Disclaimer: I still don't own Marvel – doubt I ever will.
A/N: Happy 2021 everyone! I hope you are all staying safe and getting vaccinated (if you can, ofc). I am so sorry to be getting this to you almost an entire year after the last chapter came out – thank you all for sticking with me and with this story. I really don't have the words to thank you enough. My bachelors is officially under my belt though, which frees up my schedule for a bit, and all in all I genuinely hope the wait is never this long again.
Just a few short things before we get started: one, there are no chapter-specific content warnings for "Bread, War, and Roses" but feel free to let me know if you think there should be; two, I headcanon Vision as a demiguy, and after some deliberation on if he uses he/him or he/they pronouns, I settled on he/they! So, if that catches your eye, know it's not a typo and will be the case from here on out. (Loki is also referred to by he/they pronouns in this chapter, though that won't be a static thing throughout the fic, because genderfluidity).
I would also like to take a moment to honor the memory of Chadwick Boseman. Maybe it's a silly thing to say, given that this is fandom, but it was an honor to have him as the Black Panther. May he Rest in Power and in Peace.
Shortly after sunrise, Hela and Clint's impromptu movie marathon - which had admittedly devolved into watching cat videos on YouTube - was interrupted by the arrival of one Nicolas J. Fury. Clint suspected Fury wasn't exactly impressed by Clint's answering the door in pajamas and Hulk-themed slippers - nor, once he'd come up into the Compound properly, by the sheer number of empty ice cream tubs scattered around the common space - but Fury also had the good graces to say nothing about it whatsoever.
Instead, he nodded his greeting with a simple "Barton, Queen Hela," and suggested Clint wake up the rest of the team.
It wasn't an order - Fury didn't do that anymore - but Director of a sketchy government agency or not, Nick Fury just wasn't the kind of guy whose requests you ignored. Plus, Clint had been on the receiving end of the Unimpressed Stare of Extreme Disappointment a few times during his tenure at SHIELD, and he had no desire to repeat the experience.
Still, he felt a little bad leaving Hela and Fury - interestingly enough the only two people he'd seen make a leather trench coat work - just standing there with nothing but a thumbs up.
Eh, couldn't be helped.
In any case they seemed fine when he returned with the bleary-eyed team in tow, if sitting silently at a table while staring at each other could be considered fine. At least there'd been no disasters.
"Yikes!" Tony - who was the most awake of all of them - exclaimed, grimacing at the awkward atmosphere. "You two really don't know how to take the intensity dial off eleven, do you? Nick, care for some coffee?"
"Good morning to you too, Stark," Fury rolled his eye, but there was a hint of a smile in his voice. "But sure, I'll take a coffee."
"Sure thing." Tony sauntered around the table to the middle counter. "How about you Hela?"
"Some water would be lovely, thank you."
"No problem, kiddo."
In classic Tony Stark fashion, no expenses had been barred in designing the Avengers Compound, and the kitchen was no exception. To be fair, there was a necessity to the madness - after all, a large percentage of the team were supersoldiers, mutants, or aliens who required more food intake than the average human being. The four industrial size refrigerators couldn't be helped.
The fact that a kitchen of this size also accommodated Nat and Bruce's respective stress baking habits was just a bonus.
In addition to scale, however, was the equally necessary fact that the kitchen had also been designed with food restrictions in mind. Wanda and Pietro kept kosher, and so there were three sets of counters and cabinets instead of one: the leftmost counter kosher and without meat, the middle counter non-kosher, and the rightmost kosher without milk. The refrigerators were divvied up in this fashion as well, with one at the left counter, two bracketing the middle, and one at the right.
The part of Clint that was still a circus runaway had trouble processing it all, even though he ate there every day.
Knowing Fury was there for a reason, the team forewent cooking anything new and headed straight for heating up leftovers. Soon enough, they were all crowded around the table together, and out of the corner of his eye, Clint swore he caught something like pride flicker across Fury's face from where he sat at the head of the table.
Huh.
Upon finishing his waffle, however, Fury was all business. Like a switch had been flipped, the entire team quieted and straightened as Fury lay down his fork and did the same.
"Given the severity of everything you told me yesterday, my contacts in Wakanda managed to arrange us a virtual meeting with King T'Challa and the Tribal Council in three hours." Fury wasted no time in getting to the point. "I recommend we use that time to make ourselves presentable and get our ducks in order; are we clear?"
There was a round of nods from everyone assembled.
"Good. Now, why don't you fill me in on what we need to get started."
Breakfast was followed by a buzz of activity. Vision, who needed the least time to get ready on account of their android body, offered both to cook something for Fenrir and Sleipnir and to get the boys up to speed. Bruce called Steve and Thor to have the wizards bring them and Loki over, while Sam and Natasha took the time to update Fury and give Hela the rundown on the names and positions of the people they'd be meeting with. Everyone else made to get dressed - a meeting with royalty warranted Press-Conference-For-the-UN level clothes at least - and Clint made to do the same, only to be pulled aside by Tony.
"It'll only take a few minutes, promise," Tony said as he slung an arm around Clint's shoulders. "And no; before you ask, this can't wait till later."
Clint only rolled his eyes and laughed.
"Sure Tony, if you say so."
The two made their way to Tony's lab in good time, and Clint began to feel like the whole endeavor really would only take a few minutes. Tony, practically vibrating with excitement, entered the lab backwards and threw his arms out wide. There was a video open on the projector behind him - the Avengers' first press conference as a team, if Clint wasn't mistaken - but otherwise nothing seemed to be different.
What was Tony up to?
"FRIDAY, if you please, turn on Advanced Accessibility Mode." Tony grinned. Seven waist-up busts, all holographically projected, sprung up from the table. Clint found a smile of his own making an appearance.
"No way; you finished it?" Clint asked excitedly, rushing up to get a closer look at the holograms. He and Tony had been collaborating on a speech-to-ASL translator for the past few months, and it seemed like Tony had spent the night working out the last few bugs in the software. Given the sudden arrival of new residents at the compound (not to mention that the team, despite their best efforts, averaged around "passably conversational" when it came to signing fluency), it would be great if the translator really was ready for beta testing.
"Sure did! Though I thought we should do a test run with something that isn't a video call to prevent the end of the world."
"Yeah, that's probably a good call." Clint laughed. "Our first press conference though? Really?"
"Eh, call me sentimental," Tony shrugged. "You ready?"
"You bet your ass I am."
And if people found it childish that they high-fived repeatedly when it worked? Well, that sounded like a them problem.
Three hours passed all too quickly - in Clint's opinion anyways - but projector strips had been laid for Advanced Accessibility Mode and the team had pulled themselves together like professionals.
Thor wasn't even the odd man out clothing-wise this time, which was kind of cool. Less fortunately, part of the reason for this was due the presence of Loki, but Clint was doing his best to ignore that. Fenrir and Sleipnir were dressed much the same as they were yesterday, though had somehow embellished their clothing with what was probably magic. As for Hela, she was back in the leather armor she'd worn on that first call with Fury, now with the addition of a geometric crown.
Upon seeing his daughter, Loki raised a teasing brow.
"Foregoing a full helm, my dear?" they asked lightly, making no attempt to hide their smirk. Hela only smiled.
"Given that I am asking for assistance, I figured a more delicate appearance was in order," she said primly. Loki laughed his agreement, but Clint didn't see what exactly was delicate about a crown of sharp, stylized metal branches.
Shaking himself and accepting that he'd never understand the intricacies of Asgardian fashion choices, Clint went back to blocking Loki's existence out of his mind and watching the clock.
Thirty seconds, and then they were live.
The screen in front of them flickered to life, revealing the Wakandan Tribal Council. King T'Challa sat in the center - poised and firm - with Dowager Queen Ramonda and the elders of the River and Mining Tribes seated to his right, and the representatives of the Border, Merchant, and Jabari Tribes to his left. Also in attendance were Captain Okoye of the Dora Milaje and Princess Shuri - the latter of whom, judging by Queen Ramonda's expression, may have finangaled her way in against her mother's will.
Much to Clint's pleasure, Advanced Accessibility Mode switched on without a hitch - a holographic bust appearing for each of the people on screen.
"Good afternoon, Your Majesty," Steve stepped forward a bit, bowing his head in greeting. "It's good to see you well. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us."
"Good Morning yourself, Captain Rogers, Avengers." King T'Challa said warmly. "It is good to see you as well, though from what Mr. Fury has told my informants, I wish it were under better circumstances."
"I think we're all in agreement on that front, King T'Challa," Tony piped up, nodding his own greeting. "An impending apocalypse is about as far from cheerful as it gets."
"I agree." King T'Challa sighed, leaning forward and lacing his hands together. "Tell me - what exactly is the nature of the situation? While I certainly appreciate the forewarning, the Avengers have handled planetary level threats before without reaching out for assistance. What is different this time?"
Tony winced.
"This time it's more than planetary."
Well, that was one way to put it, Clint thought. Beside him, Hela took that as her cue.
"My greetings to His Majesty, King T'Challa of Wakanda, and his most Esteemed Council." Hela bowed at the shoulders. "I am Hela, Queen of Helheim, and it is for I that the esteemed Avengers come to you for aid."
"Wait a second," Princess Shuri interrupted, looking excited despite the gravity of the situation and completely shattering the mood of Hela's grim introduction. "You're just a teenager!"
Hela blinked, seemingly at a loss.
"Ah, yes? In a sense that is admittedly less than literal, but yes."
"We should do lunch sometime - us teenage royals need to stick together."
"Shuri!" King T'Challa whispered, shooting his sister an exasperated look. The representative of the Jabari Tribe - Lord M'Baku, if Clint remembered correctly - smothered a smirk. "First at my coronation and again today?"
"What?" Shuri replied, casually indignant. "I'm only being friendly! Besides, I think Queen Hela could use it, given how severe the rest of this is."
Aw, that was kind of sweet.
Hela blinked again, clearly confused by the turn of events.
"I thank you for your kindness, Princess Shuri. Thank you." Hela gave a small smile, but her posture remained tense. "However, I am afraid your choice of descriptor is far too accurate; the circumstances are truly severe. From my seat at the edge of the Nine Realms, I have received word of a threat beyond any cataclysm known to this existence. Indeed, all the Myriad Things of the Realms are under threat."
Hela paused, apparently just for gravitas.
"There is, among the Nine Realms, a Titan known as Thanos. He has made a name for himself as a madman, a warmonger, and most recently, a man enamored with death."
"And would rising to fight this Thanos put the people of Wakanda in greater danger?" Lord M'Baku asked, his face unreadable. "Know that this is neither an acceptance nor a denial; I wish only to know how to best protect those who I am responsible to."
"A most reasonable request, O Lord M'Baku of the Jabari." Hela bowed her head again. "I cannot know the intricacies of the future, but know this: your people are already in danger, regardless of if you fight. Thanos seeks to destroy half of all life as a… as a wedding gift to who I can personally attest is a deeply unwilling paramor."
Lord M'Baku's eyes widened as he caught her meaning. At that, he stood and turned to face the rest of the Council.
"The Jabari Tribe will offer aid to the Avengers," He said, half a conversation more passing between the look he shared with the king. King T'Challa nodded.
"I am in full agreement with you, my friend," he said. "However, first I must ask: are there any objections?"
King T'Challa cast his gaze over his other advisors. The River Tribe elder, Lord Themba, rose to his feet and bowed his head to his king.
"The River Tribe will offer aid to the Avengers."
Then, one by one…
"The Border Tribe will offer aid to the Avengers."
"The Mining Tribe will offer aid to the Avengers."
"The Merchant Tribe will offer aid to the Avengers."
…The remaining three tribes acquiesced as well. King T'Challa smiled.
"We are in agreement then." He straightened, looking dead ahead to address the Avengers next. "You can count on the support of Wakanda in your endeavors here."
"Good," Fury spoke up for the first time, drawing everyone's attention. He nodded his head to the Wakandan king. "In that case, I suggest we make a game plan."
"I agree," Queen Ramonda said. "However, I have one question that I believe necessary before we proceed. The war criminal Loki - why is he here and why are we trusting him to be?"
"Queen Hela is my daughter," Loki said, looking Queen Ramonda in the eye, whose brows raised in surprise. "I do not expect you - any of you - to trust me as a person, but you can trust that as a parent, I would lay down my life for any of my children in a heartbeat. Further, I too have suffered personally at the hands of Thanos; in fact, it is he who sent me to invade your world. However, the important thing is this: given what I know now and what I learned as his captive, I know how Thanos plans to carry out his mission."
With that, Clint could no longer pretend Loki wasn't there. No one could; in fact, all eyes snapped to the God of Lies as if someone had shone a spotlight on them.
"Following the Big Bang, there were six singularities," Loki began, raising his hand as if to gesture with magic only for nothing to happen. He glared at his hand irritably. "Dr. Strange, if you would be so kind."
Strange stepped forward, and he and Wong both raised their hands. Light flashed through the room, scattering motes of illusory space dust with it, and as the glow faded the image of six shining stones remained in its wake.
It was, in a word, breathtaking.
"These are the Infinity Stones," Strange took over from Loki. "The singularities crystalized into tangible form. Each holding dominion over a fundamental aspect of existence: space," a moment's flash of blue from one of the stones, "time," green, this time, from another, "soul," orange, "mind," yellow - the real Mind Stone sitting on Vision's brow flashing in kind, "power," purple," and reality."
The last stone flashed red. Princess Shuri's eyes were fixed upon Vision, though she said nothing.
"These are the six most powerful arcane objects in the known universe," Loki spoke again, weighting each word until the room felt heavy with them. "Not always known by these names, and not always stones - though always capable of returning to such a form - but their legacy is the same. Those who wield even a single stone have the power to shape history."
Clint did not like where this was going.
"This is how Thanos intends to bring about armageddon. He has, year after year, searched tirelessly for them one at a time. I fully believe that should he assemble all six, our universe as we know it will be doomed."
"And you just have one." All eyes turned to Shuri. "That's what the thing in the Vision's head is, right? An Infinity Stone?"
Vision nodded.
"Yes, Your Highness, though I knew not what that entailed until recently. My cousin Hela was kind enough to inform me, for fear of my own safety. It seems that if my body were - ah, more traditional - I would have been torn apart."
"So how does Thanos plan to wield the Stones, nevermind all six?" Bruce asked. King T'Challa nodded at the question, silently seconding it.
"In the vaults of Asgard is something called the Infinity Gauntlet," Thor spoke gravely. "A conduit meant to both hold the Stones and allow the wearer to use them without meeting oblivion."
"And where are the rest of the Stones?" Captain Okoye spoke up for the first time. "It seems to me that the best course of action is to deal with Thanos before he assembles them. The Stones - and the Gauntlet - will need protection."
"Like the Gauntlet, the Stone of Space is on Asgard in the form of the Tesseract," Thor said. "As for the others…"
"The Stone of Power is on Xandar," Loki cut in. "I spent a time moonlighting as Odin, and received word of a conflict with the Kree over the Stone. The battle was won in Xandar's favor, and is currently protected by the Nova Corps. The Aether - for that is the Stone of Reality's name when it is in liquid form - is on Knowhere in the hands of Tivan the Collector."
"The Collector!?" Thor was equal parts incredulous and furious. "Loki, what in all the Realms possessed you to think Tivan the Collector was a good guardian for an Infinity Stone?"
"Because even if he knows what it is, the Collector is neither stupid enough nor ambitious enough to use it," Loki snapped. "He has no desire to do anything else but look at the wonders of the cosmos as if they are trinkets on a shelf, so long as the shelf is his. An Infinity Stone would be no different."
Thor looked ready to argue, but only put a hand over his face and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. Apparently it wasn't worth it.
"Well, now that my brother has so kindly finished interrupting, we can address what is more concerning about the situation. Xandar, Knowhere, and of course, Earth itself, are all in Midgardian space, albeit solar systems apart. Thanos will not have to travel far if he wishes to collect them."
"The Time Stone as well," Strange interrupted. Loki whipped around to face him. "Earth's Sorcerer Supreme, as head of the wizards of Kamar-Taj, has guarded the Time Stone for centuries."
"Wonderful," Loki bit out, their tone dripping sarcasm. "The Stone of Time as well."
"And both the Gauntlet and the Tesseract are on Asgard, correct?" Steve interjected, more a statement than a question. Loki eyed him.
"It would seem to be the case, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, it would," Steve sighed, shooting an unimpressed look back at the Trickster God. "The point is, however, that it's awfully few places Thanos has to stop."
"But it's also awfully few places for us to guard." Tony pointed out. By the expression on his face, the gears in his mind were whirring. "Look, I get that it isn't ideal, but it's not without its advantages. It also gives us options. Instead of playing the universe's worst game of intergalactic keep away and trying to kill Thanos as he chases us, what if we collected the Stones ourselves - used Thanos's plan against him. We already know Earth technology is capable of handling a single stone at a time, and the greatest scientific minds on the planet are on this conference call. Why shouldn't we use that to our advantage?"
There was a sudden abundance of murmuring.
"As tempting as that is, Stark, there is one complication." Loki deadpanned. "Thanos already possesses the Soul Stone."
...And the murmuring was gone.
Fuck.
"...Still," Steve began, brows furrowed. "Do we have a better plan? Besides, if we can manage to collect the other five, that has to overpower the Soul Stone, right?"
Loki and Strange were both nodding, and something about the look on King T'Challa's face told Clint he agreed. They really didn't have a better plan.
Fuck.
"But where would we assemble them?" Rhodey asked. "I'm not saying we have a better plan, but wherever we end up keeping the stones will have a huge target painted on it. There'll be civilian lives at risk."
"Then we assemble them beyond Helheim's gate." Hela said, staring forward at no one and nothing. "Helheim, and Nifleheim before it, are dominions of the dead. Little lives there at all, and of what does, Helheim itself is not only the most heavily guarded, but the least populated."
"Hela, no matter how small, we can't put a civilian population at risk—"
"And I agree with you, Captain Rogers, but I am not speaking of a civilian population" Hela snapped. "Three people live in Helheim - three. Myself and my two attendants, and that is all. Not to mention we will need guards for our cache of Infinity Stones, should we collect them, and Isobel and Skurge have pledged flail and axe alike to fighting for this cause. I will confirm with them, of course, but in their own words: they can handle themselves. Tell me, Captain; do you have a solution where no one is at risk? Where, should the need to evacuate arise, we'll need move zero persons instead of two?"
"In any case," Fury wrenched all attention to him, effectively cutting off what would have become a brooding session of the highest order, "we're going to need more allies than just the people here. Queen Hela, you get your advisors' explicit consent. In the meantime, we should be gathering all the help we can get. I have some old contacts - former SHIELD operatives, mostly, but there's also someone who knows a thing or two about Kree warfare, if that becomes a problem again."
"We should also inform the UN," King T'Challa added. "We'll need Queen Hela for that too, as soon as she returns."
"And she'll need representatives from us," Natasha said. "Tony and I are probably the most familiar with UN workings of the Avengers, so we can serve on our end."
King T'Challa nodded.
"I will attend myself on behalf of Wakanda, and ask our Head of International Outreach to accompany me as well."
"We are also not without allies on Asgard," Thor added. "My father may be less than accommodating, but there are those who would disagree with him. If we can reach them, we can rely on them."
"Are you sure - wouldn't it be treason to go against Odin?" Bruce asked.
"It would be. But they have defied my father's will in the name of the greater good before. I do not doubt that they will answer our call."
"We may have an in on that front," Loki interjected. "Lady Sif is not on Asgard. Impersonating Odin as I was, I knew that of all my brother's friends, she would be the most likely to discover me, and so I sent her away on a mission. If we cannot deliver our message to Asgard directly, banished as we are, we may be able to deliver it to her. The only matter left is how to deliver it."
"Dr. Strange, you and your wizards are familiar with making portals, yes" Thor asked.
"On Earth, yes. Not across galaxy clusters."
"Regardless, it is not nothing. The Bifrost may be closed to us, but Loki has spent millennia studying alternate forms of travel. My Lady Jane of Midgard, too, has dedicated her life to studying the same. You would not be without allies."
"I suppose it's possible, if we pool our resources…" Strange nodded to himself. "It's worth a shot."
"My brother Jormungandr is also on Midgard and may be able to provide some assistance on that front." Hela said. "He has always been of a scholarly mind and may have found something of use living in the hidden depths of Earth's oceans. And even if not, a gargantuan, venomous snake would be a useful ally regardless."
"Do you know where he is?" Peitro asked. "Beyond, you know, in the ocean."
"Not specifically," Hela shook her head. "But I can find him. For all that my brother is good at hiding, scrying for him while on the same planet that he is will lessen the difficulty considerably."
"Good. So do we have a plan?"
"I think you're all forgetting something, Mr. Fury," Princess Shuri said. "The Mind Stone is in the Vision's forehead. I'd bet that the Stone is involved in his being alive."
Stunned silence greeted the princess's words. She was right - in the hubbub of planning, they had forgotten about that. Out of the corner of his eye, Clint saw Sleipnir grab Vision's hand.
"Oh, don't look at me like that," Princess Shuri grinned. "All hope isn't lost. We have the greatest scientific minds on Earth assembled here - and as the greatest of those scientific minds, I say the Vision should come visit my lab. I'm sure we can figure something out."
When there were no disagreements, Princess Shuri only grinned wider.
"Alright then. It does sound like we have a plan."
A/N: And with that, the setup arc of Sympathy for Monsters is finished! We can finally get into the meat of the story from here on out, and I am so excited. Again, I can't thank you all enough for sticking with me all this time. It means a lot.
I'll try to keep this short, but I do have a few comments before we go!
1. Representation is important, both to me personally and in the general sense. I took an ASL class last fall (unrelated to this fic, I've wanted to for a long time), and as a byproduct I realized could be writing a much more accessible world for Clint as a Deaf character. Hence, Advanced Accessibility Mode was born. I know it's not something to further the plot, but – while I am not Deaf – as someone with a disability it felt necessary to include. We all have different needs – both within the disabled community and without – and we have a responsibility to each other to make a more accessible world. It'd be remiss of me not to write one – and honestly, representing a diversity in range of ability has always been part of my plan for Sympathy. As always, if you yourself are Deaf and have any critique or advice you'd like to offer, feel free. No obligations, of course, but I'm always glad for that kind of feedback.
2. My personal headcanon for how the Nine Realms work (given that there are clearly other civilizations that do not share a name with the realm) is that each realm is a galaxy cluster (or set of galaxy clusters, tbd), named after a magically "central" location in the cluster that can, should the circumstances present the need, be referred to as [Realm Name] Proper. It is important to note that while it's certainly the case for Asgard (and we will be getting into the imperialism thing in this fic), the polities of these central locations do not necessarily become political powerhouses on a cosmic scale – Earth itself (Midgard Proper) being the most obvious example of this. I'd love to go into more detail, but given that I plan on releasing an author's commentary on Ao3 to go with this fic, I'll save that for there.
3. Most of the people who sit on the Tribal Council are not named. Given the names of canonical Wakandan characters draw inspiration from Xhosa and Igbo, and that Xhosa is in fact spoken in Wakanda, I took the liberty of giving them all Xhosa names. Lord Themba, Elder of the River Tribe, is one such case. This all being said, if they're given canon names at some point in the future, I will just go back and edit that name in.
See you next time!