A/N: The interlude is brief, so if you want to skip just scroll down a bit. Previous review responses are in my forums, thank you all for reading and for reviewing. Now that it's streaming, I did watch the latest Thor. It was...not to my taste, and will not impact this story in any capacity.
Interlude: Rainy Day In Houston
It was raining when Mobius M. Mobius, agent of the Time Variance Authority, stepped into downtown Houston. Hunter B-15 stepped behind him, for once wearing civvies to better blend in. She kept her baton under the flap of her jacket.
"This is all wrong," Mobius said.
"You've been saying that a lot, lately," B said.
"It's been true a lot, lately," he muttered. "No nexus points?"
"None," B said with a glance at her scanner. "No variant timelines, either."
"Thing is, we have an archive film that proves the invasion was supposed to happen in New York," Mobius said. "Real dramatic stuff, too. It brought the Avengers together, saved the planet. Great watching."
B snorted. "You watch those old archives for the fun of it, don't you?"
"Yeah? So?" He shook his head and continued walking.
Even with the rain, workers were out in force going through the field of rubble that used to be downtown Houston. The entire time, B had her scanner out looking for some indication of a nexus point or variant timeline. They both knew that this was not the Sacred Timeline-the latest quake in the Endless City was so powerful that one of the distant Andromeda Galaxy sector towers had collapsed.
It was already reset, but it was the first time in the Endless City's existence that it had ever taken damage, no matter how brief.
Eventually they reached the edge of the damage and moved into parts of the city that had survived. They found a coffee shop that had power and Mobius took the opportunity to grab a coffee and rest his feet. B looked bored.
He was looking at one of the three televisions spread through the place when he saw something that did not belong. The camera tracked a tiny figure streaking across the sky toward the Tesseract-formed portal with something in their arms.
Frowning, he pulled the revised archival footage up. The original footage showed the battle of New York, but the revised footage depicted every second of the Battle of Houston, beginning with the downing of the SHIELD helicarrier. He watched through it until he caught a similar timeline of what he just saw on the human television.
The revised archival footage did not show any figure flying into the portal. The analysts who viewed it speculated that Stark launched a cloaked nuclear warhead through the portal. They had a request in with the LMC Division of the TVA for analysis on the other side of the portal, but interdepartmental communications was pretty slow in the best of times.
Frowning intensely, Mobius pulled his own scancom out. With a few buttons he seized the local wireless network and accessed the planet's primitive internet. A simple inquiry of "Winged Girl" brought up pages and pages of pictures, videos and articles.
"B, look at this." He turned his scancom around so Hunter B-15 could watch the shaky video of the winged girl tanking a punch from the Hulk.
For the first time since they arrived, the woman looked disturbed. "She was not there," she said. "I saw the archival footage of Hulk and Kemah. She wasn't there. The Hulk just scared the civilians away before…"
She brought up the TVA version of events, and the two watched it together, compared to the earth-made video. The Hulk's movements seemed random and indicative of a concussion on the TVA footage, but with the winged girl in the frame everything made sense.
"That's not possible," she said.
"I know," Mobius said. He didn't mean to whine. "We need to find out who this girl is, and why she doesn't show up in any of our footage."
Part II: TBD
Chapter Fifteen: Cleansing Fire
Swan had limited experience with dungeons.
She'd only been to the dungeon in Sanctuary once. In her early days as a Daughter of Thanos, Maw took her with him on an interrogation of a Gorlap infiltrator who was attempting to kill the Titan in revenge for the death of his world.
The cells were small, the atmosphere dark and dank, and very little effort was made to keep anything clean. It's only redeeming quality, if it could be called that, was that it rarely held occupants for long. Her words to Loki about Thanos were true. He did not torture unnecessarily. Once he had what he wanted from a prisoner, that prisoner was killed.
When the squad of ten Einherjar warriors escorted Swan into the dungeons of Asgard, she found heavy dark stone, but the cells themselves were clean and brightly lit. Each open square of lit floor and ceiling was framed by a shimmering golden forcefield. What truly surprised her were the number of beings held within the cells.
She could not identify more than a handful of the beings held by the Asgardians. She spotted at least one Kronan, many Sakaarans and even a horned R'malk'i. "Why so many?" she whispered aloud.
To her surprise, the only woman among the Einherjar answered. "The Rainbow Bridge was destroyed. These Marauders sought to invade protected realms. As soon as the bridge is repaired, the rest will be joining them."
Unlike the armored Asgardians around her, Swan wore only her under armour. As effective as Maw's new armor was, the nullgrav and flight systems could not withstand a near point-blank nuclear blast and remain functioning. The physical armor itself was not harmed at all, but all of its systems were destroyed.
Eager, dull eyes stared at her as she was led past. From behind their golden forcefields, the scum of the cosmos whistled and called out rude things to her. Many made ruder gestures.
They continued past most of the occupied cells until they came to one at the end of a long hall. The forcefield was off. The lit floor held a bed and what looked like a shower and toilet. Water came from a sink set in the only solid wall.
"The force field can be made opaque for privacy," the Einherjar woman said. "But understand we can make it transparent at will if we must. Food will be provided twice daily until my king sees you."
Swan nodded her understanding as she stepped onto the lit floor. Instantly the forcefield sprang back up. She was tempted to try pushing through it, but that would defeat the purpose of her being there. The other guards left. The woman remained outside the field.
"I am Gna," the woman said. "We have some knowledge of you, Daughter of Thanos. Of your strength. Thor communicated to us that you gave him your word to cooperate. I will have your word as well. Such will be the difference in being treated as a prisoner of honor, or as scum."
The woman did not speak kindly, but rather firmly. Swan met her gaze in kind. "I gave my word to the Odinson to cooperate, and I shall keep my word. So to you as well, I give my word to cooperate."
Gna nodded. "Then rest, Daughter of Thanos. Thor will return soon enough."
The Asgardian turned and left, and Swan paced the length of her cell. It was just wide enough for her to stretch her wings out-a mercy, given how cramped and sore they felt from the blast. She walked to the wall between her shower and bed, and then sank slowly down to the floor and closed her eyes.
It was hard not to imagine Thanos' disappointment in her, and the pain that would result from it.
~~Titanomachy~~
~~Titanomachy~~
She must have dozed. When the low hum of the forcefield deactivated, she jumped to her feet. "Odinson."
Thor dominated the cell. His armor was clean, as was the man himself, and his bright red cape swept behind him. He looked around the small space with something of a frown. "Swan. You are well? I am told you were very close to the weapon when it destroyed the Hive Ship."
The radiation had tanned her skin-the very first time her skin had ever darkened a shade that she knew of. "Did we win?"
The question caused the Asgardian to smile. "Yes. Your sacrifice did more than just stop the invasion. It forced my brother to expose himself. I was able to capture him and close the portal. For now, Midgard is safe. Even as we speak, Heimdall is using the Tesseract to repair the Bifrost."
She sank back down onto the bench. "I...that's good." She looked up again to Thor. "What happens now?"
"Now? You kept your word, Black Swan. You fought with honor to protect the people you were sent to subdue. And so I will keep mine. Come."
"Now?"
"Now."
She stood and followed Thor out into a long, narrow hall. Around her, she saw all the cells with forcefield walls. One of them now held Loki. He stood grinning at her. "Daddy is very displeased with you, my dear," he called as they walked by.
Swan tried very hard not to think about Thanos as Thor led her up a long flight of steps from the dungeons. There were no conveyances within the palace. No elevators or escalators. The space was vast, as well, so it took them the better part of half an hour to emerge into a vast promenade.
Swan's breath caught in her throat and her steps slowed. "This is Asgard?"
Through intricately carved and painted columns, she looked over a shimmering sea that seemed to run into a curtain of night in the distance as spectacular as the nebula at Sanctuary. Beyond, despite the blue skies overhead, she saw a field of stars, galaxies and nebulas. On either side of the water she saw beautiful mountains and valleys all filled with glittering spires, floating walls and endless fields. It looked like something from a painter's fevered dream of heaven.
"My great grandfather, Buri, shaped this realm from the flesh of a fallen Celestial. It was Buri who created the first Asgardians, millions of years ago. All that you see was built by my family."
"It's beautiful," she whispered.
"Come."
It took effort to drag herself away from the scenery. But then again, everything around her spoke of elegance and beauty. She found herself comparing it to Sanctuary. The only commonality was the scale of the structures, but in every other measurable way there was no comparison. Thanos favored minimalism, clean lines and dark colors. He disdained decoration and artifice. The Asgardians, though, seemed to treasure beauty, and made everything around them beautiful as a result. No column was left unchiseled. No wall went without a mural.
They turned a corner at one column larger than the rest, and there found four Asgardian Einherjar in bronze-colored armor and helms waiting. She glanced briefly at Thor, but he just nodded assurance. So, she continued to follow him as the other Asgardians fell in around her.
In the distance, at the far end of a hall that made all the other architecture pale in comparison, she saw a golden throne with a lone figure sat upon it.
"Do not be afraid," Thor said.
Swan forced a smile. "I am afraid, Odinson, but I will go anyway. Thank you for keeping your word."
In a show of camaraderie, he gripped her shoulder before leading her down the long hall.
Asgardians were gathered to either side, all clad in gorgeous silks, burnished gold or bronze armor. Some looked ancient, some no older than she herself. They were a beautiful people, and she knew that they could live for thousands of years. And ahead, on his throne, sat among their eldest.
Odin did not look like a giant slayer. He appeared to be an older man with a luxurious white beard and hair. His eye-patch spoke of a fierce past. He held a spear in his hand-a weapon that was known to be able to channel the Odinforce itself.
Her eyes drifted to the figure standing beside him; an elegant, older woman with gentle curls held in place by a diamond-encrusted gold tiara. Her hand rested lightly on Odin's shoulder. This, then, was Frigga, whose childhood name was on Swan's arm. The queen's beauty made Swan's heart ache with more feeling than she could actually understand.
They walked until Odin banged the butt of his spear on the floor. The sound of it reverberated through the hall with more than just sound, but a deep enchantment that made her stomach tingle. She had no doubt the sound could have been heard throughout Asgard.
Thor stepped forward. "Father! During my mission to Midgard, I encountered a Daughter of Thanos aiding Loki in his schemes. Upon her capture, she gave her word to assist me and defend Midgard against the Chitauri army if I promised to present her to you. She kept her word, father, even to great risk to herself. And so I keep mine. I present Black Swan, Daughter of Thanos."
Unsure what else to do, Swan flared her wings and bowed at the waist as one did to a superior.
Before she even finished, she heard a sound that brought her eyes up to see the air between her and the throne alight with moving holograms of perfect fidelity. She felt her heart sink as she saw her older self, wearing her older, bulkier armor, beating Agullux the Brave without mercy. Her voice rang through the hall. Even in Swan's ears, her tone sounded cold and cruel.
"If your foolish king had surrendered, half your people would live," she pointed out to the powerful but foolish champion. "My father does not kill for the sake of killing. What he does is for the well-being of the universe itself."
Her own memory recalled the conversation so perfectly she did not need to hear Agulla's response to know it word for word. "You lie, demon. You attack us because we signed a treaty with the Nova Empire to fight the Kree. Your father does the Kree's bidding, not the Universe's."
"Now who's lying? But don't worry, little animal. Your people won't have to suffer long."
She watched with tears in her eyes as the brave, injured warrior roared his challenge and attacked. She'd never seen the recordings; she had her memories but never saw the contempt and anger on her own face as she easily beat down the Agulla's desperate attack.
The fight proceeded just as she remembered, but worse because now she could see how much she looked like Corvus or Proxima as she destroyed the last hope of a doomed world.
And just like in her memories, Augullux the Defeated's neck pumped blood three times after she'd taken his head before his hearts stopped.
Odin's voice sounded old, but strong and firm. "You are the Black Swan, the Butcher of Agulla? Do you deny this was you?"
She opened her mouth to explain, but the words failed. "That was me."
"What did you expect to happen when you asked my son to present you before me?"
Rather than answer immediately, she lifted one arm and pointed to the symbol that led her to where she stood. "After I saved Loki from the void and my...Thanos' wrath, he told me this symbol meant Freya of Vanaheim. These symbols on my body are not tattoos-not even Thanos' best mind could tell me who I am, or where I am from. He did not know what these symbols all over my body meant. They found me broken, blind and near death. They healed me, but also...placed a behavioral control chip in my mind. I always wondered what the symbols meant, but it wasn't until a more powerful foe ripped the chip out of my head that I thought to seek answers.
"King Odin, I do not deny my crimes. There's blood on my hands, and I can't wash it away. I didn't come before you for pardon or mercy. I came to beg for your wisdom. Please, I beg you, can you tell me who or what I am?"
The king raised his bearded chin as he studied her. It was Frigga, however, who acted. The Queen of Asgard stepped calmly down from the throne and walked toward Swan. She stood shorter than Swan, but she could feel power from the older woman.
"Show me, child," Frigga said firmly.
Swan presented her arm, palm up. The guards around them tensed as Frigga took her arm and began to trace the line of runework with her finger. She did not stop at just her childhood name, though. She continued to read the line down to the blackened tips of Swan's fingers, then she turned the arm and read the line as it continued back up the inside of her arm into her under armor.
Swan stood perfectly still as Frigga stepped around her wing to study the runework that ran down her spine between her wings in the exposed back window of her body suit. The queen stepped back around and looked at her other arm. "I presume the symbols run down your torso and legs?"
"Yes, majesty," Swan said in the same soft tone.
"And your wings? Were those from the Mad Titan?"
"He showed me an image of when he first found me. My wings were broken, but they were my own. I...feel like I should know you."
Frigga's smile was strained. "Perhaps." She turned and walked back to her husband. She didn't say a word to him, though.
"My son is a trusting man," Odin said in the long silence that followed. "But his heart is pure. He has chosen to speak for you, and that is no small thing. You will stay in the palace while we investigate your claims. When we are satisfied we know the truth, judgment will be issued. Do you understand this, Black Swan, Daughter of Thanos?"
"I do, majesty. Thank you for your consideration."
The spear boomed on the floor; the audience ended.
~~Titanomachy~~
~~Titanomachy~~
They did not take her back to her cell. Instead, the Einherjar led her through the vast palace, with its many spectacular views, until they came to a chamber with vaulted ceilings that curved down like the inside of a giant clam to form narrow windows that looked over breathtaking mountains in the distance. Bronzed, narrow beds sat under each window.
"An infirmary?"
"A healing room," Thor corrected. "This way."
They moved through the curving space, which must have been on a separate tower from the actual palace since it appeared to be a giant toroid. They arrived at one table that was much more ornate than the others. She stumbled when she saw the queen already there, standing beside an Asgardian of equal age and stature. Although all that awaited her were female, two wore armor. One had a sword at her belt, while the other was Gna, with her spear.
"This is where I leave you," Thor said.
Without another word, he turned and led the four soldiers away. The two female warriors drifted closer to her-not threatening, but aware of the threat she could pose.
The older Asgardian by the queen's side clasped her hands together and walked right up to Swan. "I am Eir," she said in a brisk tone. "I am the senior healer. Disrobe, please."
Swan looked around with a surge of panic. "I…"
"Child, I am six thousand years old," Eir said. "I have been healing for four thousand of those. I must see the entirety of your marks."
"Of course." Her hands shook as she pulled off her under armor and let it fall to the floor.
Eir stepped back and simply stared. Her eyes did not linger on Swan's body-like Frigga, she was reading the tightly bunched runes. "Do you see it?" Frigga said to the side.
"Yes. Nor is it relegated to any one pantheon. It sings to the Olympians on the arm opposite, to Great Ennead of ancient Kemet and other gods I do not know." She leaned forward and without hesitation placed a hand on Swan's bare stomach to better see where the line of her torso split for her legs. "See here! My, that symbol hasn't been used since our grandfather's time. Some of these are actual Celestial script!"
"You recognize them?" Swan asked, her hope tinged with hope.
"Yes, child," Eir said. She stepped around to view the line of tattoos in her back, only to suck in a breath. "This wound at the base of your spine. When did you receive it?"
"It's been there for as long as I can remember."
"And how long is that?" Frigga asked.
"Seven months, three weeks and four days," Swan said. "I remember nothing from before. All my other wounds healed. Ebony Maw was able to regrow my eyes, and my broken bones healed, but he said that wound was metaphysical."
Eir shook her head as she came back around to reach up and take Swan's face. She examined Swan's eyes, and then moved around again, pulling Swan's hair aside to look at the back of her neck. The ancient woman's hands felt cool and clammy as they touched her wings and their connection.
As Eir examined her, one of the young healer apprentices took her under armor and came back with a thick woolen gown. "You may dress, child."
Swan pulled the gown on as Eir and Frigga both walked back around. "Was I right?" Frigga asked.
"Yes, cousin. It is the Blessing of Baldur, though a variant I've never seen. Whoever performed this enchantment would have had to have been well versed in the most ancient and powerful of Vanir magic."
Swan felt a surge of disappointment; she realized, only then, that a small part of her had hoped that Frigga's name on her arm meant more than just a prayer.
"Child, my name is on your arm," Eir said, somehow sensing her thoughts. "The blessing is a powerful enchantment in the name of multiple beings for all things under all stars to do you no harm. The lock of the enchantment would have been located at the base of your spine, where your wound lay."
"Does it say who I am? Or why I have wings that aren't large enough for me to fly unaided?"
Eir regarded her intently. "Come, lay on the forge. Let us see what else we can see."
Swan obeyed; she pulled her wings as tightly to her back as she could, and then stared as the table created a detailed hologram of her body similar to Maw's. Eir hissed in dismay and pulled the display up to focus on her cranium. She didn't understand why the tissue of her brain seemed to shimmer as if the machine could not quite focus.
But within the shimmering structure of her cerebellum, there were several thin streaks of black line that seemed to cast shadows around them.
"There is proof of her story, my queen, without doubt." Eir's tone had turned angry. "Neural transmission filaments. I have seen similar in Kree slaves. Whoever pulled the chip out did so violently, leaving dozens of these filaments within her brain."
"What is that effect, though?" Frigga asked of the shimmer.
Eir didn't answer at first as she used her hands to manipulate the image like a musician would play music. The shimmer wasn't just in her cranium, Swan saw a similar shimmer throughout her body.
"Maw's scanner didn't show that," Swan said.
"This Maw did not have a soul forge," Eir said. "I will confess, my queen, that I have not seen such an effect since my earliest youth on Vanaheim, before the wars of conquest. A thousand years before even you were born, my queen. Ancient Njard, our most honored grandmother, came to my mother, Mengloth, with an ailment when I was but a young apprentice. She sought healing. She was eldest after Buri himself, an equal to Bors Burison and queen of Vanaheim for many an age. She had this effect."
Frigga frowned. "What does it mean, cousin?"
"It means this child is prodigiously strong, in a way we have not seen in millennia. It means that her mind has a processing power beyond even the sharpest of our kind. This child was shaped to wield forces as great or greater than the Odinforce. If I did not know better, I would say I was looking at either a young Celestial, or one of the Eternals that sprang from them."
Swan did not understand the strained looks around her. "Maw said I was a Celestial too. What does that mean?"
"It means, child, that this Maw did not regrow your eyes. If you lost them, they regrew of their own accord. He did not heal your wounds, they healed on their own. What he did do, though, was take advantage of your weakened condition to insert that blasphemy into your brain."
"Is that why I can't remember anything?"
"Undoubtedly. We can remove them."
"I…" For some strange reason, Swan suddenly found herself unsure. "What if...what if I really was the monster Thanos wanted?"
A powerful voice interjected. "Then the truth will out, one way or the other."
Swan turned her head as Odin himself entered the room. His singular eye looked at the display that shimmered above Swan's body. He studied the filaments, but other things as well. "Her bones are not even fully formed," he noted.
"She is, truly, a child, my king," Eir said. "Her soul is deep and powerful, the likes we have not seen in ages, but it is distressingly young. If she were Asgardian, she would have seen only fifteen winters."
The King of Asgard looked surprised at that. "So young." He looked down at Swan. "It is a tragedy, child, that you fell into the hands of a maniac."
"You are the only one he fears," Swan admitted.
"That is because there are many more he knows nothing about. The Mad Titan is himself a petulant child, crying out to the stars in rage that they do not burn as he wishes. He would lay waste to the universe out of spite, were he able."
With a glance back to Eir, he asked, "You can remove those filaments safely?"
"I can," Eir said. "Everything I have seen would serve to confirm her story, my king. I have seen these filaments in Kree slave species. It is clear the Mad Titan had her under a false control. The placement of those filaments is intentional, as well, to block long term memory. It is only the prodigious power of her brain that has allowed her to retain any memory at all since she woke. For a mortal, or even for an Asgardian, the process would be painless. But for one such as her, there will be pain."
"For all things of value, there is a price to be paid." The king of Asgard reached out and placed a single finger on Swan's forehead, and with that touch she felt an ancient, cosmic power that swept through her like waves across a pond. It forced her to gasp just from the strength of it. She felt the hair on her skin rise in response to the power, until the king removed his lone touch.
"Memory as much as fate shapes us for who we are," Odin said gravely. "The child you were may not be who you wish, any more than the monster you were forced to become. Do you truly wish to open this door to your past?"
Swan felt no hesitation. "Yes."
"Even though there shall be pain?"
"Yes."
"Very well." Odin stepped back and nodded to Eir. "Remove the filaments, cousin."
"Yes, my king." Her hands began to conduct the soul forge.
Swan watched, fascinated, until suddenly everything was lost in fire. The last sound she heard was screaming-it was her own voice.
