Disclaimer: Still don't own Marvel.
A/N: Welcome back everyone! In what might be my shortest update time ever, have chapter 12! I don't want to get anyone's hopes up about my updating schedule – I can't guarantee this timing in the future – but I am trying to do the thing where you write at least one hour each day. Today just happened to be super productive.
Small content warning this chapter for discussion of potentially lethal self-sacrifice in the name of the greater good, but otherwise we should be in the clear. He/him pronouns for Loki this chapter, and also Sympathy is now longer than the piece of original fiction I've been working on. I don't know how to feel about that.
Jane's hunch was right.
There was a small crowd gathered to greet her, Darcy, and Ian's arrival, but admittedly, there was a moment in which Jane had tunnel vision. Tunnel vision fueled by righteous rage, to be fair, but tunnel vision nonetheless. Loki, God of Pissing Jane Off Personally, had the audacity to stand there like he hadn't blown up a small town in New Mexico, tried to take over the planet with an alien army, or faked his death on Svartalfheim and caused Thor untold amounts of grief.
Bitch.
"My Lady Jane," Thor's voice snapped her back to the present. "It would be my honor to introduce you to my niece."
There was a teenage girl at Thor's elbow. Jane blinked.
"Lady Doctor Jane Foster," the girl said with a small bow of her head. "I am Hela Lokidottir, Queen of Helheim. My Royal Uncle has spoken highly of you, and it is an honor to meet his intended."
"Uh, hi. I'm Jane Foster." Jane fought a wince at her own awkwardness; Hela already knew her name. "It's an honor to meet you too, Hela."
Suddenly, Jane was very relieved she hadn't gotten the chance to punch Loki. She really didn't want to have to explain why she'd punched the asshole to his kid. Especially not when said kid was just smiling at her politely and had reacted to a family member dating a human with much more grace than Odin had.
Discreetly, Jane glanced at Thor. Until the ride over, he'd never mentioned a niece. Jane knew well enough that Hela Lokidottir existed in the mythology (she'd read up on it after Thor's first visit to Earth), but given that the myths hadn't always matched the reality on other fronts - Loki was Thor's brother, not Odin's - she hadn't given much thought to it. Apparently she'd been wrong.
So why had Thor - who by expression alone clearly loved his niece - said nothing?
She'd have to ask him about that later. For now, there were introductions to be had - both to Avengers and actual fucking wizards, which was a thing Earth had, apparently, and serious matters to be discussed.
After all, they had to break into Asgard somehow.
Vision made himself comfortable on Shuri's examination table. It was a little odd at first, laying down, but the more he talked with the others, the more the sensation faded. In fact, soon enough they found themself rather relaxed.
"So," Shuri clapped her hands together. "Just as a recap - your consciousness is built on the programming for Ultron and JARVIS with the help of the Mind Stone, yes?"
"That is correct, yes."
Shuri nodded, pulling up the scans from her Kimoyo beads.
"Physically though, your mind isn't your typical data storage. You actually have a network of synthetic neurons - Dr. Cho's influence, perhaps? Helen, how did you end up helping make Vision?"
"Rather against my will," Helen shrugged sheepishly. "Before the Mind Stone was in Vision, it was in the scepter Loki brought to earth back in 2012. Ultron used it to mind control me into helping build him a new body. Luckily for me, when the Stone was removed from the scepter...the effects began to wear off."
"Well thank Bast for that; I don't want to think about the damage Ultron could've done in a body like this. My only question is this - why use a polymorphic structure instead of just programming the neurons to work collectively?"
There was a beat of silence.
"Uh, that's probably more on us," Bruce spoke up. "Tony and I were the ones who actually finished the project once we got it out of Ultron's hands. And uh, to answer your question, we just didn't think of it?"
Shuri laughed.
"I'm sure you did your best," she chuckled, teasing and good natured. "The good thing is I can fix that - it'll take time, but by programming Vision's neurons to work collectively, I'm confident we will be able to preserve his consciousness without the Mind Stone. However…"
Shuri sobered, and the rest of the room straightened at the sinking of her mood.
"It doesn't account for Mind Stone's energy output," Tony finished for her. Shuri nodded.
"Exactly. Your mind will be intact, Vision, but what allows you to move and think - not to mention have powers… Well, we'll be taking that out."
The gravity of the situation settled over Vision like a cloak. They would have sighed, just to center themself, if they needed to breathe. He knew very well there was only one decision to be made.
"Take it out anyways." All eyes snapped to him. "This doesn't change anything. Keeping the Mind Stone from Thanos - using it against Thanos - has to be the priority. Don't misunderstand me, I have no desire to die, but… If that's what it comes to, so be it. Besides, if there are any people who could make an energy source as a replacement, it is the group of you."
"We could miniaturize an arc reactor further…" Tony conceded. "But that's going to take time. Not to mention we'll have to figure out how to boost the power considerably."
"I can help with that," Shuri cut in. "I know how cagey you are about your tech, Stark, but…"
Tony waved a hand.
"It's not a problem; you've already signed the NDAs. Besides, if you wanted to take over the world, it's not like you'd need my tech to do it. You've got your own." Tony took care to look Shuri in the eyes. "I trust you, kid."
Shuri nodded.
"Thing is, we don't know how long further miniaturizing an arc reactor is going to take." Bruce's tone was somber. "Vision's right. We have to remove the Mind Stone as soon as possible, and we might not have the replacement reactor by the time we're ready to do so."
"We could build a life support system," Helen interjected. "The cradle wouldn't be too hard to modify. I hate to ask to inconvenience you further, Shuri, but if we could keep Vision here in stasis until we could wake him again…"
"It's not an inconvenience - it's a good idea. Besides, if he's here, I can keep monitoring their readings and ensure the neural reprogramming doesn't have any latent side effects."
"Then it sounds to me like we have a clear path," Vision said. Rhodey looked at him sadly.
"You sure, Vision? You'll still be going into a coma - one we can't guarantee you'll wake up from."
"I am." Vision gave the others a somber smile. "The risk is worth it, and besides… I trust you. All of you."
It was one thing to know your youngest daughter was the queen of a realm; it was another thing to see the product of it.
After greeting Dr. Foster - who he still liked - and her companions, Loki watched as Hela took charge of the situation as if she'd been born to do it. He remembered her as a child who always forgot which way to cross the collar of her robes - and wasn't that ironic, given what she'd become the goddess of - and now she was leading them all to the conference room, her cape - purple and full-backed, as indicative of her status - swaying gently as she walked.
It comforted Loki, to see her pause as she passed the chair she'd been sitting in the night he and Thor had been denied by Odin. Giving the tiniest of winces, Hela reached out with her sedir to unwarp the arm of the chair. It was heartening to see that the daughter he remembered was still present amongst everything that made her the Queen of the Dead.
"Before we begin, I would like to thank you all for your time and for your attendance," Hela drew a chair at the head of the table, settling into it with little thought. Loki and the others took seats as well. "You all do a great service to our shared universe, as well as to me personally. I do not believe I will ever be able to fully express my gratitude."
"Hey, no need to thank us that much," Darcy Lewis chimed in, looking slightly uncomfortable. Loki decided, in that moment, that he liked her. "Like you said, and given everything Thor told us on the way over, we have a stake in this too."
"You have my thanks regardless." Hela nodded once. "More importantly, however, is the matter for which you have been called. All present - bar Wanda and Uncle, who are here to observe and provide insight into the workings of the Royal House of Asgard respectively - have been summoned for your knowledge of or skill in bending the fabric of space and time for the means of travel.
"As it stands, it is imperative that we contact our allies on Asgard. However, due to my father and uncle's banishment, the Bifrost - Asgard's chief means of travelling between realms - is beyond our access."
"So we need to build something that can serve in its place," Dr. Foster said, her mind already worlds away in its racing. "How robust does it need to be? I didn't get to study the Bifrost much when I visited, but I know for certain that we don't have the time or resources to build something of that caliber."
"We do not," Loki interjected. "Fortunately for us, we do not need to. We only need to get myself and Thor to Asgard; if it is a one-way trip, that is not a problem. We will have the resources to return once we are there."
Dr. Foster nodded slowly.
"Alright, I think we can work with that. I still have the data from when Thor's visit to Earth in 2010, as well as what's left of Erik's research on the Tesseract. That should be able to serve as something of a base."
"I'm inclined to agree, given that Wong and I also have access to the library of Kamar-Taj. We have thousands of years of documentation of Earth's energy and arcanum, from the original writings of the Ancient One to all the workings of her students."
"That is something I believe will be crucial," Loki said, drawing all eyes to him. "All inter-realmar travel is dependent on the energy flow of the World Tree. Midgard's placement within Yggdrasil should make those writings especially promising."
"Care to explain further?" Strange quirked a brow. Loki turned to Hela.
"If you would be so kind, my dear?"
"Of course, Father." Hela laid her hands on the table and with a flair of her sedir, an image of Yggdrasil began to grow from her splayed hands. Fenrir, in the form of a wolf and drawn by the light show, appeared in the door.
"This," Loki began, "Is the World Tree - the system in which the Nine Realms of our universe coexist. At the deepest point of its roots is Nifleheim - with Helheim at its center - then as we ascend come Svartlheim, Muspellheim, Nidavellir, Jotunheim, and then finally, before the splitting of the branches, Midgard. Above Midgard lay Alfheim, Vanaheim, and Asgard. As I said before, all inter-relmar travel relies on riding the energy of Yggdrasil - travelling through its xylem, if you will - and given the centrality of Midgard's location relative to the other realms, it serves as a nexus of travel.
"Now, of course, this model is imperfect; Yggdrasil exists in more than the three dimensional, and there is too, a medium that surrounds it of which we know little. As such, the walls of the various realms can and do press against one another in unexpected places, creating natural connections between realms. The Bifrost functions to make these connections artificially, drawing the walls of Asgard and the destination realm close enough that, when drawing on the greater energy of the World Tree, they can be merged and pierced to make a temporary passage."
"So like a gap junction in cells, only manufactured." Strange commented.
"That's not inaccurate." Loki nodded. By this point, Fenrir had made his way over to them, and laid his head in his father's lap. Loki scratched between his ears idly.
"It's worth mentioning that the energy flow of Yggdrasil comprises most of what we refer to as the universal arcanum." Hela interjected. "It's not strictly separate from anything you could detect with Earth's sciences, but from what I've observed, the connection between the two has not yet been made. This is, of course, what we endeavor to do here, and given those of us gathered and the resources available to us…"
Hela paused, taking a moment to catch each face as she looked around the table.
"I believe we can do it."
A/N: Thank you for reading everyone! I can't believe I put my STEM degree to good use this pandemic writing fantasy/sci-fi. I'm sure this is what my professors thought I'd be doing (I kid).
A few short notes before I go:
1. In Han Chinese culture, your collars are meant to be crossed left over right – right over left is reserved for dressing the dead. Hela, who is Space!Chinese on Angrboda's side, forgetting which one was which as a child is just a fun little nod to the fact that she becomes the Goddess of Death
2. Xylem is the vasculature used to transport water in plants – specifically the eutracheophytes, which make up the majority of extant land plants.
Lastly, the Annotated Guide to the SympathyVerse is officially up on Ao3! For anyone interested, I hope you enjoy it!