Rose yawned, quickly covering her mouth with her hands and turning away.

"Sleepy?"

She blinked and looked at Thor, "Yeah, just a little."

"Anything troubling you?"

"Uh, no. It's just I usually don't get a lot of sleep at new places. That's it."

Thor studied her and then nodded.

"Oh, wonderful," Eir said, walking into the room and setting some parchments on the table, "I was about to send for you."

"What is the assessment, Eir?" Thor asked

Eir took a deep breath and spread out the parchments, "Here are the results of the confirmatory examinations. What can you clarify about these, Rose?"

Rose looked over the sheets, her eyes glossing over everything.

"I've seen this before." she muttered to herself, pulling a sheet to the side, "with Nat's head. This too. This...Uh...I've read about this...This...is not how it is supposed to be," she muttered, picking a sheet, "

Someone cleared her throat that made her look from the papers. Eir was looking at her expectantly and maybe a little amused.

Rose gulped, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear and adjusted her glasses.

"In the most basic way, brainwashing is just thought reform. The brain is gradually broken of the habits and the identity one grows up with and stripped of them and eventually, those blanks are filled with new, different habits, attitudes, and beliefs. Basically, they break down a person to their bare basics and rebuild them. This was quite a prominent technique used back in the Korean War where they brainwashed American Prisoner of W-"

This time someone loudly cleared their throat and she paused to look at Thor, who gave her a look.

Rose blinked, looked back at Eir who was looking at her with intrigue and amusement on her face.

"Sorry about the history lesson. It probably doesn't carry much weight for Asgardians."

"Perhaps another time," Eir added

"I guess." she licked her lips and picked a paper, "I have studied about three major ways of brainwashing. Compliance method, Persuasion method, and Education Method. But I some sure none of them guarantee in that result." she pointed at Barnes, "He was brainwashed in a much harsh...and brutal way. They used technological methods to literally erase his identity of who he was before everything. While that isn't normally used, it isn't exactly unheard of."

She picked a scan and studied it only to realize it was a brain scan.

"It's new." she muttered, "Now these neural scans, they should originally be-"

"Not so tangled," Eir added

"Yes. Those electric shock therapies he was given, not only tangled his neurons but actually weakened them. This," she pointed at the pointed at a scan, "due to all that brainwashing, all his neural pathways became rigid."

"which results in reduced susceptibility to new information and creative stimuli," Eir said

"Precisely. Which makes the target," she pointed at Barnes, "a puppet to the Captor."

"HYDRA," Thor added

"Hmm-mm" she nodded, "When I helped my friend break her brainwashing, her neural pathways were not as rigid as would have been all those years ago. Which made it a lot easier to enter into her subconscious to take care of the remaining problem. But since the pathways are so tight and rigid in his head, I can't go in there to solve the problem.

Another problem that doesn't usually show in scans..." she muttered, shuffling the papers, "Nope, not here. He was frozen for long periods of time in an artificial cryogenic chamber. So basically no outside stimuli for years and years only to be pulled out and given massive amounts of stimuli suddenly. On one hand, it should have strengthened his neurons due to the reputation of the brainwashing practices but since brainwashing sessions took places with irregular intervals ranging from a few years to maybe a decade or two, they were basically put in a coma, and then revived and then put back in a coma. Which is actually pretty smart because it made his brain susceptible to incoming signals and commands. And them exclusively."

Eir took a deep breath.

"Can you find a solution to that?" Rose asked

"Now that the problem is much more visible...First, his brain needs to be brought back to its original strength. The neurons need to be untangled so his subconscious can be accessed. That is the harder part of his recovery. Once that is achieved-"

"It'll be much easier?" Rose asked

"Yes. He'll recover rather quickly after that."

Rose nodded and started collecting and stacking the parchments.

"Rose..."

"Yes?" she looked at Eir

"You informed me that Midgard does not have the suitable means to aid this man. Yet you knew exactly how to aid him."

Rose took a deep breath. "Midgard is currently divided into two major parts. The Magical World ad the Non-Magical world. The non-magical world does not have the means. But the magical world does.

The magical world shows a lot of wariness towards the nonmagical beings. He might have gotten the help, but that would have been long, quite painful, and expensive. Not that money is a problem. "

"The bridges between the two worlds are supposed to be mending." Thor piped in, "My team would rather not risk the wrath of either faction at these crucial moments."


After setting up Eir, who knew exactly how to heal Barnes now that she knew the exact problem, Rose decided to go back to her temporary room. When Thor asked her for what, she just told him that she wanted to see over the data she had and get rid of all the excess data in her tab to make space for new ones when she goes back.

Thor invited her to meet his friends rather than spending time in her room, but she assured him that she can meet them at a later date.

And here she was, sitting on her bed, scrolling through her tab.

By far she had deleted about 10 unnecessary(to her at the moment) videos and 12 files but she still had quite a lot to go on.

She felt her previously broken forearm starting to itch, again and just pulled down the full sleeve of her shirt. When she had woken up in the morning, she had noticed how little her arm hurt. It looked almost as good as new. But in its stead, there was an itch now. Eir had told her that the arm was completely healed now and that the itching was normal and should go away in a day or two and that was not to scratch that itch no matter what.

She shifted a little to put her almost healed arm behind her and went back to scrolling down the tab.

The next video was of the New Mexico base. She fast-forwarded the video to realize that it was the security footage of when Thor first visited Earth. Well, she didn't think anyone would need it right now. Deleting that she moved forward.

After maybe 15 more videos, she stumbled upon a video that seemed familiar. The geolocation tag said New Mexico and the datestamp was dated May 2012 so obviously it was the Tesseract's experimentation site.

Fury had never really told her what had happened so she decided why not watch it.

On further watching, it turned out that the SHIELD team had actually stitched together various important footages from that time to what she guessed was some kind of highlight reel or something.

And then she noticed it.

She frowned and rewinded to the first time Loki appeared and zoomed on his face. And then she fast-forwarded to the time she saw the detail. It was...weird.

It was such a minute and such a small detail on camera that she was surprised that she did notice it but at the same time how come no one saw it when Loki was standing face to face with them? How did she miss that?

But it didn't make sense.

She opened another video, just to be sure of what she found and referenced back with the prior video.

Clint was...

It didn't make sense.

Unless...

She heard a noise and looked up to see Arna enter the room.

"Greetings, Rose."

"Good afternoon, Arna." she smiled "So, what brings you here?"

"I was wondering if you required my service."

"Uh...not as of now, I don't." she looked around the room and back at her, "I'll let you know if I do."

Arna nodded and turned to leave.

Rose settled back in her position when a thought struck her.

"Arna?"

"Yes?"

She got off the bed and made her way to the girl, "You've worked for the royal family for a while, am I correct?"

"Yes,"

"Oh good. Then you probably knew Loki."

"Prince Loki?"

Rose nodded.

"Yes, I knew him. Before he..."

"Did the undoable, yes. Can you tell me the color of his eyes?"

Arna blinked, "I beg your pardon."

"Arna, what is the color of Loki's eyes? Blue? Green? Brown? Yellow? Black?"

"...Green."

"Are you sure?"

Arna nodded slowly, "Everyone always adored the Princes' eyes. Prince Thor is said to have beautiful blue eyes and Prince Loki is said to have mesmerizing green eyes."

Rose nodded, as things started connecting in her head, "Thanks a lot Arna. You are an angel." She rushed to the bed and grabbed her tab, "Do you know where Thor is?"


Rose rushed down, practically running down the castle's hallways. She was glad that the castle was quite empty so she didn't bump into anyone.

As Arna had told her, Thor was in the training grounds. But he wasn't alone. He was with three men, talking to them.

She walked to the group and hesitated not wanting to be impolite.

One of the men, one with red beard noticed her standing behind Thor and then looked back at Thor, who turned to look at her with a smile on his face.

"Rose, I'd want you to meet the Warriors Three, the most elite warriors of Asgard."

She smiled and stepped ahead. "It's lovely to meet you all. Thor has spoken quite highly about all of you."

"He better had." Fandral chuckled before he bowed down and extended his hand. Quite content knowing that she knew what was going on, she placed her hand in front which he caught, and then kissed the back of it.

"Fandral, the Dashing, at your service, MiLady."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Cease hoarding all her attention, Fandral. There are others who'd like to meet Thor's sister in arms as well." the giant man in red beard snorted as he extended his hand.

Rose extended her hand as well and the man caught her hand in a handshake.

"Volstagg, the Valiant. A pleasure to meet you."

"The same."

"And Hogun the Grim." Thor introduced. The man just gave her a curt nod which she returned.

"What brings you down to the training grounds? Didn't you wish to stay in your chambers and do your work?"

"Yes, I was doing that but then I found something that got my attention." she pulled out the tab and started opening the file. "Can we talk in private?"

"I trust the Warriors Three. They've proven themselves to be faithful allies for centuries."

Rose looked at them, studying all three of them. Well, she didn't know any of them. But Thor made no move to move so she decided to hell with it and just go ahead

"Is it related to HYDRA?"

"No." she looked at him, "It's about Loki."

"Loki?" Fandral asked

Rose looked at him, who looked a bit dumbfounded while Thor looked a bit surprised.

"I was going over some old videos and found the one when Loki came via the tesseract." she played and the video and paused when it was focused on Loki's face and zoomed, "his eyes. they are blue. I didn't pay attention to it at first. but then this," she fast-forwarded it further to when she was alone with Loki, talking to him, trying to get inside his head, "Here, I remember his eyes being green. And then...here," she opened another tab and played the tower's CCTV footage, "It's blue again. And here..." she fast-forwarded to when he was 'defeated', "It's green again."

She lowered the tab and looked at Thor, "There's more."

She went back to the first tab from the New Mexico base and paused when Loki had placed 'mind control' on Selvig. Between him and Clint, it was the cleanest footage she could find.

"Here. Selvig's eyes turn the same blue Loki's are. And he was mind-controlled." She looked at Thor, "Do you see where I'm going with this?"

Thor frowned, for a few seconds. And then realization dawned on him and he looked at her.

"You suspect that Loki was mind-controlled as well?"

"Yes! That scepter. When it touched Selvig and Clint, their eyes turned blue. Loki had it the entire time. The only time he didn't, his eyes turned green but then blue when he had it back."

Someone loudly snorted and they both looked at the source. Rose barely recognized the woman. She knew that the woman was a friend of Thor's and she was on Earth all those years ago but she couldn't recall her name.

Her black hair was tied in a half ponytail and she was decked in armor from head to toe with a sword and shield in her hands.

And her face had utter disgust on it.

"Thor." she nodded and then eyed her, not so subtly checking her out.

"What was so funny?" Rose asked, eyebrow raised.

"Merely the fact that you assume that Loki did not do everything he did under his own violation. Your naivete is rather...endearing."

Oh, she was rubbing her the wrong way already.

"Or maybe you don't know Loki as well as you think you do," Rose responded

"Perhaps, I just do."

Rose scoffed, "My apologies but who exactly are you?"

The woman did not look pleased.

"I'm Sif, Goddess of War."

"Yeah, no wonder." Rose muttered and then she raised her voice, "I'm not familiar with Asgardian upbringing and morals, my apologies if I offend anyone, but isn't eavesdropping rude?"

Sif's jaw tightened but before she could defend herself, Thor spoke up.

"We must speak to Mother and Father."

Sif scoffed, "You surely don't believe her words, Thor."

"I trust her with my life."

"She's a witch. A Midgardian witch. She has magic. I fail to see why she won't align herself with the likes of Loki."

Okay. Now she took offense. She took a step forward, determined to take a stand for herself.

"Well, Frigga just informed me yesterday that she was raised by witches herself. So...unless your statement is inclusive of your Queen, that is highly racist, xenophobic, and just rude of you."

Sif did not reply but if looks could kill, Rose would probably be whipping out her shields, provided she wouldn't be already dead.

She then turned to Thor, "Shall we?"

Thor nodded and the two rushed inside

"Are you one hundred percent certain about it?" he asked

"Eh...more like 85."

Thor gave her a look.

"Okay, 90..."

"..."

"93! But something is going on that we have no clue about."

Thor didn't reply and stayed grim.

Rose's bigger concern was, what the fuck was out there that was mind-controlling Loki? If Loki could do all that damage on his own, what could this master player do? Was he the one to send Loki and the alien army?

Just before they entered the court, he stopped, breaking her train of thoughts.

"Thor? What is it?"

"How is your magic?"

Rose frowned but decided to check it. She did feel better and almost energetic. She made a mental note to check it with Eir later.

"Mostly recovered. A day or two and I should be back to normal. Why?"

"Just a thought."


"You claim that Loki is innocent? On what grounds?" Odin bellowed

Thor gave her an encouraging nod, that she saw from the corner of her eyes.

She took a breather and looked at Odin. If she was right and she hoped she was right, then she might just save some lives. Not particularly Loki's, though.

"When he first appeared on Earth, he had blue eyes. When he used the scepter he was carrying to mind control others, their eyes changed to the same blue color. I confronted Loki a few hours after that. I remember seeing his eyes and they were green. I have various proofs where his eyes shift between blue and green without a fixed pattern.

Arna and Thor confirmed to me that Loki has green eyes. Then the blue doesn't make sense. Unless the scepter that he was 'using'," she marked the air quotes, "to enslave others was enslaving him first."

Odin raised his chin. "I hope you are aware that Loki is no stranger to shapeshifting and illusions."

What the fuck? Why did it seem like Odin wanted Loki to be guilty?

"Father, if what she is claiming is true, then Loki deserves to be set free. He deserves a trial at the least." Thor added, "He's been imprisoned for long."

"It might have been him wrongly imprisoned as well," Rose added

"did he not murder 80 people in two days?"

Right. That part had skipped her mind.

Odin gave her a challenging look.

Okay, she did not have a defense for that.

"Father, please. He might have done those crimes but this might prove that he did not do so under his own volition. He was forced to do so."

"Loki has not uttered a word about it."

"Let me talk to him,"

She heard a gasp, a "what?" with a few more sounds, and looked around. And that was when she realized that she had spoken out loud. And everyone was looking at her.

She licked her lips, "Let me talk to Loki. Maybe I can convince him to say anything in his defense."

She looked at Thor, who looked back at her with anticipation, nervousness, and a bit of fear.

Odin looked really hard, contemplating. Or he was holding in a fart.

Nope. No. Don't think that. He's the King of Gods. Father of your friend. Could kill you even before you could think of saying sorry. Nope. Bad thought.

"Very well." was all Odin said.


"Eir?" Rose called, walking into the hut. Eir had asked her to come around sunset time to discuss something.

She checked a couple of rooms but couldn't find the healer.

"Eir," she looked around the room and finding nothing, she was about to leave when a certain familiar scan caught her eye.

She walked into the room, looked around, and only found herself and nobody.

With that established, her attention went to Barnes' scan reports along with various notes written along the margins.

On a detailed and focused study, she made them be Eir's interpretations and her methods on how she was going to heal Barnes.

One such parchment caught her attention.

Eir was pretty much spot on, theoretically speaking.

Rose checked her surroundings one more time and found herself to be all alone.

Good.

She took a deep breath, she turned her attention to the parchment. Magic tickled her fingertips, a sensation she hadn't properly felt in weeks.

Just as the words had started contorting into different words,

"What are you doing here?"

She quickly withdrew her magic, carefully place the paper down, and turned around.

Sif stood there, her arms folded, her sword hanging on her hip.

"I'm looking for Eir."

"But she's not here, is she?" Sif took another step forward, trying her best to be intimidating, "What are you doing here in Eir's absence?"

"Waiting for her..."

"In her study hall?"

Rose tilted her head, "I...wasn't aware this to be her study hall."

"It is. And it is not to be trespassed onto by outsiders."

Rose frowned. She had gotten the impression that Sif hadn't liked her from the start, God knows why, but this was a bit excessive. Sif didn't have to know this but to Rose, she was one of the last beings ever to intimidate.

"It was an honest mistake." Rose said, sternly and took a step towards Sif, "What is your problem with me?"

Sif snorted, "Do not flatter yourself."

"I don't have to. But seriously, what did I do that made you so cold towards me? I met you today. Or are you this stone-cold heartless so-called warrior to everyone who isn't important on Asgard?"

"How dare y-"

"What is happening here?"

Rose's head whipped towards the door where Eir stood with a couple of her assistants.

"I found her trespassing in your study hall." Sif quickly said. That fucking snitch.

Now she was subjected to Eir's questioning glance.

"You asked me to come around sunset. I was looking for you and then I saw the scans. I was just checking them."

Eir inhaled, strode into her room, and picked the parchment she was holding earlier.

"These scans?"

"Uh...yes. I was just reading what you wrote."

Eir gave her an incomprehensible look.

"Yeah, they are perfect," Rose added

Eir hummed and then look at Sif, "If you have no other business here, Lady Sif..."

"Of course." Sif quickly replied. She shot one last glare at Rose before she walked away.

Now it was only Eir, her assistant, and Rose left in the room.

With a hand gesture from Eir, her assistant started to pile up those sheets. "I shall be beginning Barnes' treatment after the afternoon feast."

"Sounds good." Rose nodded, not moving from her spot.

A couple of seconds had passed after which Eir leaned forward a little.

"Is there anything else you wish to discuss?"

Rose blinked, and then she realized, "Right. I wanted to get my magic checked. Like, is it alright? Can I practice magic once again without any hurdles?"

After a quick checkup,

"Your magic has healed quite well. And yes, you may proceed with using your magic. Perhaps you should avoid putting massive strains for another day or two so that your body can get re-acquainted with a complete magical reserve."

"Sounds good. Thank you." Rose nodded, hand fisting-unfisting behind her back.


Despite the noisy atmosphere of the supper feast, Rose's eyes were set on the healing hut. From her current vantage point, she could see a good portion of the hut. Now all she had to come up with was a way to sneak in, undetected, and alter Eir's notes. The security around the place was tight. Super tight. It wasn't a surprise, tho. A lot of injured warriors were in there, not to mention women and children. A perfect spot for attack by an enemy.

The only reason she got the free entry that afternoon was that the guards had been informed that she'd be coming. That seemed like a very one-time thing to her.

"How are you liking Asgard so far?"

The wine chalice in her hand shook, almost splashing the deep red wine on her dress, as she looked at the guy who startled her thoughts. It was Fandral.

She licked her lips, finger drumming on the metal railings. "Amazingly. Way better than I expected."

"That is pleasant to hear." he chuckled, coming to stand next to her, mirroring her pose.

She swirled the chalice in her hand, the wine glistening like a glass of rubies under the light. Her thoughts and eyes were back at the healing hut.

A new guard walked in, spoke to the guard who was already standing there, and after a few seconds, the former guard left.

The changing shifts were expected. Her problem was how to get inside. And now, she didn't have a lot of time in her hands. Eir had already begun the treatment. She had to get her work done before Eir manages to finish up

Also, those were Asgardian soldiers, definitely much more competent, sharp and agile than any human guard. And she speculated that they will not be stupid or naive. Also familiar with magic. So her regular sneaking-in tactics were not going to be useful around here.

"You honestly believe Loki to be innocent?"

Right. Fandral was still there.

She tilted her head, "I'm not sure innocent's the right word. More like...he didn't really plan it all. Someone else made him do it. He's not exactly innocent but he didn't play as big of a role as it seemed to us all."

Fandral hummed, taking a sip from his own wine.

"Why? Do you not want him to be innocent?" she asked

"For Thor's sake, I do hope your convictions are true."

"I thought you were a friend to both Thor and Loki."

"Friend is not the word I would choose for Loki. He's always been an ally...someone we can occasionally trust to aid us in the hour of need...but..."

"You don't trust Loki."

"It is difficult to trust someone who is a renowned God of Mischief." he snorted, "and has earned names such as Silvertongue."

"Fair enough." she chuckled, taking her own sip. After a two-second silence. her eyes mapping the healing hut, trying to find an opening, any opening, when she spotted Sif. What the fuck was she doing here?

And the guards let her go in without a second glance. Wait a damn second. Sif could go in. Sif could be her ticket in.

But Sif didn't like her.

So...she could make Sif like her. Or she could try to sneak in with magic and have higher odds of getting caught.

Unless...she had help from someone who knew the place inside out.

Thor was out of the question. She didn't really know anyone else on Asgard well enough to do so. Someone who won't ask her unnecessary questions. Or won't look at her as if she's not at the same status as them...

She could fake an ailment to get in. but that would cause 2 problems.

1. Eir was the Goddess of healing. Rose was sure she could tell by just looking at her that was faking it.
2. If she got caught trespassing or faking it, there will be questions. And Rose wasn't sure how far lying would take her.

Her green eyes caught Sif leaving the building, the hut.

"Why does Sif hate Loki?" she asked, "And me."

"Sif doesn't hate Loki or you."

She looked at Fandral with side-eyes.

"Sif lacks social etiquette."

"You don't have to do that. Defend her, I mean. I'm not going to do anything." she chuckled, "I just want to know where did I go wrong?"

Fandral nodded and then looked over his shoulder, scanning the crowd.

He then raised his arms and beckoned someone. A server.

The server guy walked towards them, holding a pitcher in his hands. With a gesture from Fandral, he poured something amber-like in Fandral's chalice.

"Mead, milady?"

Mead. Thor had mentioned mead here and there whenever they had talked about getting drunk. She snorted. It was Asgardian liquor.

"Yes, thank you." she extended her own chalice and the amber liquid was poured in her previously empty glass.

Once both their glasses were full, Fandral dismissed the server.

"Sif fancied Thor."

"What?" Rose honestly hadn't thought that Fandral would answer her question.

"But Thor only viewed her a fellow warrior. He didn't reciprocate her feelings." he took a sip, "So Sif had a brilliant scheme of getting close to Thor. Her scheme involved Loki."

Rose blinked. Sif liked Thor. And she had a scheme to get close to him via Loki?

"She started courting Loki."

No!

"She two-timed them?" she asked

"I beg your pardon,"

"Uhm...sorry. Earth slang. I meant she kind of courted them both?"

"That is one way of putting what happened in words. Loki was not pleased when he found out." Fandral snorted, "He chose to exact revenge and did so by enchanting Sif's pride and joy, her golden hair to black permanently." He took a sip of his mead, "They have had their animosity since."

Rose looked down at her glass. Honestly, she couldn't, and wouldn't blame Loki for that. If she ever found out that her boyfriend was with her just so he can get into Ginny's pants, she'd be doing much worse than changing the hair color.

And that gave her an idea.

It was a risky one. Very risky one.

But if she manages to do it nicely, she might just get a win.

Rose snorted, "She most probably hates Jane, doesn't she?"

"Thor's Jane? Jane Foster? You are acquainted with her?"

"I know of her. Never met her though." she pressed her lips, "What did I do?"

Fandral chuckled.

"Come on. You told me all that. What's a little more information gonna do?"

Fandral hummed, "Sif finds it unpleasant about how highly Thor speaks of you and the other female warrior. Apologies, I don't remember her name."

"No issue. Her name's Natasha." Rose chuckled, "So...Sif's jealous of me?"

"In a matter of speech, yes."

"Huh..."

Her eyes again went back to the hut. For that plant o work, she first had to find a soft spot.

"I'm aware it is not any of my concern, but Thor mentioned that you have a similar animosity for the man you both brought here to be healed."

Rose looked at the blonde warrior next to her, "It's actually worse, but, sure, I guess."

"What did he do to receive such treatment from you?"

She took a deep breath, swirling her goblet, "He killed my grandparents. He tried to kill me twice. He tried to kill my friends."

Fandral hummed, "I'm sorry you had to go through those events. But had he done all of those crimes why do you wish to save him?"

"I don't. But a friend of mine does." she exhaled, "He's brainwashed." she looked at him and saw a confused look, "Kind of like mind control, but instead of taking over his mind, they wiped it clean more or less."

Fandral nodded and then looked at her before looking at her still full goblet.

"Do you not drink mead?"

Rose blinked and looked at her goblet before shaking her head, "Forgot I still had it."

As the amber liquid trickled down her throat, it left slight burning sensations, just as any alcohol did, but stronger. It was...better than firewhiskey. She should ask Thor to bring some every time he drops around.

"What if he's innocent as well?"

She looked at him as if he had said that the Earth was flat. "You think Barnes is innocent?"

"No. Innocent would not be the right word of choice, I suppose. I think the man is as innocent as you claim Loki to be. I understand they both have done things that are criminal and deserve to be punished for, but if I do understand it correctly, they were both under an influence while doing so. They didn't do it under their own volition."

Rose took a deep breath.

As much as she hated whatever was coming out of Fandral's mouth, she had to admit he...wasn't...exactly wrong.

She took a deep breath, "That's a good food for thought." she muttered, tilting her head back and drinking the entire goblet's worth of mead in one go.

She winced and hissed as the burning sensation went down her food pipe. Yep, should've taken it slow.

"Whoa...be patient with mead." Fandral laughed

"I'm good." she cleared her throat, exhaled, "Yeah, I'm good" she turned around, scanning the crowd for the mead guy.

"More mead?" Fandral chuckled

She looked at him, "I won't say no to that."


Tony pressed his lips, looking at the photo of his family.

He had started keeping the photo ever since the Court incident. No matter how self-sufficient his girls were, this photo always reminded him what was at stake. Not to mention that little boy who had to grow up in that very world.

He exhaled, closed down his phone, and placed it in his pocket.

Walking to the mirror, he straightened his blazer and corrected his tie.

Iron Man was ready.

Then it was the knock on the door that caught his attention. He looked at the door in the mirror, as it opened and Steve walked in, closing the door after him.

"Hill and Percy are ready?" Tony asked

Steve nodded, one hand in the trouser's pocket.

"Just me a second, then."

Steve just sighed.

"What is it, Capsicle?"

Steve's blue eyes found his in the reflection.

"Just a bit of anxiety. This is a huge step."

Tony chuckled, "Getting cold feet, are we?"

"Maybe." Steve folded his arms, creating minute wrinkles in his blazer.

"We'll be fine. Everyone's going to be fine."

"Sure hope so." Seve chuckled

Tony sighed, rolled his eyes, and turned around.

"We faced far scarier things than a bunch of wussy politicians. So, man-up!"

Steve chuckled with a roll of eyes.

"No really. I'm not joking." he leaned and picked up his favorite shades.

"It's inside a hall," Steve noted

"Yeah, but I look cool in it."

Steve just rolled his eyes.

"Let's go. I want to be as fashionably late as possible."

"Tony..."


Another chapter is up!

Tbh, I'm a tad bit disappointed with how few reviews I'm getting these days? Like, is something with the story or something? I understand everyone has a busy life and all, but...

Well, never mind. I wasn't exactly feeling inspired due to all the assignments I had to do and tests to prepare.

Let me know how this chapter goes.

You know the drill

Ciao!