Chapter 4:
"So, uh you're hungry?"
Thor nodded his head vigorously, crumbs flew out of his mouth as he answered, "Very much! I ate only a handful of berries at midday because I was waiting for my sister's feast to start!" As quickly as the first Pop-Tart emerged from the silver packaging it disappeared into Thor's mouth. Steve blinked. He sure hoped this is what you were supposed to feed kids in this day and age.
"I like this food. What is it called?"
Steve glanced at the box, "Pop-Tarts."
"Mmm," Thor hummed appreciatively as he finished the sweet. He turned his blue eyes towards Steve. "Another!" The kid demanded.
Steve sighed running a hand through his cropped blond hair. Before turning to the brightly colored box. He reached his hand inside only to find it empty. "You sure you still hungry kid?"
Thor stuck his chin out and crossed his arms over his chest, "Good Captain I am not a child."
Steve held in his snort. Some things didn't change in a hundred years and kids always trying to act older than they were certainly hadn't. In some ways that was a comfort. A loud gurgle of a stomach echoed around the room and Thor patted his stomach.
"Guess that answers that question," Steve said, standing up to retrieve another box from the cupboard. Hopefully, this was alright. Usually, Steve didn't spend much time in SHIELD's common areas. He preferred to have his own space and not be gawked at like circus act. Well, Barton had mentioned Pop-Tarts explicitly so it was probably fine. He opened the top reading the back of the colorful cardboard box for the first time, "Hey Thor, it says something about putting them in the toaster to heat them up. Want to try that?"
Thor nodded his head before piping up curiously, "What is a toaster?"
Steve's eyebrows rose that was certainly a question. Even back in the forties, they'd had toasters. Sure, Steve didn't have one personally, but he'd seen them in some of the fancier places he'd been to in Europe. Were they not a common thing in the 21st century?
Steve looked around the room before finding the familiar shape of a toaster sitting on the counter. It looked smaller and less bulky than the ones he remembered. It looked similar enough and Steve removed the Pop-Tarts from the silver package and slid them into the slots on the shiny red appliance.
Thor had gotten up from his seat at the table and wandered curiously over to watch what Steve was doing.
"How does this strange machine work?" Thor asked, reaching his finger out to poke the machine. Sparks sprung from the toaster and Steve pulled Thor away, pushing him behind him as the appliance hissed and black smoke began to billow out of the machine.
A burning smell filled the kitchen and the smoke alarm overhead began to blare loudly. Steve ripped the cord from the wall, hoping that would at least stop the burning, as the spluttering machine sizzled. Steve didn't know much about modern technology but he was pretty sure toasters weren't supposed to do that.
Thor clapped his hands delighted, "That was a most marvelous display Captain. I see why they recommend this toaster. It does indeed toast. How do we get these Pop-Tarts out?" Thor reached out to grasp the machine again only for the Pop-Tarts to pop up suddenly blackened to a crisp. Without a second thought, Thor reached out and stuck the burned snack into his mouth before offering the other one to Steve. Steve shook his head and then watched in horror as Thor then began to eat that one too.
The kid didn't even seem offended by the taste in the least. When he finished chewing a thoughtful look crossed his face, "It reminds me of when my sister tries to cook Bilgesnipes on her hunts."
Really what was Steve supposed to say to that?
Steve stepped out into the hall and asked for someone to help him with the blaring alarm in the breakroom, motioning to the smoke dissipating from the room. The agent had a starstruck look on his face and didn't ask any questions as he got up on a chair and popped two small metal sticks out of the alarm. The room was left blissfully silent and Steve let out a sigh of relief.
"Do you need anything else, Captain America, sir?" The agent asked standing up straighter and saluting.
"No. Thank you though. I'm not really used to all-" Steve waved his hand, "this."
The agent nodded knowingly, "Of course sir. Let me know if you ever need anything." With that, the man ducked back out into the hall.
"Your troops respect you greatly," Thor commented quietly, looking somewhat awed, "Hawk's eyes must be right. You truly are a great leader!"
Great now the kid was looking at him with hero worship eyes, "I don't know if I'd say that. I know a lot of people that would say I'm more stupid than great most days. Or at least they used to."
It hurt thinking of Bucky, Peggy, and the other Howlies. If they were here with him, they'd probably be laughing their asses off at how everyone deferred to him as a great leader and American icon. They'd remind him it wasn't too long ago when he was a showgirl. But really it was a long time ago, almost eighty years now, and he was alone with all these people that only knew the image of the man they'd read about in books: Captain America, never Steve Rogers.
Thor was staring at him intently with an oddly sympathetic look, "I see you have lost your shieldbreathren I'm very sorry. I'm sure they ride together in Valhalla. That's what my mother tells me. She says all great warriors go to Valhalla and feast for eternity. Someday I want to go there too and ride with my brother and sister."
"That's a nice thought," Steve really doesn't want to talk about this, especially not with a kid. But, then again, this kid was oddly intuitive. How many people had even guessed what he was feeling most days and here was this odd child that didn't seem to know what America was, let alone what Captain America was, staring right down into his deepest regret.
Steve coughed and changed the subject, "So, um, your cape is very nice."
"Thank you, Captain. My mother spelled it for me. She said she weaved it from the light of the sun!"
"Your mother sounds like quite a woman. She must love you a lot."
"She does!" Thor happily took a bite of a fresh Pop-Tart and started chewing. Halfway, through his chewing slowed and then he started bawling. Great big ugly sobs that wracked his body and echoed across the kitchen.
Steve flinched back. What was he supposed to do with this? One second the kid was talking about the afterlife and the next he was crying over his mother. He'd never had kids. Hell, he'd hardly ever been on more than a handful of dates with dames. The closest he'd come to kids was when he was with the showgirls and the women in the audience handed him babies to kiss. Still, Thor reminded him of Bucky's little sisters when they skinned their knees and came in all teary-eyed. Bucky's Mom always pulled them into a hug and reassured them everything would be fine. That seemed to work with them so that's what he'd do too. After all, Bucky's Mom was one of the smartest women he'd ever met.
Steve moved around the table and wrapped his arms around Thor, gently rubbing small circles around his back.
"Thank you, Rogerson." Thor wiped at nose with his sleeve, embarrassed, "I am sorry that you had to see me like this. Warriors are not meant to cry."
"Nah, pal, it's alright. Even the strongest of us, need to let it out sometimes." He lowered his voice and leaned closer to Thor, "I do too, sometimes."
Thor's bright sky-blue eyes widened before he leaned closer to Steve and let out another sob, "I want to go home!"
"Don't worry, kid. We'll get you there. I'm sure Barton is working on it right now."
"Where's the kid?" Tony asked, glancing up from his screen as he heard the lab door slid open and Natasha and Clint strode into the room.
"With Steve in the kitchen eating Pop-Tarts." Natasha said as she gracefully propped herself up against the wall, "I guess he heard Thor's stomach rumble while Clint was showcasing his marksmanship."
"Huh, Captain Patriotism apparently has some hidden Mama-bear instincts who would have guessed? So, Legolas," Tony said turning to Clint, "What can you figure out about where the kid came from? Because the readings we're getting from the hanger are off the charts."
"These are in line with what we might see with a Bose-Einstein Condensate. It's weird these results have never been replicated outside of any lab ever." Bruce said speaking up from across the lab.
"English, please Doctor," Natasha said with a frown. Clint was thankful he was by no means stupid, but a circus upbringing and then spy training didn't really lend itself well to a discussion of physics.
"What I'm saying is however the kid got here. The energy surrounding him, it doesn't exist on Earth." Bruce said, looking deeply serious.
Clint piped up, "Look I might not be the most scientifically minded of us here," Stark snorted from across the lab, "but, I have the most experience with kids from all walks of life and I trust Natasha's instincts more than anyone's so," Clint turned to Nat, "what do you think?"
Natasha's eye's filtered across the faces in the room, "He isn't a child soldier or a spy."
"Okay, I didn't even know that was an option on the table Romanov," Stark said horrified. Banner had his own twin look of dawning horror as he realized exactly what they were getting into.
"Jesus, he can't be more than eight." Banner mumbled as he nervously removed his glasses and rubbed the lenses on his shirt.
Natasha ignored them both and continued, "He's far too easy to read for that. Still, it's clear he has some sort of training, military or otherwise. I still can't figure out how he got on the carrier to begin with. He's not on any footage. It's like he just appears."
"Do you think he's with Maw? Alien tech?" Clint asked, trying to get a read on exactly what level of threat she assigned to their resident babysitting charge.
Natasha shook her head, "No, he doesn't appear to be going after preliminary strategic targets and all of the digs I've taken for information haven't turned up anything. As of now, I'd say he's clean but we shouldn't let him out of our sight. I don't believe in coincidences."
Clint turned to Banner, "And your readings? Maybe Maw and his goons went after the kid same as the cube?"
"Why though? Sure, the kid seems like a-" Banner waved his hand in the air, trying to find the right word, "human puppy. It makes no sense, not unless there's another factor at play. It makes even less sense to deliver him to a group that's actively trying to stop you. We're missing a part of the puzzle. Besides the sensors on Tony's suit picked up gravitational forces that are frankly mind-boggling, there's no way it's not connected."
"You wouldn't think he's a human puppy if he'd tackled you down in the hanger." Stark snorted, "Besides even without that footage," He flicked his hand and a series of diagrams appeared over the table.
"Are those-" Bruce started his eyes widening.
"Yes, indications of dark matter particles combined with some type of unidentified energy source. They're coming off the kid himself."
"English Stark. What are you saying?"
Stark rolled his eyes and shot an exasperated look at Banner, "That was English, but for you commoners: I'm saying that Shirley Temple down there has trace elements and energy surrounding him that's not of this world."
"Are you saying he's an alien?" Natasha asked, her eyes narrowing as she filed the new information away.
"It's a distinct possibility."
"Yeah, right you saw him! He's just a kid. He is named Thor I suppose. Maybe his parents are some freaks in a Norse Cult he said his father's named Odin." Clint mused.
"That doesn't exactly explain how he ended up on an armed floating island 10,000 feet above sea level." Natasha pointed out.
"Hitchhiking?" Clint tried, only to be met with an unconvinced look from both the scientists and Natasha, "Fine. My best guess is that he ended up on board before launch. Not sure how. But it's pretty clear the kid doesn't know either. I just don't buy that he's an alien when he smiles like any other kid."
His logic was met with unimpressed looks from the others.
"Our main priority should still be finding the cube before those aliens do whatever they have planned with it," Clint said folding his arms over his chest.
"We're still tracking it. They could have taken it anywhere in the world we should have a lock," Tony stared at his watch, "Oh, right about now. What have you got for me, Jarvis?"
Coordinates flickered across the screen before settling on New York.
"Son of a bitch!" Stark cursed, "Coulson really does know how to cut a man down to the bone."
On the screen in front of them stood the clear image of Stark Tower.
As soon as Thor scampered out of the room, presumably to hide, Loki sat back down and flicked back to the page he had left off on. Finally, some peace and quiet. The only reason Thor was even thrust on him to babysit was due to all the staff being preoccupied in preparing for Hela's coronation at the end of the week. It would take hours for Thor to even suspect that Loki wasn't looking for him. If Loki was really lucky Thor would fall asleep in his hiding space until dinner.
The hours passed in a blur. Loki was hyper-focused on finishing his study of illusion magic, soon enough his mother might even let him move on to healing and teleportation magic.
A light knock came at the door and startled Loki out of his thoughts, "Enter," Loki called.
A maid opened the door, "Pardons my prince," She said with a curtsy, "The Queen would like to inform you and Thor to start preparing for dinner. Some of the dignitaries from Alfheim have arrived early for your sister's coronation and she wishes to make it a formal affair."
Loki scrunched his nose in displeasure. By dignitaries, they no doubt meant those three lovestruck princes that practically salivated over his sister. Dinner would be a horrible affair of attempted flirtation on their part. It was enough to make him want to wretch. Thank the Norns that his sister seemed to find them just as offensive as he did and spent most of the time making subtly biting remarks to them and flirting with the Captain of the Valkyries. That was still annoying but at least that's what Hela always did if given the chance.
"Ah, that's fine. Tell my Mother that Thor and I will be down and acceptably dressed when the time comes."
Loki blinked. Then blinked again.
Oh, Hels!
He'd completely forgotten about Thor. He should have been back hours ago, banging on the library door and whining about how Loki had tricked him. Instead, the palace had been unusually quiet. That didn't bode well.
The maid bowed and then quietly shut the library door behind her.
Loki quickly scrambled up, placing his bookmark and closing his book, placing it on the shelf nearest him. Then he stomped off to find Thor, surely, he couldn't have gone far.
Author's Note: So this chapter is shorter than I would have liked, but it legitimately fought me every step of the way. I knew what scenes I needed to get the rest of the plot rolling but it was just not happening. Anyways better late than never I suppose and I have a feeling the next chapter is going to be easier to write since it's partially from Loki's POV. Anyways thanks to all you readers and commenters I really appreciate you guys! Until next time hope you enjoyed.