Chapter 15: Children These Days, Really!

"Any clue where the others went?" Stark asked as they searched through the gatehouse for any sign of the others.

Loki shrugged. "Who knows? I just hope when the convergence stops bouncing us around, I am somewhere pleasant."

"Define pleasant," Stark said as he glanced around at their bleak surroundings.

"Actually, I do not find this place quite so bad, especially compared to the other places I've been to recently. Let's see…" Loki tapped one finger. "New York, not too fond of me…" tapping the next finger, "Asgard – they had me in prison, I would prefer to not return there…" tapping his ring finger, "Jotunheim," he shook his head, "definitely not there considering I killed their king." He glanced out at Mordor's empty plains. "This place is looking quite promising. They could use a ruler here it appears, needs a little decorating I'll admit, but I could deal with that. Thranduil? Would you consider me for a neighbor?"

Thranduil nodded. "Cannot be any worse than what has resided here already. You would have to promise not to breed any orcs though."

Loki frowned. "Those ugly things I met when I first arrived? Not a problem. Perhaps we would entice some people to come live here… I could get a garden going, open a nice library… I love books. What do you think?"

"A library?" Thranduil nodded. "I think the King of Gondor would approve. Gandalf? Who did you say was King again?"

"Aragorn, son of Arathorn, and he has married Elrond's daughter Arwen," Gandalf replied.

Thranduil rolled his eyes. "Seriously? She married him? She could have had my son… that would have been a much better match."

"I do not believe she ever considered Legolas, my lord."

"Foolish girl," Thranduil snorted.

~o~O~o

"Lady Sif?" Heimdall's booming voice woke her up.

Sif's eyelids fluttered open. Blinking, she stared up into Heimdall's familiar face. "At last! I am home!" She sat up, looking around to see who else had returned with her, seeing only Tauriel lying on the floor.

"Who is your friend?" Heimdall asked.

"Tauriel, she is an elf from Middle Earth, the Tenth Realm," Sif replied. Seeing Heimdall's confused look, she grinned. "I'll explain later."

Tauriel stirred, sitting up she glanced around the Bifrost chambers. "Not bad, I could handle this place… do you know where we are?"

"Home! At least for me." Sif's gaze swept the room once more. "Did any of the others arrive?"

"Others?" Heimdall asked.

"Loki? Thranduil? Stark? Pepper…" Sif named off a few names, the paused. She glanced over at Tauriel. "What was that little guy's name? The one that showed up with the other elf?"

"Bilbo, and the other elf was Thranduil's son, Legolas," Tauriel answered.

"Sif, I am afraid you must not have heard the news, but Loki is dead. He died helping Thor," Heimdall spoke solemnly.

"Oh no, that trickster is still alive and kicking. I saw him on Midgard just minutes ago," Sif asserted.

"Loki is alive? You are certain of this?"

Heimdall's head jerked towards the window of the Universe. "I believe I know where this Legolas is."

"Where? The two women asked simultaneously.

"Hel," Heimdall stated. "With a Midgardian, one of Thor's friends from the Avengers."

"Stark?" Sif asked.

"No, Stark is not there."

"Where is Tony?" Pepper's voice suddenly sounded in the room. "And how the hell did I get here?"

~o~O~o~

Bilbo appeared in the room. "I fear there is no food here," he said glumly.

Gandalf laughed. "Leave it to a hobbit to think of his stomach."

"Well, it is well past second breakfast, and I cannot remember the last time I ate," Bilbo retorted.

Thranduil looked to Loki. "Unless you can conjure up some food, I fear the hobbit is correct. We shall need to find some food."

"Well, I suppose…"

A flash of light sparked in the room.

Bilbo was the first to note that Loki and Thranduil were gone. "Well, that was rather rude of them."

"They forgot me!" Stark shouted, then a second flash of light appeared … and he was gone.

"Well, that as they say, is that," Bilbo huffed, looking around his cozy hobbit hole. "Oh my. I am home. Excellent… now, let's see about that second breakfast."

~o~O~o~

"Barton!" Stark's gaze landed on the archer the instant he appeared. "Where the hell are we?"

"Bingo! That is exactly where we are, Hel!" Barton said through clenched teeth. "And that is Hela, Loki's daughter," he jerked his head up towards the woman in question.

Hela was currently focusing her attention on Legolas, fingering his long hair, but had a firm grip on Barton.

"Hel? Hela?" Stark was confused. "Loki has a daughter?"

"Oh, yeah. And she makes Loki look sane. I would suggest staying as far away from her as you can," Barton replied as he squirmed to escape Hela's grasp.

Hela finally realized what they were saying. "You know my father?"

A sparkling shimmer appeared off to Stark's right. "Oh, great. Now we have Tinker Bell?"

"Sorry to disappoint you. Hope you weren't waiting on this Tinker person," Loki said as the shimmering effect dissipated and left him and Thranduil standing there.

"Tinker Bell, and no, not really. Unless she brought Peter Pan with her and we could all fly away," Stark said sarcastically. He jerked his chin towards Hela. "Is that really your daughter?"

Loki looked at Hela and nodded.

"Daddy!" Hela smiled. "What are you doing here?" Her eyes darted around, trying to figure out how she might hide the two archers before he saw them. Grabbing them both, she pushed them behind her.

"Who do you have now that doesn't belong here?" Loki asked.

"I didn't bring them, they just showed up, all on their own," Hela defended herself. "But can I keep them? They are so cute!"

Loki crossed his arms over his chest. "No, you may not keep them. Now send them back to where ever you got them."

"But I didn't bring them here, they just appeared… like you… and those two… " Her eyes landed on Thranduil. "Oooh… daddy… can I keep that one instead?"

"Absolutely not!" Loki said firmly. "We will all be gone shortly… I think."

"You think?" Hela looked at him curiously.

"I will explain later. Now, let them go," Loki repeated.

"Fine," Hela released the two archers who quickly scrambled far away from her.

"This is your daughter? You never mentioned you had children," Thranduil commented.

"Well, I do have one or two…" Loki replied.

"And one is a horse!" Hela retorted, angry that she had been told to release the two archers.

"A horse?" Stark barely contained his laughter. "You have a horse for a kid?"

"Let's not go there, shall we?" Loki said, glaring at Hela. "That was another, um… life."

"Like your multiple deaths?" Stark asked with a grin.

"Right," Loki readily agreed, hoping they would drop the topic.

"Interesting," Thranduil mused.

"So, now that we've covered that topic, can I keep these daddy? Please?" Hela pleaded, getting back to her main focus.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Children these days!"

"I know precisely what you mean. Mine could have married Elrond's daughter, but no… had to go and make friends with a dwarf. A dwarf! Can you believe it?" Thranduil replied.

Author's note: There are several differing opinions about Hela's parentage, although in the myths, she is Loki's daughter. I wasn't sure if I was going to go that way, but as I wrote this chapter... it just worked. I have to thank one of my reviewers for asking the question about Hela's father - it prompted the idea for this chapter. If you've read my Infinity series, I don't specify her parentage there for various reasons, leaving it up to the reader to decide.