- Chapter 7 -
After one last chuckle Anthony looked at his older brother, "Hey Rhodey?"
With a shake of his head, he turned. The embarrassment began a slow fade. That joke is so old. "Yeah?" Rhodey went to pick up their food. It was still sitting in the take-out bag. A relieved smile touched his lips when he saw the bottles of beer weren't broken when he tossed the bag to the floor.
"You know how Loki's pregnant again?" Anthony asked, his nervousness spiking up again.
"It is one of the reasons I'm here," Rhodey eyed Anthony. He knew when something was up.
"We're going to be taking another vacation cruise, since she's pregnant again." Nervousness seeped through Anthony again, causing him to unconsciously tap the toes of one foot on the floor. Convincing his older brother to come along was important to him, to many things. He looked at the floor again, noting the tapping. Consciously he stopped it before it unconsciously began expressing his nervousness again
A more tolerant smile crossed Rhodey's face. All of his nieces and nephews were wonderful. Having more of them was exciting. "You don't go on a cruise. Can we stop saying it's a vacation when it's just us? It's ridiculous."
Anthony still wanted to go back to a time in his life when he didn't have so many secrets to lie about. It just wasn't an option anymore. "Heh, yeah." Deceiving SHIELD and the Avengers was part of his security protocols. He, J and Rhodey made sure they were perfect, so that they could go safely.
.-.-.-.
"How many kids do they have?" asked Clint. He had a hard time thinking of Loki having kids with Tony. How it happened wasn't something he wanted to know.
Clint's question was an extremely relevant one to Steve. He didn't like the thought of planning an assault on the house to capture Loki and free Tony and Rhodey while knowing there were children in the house but not knowing how many. He could see some arguing with the Director in his future, but Steve wasn't going to lead a strike force without knowing how many children there were. Risking the life of even a single innocent child wasn't something he wanted to do while there were better options.
Little tears welled up in Pepper's eyes. She began to pull tissues out of her purse, to dab at her eyes with. All these years she held out hope that they would be together again. Tony just needed time, so if she waited patiently, and continued to support him, he would return her love again. Instead of that he married a psychopath. Even if they were able to release him from whatever hold Loki had on him, he had children. Nothing was ever going to be the same. She wanted to be the one to give him a child, a family. She cursed at the younger Asgardian Prince silently, she hated him so much. That horrid lying devil stole her future. Pepper hoped this awful show would result in Tony being rescued. Maybe things could be salvaged. She could try again once he was freed.
Cruise? Director Fury couldn't think of a single time when Stark was gone for an extended period of time after he'd come back to the Avengers. He was a hermit for a while, after the incident in the collapsed theater. This sounded more recent. What else have you been up to?
The blow bearing down on Frey could be seen from a realm's length away, it was so obvious and swift moving. Roll with the blow, he thought. It was his mentor, Mattugr, who taught him to roll with the blows as they rained down. This wasn't going to be an easy blow to roll with no matter how resilient he was.
.-.-.-.
A guilty flush reddened Anthony's face. He still felt bad about trying to hide it from his brother. He felt even worse when his eldest son snitched on him. The kids listened when I said they should talk to Rhodey. I shouldn't be as upset about that as I still am. It wouldn't be a problem, but his older brother lived under the principle of 'A lack of action doesn't equate to a lack of knowledge'. It was hard for Anthony to maintain heightened paranoia around Rhodey. It wore off eventually then he slipped up. The only thing that saved him when he went with Loki for the first time was that he brought back a healthier wife and a healthy, happy baby. He normally went with a monitoring camera that his older brother checked when he returned. This time needed to be different.
The older man smiled happily. "I always look forward to you coming back. The construct decoys are nicely made, but they're boring substitutes for you and the family."
A little laugh bubbled up from Anthony while eyes lit up with a little mischief, "After a few hundred years of practice maybe I'll be able to fool you with one of them!"
A friendly laugh came from the older man, "Yeah," before he eyed his younger brother with mock seriousness, "won't ever happen." His expression softened to his normal tolerant quietude before asking, "So have you decided how long you'll be gone this time?"
A sigh of relief breathed out of Anthony along with a quiet. Deescalating his older brother's irritation was soothing. He held up his hands, "We're going to be going a little early for the monthly visit, because of what's going on." A shrug followed. "It is sort of a vacation for the kids. They get to visit their grandfather, but I take Loki there for medical care. What do we call that? A medical vacation? Medical tourism? That sounds wrong."
.-.-.-.
"Grandfather? Stark's parents are dead. Who's he talking about?" Director Fury turned back to Thor, who was looking somewhat less sick.
"I don't know, Director Fury," Thor said. He couldn't think of who it was if not his parents. The awful nausea that came with what his parents were discussing was starting to clear up some, which was nice. It was going to come back. He knew it. What Loki did had to be dealt with. When it happened, as well as how, had to be discovered. Thor truly wanted to know why; why Loki did it and why Loki hadn't sought his aid. He would gladly have given it.
Only the young corporal saw how an especially calm expression slammed into place over the younger King's face. He didn't say anything when he saw it, and King Frey nodded appreciatively to him. Yep, McCorrmick thought, really, really screwed.
They leave decoys when they go. Director Fury turned his attention back to the recording. Are they being used elsewhere? It made him nervous to think they there were times that they were dealing with a lifelike decoy, instead of Stark. He couldn't think of a single time when Stark seemed any more or less eccentric. I couldn't tell the difference between it and him. He took a deep breath and grit his teeth. He fooled us all. He fooled me, and Loki made him do it.
Decoys? When did they use them? Steve disliked the thought of decoys. He couldn't remember a time when Tony or Rhodey seemed any different than normal. It was alarming that they'd done this several times, but he hadn't noticed it once. When they used them, how to spot one, and most importantly, how to disable one were also things that became important to discover. They should only be used by SHIELD and with SHIELD supervision.
Did this man try to replace us? Frigga bristled at the thought of someone other than her and her husband being called grandfather and grandmother, particularly since this man's parents were already dead. There was no one else who would do. If someone had dared to take her place, then they were going to pay dearly for it.
Strangers are not their grandparents! Do they call someone besides me their uncle? A small flare of anger rose up in Thor. Any children that Loki had were his nephews or nieces. It both angered and saddened him to think he was supplanted. He resolved to get to know them after Loki was returned to Asgard, and Stark was apprehended. It would be a hard transition for any child. He resolved to do the best he could for them. It wasn't their fault after all, they were just children. They shouldn't have to suffer for their parent's poor choices.
.-.-.-.
Refocusing he said, "Anyway. Would you like to come with me when we go this next time? We'll be leaving tomorrow, at the earliest. We'll be back in time for your ceremony, and I'll make sure you can check in on things here while you're gone. It wouldn't be hard for you to join us, and the kids would love it! You'll love it, trust me. What do you say?" Anthony gave his older brother a brilliant smile. Their plans might be delayed by a little bit as he got the permanent upgrade handled. Tomorrow or the day after, it didn't matter so much when they left so long as he could get Rhodey to agree to come. The designs wouldn't take very long. They were mostly pieced together in his mind already. It was the testing that would take the longest time. Even that could probably be shortened. Anthony could almost smile about it. He and his personal monsters were old friends.
.-.-.-.
They should have come to me already. Frey wondered what delayed them. They hadn't come to visit him yet and this was days ago. It didn't matter much. He was still going to quickly ensure that they were safe in Vanaheim when this was done. Only under his direct protection would he feel that they were truly safe. Anthony could be convinced to stay longer after they were secured. He kept his seidr pulled in tight despite the ache flaring up into a sharp pain in his chest. Frey discreetly unfurled his seidr and formed a Regenerative Weave. He released it into himself then furled his seidr back into his core. The weave only ever took the edge of the pain once it became sharp, but the strength of his weave allowed him to keep his seidr pulled in nice and tight for a little longer.
.-.-.-.
This was an unexpected gift, but a fortuitous one. Rhodey was already prepared to convince his younger brother to take him along for one of the future trips. He just wasn't expecting it to come so soon or easily. It would take a few hours to set up which was worth it. There were things he wanted to pursue in Vanaheim, his sister-in-law's safety and wellbeing were among the most important. "If I go I'd like you to convince Loki to properly introduce me to the King. After that, I want you and I to see if we can speak to him about arranging a 'chance encounter' between one of our ships and one of theirs." He made sure that he had his younger brother's ear before he continued. "A small encounter could lead to a diplomatic deal which gives us cover for Loki and safety for the kids. We can all plan out how we let SHIELD and Director Fury in on this without exposing any of them. They should get something nice out of this so don't realize where it's coming from."
A cheeky grin crossed Anthony's lips suddenly. "It's probably good that we aren't in real negotiations for a trade deal because he's is one hell of a negotiator." He stroked his goatee for a moment.
"You're my family, I'll introduce you to Frey myself. It'll be a better introduction than he and I had," he muttered. "Since we're asking for things to keep Loki and the kids safe I know he won't have a problem with any of it." Anthony looked meaningfully to his brother, "He's a really great grandfather. Second best, definitely. You should see him with the kids. Whenever we visit the girls always demand a few lullabies, and the older twins absolutely refuse to go to bed unless their grandfather sits in their nursery, lets them both sit on his lap while he reads them a story. Something with a dragon in it. You should hear them if they don't get a story from him, they're louder than howler monkeys." Anthony shook his head, remembering the last time he tried to get them to sleep without a story from Frey. His twin toddlers woke half the palace. "It's awful if they don't get a story."
.-.-.-.
Shock rolled through Frigga's mind, followed by a deep pain. Frey has betrayed me? It was swiftly overtaken with a burning wrath. After everything we've survived together? He's the one who betrayed me?!
Now we come to it. Frey could hear the cold shock and deep hurt oozing through his beloved sister's seidr. He heard the wrathful ire that swiftly overtook both of them. This was the day he'd been dreading for years. He thought the same thing then as he had when Loki first came back to him. It was a thought that plagued him often. She will never forgive me. He sat calmly, purposefully kept the calm look on his face. There wasn't anything else he could do at that moment. Roll with the blows, just roll with them.
Director Fury's eyebrow rose. Ships? Memories of Chitauri gliders carrying angry cybernetic horrors flashed through his mind. His stomach began to gurgle sourly.
.-.-.-.
"If you're willing to make introductions, then absolutely! I'd love to visit a different planet." Once Anthony is settled then I'll get Morgan and Jason settled in with Herb and Arno. I'll come back after that.
"Awesome! The kids are going to be so excited!" Anthony walked over to Rhodey, past him and towards the patio door. "Come on, let's go. I'll need some time to yell everything out."
Plans were never stable when his younger brothers were involved. It left Rhodey just shaking his head more often than not. He glanced around the kitchen one last time and understood how angry his brother was to make a bomb of himself in the home where his children lived. "Anthony, there's something else we need to have quick talk about." Strike while the iron is hot, he thought, hating the fact that he had to do this; that he couldn't improve the situation as he wanted.
"What's that?" a nice long yelling rant sounded nice. Anthony wanted to get to it.
"We're going to talk through all the reasons why you don't like what Loki's family did. We're also going to talk through why you don't like what Loki is doing. I need you to start thinking about why you're angry with her, so that when we talk about this so it can be a discussion." Rhodey had a dead serious look aimed at the younger man.
"I'm not angry at Loki!" Anthony protested, slightly irritated with Rhodey for delaying his rant. His anger wanted a target, needed one. He couldn't burn the people he wanted to, at least not yet.
"Yes, you are," Rhodey said calmly. He could feel the almost constant burn in his brother's seidr looking for a target. His right fist clenched in automatic response. Shame and distress filtered through his thoughts as he consciously unclenched his hand. Hitting Anthony wasn't what he wanted. It certainly wouldn't be useful now since things were always awkward after that happened. At least he had some beer for afterwards if that became necessary.
"No, I'm not!" It was a childish response that Anthony was almost embarrassed by. He sighed as he pushed back his anger so that it didn't slip out. Rhodey would sit him down and he didn't feel like getting hit. That was always awkward, even with a few beers afterwards. "I'm angry at Thor, I'm fucking pissed at her parents! I've come close to burning those pieces of shit Thor calls friends! I'm not angry at Loki! Loki hasn't done anything," Anthony was close to yelling again. There was so much anger. Always so much anger so willing to explode at any moment. Its familiar burn never faded away. It almost felt right. Anthony knew that with just a little more rage that he would have enough. Somehow he also knew it would be cold and dark, but he never gave that much thought.
"That's why you're angry with her. We've both seen this. We both know where it's going. How long are you going to ignore it?" Rhodey asked, annoyed. There were too many things that his younger brother was angry at his own wife over. They were more things on the list of things he could have prevented if he was given the chance. He wasn't, so there they were standing in a reconstructed kitchen trading childish denials. Rhodey accepted how emotionally stunted his younger brothers were, even if it upset him sometimes. Honestly, they were a little retarded. It was Christopher, Howard, and David's fault, but the old monsters didn't have to live with it. They could lay back in their graves and laugh.
Anthony just glared back at Rhodey, "I'm not angry with my wife. Name one thing she's done that I should be angry over!"
Looking down at the newly pristine floor Rhodey sighed quietly. When his gaze came back the same quiet certitude was in it that had been so recently. It wasn't surprising that Anthony retreated from it, choosing to look down and away instead. "You have many things to quarrel with your wife over," I'll be addressing them with her directly very soon, "but what's agitating you right now isn't an action but the lack of action. It's large part of what all of this is about. You can't pretend it doesn't exist anymore," he motioned to the kitchen yet again, "because I'm not going to let you put the children in danger again." A larger flinch from Anthony was a noticeable sign that his aim was still flawless. Rhodey stepped closer to his younger brother, putting one hand on his shoulder while lifting his chin with the other. "With everything they've done you have a right to be angry with them. You have a right to think poorly of them. You have no right to demand that she cut them out of her heart. Deal or no, you don't have that right." Pain flashed bright in his brother's eyes. It hurt Rhodey to see it.
Yelling out his rage into the night was what Anthony wanted very much since he couldn't act on it. A dark part of him wanted to bury his increasingly irate thoughts in some violence. The more sensible part of himself wanted to bury his body in his wife, to do everything he knew she loved so that she would know she was loved. That would come later when they were both calmer. Yelling was going to have to suffice.
"We're going to talk this through and start you on the path to accepting the fact that no matter what they've done, no matter how badly they've treated her, no matter what's happened to her; Loki is always going to love her family. Nothing will change that," Rhodey spoke firmly to put the thought into Anthony's mind so he could reinforce it later. There was some small hope that the conversations they were going to have would be productive. Progress on this matter was long overdue.
His older brother was right, as always. There were many reasons he had to be angry with his beautiful wife. He wished none of them existed. They hadn't been able to be resolved through intensely ignoring them either. There were too many and were on his list of things he passionately hated, like his in-laws. They were also hated and not able to be dealt with through being vigorously ignored. Unlike the problems he had with his wife, he was close to a resolution with them. Rhodes won't stop me, the dark voice whispered to him again. "They don't deserve her love," Anthony said quietly after a moment. There was nothing they could do to earn that love in his opinion.
"That's not our choice to make. She's never going to change." He pinned his brother with another hard look when he saw the minor darkening in his eyes. "We don't have the right to demand that change from her." Rhodey released his brother so that he could grab Anthony s arm at the elbow. "Time to yell. Then we're going to talk this through." I'm going to fix this.
.-.-.-.
As predictably awful as the situation was, Frey still appreciated and was surprised by how effective Rhodes attempts to directly handle Anthony's anger were. His nephew-by-law's lack of escalation in response was also fascinating. This man seemed to have an oddly calming effect on Anthony that not even Loki managed. This effect combined with his honorable actions and defense of Frey's family made him want to meet Anthony's brother-in-arms even more. Frey set that aside for later as he heard the wrathful ire growing in his beloved sister's seidr. It was growing steadily louder by the second and was aimed directly at him.
A dwarven mage has stood in defense of my sons and grandchildren while Vanaheim has betrayed Asgard. Odin sat calmly. He couldn't be surprised. For almost two thousand years he'd been waiting for this betrayal. It was only the manner of it that surprised him. He betrayed me. Frey betrayed Frigga. It was the last thought that genuinely angered him. It was only Frey's great love for his Little Sister that kept him in line. If he was willing to betray her, then how much worse was the situation than he saw it as? Odin knew that he needed the answer. He also knew that it wasn't going to be one that he liked.
