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Onto the next chapter then...
Tony heard the screams even before he got to Central Park. Luckily he couldn't spot anything alarming about the people fleeing into the surrounding streets, nor anything chasing them.
The latter was particularly important as far as Tony was concerned ever since that incident at Madame Tussauds' where Loki had decided to animate all of the wax statues and have them attack the visitors in new and disturbing ways. He would never be able to look at Kim Kardashian the same way again. Not to mention the fact he still had nightmares about having to fight himself, both his original statue and the recently added Iron Man one. He still hadn't figured out how Loki had managed to make it not only fly, but fire repulsor blasts too.
Thankfully the Hulk statue had not yet been completed at the time.
"I've got a visual on the tourists," Tony said. "No obvious injuries so far."
"Good, proceed with caution," Steve replied. "Thor should be right behind you."
"Let me know if I can land on one of the meadows or lawns," Clint added.
"Copy," Tony said, dropping his altitude.
Thor's words aside, until he had either a functioning nanobot suit capable of some form of self-repair or some means of making his suit magic proof, he wasn't taking any chances. Point Break might be able to survive drops from great heights, but he wouldn't. He may not be a biologist, but even he knew humans didn't work like that, much as he wished they did.
Holy Hell.
"Uh, guys, I hope you packed your thermals," Tony said, eyes wide as he glanced around, double and triple checking the numbers JARVIS was throwing up on the HUD.
"Why?" Natasha asked, though the undertone to her voice told him she already had a good idea.
"It looks like Loki is going with a winter wonderland theme here," Tony replied.
How on Earth was he not only getting ice, but those kinds of temperatures in Manhattan, in the middle of summer?
Tony hated magic.
A shocked sound was the first he knew of Thor's arrival.
"I take it this isn't normal for Loki?" Tony asked, glancing back at the park.
The trees, benches, grass, statues and everything else he could see were covered in a thick layer of ice. Almost as if a heavy winter storm had passed through in the middle of winter... after getting lost on its way to the Artic Circle.
"Nay, Loki has ever favored fire over ice and, given what he discovered ere he fell..." Thor trailed off for a moment. "I did not ever expect him to use it."
"What he discovered?" Tony prompted.
"'Tis a tale for another time. I will go find my brother."
Tony sighed. "Fine, I'll go check the Great Lawn. Don't get turned into a popsicle, just ask Capsicle, it's overrated."
"Tony," Steve sighed over the comm.
"We're talking minus four in some areas here, and yes, I mean Fahrenheit."
"Shit," Clint breathed.
"Language," Steve admonished.
"Language?" Tony repeated in amusement.
He wished he could say it was amused disbelief, but really, this was not at all out of character for Captain Uptight Spangles.
"It just slipped out."
Oh, he wasn't going to let Cap live that one down! Not after-
"Fuck!" the word was out of Tony's mouth before he could help it.
"Tony?" Bruce questioned, voice full of concern. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, just... Thor, I've found Loki and he's got a bunch of kids with him."
"Kids? As hostages?" Natasha demanded.
Tony opened his mouth to reply before he hesitated. Were they hostages? Though a fair few of the kids were clustered around the crazy god and there were shrieks, they didn't appear to be afraid. Kids could shriek with joy, right? He'd never spent much time around the smaller ones, so he wasn't exactly sure.
"Uh, I don't think so, actually," Tony finally replied. "Some are skating as Loki seems to have frozen over the reservoir and created one massive ice rink, and the other kids are... waiting for him to give them skates? Thor, can he do that, put ice on the bottom of their shoes to form a blade?"
"Aye."
The word was accompanied by Thor returning to Tony's side. He was glad Point Break wasn't rushing in as per usual. They had to be very, very, very careful here.
"So, Cap, what's the plan?" Tony asked.
There were times he loved delegating. It was an important skill.
"We're heading your way now," Steve replied.
"You found somewhere to land?" Thor asked.
"Yeah, for some reason all the streets in the area were clear," Clint replied.
"Imagine that," Tony retorted. "Careful or you'll get a parking ticket and make Fury-"
"Don't!"
"- furious!"
"Loki has spotted us," Thor stated, cutting into Clint's groan and Natasha's Russian swear.
Crap. Looking over Tony found that, yeah, Reindeer Games was looking at them with a sharp, shark's smile that was all teeth. It softened noticeably though when he looked down at the little girl who tugged at one of the tails of his leather coat. Tony frowned as he watched Earth's would-be ruler crouch down and listen to what she had to say, his smile turning- what seemed to Tony- genuine.
"Uh, Thor?" Tony questioned.
"She will not be harmed," Thor reassured. "My brother has never harmed a child before and, indeed, he went out of his way to ensure no one else did either. He was wounded quite grievously once protecting a ljós- uh... elfling, I believe you would say."
"Okay, good."
As if to confirm what Thor had said, Loki did something to make the little girl laugh. Reindeer Games then lifted one of her legs so he could reach the bottom of her shoes. Tony immediately had JARVIS zoom in so he could watch as blue magic rippled over Loki's fingers, leaving behind a blade of ice on the bottom of her shoe. The process was repeated with her other shoe while the little girl clung to his arm. Then Loki was lifting her up and over the side of the reservoir.
"What the hell?"
Tony turned at the sound of Clint's voice to find the others approaching, watching Loki with the same dread and bafflement as himself.
"Let's hope not harming kids is something Loki hasn't changed on," Natasha said, making Tony wince.
While it was true Thor appeared to know little about his brother at times, was it really necessary to say that here and now when Thor was about to face Loki in combat?
"No offence, Bruce, but why are you out here?" Tony asked. "We can't really have Mean and Green out with all the kiddies about, no matter how much I love having his help."
Not after Loki's little demonstration of how easily Reindeer Games could distract and redirect the Hulk's attention to other targets. It was without a doubt the fight with the greatest property damage since the invasion itself and, even now, Tony winced as he recalled it. The media had a field day with it afterwards, even if none of them had gone so far as to question why the Avengers were fighting Loki. Not after how that particular fight had begun.
"I'm going to get as many of the kids away as I can, while you guys distract Loki," Bruce explained.
Ah, that made sense.
"How are they all able to skate so well without falling down?" Clint frowned as he glanced at the kids on the reservoir. "And where are their parents?"
"I had not thought of that," Thor replied. "And 'tis possible Loki has enchanted the blades to prevent falls."
"I don't like it."
No, of course Legolas wouldn't. Not that Tony could blame him after what Reindeer Games had done to him. Though he hadn't told anyone, Tony still had bad moments when he thought of that damned scepter. Yes, his arc reactor had protected him, but what if Loki had simply moved it over a few inches and tried there? Would that have worked? Losing his mind had long been a secret fear of his given how much he relied on it, and that had been far too close for comfort.
The parent question was a good one, though. Or was it perhaps a school trip? The kids seemed to be of a similar age range, or at least as far as Tony could tell. Flicking his sensors to heat detection worked extremely well given what Loki had done to the park and a quick scan showed a clustering of what appeared to be adults slightly further back and to the left, behind some of the trees.
A quick glance at Reindeer Games showed Loki was still busy with the kids clustered around him, though it seemed like he was keeping a close eye on them. Given that, Tony felt it safe to move forward a little, banking to the left so he could peer around the trees. There, just where his sensors had indicated, were a group of adults, corralled in a circle of what appeared to be large spike of ice, jutting up from the ground like prison bars.
"Found the adults," Tony said, before something else caught his eye. "And I think Loki may have a partner in crime."
Or at least that was the only thing he could think of. The woman was drop-dead gorgeous with long black hair piled on top of her head behind an elaborate gold head piece that extended both upwards and out to either side with three discs and four pieces that arched up. Two were vaguely hornesque in shape but flatter, wider and more curved than those Loki wore. Her outfit itself was some bizarre combination of a flowing dark purple dress and silver armored highlights around her waist, throat and shoulders. Starting at her wrists was more silver, looking to be vambraces, but they must have tapered into something else as they easily followed the bend of her elbow to curve up the lower part of her upper arm, only connecting to the shoulder pieces with a few decorative seeming silver chains. A large glowing crystal hung just below her throat, connected to both the armor around her neck and shoulders, as well as trailing more silver chains to her arms and down to her waist.
The dress was nearly floor length but had large slits up the sides allowing alluring glimpses of her legs, the lower half of which were encased in the weirdest boots Tony had ever seen. They started out normal looking, though appearing to be made of silver. As they went up, however, they split into two halves, curling up the side of her legs as if made of some flexible, molding material, tapering off into thin swirls just below her knees.
Altogether it was a stunning outfit, but definitely not terrestrial in origin. Which meant Reindeer Games had found himself an off-world ally, which probably meant all kinds of annoying abilities and talents. Not to mention that damnable durability which made so many people view both Thor and Loki as the gods of old. While Tony had never particularly felt the need to be either the strongest or fittest in the room, it did irk him that even with all of the training he had done as of late, this new player would probably be able to flatten him with just her pinky.
"A partner?" Thor questioned. "'Tis unusual as Loki has ever kept to himself."
"You're only saying that because you haven't seen her yet," Tony responded. "She's smoking!"
Natasha snorted. "And most likely insane if she's working with Loki."
"Insane can be hot too."
"Tony," Steve began.
"Wow, okay, yeah, I agree with Stark, she's hot!" Clint stated before his tone dimmed quite noticeably. "And probably really strong and powerful."
"Still not a turnoff," Tony retorted. "At least not completely."
"Stark!" Natasha protested and Tony was reminded of her Natalie Rushman cameo.
"Karnilla?" Thor boomed, far too loud as usual and, of course, it carried across the ice.
The woman turned their way with a haughty look on her face, eyes darting from one to the next. Tony did a double take and had JARVIS zoom in for a moment to confirm that, yes, her eyes were purple. It made sense that aliens wouldn't conform to typical human characteristics, but other than her height- which was taller than the average human woman- at first glance her physical appearance itself was indistinguishable from any other earthling other than those beautiful eyes.
"Ah, the Avengers, aye?" she asked. "I was beginning to think you would not come."
"What are you doing here?" Thor demanded.
"Loki, your playmates have arrived," she- Karnilla?- called out, raising her voice.
"Playmates? Cute," Tony shot back.
"Karni-" Thor began.
"I see Loki was correct and that your supposed improvement has been greatly exaggerated," Karnilla cut him off. "You are still lacking in even basic manners, Crown Prince."
Thor flushed red and, in any other situation, Tony would find it highly amusing. Now, however, it was far too likely to cause Point Break to lose control of his temper and there were still far too many kids about for that to be anything short of disastrous. Turning off the external voice box, Tony asked JARVIS to show him what was happening behind him. Luckily he found that Bruce had already broken off from the group and was directing kids off of the reservoir and towards the nearest road. Hopefully the police would take them from there, but he instructed JARVIS to call nine-one-one to relay the information.
"I..." Thor began, glancing at them, clearly lost.
"Ma'am," Steve tried.
"Queen," Karnilla shot back immediately. "I am Queen Karnilla, not that you would know from Prince Thor's lack of introduction or use of my proper title."
Loki, Tony could see, was laughing over the shoulder of the child he was currently crouched beside, clearly amused at his brother's admonishment.
"Queens do not go traipsing off to other Realms, attacking them!" Thor thundered.
"Do they not?" Karnilla questioned. "Then what was your father doing when he invaded Vanaheimr, Múspellsheimr or Jötunheimr?"
"Those were not attacks, but necessary defensive campaigns."
"Were they now?"
"Aye, the jötnar had invaded Miðgarðr and had to be fought back!"
Tony started at the words. Miðgarðr was Earth, wasn't it? Did this mean Loki's attempted invasion hadn't been the first? Why didn't he know about this and why were they only hearing this from Thor now? SHIELD was gonna be pissed.
"I see," Karnilla replied coolly. "Loki introduced me to a few mortal expressions which I find quite interesting. First, history is always written by the winners. And second, what is history, but a fable agreed upon?"
Oh, ouch.
It wasn't the first time Tony found Loki's nicknames of Wordsmith and Silvertongue to be more than deserved. Nor was it the first time he had found himself wondering at just how Reindeer Games could be so familiar with Earth culture, idioms, history and technology when Thor could hardly fit in if he tried.
"Are you calling my father a liar?" Thor demanded darkly, his grip on Mjölnir tightening.
"Easy, Thor," Steve whispered. "She's trying to anger you."
"Rulers lie all the time to their people, either to keep the peace or to prevent valuable information from passing into the wrong hands," Karnilla dismissed. "As a crown price, and one who was nearly crowned king such a short while ago, you should be well aware of this already. That you are not merely reinforces how woefully unprepared you were for those duties and responsibilities."
"Maybe I wished to be a different type of ruler," Thor countered.
"Truly? With your propensity to trample over the rights of different Realms and invade them whenever you wish?" Karnilla laughed. "Nay, you are a true son of the line of Búri."
"I have saved your Realm more than once!"
"Precisely, you were there more than once when you were only asked to aid me once. I learned better than to do so after that and never requested your aid again, yet still you came," Karnilla said. "Decimating whole areas of my kingdom with your hammer, when other means would have worked far better and caused less damage."
"Nay, there was a second invitation when the alk-"
"That request was for Prince Loki's aid, not yours. With his aid, I would have been able to repel the invaders myself without a single casualty and no damage."
"'Tis not what transpired."
"Of course, 'twas not! Once you and your idiot friends joined the battle, Loki and I could not combine our seiðr as I had intended without killing you five as well, and I could hardly tell Óðinn your idiocy had gotten yourself and your companions killed without risking a full scale Ásgarðrian invasion! And then Loki still had to come to your aid when you were overwhelmed."
"He did not."
Karnilla simply stared at Thor in disbelief for a moment before turning to share what seemed to be a commiserating look with Loki.
"Your Highness-" Steve began.
"Majesty," Tony hastily interrupted, not knowing how easily insulted Loki's new ally might be. "Highness is for princes and princesses."
"Correct, Man of Iron," Karnilla stated.
Great, so Loki had given her the downlow on them. It wasn't terribly surprising, but it would have been a big help if Reindeer Games hadn't done that.
"Your Majesty," Steve began again. "I understand that you may have a problem with Thor, but this is not Ásgarðr, it's Earth and I do not believe we have any previous history with either you or your people."
"You do not," Karnilla admitted.
"So why are you invading us?"
"Invading? Do you see an army here?"
"You are joining one who has attacked us before and you have personally assaulted some of our citizens," Steve countered, indicating the adults.
"And this constitutes an invasion in your view?"
"Yes."
"So then you consider Ásgarðr your enemy too?"
Uh, oh. Tony winced as he thought he knew where she was going with this.
"Ásgarðr has not attacked us."
"Have they not?" Karnilla asked. "As I understand it, on Thor's second visit here he arrived uninvited, landed on your flying device, stormed inside and took Loki from you. When you attempted to apprehend Loki once more, Thor physically attacked both yourself and the Man of Iron. By your own definition, this would constitute an invasion of your Realm by Ásgarðr."
Yeah, that's what Tony had thought. He could already start to see why she and Loki would be friends.
"That was different!" Steve protested.
"It always is when it comes to Ásgarðr's golden prince," Karnilla sneered. "Invading other Realms like Jötunheimr is met with a few days banishment to Miðgarðr, which Óðinn did not request your permission for I am told. Even though he killed hundreds of jötnar in said attack and started a war, he is considered fully redeemed after a few days here. Yet, when Loki does the same, only with a lower death toll, Óðinn considers execution before deciding to lock him up for the remainder of his life. And let us not forget all those Realms Thor attacked and was never punished for. Say the instance on Haragon as a perfect example. Not only did they slaughter many in the initial battle, but then they treated those they had conquered so poorly they nearly revolted again despite being so newly defeated."
Okay, Tony had to admit, that didn't paint a very pretty picture at all. He felt bile at the back of his throat at the memories it brought back, and he knew they would have to discuss this, but later when there weren't so many lives at stake. Speaking of which, it seemed like Bruce had managed to get the majority of the kids off the reservoir and there were only two left with Loki. Why Reindeer Games had yet to protest the loss of his potential hostages he wasn't sure, but he could only hope Thor was right about his brother's lack of desire to see children hurt or killed.
"This is not the time for a philosophical discussion on methods and punishments," Natasha stated. "Not when you hold people prisoner and Loki threatens children's lives."
"Threatens?" Karnilla sneered. "All he has done is provide them with a means to amuse themselves with, and not a single one has complained. Indeed, those who did not wish to go onto the ice have not been forced to. I believe those were the first your green berserker has taken away."
"Okay, okay, if you're not here to invade us, then why are you here?" Tony demanded before realizing his mistake. "Your Majesty?"
He hated to pander, but he kinda had to like her style. It was much like Loki's in some ways and, much as he hated to admit it, his own. Plus, how often had he grumbled at the lack of respect he'd gotten when he was younger and faced with those who deemed themselves better that him? The way Thor had addressed her, the queen of another Realm and his father's equal, would have angered him too, if he were her.
"Why, to aid a friend, of course," Karnilla replied.
"Aid him with what?" Steve asked.
"I can see what you mean, Loki, with them not being the brightest of beings."
Okay, now Tony was pissed.
"Now look here, Queenie," he began. "You can't just come here, attack our people, ally yourself with one of our enemies and expect us to either greet you with open arms or trust your intentions! Where the hell are you from anyway?"
"Nornheimr," Karnilla responded, looking far too delighted.
Tony had been aiming for pissed off. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"
"Tony," Steve warned.
"Nornheimr is an Ásgarðrian province," Thor provided. "'Tis technically outside of the Nine Realms, below the roots of the Yggdrasill."
"Look ou-" Clint cried out, but it was too late.
A blast of purple magic shot out, catching Thor in the chest and flinging him back.
"Nornheimr is not an Ásgarðrian province, you arrogant fool," Karnilla proclaimed. "We are a sovereign Realm, home of the three Norns themselves and I am the Norn Queen, who does not answer to either the war-monger in Ásgarðr or its self-important little princeling!"
Oh, shit, now she was pissed.
And of course, she had magic. Tony really hated magic.
For those who are used to normal temperature units, -4 Fahrenheit = -20 Celsius! 😜
So, anyone want to guess how many nicknames Tony will rack over the course of this fic? I honestly don't know as it depends almost entirely on how many come to me as I write 😄
As regards Karnilla, no I've not read the comics, so I don't know how she's portrayed there. I was looking up other characters which existed to see if I could work with one for this fic and she seemed the best bet. So bits of her background are the same, but the characterization may be way off. If the dress description didn't quite work for you, just Google her name and you should see the one I was trying to describe.
Oh, and yes, this Loki may have learned to get in touch with his inner jötunn, just a smidge!
Old Norse:
seiðr - witchcraft, sorcery / a type of sorcery practiced in Norse society during the Late Scandinavian Iron Age - i.e. magic