Hi all! So I debated with myself for awhile before I wrote this chapter. I want to make Izzy more involved in the story but I don't want to just have her be everywhere, however, this was fun to write. Hope you guys like the chapter, we are in Thor 2 right now. I haven't decided if she will be involved in the Winter Soldier storyline yet so bare with me.
As always, please review :)
Izzy frustratedly brushed a lock of hair out of her face with her left hand. The cast was supposed to come off in one week when she got back to New York but for now it was only getting in the way, especially in London's never-ending dampness. The only bright side of the trip so far was Johnny and Sue agreeing to come along. They had been helping her with research and experiments all week.
"Want some help?"
Izzy looked up at Sue, who had been patiently helping her do her hair all week. "I don't wanthelp." Izzy replied with a pout.
Sue smiled and just walked over, quickly tying Izzy's hair back in a braid.
Izzy had been monitoring weird energy surges with Bruce. They were happening all over the world, so she had asked to come to London where Dr. Selvig was working with Jane Foster but Selvig had disappeared. Jane was surprisingly unhelpful, still moping about Thor being gone. However, Jane had disappeared now too, but Izzy gathered that she was probably on Asgard because Thor had come back briefly.
As they were finishing up getting ready, there was a knock on the door. Johnny poked his head inside. "You guys ready?" He asked.
"Yeah." Izzy said grabbing her backpack and putting it over one shoulder.
"I just got off the phone with Darcy." Johnny said. "She said they found Dr. Selvig…he's at a mental institution."
"Well he was terrorizing people at Stonehenge." Sue commented.
Izzy pulled on a well-worn Washington Nationals baseball cap. "Come on."
They got to Jane's mom's house where Darcy and her intern Ian had brought Dr. Selvig. When they walked in, they were greeted by a slightly stressed out Darcy and they instantly noticed that Dr. Selvig wasn't wearing pants.
"Still not the weirdest thing I've seen." Izzy muttered as they hung up their jackets.
"Miss. Stark," Dr. Selvig said standing and moving around the table. "It's so good that you're here."
Izzy held up a hand. "Nuh-uh." She said. "I like you Dr. Selvig, but you just stay on the other side of the table and we'll be fine."
Sue set up her laptop and Johnny started working on the equipment that Jane had.
"Tell me what you know Doctor." Izzy said sitting at the table, pulling out her tablet.
There were anomalies that were happening at new spots all over London and they were getting worse. Weird things that defied the laws of physics, and spots were gravity didn't seem to apply. Izzy was updating Bruce as she worked as well.
After about an hour, the door opened, and Jane walked through followed by Thor.
"Jane!" Darcy said. "You can't just leave like that! The whole world is going crazy. All that stuff we saw, it's spreading."
"Thor…" Izzy said walking over and giving him a hug. "Glad you're back."
"Isabel I'm glad to see that you are well." Thor said. "Heimdall informed me of your new suit. You may be needed if I can't stop this."
"I'm here to help." Izzy replied immediately.
Johnny looked up. "Suit? What suit?" He asked.
Sue looked up as she heard her brother's question.
Izzy winced. "Nothing." She said. She hadn't actually told either of them about the suit, she was under strict instruction not to even think about it without Tony's permission but if Thor needed help to save the world then she would have to use it.
"Erik?" Jane said looking at the scientist.
"Jane!" Selvig hugged Jane. "You've been to Asgard."
"Where are your pants?" Jane asked.
Ian spoke up. "He says it helps him think."
"Okay." Jane said. "Well 'm going to need everything you got on this. All the work you've been doing on gravimetric anomalies, everything."
"Dr. Foster, it isn't as much as Dr. Selvig has," Izzy said walking over. "But we've been monitoring anomalies like these in America and in other locations as well."
"Are you well Erik?" Thor asked.
Selvig laughed but then sobered quickly. "Your brother's not coming, is he?" He asked nervously.
"Loki is dead." Thor said quietly.
Izzy looked up at Thor.
"Oh, thank god." Selvig said.
Thor frowned.
"I mean I'm so sorry." Selvig corrected himself.
Izzy walked over and gave him another hug. "I'm so sorry Thor." She said.
Thor smiled faintly, nothing close to the blinding smiles she had seen from him before. "Thank you."
They all gathered around the table, maps and data spread out around them. Thor had caught them up on the Dark Elves and the Aether so they at least knew what they were facing.
Jane stared at the map. "Malekith is going to fire the Aether at a spot where all the nine worlds are connecting." She said.
"Amplifying the weapon's impact." Selvig said. "For each additional world, the power will increase exponentially. The effect would be universal."
"But the Alignment is only temporary." Thor said. "He must be in exactly the right place at the right time."
"Well how do we know where that is?" Darcy asked.
Selvig looked up, a light in his eyes. "We follow the directions." He said going over to a bookshelf. "This has happened before thousands of years ago, and the Ancients were there to see it."
Sue seemed to realize where he was going with this. "All the great constructions." She said and Selvig nodded. "The Mayans, the Chinese, the Egyptians, they must have made use of the gravitational effects of the Convergence."
"And they left us a map." Selvig said. "Stonehenge, Snowdon, the Great Orme, these are all coordinates leading us to…" He drew on the map and they all looked at the focal point.
"Greenwich?" Ian said.
"The walls between worlds will be almost non-existent." Jane said. "Physics is going to go ballistic. Increases and decreases in gravity, spatial extrusions. The very fabric of reality is going to be torn apart."
"I better get my pants." Selvig said.
While Jane and the others got ready to leave, getting the needed equipment, Izzy looked at Johnny and Sue. "You guys need to stay here." She said.
"What?" Johnny said. "This is way too cool."
"This is not a game Johnny." Izzy said firmly. "This isn't about research, or an adventure. You could get killed."
"You're going." Sue said in her typical soft voice.
Izzy sighed. "I have to go." She said. "I can help them; you guys need to stay here and monitor the energy levels. Tell me where things are going crazy, so we can run damage control."
"Be careful." Sue said hugging her.
Izzy returned the hug and hugged Johnny as well.
Grabbing her backpack, she unzipped it and pulled out a red and gold box.
"You've had that this whole time?" Johnny said.
"Sorry." Izzy said sheepishly.
Stepping on the box, it unfolded for her to stand on with both feet and her friends watched slack jawed as the suit began to encase her body. When the helmet closed around her head and the HUD activated, she looked at Thor, trying to ignore the shocked looks of Jane and the others, he motioned that they had to leave.
Once outside, Thor looked at her. "Keep the Dark Elves away from civilians as best you can but be careful." Thor instructed before he took flight.
Izzy activated her thrusters and shot into the air after him. She had been in the suit for all of 5 minutes when her communicator activated without her permission, connecting a call.
"What are you doing in the suit?" Tony's voice filled her helmet and a tiny screen appeared with a video chat.
"Wow, that video is really distracting when you are flying." Izzy said. "I don't know how you do it."
"I'm not going to ask again Izzy." Tony said firmly.
Izzy cleared her throat nervously. "So, Thor is back and there are these things called the Dark Elves that are from this place called Svartalfheim that are attacking London to take advantage of this thing called the Convergence which happens every so often causing these weird gravitational abnormalities, to try and destroy all these worlds including Earth with this thing called the Aether.." She said. "Thor needs help with crowd control and I'm closest. Please don't be angry."
Tony blinked and had to take a second to absorb all of that. "Izzy turn around right now. I will be there soon." He said.
"It'll be too late by the time you get here." Izzy said. "Dad I need to go, I can see the Elves."
"Isabel Maria Stark!"
She disconnected the call before he could continue. She was already in trouble, she didn't want to hear it while she was fighting these things.
"Hey J?" Izzy said as she flew in blasting two Elves that were about to attack some people.
"Yes Miss?" JARVIS replied promptly.
"Can you connect me to Sue and Johnny?" She asked. "And I need you to monitor military channels. I need to know if they send in air support or soldiers, so I can reroute civilians."
"Right away Miss." The AI replied.
"Zee, you okay?" Johnny asked.
Izzy grunted as she was knocked to the side by one Elf, but she blasted him into a wall in return. "Awesome." She said. "How are things looking?"
"So far the anomalies are being contained in Greenwich." Sue said. "Do you think Dr. Selvig's devices will work?"
"I hope so." Izzy replied.
A fighter jet was sent in. The minute JARVIS alerted her, Izzy shot up to catch it, knowing that it was going to fail and crash.
It didn't go unnoticed how many people had their phones out, taking pictures or video of the suit, but her concern over the exposure vanished when Thor went into the Aether to kill Malekith. It was a tense moment before everything became still. The destruction remained, but Thor had done it, he had stopped Malekith.
In the interest of time…
Izzy said goodbye to Johnny and Sue when they landed back in New York, there was a car waiting to take them back to their home. Happy was waiting with the car for her.
"On a scale of 1 to I'm never going to see the light of day again, how mad is he?" Izzy asked Happy as she walked over to the car.
Happy opened the car door and Tony stepped out. "How about you can say goodbye to the suit." Tony replied to her question.
"Is it too late to run?" Izzy asked.
"Yes." Tony said motioning for her to get in the car while Happy loaded up her bags. "Pepper is not happy about doing press damage control."
"And you?" Izzy asked looking up at him before she got in the car.
"I'm not happy." Tony said sternly. His expression softened after a minute and he pulled her into a tight hug. "But I am glad you're okay."
Izzy returned the hug and they got in the car to head back to the Tower.