Bruce watched the glittering red and black hologram revolving above the tracking device with a knot in his stomach. Malekith's ship. They had found it.
"This is wonderful," said Vidar. "We must tell Prince Thor at once. He'll want to act as soon as possible."
Bruce jumped up before Vidar could march out of the lab himself. "I'll go get him." Erik and Jane shot him questioning looks. He shook his head. Next to them, Betty offered a nod of encouragement .
"Alright," said the Asgardian jovially, "if you've learned your way around the palace well enough."
"I'll holler if I get lost," said Bruce, and he left the room. He'd shared his misgivings with Erik and Jane about what they were building in moments when Vidar was absent over the last few weeks, but they weren't convinced. The remaining Dark Elves were in a cloaked warship, deliberately hidden so that they could attack without warning as soon as they regained the advantage. If that was true, then it was fair enough for Asgard to want to turn that strategy back on them. His fellow scientists seemed to take it for granted that Asgard, being so advanced, would simply take the Dark Elves prisoner and it would all be handled very ethically.
Bruce wasn't so sure about that. Having been on the wrong side of the most powerful government on Earth for as long as he had, he wasn't going to simply trust a regime orders of magnitude more powerful and with a much less ambiguous history of imperialism. While Asgardians might be super friendly on an individual basis, and the liberation of Sakaar and the budding alliance with Earth were encouraging signs, they also had serious xenophobia issues in their culture and a much more Medieval attitude about honor and warfare.
The House of Odin had been very generous and welcoming to him, and it would really suck if he was about to ruin that, but Bruce wasn't going to sit by and let something he helped build enable a genocide if there was anything he could do about it.
X
"You're welcome to stay a while and join us for the midday meal at the palace," said Loki. "Perhaps with you there, Thor will forget to glower at me over his smoked fish."
"As much as I want to see more of Asgard," said Stark, "it's kind of a bad time for me to vanish off the planet for more than half an hour. Pepper probably already filed a missing persons report."
"Another time, then," said Loki. "I might even give you an invitation in advance. The lady Pepper will be welcome too, of course. You could make quite a romantic evening of it, I expect."
Stark let out an irritable huff and smirked at him. "You're making it really hard to stay annoyed about the whole kidnapping thing."
Loki spread his hands, grinning. "I try." At a touch to the tiller, the skiff came to a stop at the outskirts of the city. He pulled the Tesseract back out of his dimensional pocket and tapped into its power, repeating what he'd done before, opening a second portal made of crackling black clouds. "Give the other Avengers my best, will you?"
Stark's golden helm slid shut and he stood up, preparing to take flight. "I'll get you back real soon."
Loki's grin widened. "I look forward to it."
X
Primary target: Stark, Anthony Edward.
Current location: Unknown.
Last known location: 40.429039, -73.680629.
Locating target…
...Pending...
...Pending...
Locate target: failed.
Running diagnostics…
Spyware program: operational.
Accessing latest assessment of primary target by Just a Rather Very Intelligent System…
/Primary target: Stark, Anthony Edward.
Current location: Unknown.
Last known location: 40.429039, -73.680629.
Locating target…
...Pending...
...Pending...
Locate target: failed.
Running diagnostics…
Spyware program: operational.
Accessing latest assessment of primary target by Just a Rather Very Intelligent System…
Location of Mr. Stark: Unknown.
Possible location of Mr. Stark: Out of range. Forest environment. Identifiable plant species: 0.
Iron Man Mark VI: Fully armed and operational on last contact.
Connection reestablished.
Location of Mr. Stark: 40.429039, -73.680629.
Iron Man Mark VI: Damage sustained.
Cause: Unknown.
Systems: 83% functionality.
"Welcome back, sir."
"Hey JARVIS. Did you miss me?"
"I was unable to locate you or the Mark VI for approximately thirty-four minutes and forty-six seconds. The suit appears to have sustained a great deal of superficial damage, with mild damage to several internal systems. Your vitals, however, are normal and I am detecting no injuries."
"I fought something called a bilgesnipe. It was a draw. Loki thinks he's hilarious."
"Yes, I think I preferred his flying squirrel joke."
"Anyone looking for me yet?"
"I sent an alert to Ms. Potts when you vanished, but she is currently in a board meeting. I was about to notify Colonel Rhodes."
"Pull the message. I'll call Pepper and Rhodey later."
Upload footage from Iron Man Mark VI: 09:32:26 A.M. to 10:37:12 A.M.
Upload complete./
Copy all uploaded files from Just a Rather Very Intelligent System.
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Analyzing…
Transcribing…
Create new file under Potential Asgard Countermeasures: Odinsdottir, Hela. Goddess of Death. Hydra level of influence: 0. Threat level to Earth: high. Do not attempt contact without additional data.
X
Sif half-expected Heimdall to stop them when they stepped out of the Bifrost into the Observatory. Surely he had heard everything Brunnhilde and the Matriarchs discussed. But he merely nodded and welcomed them home. A pair of horses were waiting for them outside on the Rainbow Bridge as well. Sif climbed on one of them, feeling very surreal. It wasn't technically treason, she supposed, but Norns, it was bold.
Brunnhilde swung up onto the other horse. "You've been quiet," she said. "Do you have a problem?"
"No, I just…," she hesitated. "Must you wait until after it's done?"
"You want me to march into the throne room right now?"
"Why not? Perhaps the Allfather would reconsider."
"He can already do that. That's not what this is about. I'm not looking to give him a way out of it."
Sif knew there was no point arguing the matter, so she didn't pursue it. "What about Loki?"
Brunnhilde grimaced. "It's not about him either."
"He does care about you, you know."
"Not as much as he cares about being clever and impressing his father." She put on a good show of being focused only on Odin and Hela now, but there was a little too much bitterness in her voice for Sif to believe it.
"You should talk to him. Before you say your piece to Odin. You might regret it if you don't."
"Yeah? This coming from you?" Brunnhilde shot back. "Are you going to follow your own advice and tell Thor you're mad for him, then?"
"What?!" Sif squeaked, her face heating up. "I can't do that! Thor doesn't think of me that way."
"And you reckon not speaking up is the best way to change that? Don't be stupid. You're gorgeous and you like all the same things he does. Just grab him and snog him. He'll figure it out. And if he doesn't, at least you won't waste the rest of your life wondering."
It was only exactly what Sif had fantasized about doing for centuries, but the very thought of actually attempting such a thing had her wishing the crystal beneath her horse would crack open and send her plunging into the sea. "Maybe I was better off without female friends," she said flatly.
"Hah!" Brunnhilde barked. "And you want to be a Valkyrie?"
X
None of the servants and guards Thor had passed so far had seen Loki. He was about ready to give up and ask for Heimdall's help when he was hailed from behind. He turned around. "Banner!" he said, smiling. "Good morning."
"Yeah, hey," said Banner, slightly out of breath as he jogged up to him. "I need to talk to you."
"Certainly," said Thor. "What about?"
"What, uh, what are you planning to do with the Dark Elves when you find their ship?"
Thor frowned. Did Banner think Asgard wasn't equal to this enemy? True, the Dokkalfar would've conquered Yggdrasil if it hadn't been for his great-grandfather pushing them back and his grandfather defeating them, but all that was left of them now was a single vessel, and it wasn't going to be able to surprise them this time. "You needn't worry. Once we've disabled their stealth and propulsion systems, I will slay Malekith and any lieutenants myself and we will destroy the ship."
"With all the other Dark Elves on board."
"They've been waiting five thousand years for a chance to attack," said Thor. "How else are we to respond?"
"How about find out if they want to surrender and take them prisoner?"
Thor shook his head. "The Dokkalfar would never surrender. Once it was clear the war was lost, Malekith drove his own fleet into the battlefield in a mad attempt to crush my grandfather's armies."
"Okay, but did Bor even give them the opportunity to surrender? I mean, I kinda get it if he didn't; he grew up on a military outpost his dad built specifically to stop them from taking over everything, but if Malekith knew the only mercy they'd get from Asgard was execution, why wouldn't he crash his own ships to cover the one he was going to hide? And even if Bor did promise to show mercy, why would Malekith trust him after he'd already left Svartalfheim uninhabitable?"
Thor was already in an unpleasant mood thanks to Loki's plans for Hela and his father's determination to carry them out. He had never imagined that he would find himself surrounded by people who wanted to be lenient to these wholly undeserving villains. "They have already proven they are willing to destroy themselves to destroy us. We must respond in kind."
Banner gritted his teeth and pressed his fingers to his temples. "Look, Bor's gone. Take Malekith out of the equation too; are you really sure everyone else on that ship would still stick to the party line without him leading them?"
"They've been loyal this far, why not to the end?"
"Because they haven't woken up five thousand years later yet! Do you even know if everyone on board is a soldier? Are soldiers somehow all that's left of their entire people? Is there something about elves that makes them more likely to throw away their lives for a war they already lost and a planet that's already dead?"
Thor scowled. "They're fanatics who want to see Yggdrasil made uninhabitable to all of us, and they want Asgard destroyed in particular."
"And you know this about each of them based on what?"
Thor could see the Kursed plunging his sword into Frigga in his mind's eye, could see him impaling Loki on the sword protruding from his chest. Only by reminding himself that Banner had even less context about the Dokkalfar than Loki did about Hela was Thor able to keep from losing his temper.
Banner must have assumed he had no answer, for he continued: "Darcy's not the only one who's been reading those history books. They're the same species as the elves on Alfheim, which has always been the most peaceful realm in Yggdrasil. Whatever Malekith did to the elves on Svartalfheim to make them 'Dark Elves,' you don't know that they're all inherently evil." Banner's voice, which had gotten steadily louder, was now beginning to drop and green was creeping up the veins above his collar. "Thor, you're talking about committing preemptive genocide!"
Thor was so surprised that Banner cared deeply enough about this to trigger a Hulk transformation that it stole the heat from his own anger. As much as Thor would love a good fight with the Hulk to vent some of his frustration, he didn't want it like this. "Banner, stop," he said, raising his hands.
The man continued to glower and breathe heavily, but the green didn't spread any farther.
"I think you're wrong about the Dokkalfar, but would it satisfy you if I gave my word that Asgard will harm no innocents aboard that ship, nor will we carelessly slaughter any soldiers who would be willing to become our prisoners?" It was a meaningless promise; there were no innocents on that ship. But if it would placate Banner, he would swear to it.
"Yeah," said Banner, though he still looked unsettled. "Yeah, I think I'd be okay with that."
Thor nodded. "Good. Then you have my word."
Banner's narrowed eyes flicked back and forth between Thor's. "Okay." He closed his eyes and breathed deeply through his nose. The last traces of green faded away. "The tracker works. We've got Malekith's coordinates."
X
Loki replaced the Tesseract on its plinth in the Vault, then enjoyed the startled confusion of the guards at the doors when he exited. The Infinity Stone was certainly a convenient mode of travel, but it wouldn't do to become too reliant on something so coveted by dangerous foes. His secret pathways between Yggdrasil's branches had always served him well when the Bifrost could not, and he would soon be learning how the mortal wizards made their portals.
Heimdall's voice sounded in his head. "That was a very amusing trick, my prince, but your presence is required in the Council chambers now, in actual body."
The hint of reproof in his tone was amusing. "I suppose I did let the projection I left in there slip," he said. "What's changed since then?"
"Vidar and the mortal scientists have located the Dokkalfar. Prince Thor and the others are making ready."
"Thank you, Heimdall," said Loki, picking up his pace. When he reached the Council chambers several floors above, Thor was going over a schematic of Malekith's ship one last time with Sif and the Warriors Three. They were all in full armor and the transporters stood ready not far from the console. Sif caught Loki's gaze with a significant look.
"Loki, there you are," said Thor. "We nearly left without you."
"Forgive my tardiness," said Loki, summoning his own armor as he drew level with them. "I had urgent business with Tony Stark this morning."
"What—Stark?" said Thor. "What business?"
"I urgently needed to drop him into a bilgesnipe den. It was my play in our friendly contest, you understand."
Thor groaned but Fandral, Volstagg, and Sif all looked interested. "This would be the mortal who crafts his own suits for battle, yes?" said Volstagg. "How did he fare?"
"Quite well, for having no advance warning. It was a full-grown buck and he wounded it across the belly. His armor took some damage but he came away unscathed."
"He must be quite the blacksmith," said Fandral. "I certainly wouldn't want to face a bilgesnipe armored only in Midgardian metals, and he's a mortal!"
Even Thor looked impressed, in spite of his irritation with Loki. "Yes, I will congratulate him when next we meet," he said. "But now we face the Dokkalfar…"
Loki, who had heard all of this already and didn't need to be told the locations of the important systems to be disabled in Malekith's ship, leaned closer to Sif. "Brunnhilde?" he asked quietly.
"She might be willing to see you when we return," she said, not taking her eyes off the schematic. "You should not presume anything, but her quarrel is much more with the Allfather than with you."
Heart lifting considerably, Loki turned his attention back to his brother. "Tyr and the Einherjar are aware of what that ship's weapons are capable of, but the five of you know that I have seen those weapons leave Gladsheim in ruins. It is our job to ensure Malekith never has the chance to attack." He brought his fist down on the console. "He spilled his last Asgardian blood on Svartalfheim five millennia ago. He will get no more of it today."
Narrator: Sif was NOT better off without female friends. (Any guesses what Brunnhilde is up to with the Matriarchs?)
Hey there, Zola 2.0. (Nope, I didn't forget about that.)
Bruce first raised his concerns about the campaign against the Dark Elves way back before the Sakaar arc. Nice to finally be able to pay that off.
Couple things I forgot to mention about the previous chapter: Loki explained away Thor's impossible future knowledge by telling Tony that he had a prophetic dream. That came and went pretty quick in the narration so it might not have been obvious. Also the Matriarchs implied that they skipped out on the Aesir-Vanir war, which they did. Unlike the other warriors of Asgard, the Valkyrior maintained much closer ties to Vanaheim since that's where they get their winged horses and where they retire, so they did not participate when Odin waged war against it. Which is probably part of why Hela was cool with wiping them out; not only did she see them as traitors against her personally, but she already thought their loyalty to Asgard was severely lacking and they weren't punished enough for it.
To those of you who like to reread this thing, first of all, I love you, and second, you'll gradually be getting a new way to do that because I'm recording the chapters in podfic form. So far I've done the first three chapters and I'm hoping to maintain the current streak of one per day, but I do have a lot on my plate at work, so we'll see how that goes. Please let me know how I'm doing with those, especially if you're fans of audiobooks like I am. Recording has been an interesting challenge but it's also pretty fun. The podfic chapters are linked from the corresponding text chapters of the Archive of Our Own version of the fic. (Which, again, it might be a good idea to transition over to since this site is getting less and less support.)
