isolation transferred to her, for the woman she could only imagine in her mind. She hoped she was gentle and bizarre like her mother, but she thought she had no right to hope so. She hadn't made an attempt to try and bring her home.
Avery was the last of her line, the last of the daughters of her house, and she had failed her.
"And her personality? Does she laugh like Fulla?"
Thor looked down at his fruit again, taking a bite to stall, before he shook his head. "She did not laugh much. I do not believe she has had such occasion recently."
"She must be so lonely," Frigga breathed out.
"She is not your sisters, Frigga," Odin said, voice as gentle as he could manage. "And she is a woman grown. If she wishes to visit, then she may. I will not force her."
"She is of my line," Frigga said, voice suddenly quite fierce. "It should be my order."
"What would you do? Order Heimdall to pluck the girl from her home? Bring her here and care for her the way she think you should have for your sisters?"
"I want her safe. If that is here and not on Midgard, then so be it."
"Avery is stubborn, mother. I believe she will come, but in her own time."
"I want Heimdall watching her."
"His gaze is on Vanaheim."
"Heimdall will watch her. If any harm comes to her, I want her brought to me." Frigga stood up, looking at her husband with the sort of intensity she only reserved for the most serious of conversations.
"Fulla was banished."
"So you would punish her child for her transgressions?"
"No, I am simply reminding you of the crimes your sister committed."
"An oathbreaker." The name tasted acidic in her mouth. "Would we label Avery as such as well?"
"Label her how you wish. We are fighting a war, Frigga. You cannot allow yourself to forget. It is because of Loki that the Nine Realms are in chaos."
"It is because of Loki we know she exists. I will not bargain with you, Odin. She comes home. Whether tomorrow, or ten years from now, I will bring her home. I respected your decision to banish Fulla. I cannot do so to her innocent child. I will send word to Heimdall. If she comes to harm, he will bring her here."
Odin stared at her, the tension building between them until he sighed and stood up as well. "Avery is not Loki, Frigga."
"I do not mistake the two."
"Then do not make the mistake of thinking you have failed either."
Frigga pursed her lips. Perhaps her husband was right, although she knew she would never believe him. Loki had always been a troubled child, moody and emotional for reasons she could never explain, but she had never imagined he would do something so terrible just to spite his brother. She couldn't help but feel like if she had been more attentive, more aware of how her son was feeling, it wouldn't have happened.
But that was the same regret she felt towards her sister as well.
Fulla had always struggled with her gifts. The ability to read people was not something Frigga could understand, but she had tried the best she could. She never kept secrets from her just to lighten the burden she felt, but apparently that hadn't been enough.
Fulla had still broken her oath. And now she feared Avery would do the same.