CAEB Part IV - The Cross He Bears.
Chapter 5 - Start The Countdown
Fourteen days to go, it read in glowing orange numbers; Steve had asked that Jarvis put the countdown clock upstairs as well as the one Tony had in the lab. Clint hated it. Apparently, it was to make them more focused, but it just made Clint feel sick; watching the time slide away like this was killing him.
They saw less and less of each other with each passing day and the Archer was beginning to feel incredibly isolated. Tony had maybe come to the communal floor two or three times in the last week, he was there to eat and take a half hour break, but that was it. The others he only saw at mealtimes and he spent his own time training or watching the clock. He felt pretty helpless really.
There was a familiar flash of blue energy that made a shiver run down his spine. Clint took a breath and turned around with a forced smile on his face. "Hey Thor. How's things?" He asked, eyeing the thing that brought so much destruction and personal grief to him last year; that damn tesseract was coming in useful though, but it didn't stop Clint had hoping he'd never see it again after this coming battle.
"Agent Barton, it is good to see you." Thor smiled broadly, though there was something pensive behind his eyes. "Preparations on Asgard are going well."
"Glad to hear it." Clint tried to sound enthusiastic, he really did, but he was hardly pulling it off. Thor looked at his comrade and frowned in concern.
"You seem troubled."
"You know, just pre-battle nerves." Clint shrugged off the question.
"I understand." Thor nodded. "It is something with which I have much experience."
"I'll bet." Clint smiled weakly and the room fell silent for a moment. "How do you cope?"
Thor considered for a moment. "The worst part is the anticipation." He acknowledged. "Once you are in the heat of battle there is little time to be anxious."
Clint nodded a little despondently. He knew this from his own experience, but there were still 2 weeks to go. Usually he had only days, even hours to prepare for a mission, the preparation took up so much of his time, there was no time to get nervous.
"I think the only way to manage such feelings is through acceptance." Thor continued. "Acceptance that you cannot control what happens, only prepare for it, and that worrying about it will grant no benefit. Acceptance that you may well lose your life, or your friends may lose theirs. The only comfort you can find is if your cause is worthy, that it is worth the lives sacrificed."
"Well I suppose saving the planet fits that." Clint conceded.
"Faith is powerful tool Barton. If you can believe in fate and accept that your path is out of your hands then it brings you peace."
"That's actually really helpful." Clint smiled. "Not easy, but helpful."
"That's why I also drink." Thor smiled.
Clint chuckled. "Yes, I'm fairly sure that's Tony's go to method as well."
"Speaking of the Man of Iron, I must take these to him as he requested." Thor announced, holding up bag.
"He's in the shop, as usual." Clint said a little disappointed to be left on his own again so soon, which Thor seemed to notice.
"Perhaps when I have finished, I could show you how Asgardians drink away their troubles." Thor offered, and the light returned to Clint's eyes.
"I think I'd like that. Just don't tell the others." The Archer added.
"Yes, I believe that would be for the best." The Demigod scoffed.
"What are you two doing?" Steve asked, entering the common room an hour after Thor had returned to Earth, though the Captain was not aware of this, or hadn't been at least, until he walked in on Clint and Thor, who were both lying on the rug at the center of the common room laughing hysterically.
"Having a drink." Clint threw up his hands.
"Come, join us!" Thor boomed loudly.
"Yeah come on Steve, we're going to get absolutely hammered." Clint whooped.
Steve looked incredibly displeased. "I can't get drunk Clint."
"Oh Captain, you have to try Asgardian liquor, I guarantee you will become completely inebriated." Thor countered.
"He wouldn't let me try it." Clint grumbled. "Chuck us another beer." He gestured at Thor.
"I think you've had enough." Steve frowned.
"I'm not even tipsy." Clint scoffed.
"Clint, you are lying on the floor." Steve said incredulously.
"Come on Steve," He whined dragging out the 'e', "don't be boring, have a drink!"
"I don't think so." The Captain declined.
"Oh, come one loosen up! Enjoy yourself a little." Clint pleaded, and was the Archer seriously doing puppy dog eyes at him?
"Fine one drink." Steve caved, what harm could it do after all?
Clint whooped. "Yes Steve!" He yelled, surprised that the Captain had surrendered to his drunken (and yes, he admitted he was definitely a little bit drunk) request.
Thor sat up and poured a few drops of his Asgardian into a glass of whiskey and handed it over to the super soldier.
Half an hour later…
"Tony."
"Not now Tasha I'm busy."
"You'll want to see this." Natasha held back a chuckle.
"Pretty sure I won't." Tony grumbled, more than a little annoyed at the distraction.
"Steve is drunk."
Tony looked up sharply, taking a moment. "Did you just say Steve is drunk?" He asked again, incredulously. He was exhausted, and hallucinations weren't out of the question. Natasha nodded simply and Tony stared, scrutinizing her for a second, convincing himself this really was no hoax. "No fucking way!" Tony dropped all his tools with a clatter and ran for the door without hesitation. This, he had to see.
"Tony!" Steve yelled loudly. "Come and join the party."
Tony's ears were bombarded by loud dance music before the elevator even pulled into the floor. The sight was something else. The three men were stood on the counter in the communal kitchen, obviously having asked Jarvis to put on the strobe lights and were dancing, very badly with drinks in their hands.
"Yes, Tony come on!" Clint slurred and then tripped, nearly falling off the counter. Thor swiftly grabbed the Archer's t-shirt and lifted him back to relative safety.
"Thanks Man." Clint hollered over the music, trying to pat the Demigod on his shoulder he ended up hitting his face on the first two strokes before his readjusted and met his target.
"Go and join the countertop party..." Tony considered for a moment. "Why not?" He threw his hands up and grabbed a bottle of Vodka on the table to Steve and Clint's loud woops. Thor and Steve grabbed one of the Billionaire's arms each and lifted him effortlessly onto the countertop.
"Tony!" Pepper protested in disbelief. Tony rolled his eyes at her; had she really expected him, Tony Stark, not to join in with an impromptu rave in his own damn house?
"Come on Pep, it's just a bit of fun." Tony threw his hands up and started chugging from the bottle.
"Tony not so fast!" Pepper protested. The Billionaire hadn't eaten today that she could recall and that was 40% liquor.
"Chill out Pep. What's the worst that can happen?" Tony ignored whatever Pepper's objection was to that and turned to Steve. "How did you get drunk anyway?" Tony yelled over the music at the Captain.
"Thor's got Asgardian liquor!" Steve yelled back. "And it's amaaazing!"
"Sounds it!" Tony scoffed at Steve's ridiculous expression and turned to the Demi god. "Thor hand it over I want in."
"I'm not sure Stark, it's not for mortal men. It has been aged for thousands of years."
"Come on Pointbreak, it takes me forever to get drunk with the CAEB." Tony whined.
"Oh yes, of course!" Thor realized and handed over the flask. "Enjoy it Stark. I guarantee you have never tasted the like."
"Tony, no, come on this is getting out of hand." Pepper tried to reason but Tony seemed to have made up his mind.
"Come on you two, live a little. There's no harm being done." Tony protested.
"Not yet there isn't." Natasha growled.
"We're all going to die in a fortnight anyway. Let's party!"
"Exactly!" Clint agreed.
Tony took the flask from Thor and immediately took a big swig.
"Stark I would not drink so much…. Never mind." Thor put a hand to his forehead, instantly regretting his decision to hand Tony the bottle.
Tony hissed instantly as the liquid hit the back of his throat and then he saw stars. Mere seconds later he tumbled backwards like a dead weight and plummeted to the ground. Steve and Clint doubled over, howling with laughter
"Tony!" Pepper yelped in horror.
"Stark are you ok?" Thor jumped down from the counter, he was tipsy, bordering on drunk, but nowhere near as wasted as the others and certainly not wasted enough, not to be concerned.
Tony was laid on the floor staring at the ceiling and chuckling lowly. "My fingers feel like noodles." he slurred and burst out into hysterical laughter. He lifted his hands up and wriggled his fingers in Pepper's face, which only made him laugh harder.
"Oh great. Just great." Natasha huffed.
"You good tin can?" Clint called from the counter as he tried and failed to juggle some fruit.
"Woohoo. This stuff is the best-est stuff ever!" Tony staggered to his feet and kept staggering sideways until he landed in a heap at the other side of the kitchen with a clatter. Pepper covered her face with her hand. "I'm good!" He yelled but didn't get back to his feet. "I can't feel my face, is that normal?" Tony giggled, completely unconcerned but the fact his vision was swimming and he had no idea which way was currently up.
"I bet you can't flip off this counter." Steve slurred at Clint.
"Well I bet I can flip off this counter. I bet I could flip off this counter in my sleep."
"Well go on then agent Barton." Steve dared, staggering a little.
"I bet you can't flip off this counter." Clint fired back, prodding Steve in the chest.
"I bet I can do a double flip off of this counter." Steve bopped Clint on the nose.
"Fine! I dare you to do a double flip of this counter on the count of three."
"3…" "1…" Clint and Steve said simultaneously.
"No, No, Noooo." Steve grumbled. "Counting down." He drawled at Clint.
"Oooh I get it."
"Three…" They started again, this time in sync.
Pepper and Natasha were busy dragging Tony to his feet and getting him stable when they heard Steve and Clint counting down.
"Two…."
"One!" Clint jumped on 1 with a triumphant yelp.
"Go!" Steve yelled, jumping after the Archer.
To Clint's credit he actually managed to flip. It was the landing he didn't quite master. Clint landed heavily on his coccyx and Steve sort of just nosedived onto the glass table, which shattered spectacularly.
"Oh my God." Pepper yelled out hysterically.
"Did I do it?" Steve looked up at the groaning Clint questioningly.
"We did it!" Clint decided, raising a triumphant fist in the air and the pair started cheering.
"Pl-se tell me somebody got that on cam-ra." Tony slurred, pointing at Pepper and then Natasha, shaking his head. "No?"
Natasha just glared at him. "Shame." Tony shrugged. "You didn't let me down did you J buddy?"
"The CCTV will have footage of the incident Sir."
"Way to go J!" Tony whooped. "Upload it to YouTube!"
"No!" Pepper pointed her finger at the ceiling and glowered at the AI.
"Thor how long is this going to last?" Nat asked, approaching the Demigod who was now wearing a frown on his face. Tony, Pepper and Jarvis were having a 3-way yelling match in the corner, Pepper stopping Tony from doing something stupid using her override codes and Tony flinging the override of the override codes back at the AI in the ceiling.
"It is difficult to say. I do apologize Lady Natasha; this has indeed gone too far." Thor looked a little despondent. "I was just trying to share Asgard's method of preparing for battle."
"By getting absolutely smashed?" Nat asked in disbelief.
"Yes. Drink has a habit of making one forgot their worries and the Hawk seemed very anxious this morning when I returned. I thought this would do them both good."
"It's ok Thor, not your fault, let's just wrap this up before something goes really wrong." Nat said with a wince.
Then there was the sound of retching from behind them as Tony spewed all over the floor.
"Sorry!" The Billionaire grinned apologetically, collapsing into the couch and going spark out.
…
'Morning sunshine.'
Steve very reluctantly opened his eyes but was relieved to discover that there was no light in the room. He could barely make out the silhouette of the other person, but there was only one man who could talk inside his head like that.
'Tony? What are you doing in here?' Steve asked, trying to keep the grimace out of his tone. He had no desire to sit up, get up, or in any way move – what on Earth had happened to him to make him feel so lousy?
'Returning the favor,' he said amusedly. 'Cooked breakfast, Advil, Tylenol and coffee. Hangover cure of the Gods.' Tony smirked.
'Hangover? What the hell happened?' Steve balked. He couldn't get drunk, so how was he hungover.
'How much do you remember?' He could hear the amusement in Tony's 'voice'.
There was a moment of utter silence as images of strobe lights, loud modern music, drinking and dancing, terrible, terrible dancing drifted into Steve's mind and he cringed, beginning to remember exactly what had transpired the night before.
'Oh God no. Never, ever, let Thor convince me to drink again.' Steve groaned. If this is what it felt like to be hungover he couldn't understand how anyone would wish to repeat it.
'From what I gather it was Clint that did the convincing.' Tony smirked in the darkness. 'How many of those Asgardian enhanced drinks did you have?'
'I don't know. I only asked for one, but after the first one Thor just kept handing me them.'
'And you kept drinking.' Tony said, clearly amused.
'Yep. That is some strong stuff.'
'No kidding.' Tony scoffed.
'How are you fine?' Steve frowned. 'You were completely out of it. I mean you were literally unable to stand.'
'The benefits of superpowers.' Tony boasted.
Steve's head perked up a little. 'You couldn't?'
"Oh no, this is your first proper hangover, no short cuts.'
'Come on Tony.' Steve pleaded.
'Nope, you're on your own.'
'Pratt.'
"Language!" Tony said aloud suddenly. "You have to learn to take responsibility for your actions," he chuckled, mockingly.
Steve cringed and groaned at the sudden noise. "Asshole."
"Well who knew all you needed to get foul mouthed was one mother of a hangover."
"Just get out." Steve grunted.
"Don't worry I'm going." Tony held up his hands. "I don't like grumpy Steve."
"You are looking rather alert considering what happened yesterday." Bruce said, a judgmental element in his voice as he came across Tony in the lab.
"Ah Brucie you missed all the fun! Where were you hiding?" Tony asked with a smirk.
"I was across town checking on the antivenom production… and fun?" Bruce scoffed. "A broken table and three plastered Avengers is classed as 'fun' in your book?"
"Firstly, that party was legendary..."
"You mean all 5 minutes you lasted." Bruce chuckled with a raised eyebrow.
"And that's exactly why it was legendary. I've never been knocked on my ass so hard, it was such a rush! I've got to get me some of that Asgardian booze."
"Let's not have any more of that stuff in the tower ever again." Bruce mumbled as Tony continued.
"Secondly, with the CAEB I had all of a 30 second hangover so didn't lose any work time. It's a win, win." Tony grinned.
"Yes, well the others weren't so lucky." Bruce scoffed.
"Hey!" Tony protested. "It wasn't my idea; they were wasted when I got there. And it's Steve's first hangover, it's only fair he enjoys it."
"Right, whatever." Bruce sighed. "What are you working on and can I help?"
"Running out of stuff to do?" Tony asked.
"Me and Fitzsimmons are nearly through the task list. Everything is under control, apart from you three apparently…"
"The Hulk would have loved it…"
"Focus Tony." Bruce cut him off, but he was smiling broadly. It was nice to see Tony a little happier for a change and despite the destruction of the party, it could have gone a lot worse and it seemed to have done everyone the world of good.
"Fine." Tony chuckled. "It's just this damn machine really. Waiting for the next simulation to fail."
"I like your optimism." Bruce rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, well realism suits me better."
"How long?" The Doctor asked.
"4 hours and 53 minutes." Tony said, glancing at the screen.
"Why don't we take a break then, watch a movie?" Bruce offered.
"Maybe later, I should probably start on armor upgrades."
"Start?" Bruce frowned. "Tony have you not done anything on that yet?"
"Barely," he admitted with a sigh. "I tweaked a few things, integrated those explosive discs that I made to take down the invisible flying death machines... but that's it so far. Just been too busy." He said dismissively.
"Tony, you can't go above and beyond protecting us and treat yourself as an afterthought."
"Why not Bruce?" And there it went. That relaxed happy demeanor was gone like the snap of fingers and the angry, repressed emotional mess was back. Bruce nearly smacked himself. He'd had to push…
"Tony, I'm sorry…" Bruce sighed.
"Do you guys not get it?" Tony barked back.
"Tony look…"
"Why would I waste effort on saving my own ass when I'm going to die anyway!" Tony cut him off. "I could not live with myself if anything happened to any of you that I could have prevented…"
"Tony stop. Breathe." Bruce said firmly.
"I'm fine." Tony snapped, pushing Bruce away roughly.
"No, you're not." Bruce said sadly.
"I'm not going to have a breakdown, or a panic attack so back off."
"I know, Tony, but that doesn't mean you are fine."
"We've been over this. Just leave it alone Bruce." Tony almost growled.
"I know, and I'm not asking you to talk about it or..." Bruce sighed. "Just tell me what I can do. If you've got too much on your plate, that's what we're here for." Tony didn't say a thing. "Ok. I'm going to go. Sorry." Bruce sighed and left quickly after.
Tony sat there for 5 minutes in silence and then spent the next ten minutes throwing things at the dent in his wall.
"Simulation 125 failed." Jarvis announced four and a half hours later. Tony nearly sobbed in frustration but instead dug his nails viscously into his palms until the annoyance melted away.
"How far did we get?" He asked, exhaustedly.
"86.28%"
"So, a 0.03% increase." Tony sighed. "For eight hours work." His hand balled into a fist. "At this rate we'll be ready by next Christmas!" He yelled and punched the wall hard. It hurt like a son of bitch. His knuckles were probably broken and of course he could heal it, but he really didn't want to. The sting from the crescent shaped cuts on his palms and the almost unbearable sting from his knuckles somehow calmed him. It would have healed by tomorrow and for now the pain would help him focus. "Ok. Let's go again."
…
"Talk to me."
Thor frowned, standing on the balcony overlooking the city his mind was anything but clear, but he was fairly certain he had not made it evident in his demeanor, so the Captain's request had taken him by surprise.
"I do not know what you mean Captain." Thor said, feigning confusion.
"Come on Thor, something's troubling you." It seemed the Captain was not buying Thor's act, but after his discussion with his Mother, he did not yet wish to share what burdened him with his Midgardian friends.
"It is not of import." He sighed.
"Thor I may not be a spy, but yesterday… we were all drinking for a distraction." Steve started, forcing the God to meet his eyes. "I know I was." Steve shrugged and Thor looked away a little, his gaze returning to the horizon as he considered the Captain's words. "Clint has been nervous as hell for weeks and thinks no one has noticed, so you get back from Asgard and suddenly want to drink your problems away. What happened?" Steve asked.
Thor sighed. "I suppose I can't keep it from you any longer." He said solemnly and cast his mind back…
"You do seem troubled Thor, more troubled than I have seen you." Frigga noted with a concerned frown.
"We face a grave threat Mother."
"You do, but it is nothing you haven't faced before. You have fought in many a battle." Frigga stated, but it was more a prompt, that Thor failed to notice.
"There is so much at stake." Thor sighed.
"Or is it who is at stake?" Frigga smiled knowingly. "Your friends, the Avengers, you love them like kin."
"They are kin." Thor said vehemently. "They are as much family to me as you are, as Father..."
"I know my Son. But they are stronger than even you give them credit for. Have faith." She squeezed his shoulders and somehow it made him feel like a weight had lifted.
"Thank you, Mother, but I fear you are stalling as much as I. Please tell me what you know."
Frigga sighed but nodded; Thor was indeed correct; this would be a tough conversation to have for them both. "There is, as you know, not much remaining from the reign of Bury."
"The first King of Asgard." Thor frowned. "He founded Asgard, the Aesir and his youngest son founded Vanaheim and the Vanir." He recited.
"Indeed." Frigga smiled. "Now many records were lost during the war with the Dark elves, whom your Grandfather defeated, but there have always been legends, whispers spread between Asgard and Vanaheim of the time before your Grandfather, of Asgard's earliest days."
"Why have I not heard of such rumors?" Thor frowned.
"They do not reflect well on Asgard - on our family especially. Your Father has done his best to keep them secret." She explained.
"On our family? Please Mother…"
Frigga stopped him with a simple raised finger, making it clear she was to be left to say her part. "Buri had three sons. Bor, who succeeded him, Njord who founded Vanaheim and Mimir… Mimir was a healer, a scientist with no desire to rule and only the desire for knowledge. In his strive for omniscience he began to study magic; dark magic. It is said he performed a ritual, using the life force of his five most loyal followers and its result made the five of them not only immortal, but powerful and granted Mimir the Omniscience he had so strived for."
"But Mimir was killed, in the Aesir-Vanir war was he not?" Thor asked.
"In a sense, and that is what your Father preaches." Frigga sighed. "While your Father tried to negotiate for peace, he gave over Mimir to the Vanir as a peace hostage."
"He risked the life of his Uncle?" Thor balked.
"Yes, and very soon lived to regret it. The Vanir cut off Mimir's head and sent it back to your Father, but Mimir still lived."
"How?" Thor asked, utterly perplexed.
"As a living, talking head from what I hear," Frigga scoffed. "Thanks to the power he gained from the ritual he cannot be killed."
"Where is he now?" Thor said, utterly shocked and confused.
"He dwells at the bottom of the well of wisdom."
Thor went white. He had visited the well many a time. It was a great attraction for children, but was notoriously dangerous and hence, was now kept under guard. It was indeed a source of great knowledge, but the visions it gave had been known to be highly subjective and often had driven men mad. "That is disturbing knowledge, but I do not yet follow." Thor shivered.
"It is not Mimir who is of import but his followers. The names of most of them have been lost to time, but the one is still remembered and when you informed us Stark's visions your Father recognized it, I could tell. So, I did my reading."
"Kairon." Thor nodded in understanding.
The Queen shook her head. "No, Edraskil."
Thor frowned in surprise and then in intrigue. "Continue."
"Still within Buri's reign, Mimir and his five followers were renowned as some of the most powerful beings in creation and revered for their knowledge, which they shared willingly. Until one, Edraskil, began to crave more power and within him grew the desire to subjugate and conquer." Frigga took a deep breath. "The five followers were not graced with equal power,; Mimir had a favorite. His most loyal friend gained the bulk of the power."
"Edraskil was jealous." Thor realized.
"Yes, but alone he did not have the strength to overthrow their master, all five of them were needed. So slowly he turned the followers to his side, one by one. But since Mimir's favorite was too loyal, Edraskil tricked him into breaking the magic that bound them to Mimir, freeing them. Mimir blamed the favorite for Edraskil's crimes; he shunned him, cast him out, which only drove him to join the others in their mission. They left Asgard and caused untold destruction and suffering throughout the galaxy which Asgard was powerless to stop."
"But they were stopped." Thor checked.
"Yes. In their eagerness to conquer they came across another entity, one far more dangerous and powerful who did not take kindly to their attempts to destroy it."
"The CAEB." Thor grasped.
"Indeed." Frigga nodded gravely. "The CAEB as far as we knew had destroyed the five, but it has become clear it merely imprisoned them before continuing its own conquest. Afterward Mimir used his power to trap the CAEB into a host and King Buri's final act was containing it on Asgard before it completed its mission of destruction." She finished.
The weight of all that had been said weighed heavy on Thor's shoulders. Now he knew their story, yes, but it didn't help them in their fight. But it wasn't the history of the foe that ate at his insides and made him feel so hopeless, it was the history that he had never heard of, that he should have known… that all of Asgard should know. "How much more of our history does Father keep a secret?" Thor said quietly, with a heavy sigh in his voice.
"Thor, you must not be angry with your Father. He only does what he believes to be right, what he believes he has to; to protect us, to protect Asgard."
"Does he really?" Thor snapped. "Because the more I learn the more I find it hard to believe."
"Thor…" Frigga pleaded.
"And you keep things from me too, don't you? You know his secrets!" He accused.
"Thor, I swore an oath to your Father, he is my Husband. I break that vow only when I must. My word is my bond, you know that, and it changes for nothing." Frigga said firmly.
Thor sighed. "I understand. I am sorry Mother."
"It is I who is sorry, Thor. And I am sorry that this knowledge is more of a burden than an aid. There is nothing in this tale to help you defeat them." Frigga said sadly.
"All knowledge is useful Mother and one never knows what Stark can create from seemingly useless information." Thor mused; the Midgardian certainly was clever. Then something flashed into his memory. "Stark described The Five as having reptilian-like skin and a strange physiology… this does not fit with the theory that they were once Asgardian." He realized.
"They used and abused Dark magic Thor; in the quest to gain power they misused many rituals and such abuse comes with a heavy price. I can only imagine what physical deformities they have inflicted on themselves to gain their strength." Frigga explained.
Thor nodded pensively. "I cannot thank you enough Mother."
"There is a very simple way to thank me." She smiled. "You have work to do my Son. Finish it and return home as soon as you can."
"Believe me Mother, I will return to Asgard as soon as the battle is won." Thor promised.
"I don't mean after the battle Thor, I mean now." She said suggestively. "As much I wish that Asgard was still your home it has been obvious for some time that you belong on Earth, with your friends." She smiled sadly. "I want you to be happy."
"I think you are right." Thor mused.
"I'm your Mother I'm always right." Frigga retorted with a smile, which Thor returned in amusement. How that woman saw right through him, he would never understand.
Thor retold a condensed version of the conversation with his Mother to the Captain, and Steve just listened intently, nodding occasionally.
"It is not the information that troubles me…" Thor explained. "In fact, it is very little use to our cause - but the more I learn of his past exploits the more I realize how little I know my Father." He shook his head. "I now see how easily he lies to me and has been lying to me for my entire existence."
"That's rough Thor. That's really rough." Steve bit his lip. "I don't know what to say. The relationship you have with your Father… There's not much advice I can offer, I never knew my Father."
"I am sorry to hear this Captain." Thor straightened suddenly, spaying full attention to the Captains woes.
"Hey, it is what it is." Steve shrugged. "And actually, between your experiences and the way Tony thinks of his Father, I'm actually starting to think it's a good thing I never met him. If life has taught me one thing, it's that nobody is perfect, and nobody makes the right choice every time." He sighed. "All I got growing up was stories of my Dad, how he was a hero who died in the war and how he was the best man you could ever meet. Nobody speaks ill of the dead and I spent my whole life trying to live up to who I thought my Dad had been."
"I am sure your Father was the man you thought him to be Captain." Thor comforted.
"He probably was. But that still didn't mean he was perfect. I've seen people change over time, get bitter in old age. My point is you know someone long enough they'll disappoint you and you've lived how long?"
"Fifteen hundred years or so." Thor admitted.
"Well I think that makes my point." Steve smiled.
"You make a good argument Captain." Thor smiled in return. "Your words of counsel are always of great help."
"Well seventy years on ice gives you a unique perspective." Steve smirked and the two of them chuckled. "You want to come in? We're thinking of having a quiet, dark, alcohol free movie night."
"That sounds good to me Captain." Thor clapped Steve on the shoulder and followed him inside.
"Dr. Banner is requesting you come up for Movie night." Jarvis cut through the heavy rock in the workshop to relay the announcement.
"Nope, busy." Tony grunted dismissively, expecting his AI to take the hint and leave him alone.
"I believe Thor has information he wishes to share with the team." Jarvis reported.
"They can fill me in later, if I let go of this before its finished it will explode… but don't you dare tell them that!" Tony grumbled and transferred a wire from his left to right hands, taking great care not to let them touch. "Tell them I'm in the middle of something vital and can't just break off."
"As you wish Sir." Jarvis said indignantly
After four hours of coding, calibrating and solving mind-numbing calculations, the last simulation he had run had shown that the improvement was again going to be too minute to matter. In a desperate last-ditch attempt to save this goddamn impossible project from complete failure, Tony had decided to go for a full remodel of the circuit board and electronics system, replacing all the wiring to silver. After a few more hours work, the simulation was running once more with the new wiring in place. If this didn't get him more than 1% closer to the end goal, he was going to… he was going to break… something.
No sooner had he thought that, there was a large bang and a spark then the room suddenly went dark. Tony yelled out in frustration as the smell of singed electronics met his nostrils. He slammed his head down on the desk three times in frustration, trembling in annoyance and disbelief. He'd known it was a risk, reconfiguring the machine in this way made it more powerful, but his efficiency improvements obviously hadn't been enough, and he'd overtaxed the power source.
He rummaged in his drawer angrily until he found what he needed and then marched across the workshop, kicking anything out of the way in the darkness. He choked down a yelp as his foot collided hard with something immovable. If the level of throbbing in his foot was anything to go by, Tony calculated that was most likely a broken bone. "Damn it." He allowed the CAEB to give him a view of what was in front of him in the darkened room. The Car; he'd tried to kick the car out of the way. Idiot. He better not have scratched it.
Pulling himself together and biting back the anger roiling inside him, he spent a few minutes of rooting around in some more wires until finally there was light again.
As he headed back to his desk in the now fully illuminated workshop, he caught a glance of his reflection in the computer screen and he looked a mess. Great. And his foot was aching like there was no tomorrow. He could feel the CAEB reach out to heal it, but he stopped it. He deserved it for being so damn stupid.
And worse, his lab was a mess. He picked up the soldering iron bare handed and then flinched away when he realized it was still hot. Jesus Christ what sort of idiot was he today? He considered throwing the offending item across the room but changed his mind. He closed his hand around it again and breathed deeply. He could still feel it… The anger, frustration and anxiety rushing around inside him, clouding his head threatening to make him lose it all over again, but the pain cut through and for a moment everything was silent. As the nerve endings in his palm died, the pain faded, and his emotions came back. He hadn't even realized what he had been doing, but when he looked down again he was completely calm, but there were four more burn marks up his arm. He looked down at them uncaringly. The CAEB would heal them, he could heal them now if he wanted but the way they stung was pleasant. The others would be furious if they found out, but he didn't see why it mattered at this stage. He just needed to get this done.
Another half hour of replacing ruined components and connecting his spare arc reactor as a power source and he sat down on the sofa and ran the simulation again.
Only seven hours to wait this time.
…
