As soon as his feet landed back on the Helicarrier, Haraldr recognized the now-familiar sound of guns cocking and knew that he most likely had several laser markings trained on him. Despite all of this, however, the fierce god remained stoic and voiced a simple, "Gentlemen, ladies," regarding both Maria Hill and Natasha who too had their weapons pointed in his direction.
"Where is the scepter?" The booming voice of Fury cut straight to the point.
Haraldr turned an almost bored look to the leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., "It's safe. That's all you should need to concern yourself with." He made quick work of calculating those around him. He noted Fury with his two trusted agents Coulson and Hill, half of the Avengers team, as well as a large handful of unknown agents; all of which were standing around him. Missing, however, were Stark, Dr. Banner, and his two brothers. Knowing that he'd instructed them to stand guard over the Tesseract in his absence, Haraldr made to move in the direction of the Helicarrier's main laboratory, assuming they would currently be working on a safe means for the three brothers to return the cube to Asgard.
Before he could take a second step his way was blocked, "What do you mean it's safe?" Steve's voice held the command that Haraldr himself was used to carrying. As the Allfather was only one to ever command anything from him, the Asgardian was unused to the tone being directed his way. It reminded the god that these mortals were not unaccustomed to the ways of the Aesir or the other seven of the Nine Realms. These humans were still unaware of, or more accurately simply didn't care, who he and his two brothers were. Brute force and a commanding attitude were only going to cause more headaches when working with S.H.I.E.L.D.
Taking a breath, the former wizard responded, "I took the scepter to a safe location. One where it will be protected and free from curious minds." With that he again made to walk towards the lab however he was again stopped. While the Captain again blocked his path, it was the director that gave the verbal response.
"I'm going to need more than that," Though seemingly calm, Haraldr detected more than a hard edge in Fury's voice. "You took S.H.I.E.L.D. property despite it being my direct order for it be returned to me after the portal was closed. I expect my orders to be followed."
"And if you'll remember Director, I stated that I do not answer to you." The heir to the Nine Realms voice was steel. "The entire world has now seen what will happen when tools outside of mortal knowledge fall into the hands of your organization. As next in line to Asgard's throne, I will not allow Earth to fall to a similar fate a second time." With that, the god brushed past the soldier blocking his path only to once again be stopped, this time however by a hand pulling his shoulder back.
"Hey, you can't just—" Rogers started but was cut off when his hand was thrown off and found himself being pulled forward to now be face-to-face with the stern but calm-faced god.
"I can and will do whatever it takes to keep weapons such as Tesseract and that scepter out of unworthy hands. You might have your orders to protect your little country Captain, but I have mine to protect a section of the universe. We might have won a battle today, but hundreds of lives were lost in the process and it's all due to this organization meddling with things that ought not to have been meddled with. None of you have any idea what exactly it is that you've been tampering with or who in the universe knows about it. I won't let what's happened today happen again, so yes, I took the scepter. I took it to a safe and guarded location and that is all you need and will ever know of the matter."
With that, Haraldr pushed Steve out of his way and made for the laboratory before he could be stopped again. Before leaving the platform, the god turned back around and focused his eyes to that of Fury, "Director I am unsure exactly what Hydra is, but I would suggest reviewing your trust in all of the agents around you. The ones I took the case from were thinking about quite heavily." Before Fury and Steve were able to even share a shocked look, the god was turning the corner leaving behind a stunned group of agents.
It was only a matter of minutes later that Haraldr was again in the company of his two younger brothers and the scientists of the Avengers team. He took a calculated once-over of the Helicarrier's lab, noting that while both Tony and Bruce were busy looking at screens and using terms that the god had never heard before, Thor and Loki had placed themselves at both entrances to and from the lab. Nice to know that at least two people here are able to listen to orders. Placing a strong hand on Thor's shoulder, Haraldr nodded once in greeting to the God of Thunder and then again to Loki.
"Saw your little show down there," Tony voiced, eyes not leaving the transparent screen in front of him, "Anything we should know about?" Though the genius physically looked exhausted due to the battle that had taken place only hours prior, his eyes were clear and calculating.
Haraldr held his stare and answered with a simple, "No," before turning his focus to his youngest brother adding, "other than the scepter is now in a safe and guarded location," before asking for an update on the Tesseract.
Loki looked into his oldest brother's bright green eyes with his own, a hundred questions swimming through his head. Haraldr answered with a look that simply spoke later before the younger walking over to the screens. His eyes scanned over the information scrolling across the projection. Out of the three of them, Haraldr was sure that Loki was the one that would be able to follow the two mortal scientist's complicated information the easiest.
"Stark and Dr. Banner are currently searching through Dr. Selvig's research in order to better understand the cube's known properties. If I am correct, they are looking to build a containment unit that would allow us to use the cube to safely return to Asgard, without sending a homing signal throughout the universe."
"Bingo, Reindeer Games," Stark replied while throwing a pen in Loki's direction. The latter caught the object easily sending a replying glare back in reference to the nickname that seems to, unfortunately, have stuck.
Haraldr, ignoring the childish antics happening around him, turned to Bruce, "Any projected timeframe?"
Bruce took off his glasses and picked up a tablet while talking around the table. After sliding through the current scans of the Tesseract Bruce sighed, "It could be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. Eric's research is in-depth but neither Tony nor I have worked on something like this thing before. Luckily, we aren't trying to make something out of the cube's energy and are instead simply working on housing it."
"Between the two of us, Banner, I think we're up for the task." Tony added with only a slight amount of cockiness, "JARVIS is currently scanning though not only Selvig's research but all of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s database pulling anything that even mentions the Tesseract. Within a few hours, we'll know everything we can about it before adding in our own research as well."
The God of Magic nodded along to the information, "Very well. I must remind both of you to work with caution. Earth could not handle another attack such as the one that just took place. The Tesseract is more than a simple energy source. All that is needed is a way for my brothers to return home in one piece through its use. After that, the Allfather and I will use it to repair the Bifrost—"
"And then what Boy Wonder?" interrupted Tony. The three Asgardians turned to their gazes to the genius waiting for him to continue. "What will you do with the thing once you've fixed your bridge? Make your own weapons? Travel through the universe like your brother here?" He added pointing at Loki.
Thor broke his silence to respond, "With the Bifrost repaired, we will not need a tool such as the Tesseract to travel across the Nine Realms…" Haraldr put a hand up to stop his brother from continuing.
"The Tesseract will be used on the Bifrost and then it will be placed in my father's vault where it will be guarded securely from all that are not the Allfather, including myself and my two brothers."
"And what it will just sit there? You'll all just go on ignoring its presence is even a thing?" The genius almost sounded unbelieving as to what the Asgardians were insinuating.
"Yes," replied Haraldr, "We are princes of Asgard and protectors of the Nine Realms. As such, we know that some objects were not created for use and are simply meant to be protected from those wanting them to wield for their own benefit."
The five men stood in silence for a lingering moment before both Tony and Bruce nodded to the three Asgardians, trusting their word as fact. "We'll be required to keep Fury notified on our progress but I'm sure we'll have you three on your way back home soon."
Haraldr nodded in reply. After having witnessed what Tony Stark had been willing to sacrifice in order to keep his world safe, the human turned Asgardian held a great amount of respect for the genius. Though his thirst for knowledge concerned him, Haraldr was sure that with the Mind Stone currently safe within the walls of Hogwarts, sealed in his personal magical signature, Tony and Bruce were able to be trusted in their work.
In the time after that meeting, debates with S.H.I.E.L.D.'s head counsel were held on the approval of the Asgardians taking the Tesseract. Haraldr had almost reached the point of simply declaring that he was taking the cube with or without permission as a feud with Midgard was the last of Asgard's worries, however, in the end, Director Fury had stepped in stating that he believed the cube would be in the safest care with Thor who was on the Avengers team and had declared that Earth's protection was in his mighty care.
Sooner than scientists had predicted, a week and a half later the Avengers team along with Haraldr and Loki were meeting for a final time to send off the three Asgardians. Being that Haraldr was able to simply apparate home to the Golden City the Tesseract's housing unit, built by both Tony and Bruce, simply held two handles: one for Thor and the other for Loki. When triggered, the two simply needed to think of where they wanted to be sent and so they would be. Haraldr had been in communication with Asgard's watchman Heimdall. He would notify the prince of the successful return of both Thor and Loki before Haraldr himself would depart Earth.
After watching his brothers' departure, and waiting on word from his trusted friend, a figure on one of New York's many skyscrapers caught the God of Magic's eye. It was a person wearing striking yellow robes. She held a stoic face and even from the great distance Haraldr could see her eyes and recognized the timeless knowledge they held. The two held their gaze until Haraldr took a quick note to the pendant hanging around her neck. With a knowing smirk on both of their faces, the two gave each other a brief nod of acknowledgment before Haraldr heard Heimdall's voice in his head stating that the other two princes had returned safely to the Golden City.
With a brief nod to the remaining Avengers around him, Haraldr apparated away with a resounding CRACK.
A/N HELLO! I know what a wait right. This came out WAY later than I wanted it to but I wanted the storyline to work right and the original chapter that I wrote moved way too fast and I didn't like it. So here we are. I have to be honest, I'm SO glad that the brothers are off of Earth. My original plot can now take place and I'm so excited about that! This should mean that chapters will be updated a lot more frequently.
I want to say a HUGE thank you to all of you that have continued to read and comment on this. Hearing from you all, asking when the next part will be out kept me motivated even when I couldn't sit down to write. Thank you all so much!
To the questions about this being abandoned…NEVER! This will never be abandoned. It might take some time for me to get chapters out (this is my first multi-chapter story) but they will come out eventually! Writing is my therapy and I have missed it so much these past few months!
This story is un-betaed so I apologize for any mistakes. I try to re-read it even after it's been posted just in case, I missed anything. Please let me know what you think of this chapter! Your reviews mean so much to me!