Avengers Redeux

by zArkham

I am the Watcher. Come with me as I show you the rest of the story of what would happen if Earth lost their mightiest heroes. See how there was an idea which would not be stopped by the horrible crimes fueled by grief. How in the Earth's darkest hours, remarkable people rise and become Avengers. Based on Episode 3 of the Disney show What If? with the bulk of MCU characters.

1. Opening Moves

YE OLDE DISCLAIMER THE FIRST: All Marvel characters and concepts are owned by Disney through Marvel Comics & Marvel Studios. No money is being made off this fair use of these characters for entertainment purposes only.

YE OLDE DISCLAIMER THE SECOND: INCREDIBLE SPOILERS for "What If?" Episode 3 as this story picks up shortly after the events in that episode.

XxXxX

STORY CONCEPT: Given we probably won't see a follow on, I thought it might be nice to see who might go up against the New Midgardian Order. Note! This was originally going to be a long one-shot in my Pernicious Story Bunnies. This is on track to be a twelve chapter story.

CHAPTER ONE – OPENING MOVES

PITHY STATEMENT RELATING TO THIS CHAPTER: "The world has changed, and none of us can go back. All we can do is our best, and sometimes, the best that we can do, is to start over." Margaret "Peggy" Carter – Former British MI6 agent then later part of the American SSR and founding member of SHIELD – 1921-2016

Last Updated: 08-31-2021

Time. Space. Reality. It's more than a linear path. It's a prism of endless possibilities. Where a different decision, sometime infinitesimally small, can alter a reality from the one you know. Yet there are paths which seem to refuse to be denied. Ideas that cannot be contained and must be free. I know this for I am Uatu. I am the Watcher.

XxXxX

CHAMBER OF SLUMBER, ASGARD – MAY 20th, 2010 – MORNING

Frigga looked up from where she was idly working on some needlepoint without really seeing it when the door to her private chambers opened. A maid stepped in and bowed, "My Queen. The All-Father is awakening."

"Finally!" Frigga breathed as she tossed the needlepoint away and hurried to where her husband had been rejuvenating via the Odin Sleep. As she entered the chamber, she saw Odin had awoken but was groggy and apparently only had just managed to sit up.

Even so, the King smiled warmly when he saw her, "My love; I am returned to you again."

Frigga went to his side and took up his hand to which she brought to her cheek, "You have, my love. Yet I have ill news. Our son Thor, your heir, was slain on Midgard a few days ago."

The sense of grogginess fled Odin and the servants in the room all felt the power of their King flare. "What? How?"

Frigga reached out and put a finger on his lips, "Your spell on Thor was too thorough. He was vulnerable to a shot through the heart by an arrow. He was murdered alongside other heroes of Midgard. All at the hand of a man warped by grief over the loss of his daughter."

Odin's eye might have been filled with fire as he hoarsely barked out, "This villain, the one who caused the death of a Prince of Asgard; where is he?"

Frigga paused and looked away.

Odin had been wed to his Queen for centuries. He knew immediately there was other news she was worried to give, "What has happen, Frigga?"

Frigga took a moment before turning back to her husband with a wan smile, "On hearing the news of his brother's death, Prince Loki marshaled the forces of Asgard to punish the slayer of our son. He and a Midgardian spymaster took down the killer. He awaits your justice even now in our dungeons."

Odin nodded but made a 'get on with it' gesture to his wife.

Frigga frowned slightly, "Prince Loki felt that Midgard had changed much and was fielding champions who could potentially challenge the balance of power in the Nine Realms. Power which could bring notice that Midgard was entering into a higher phase of war it was not fully ready for. Thus he marched our armies and has taken up as the ruler of Midgard in your name."

Odin was silent as he pondered this. He knew his adopted son was ambitious and had long chaffed in the long shadow of his brother Thor. "The others? The people? What do they say?"

Frigga shrugged slightly, "The conquest was mostly bloodless. While many had wish to blood their blades for revenge or for glory in battle, the Midgardians knew they were outmatched. They submitted to Loki's rule. Even Sif agrees it was done well. She and the Warriors Three expect future resistance but for now, Midgard has knelt before our son and accepted him as their new ruler."

Odin reached up and stroked his beard absent-mindedly. With his son dead and his firstborn imprisoned, it fell to Loki to one day take up the throne if he was worthy. Perhaps him taking Midgard could provide insight into how he would rule Asgard. For now, he had a son to mourn and to face the consequences of his attempt to teach his brash son humility. Thor's death may have happened on Midgard but was only possible due to his action as King of Asgard.

He looked at his wife, "We have a Prince of Asgard to properly honor and to mourn. For now, let it be known that Prince Loki's actions have my blessing."

Frigga seemed surprised by this, "My Lord?"

Odin took his wife's hands in his, "My love, with Thor gone, it falls to Loki to potentially take up my throne. Let us see what he does with Midgard."

Frigga thought on this. As ever, her husband was ever the King in actions first. Still, there was other options on the table, "What of the children? For all the supposed treachery of her giantess mother, Þrúðr [Thrüd] is Thor's firstborn and there are those who would argue for her to become queen. She has proven herself in battle. Then there are the twins. While Magni and Móði [Modi] are young as things go, they are Beltane born of Sif and thus would be accepted."

Odin harrumphed at that, "But which one would be hailed? You know as I do there are factions in the Nine Realms that when I'm gone would move to use the other brother against whoever might be crowned king. No. For now we shall see how Loki fairs. He is as much of a prince as Thor's children. Besides, I will not put Thor's children over Loki without good reason. He has always been in Thor's shadow. Let us see what the God of Mischief does in the light."

XxXxX

From the Private Journals of Phil Coulson: The Boss had it all ready. The speech that would help bring the Avengers Initiative from a concept into a reality. He was supposed to tell a group of potential heroes that "the idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people to see if they could become something more. To see if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could." Thanks to Hank Pym, the people who were to hear that speech never did… outside of Agent Romanoff that is.

It has been said when one choses the path of revenge, one must dig two graves. Unfortunately for the people of Earth, that second grave was our entire planet. For even though the New Midgard Order has been relatively benign, we are a subjugated people. And for all his charm and flowery speech, how can we honestly trust the God of Mischief to rule us well?

XxXxX

HIDDEN BASE, BRIGHTON DAM, MARYLAND – JUNE 15th, 2010 – AFTERNOON

Steve Rodgers hefted the hammer Mjölnir and looked at the runes inscribed on one side. Runes he couldn't read but had been told meant that only one worthy enough could wield the power of Thor.

It was insane. One moment he'd been freezing and feeling his lungs fill with water to another moment of waking up to a stern black man with an eye-patch telling him that they needed hm to leave with them and quickly.

Looking around at the bustle going around him, quickly seemed to be the order of the day. The one time off-the-books (even to SHIELD!) bolt-hole was swarming with the beginning of the rebellion against Earth's new ruler. As shocking as learning he'd slept past so much, Steve had been even more surprised (along with much of SHIELD) to find that HYDRA had been growing like a parasite in it all along. Now, the old adage of the enemy of my enemy is my friend was in full swing.

It rankled Steve deeply. Steve knew that Fury would have preferred for him to ease into the reality of being frozen for almost seven decades. However, Steve had had to work with many unsavory types and take on some tough, necessary missions he still felt guilty over. However, the truth on the ground was the Resistance had to work fast before the Asgardians consolidated their rule.

The intel had said that the only reason Mjölnir had been left in New Mexico where it had landed long enough for Fury to get Steve to it to see if he was worthy enough to take it was the Asgardian King had been recovering from something which put in into a coma like sleep and hadn't been awake when Thor's body was brought to Asgard. Thus he couldn't come to Earth to retrieve his son's mighty weapon right away. Steve knew that they got through the Asgardian guards because they had underestimated humans. He didn't think that would last much longer.

"Penny for your thoughts, Captain?"

Steve looked up to see Carol Danvers in civilian clothes smiling down at him. He shrugged, "I think, after hearing your story, I'm feeling sort of how you did when you realized much of your life was a lie. Trying to come to grips with what was and what is."

Carol's face softened, "I realize, as a fellow veteran, you're used to dropping everything for the mission. It makes it easy to forget how much you sacrificed, how much you lost."

Steve smiled wanly, "I may have missed my dance, but at least my girl went on and did some amazing things. Even if we've found that it has been tainted by the very thugs I worked so hard to put down." Steve tried not to think about the pictured of a woman wasting away in a hospital, her memories starting to fade. A woman he'd seen in her youth only days ago from his frame of reference.

"Thugs? I take umbrage at that description," said a German accented voice from behind him, breaking him out of dark thoughts. He could see Carol's face turning to a scowl.

He turned to see a middle-aged man with a monocle. "Baron Strucker," Steve said with a curt nod. It galled him to see a HYDRA agent brazenly being allowed to be part of this. However, Steve fought down the urge to smack his new hammer upside the man's head. Strucker had already talked to Steve on the sly and shocked him by telling him that Bucky was still alive.

"Now, now Captain. No need to be so curt," Wolfgang von Strucker said with an easy smile. "While we have different ways to go about it, we both want a world of peace and order. I assure you that I and many of my HYDRA comrades work toward that world peace without buying into the Old Guards views. How can we truly unite the world if we stayed wedded to Aryan bigotry?"

Steve stood up, "Baron, I am used to working with people I disagree with. I fought with a lot of Russians while hating Stalin just as much as Hitler given how many of his own people he had killed or sent to the gulags. However, that doesn't mean I have to like it. You weren't born when I was first fighting the Red Skull whose HYDRA was onboard with obliterating several of the world's most prominent cities. For me it was last month. So if I'm curt it's for a good reason."

Strucker gave a slight bow, "My apologies. As Frau Danvers just said, it is easy to forget you are still barely out of the ice. Your fresh wounds are history to us."

"Is this a social call, Strucker or is there a reason you are here?" Danvers said in a flat voice.

Strucker gave another little bow, "Indeed there is." Strucker looked around to see if anyone was listening, "Captain, it seems my offer to help return your friend to you is more important than ever. We have learned of seven other Winter Soldiers who were lost and have been hidden away in Siberia. If your friend is any indication, they will be mostly mindless weapons. We cannot defeat the Asgardians with such drones, no matter how powerful."

Both Steve and Carol drew closer. "Why tell us? Don't you think your HYDRA council will take this lightly?" Steve asked.

Strucker laughed bitterly, "Cut off one limb and two will grow in its place. Yet the truth is that the limbs do not work well with the others. Some actively work actively against each other in competing for resources. The Winter Soldier program may have been good for its time but now? Now such brainwashing limits the very skills which will be needed. That and we all are, how shall we say? Are all fighting the good fight? I believe fighting for the freedom of or entire species is more than enough incentive. Yet the old guard of HYDRA are wedded to their ways of direct control."

Carol scowled darkly, "How do we know this is just you jockeying to push your way up your hierarchy? Saving the world seems like a good way to then step in and impose your order. The Asgardians have already done the heavy lifting."

Stucker laugher bitterly again, "You don't. Still, if we don't work to make alliances now, all we will reap after our victory is only to just begin fighting amongst ourselves. Fighting with the very terrible weapons and beings we are even now collecting."

Steve sighed, "Fury has said the next war was predicted to be a biological one. Ever since the Super-Soldier Serum showed what was possible, I can't say he's wrong. Your right, Strucker. I guess we both need to buckle down and figure out how this is all going to work."

"Cap!"

The three turned to see Agent Coulson walking briskly towards them.

"Coulson," Steve said neutrally as he put Mjölnir down on the coffee table. He was sometimes put off by Phil's fan-boy manner even if he was one of the few people Carol knew.

"Sorry to interrupt," Coulson said as he worked to catch his breath. "Did Strucker tell you about the other Winter Soldiers?"

Steve nodded, "He did."

"Well it turns out there is another target we need to police up in on the way given he's in Siberia as well.. Fury believes it would be best to have you along to help with the extraction."

Strucker looked interested, "Who? The Soviets and then the Russians didn't have much luck with their programs. The current failure of their Crimson Dynamo armor shows that."

Coulson sighed, "True. However this target is sort of a legacy in a way. Beyond that he's enhanced…well he's sort of Natasha's father."

"Wait, I seem to recall Maria Hill saying Romanoff didn't know her birth family," Danvers said with a frown.

Coulson nodded, "That's true. No, this the man we're after raised her for years while undercover in America before the young Natasha was turned over to the Red Room program."

Both Steve and Carol were startled as Strucker began to laugh, "You are going after the Red Guardian? Are we that desperate already?"

Coulson gave Strucker an angry look, "He's enhanced and he's not doing anyone any good rotting in prison. I don't think we can afford to look any gift horses in the mouth."

Strucker chuckled a bit more before turning serious, "Yes, you're right of course. Still, I pity you, Captain America for I am sure it will be you who will be needed to whip him back into fighting shape. I do not envy you that mission."

"It doesn't matter. Even if it was just as a foster parent, I'm sure Agent Romanoff would have wanted him released. Besides, we need to work to make this less of a SHIELD and NATO show. The whole world needs to be in this fight," Steve said as he picked up Mjölnir. "In fact, if it wasn't for the optics, I think it would be better if I wasn't fighting as Captain America. I think after this is all over, nations might be a thing of the past.

XxXxX

10880 MALIBU POINT, MALIBU, CALIFORNIA, AUGUST 26th, 2010 – AFTERNOON

"I have to say I'm feeling rather inadequate right now," Dr. William Riva said with a sigh as he worked at the computer station which had once been Stark's personal computer.

Across the room from where he had been looking at some of the artwork Tony kept in his lab, Colonel Rhodes looked over at the bespectacled man, "How so?"

Riva waved to all the equipment in the late Tony Stark's lab, "Director Stane once yelled at me for not getting the Iron-Monger suit up and running fast enough. He said that Stark had built his prototype suit in a cave with nothing but a box of scraps. I told him I was no Tony Stark. Seeing all of this tech brings this home to me even more."

"Do not worry, Dr. Riva. I am sure I can guide you through any rough patches," JARVIS' smooth, disembodied voice assured the man.

A cry of discovery caused both men to turn towards the heavily tattooed man who had been digging through a bin filled with odds and ends. He held up a device that neither Riva nor Rhodes could imagine what it might do.

"What have you got there, Vanko?" Rhodes asked.

"What I have is the key I need. Stark told me to increase the cycles by second rate. That did well but I knew there had to be more to it. This will help us integrate more of Stark's tech into the Hammerdroids as well as the War Machine suit." Anton Vanko's Russian accent was thick but Rhodes could tell the man was very pleased.

Dr. Riva, however, still looked confused. "That's good but I thought the whole point of coming here was to have access to JARVIS and the rest."

Rhodes shook his head as he watched the former Russian fugitive begin to fiddle with the device. "We can't just assume the Asgardians won't raid this place. While it might look like a home for a rich playboy, we can't rely on the enemy not getting suspicious if more Stark tech is used against them. While your old boss might have hated it, the fact Tony started getting out of the weapons business. it might provide us with the cover we need to get as much work as we can done."

"That is why, Dr. Riva, we are reactivating the old Camp Lehigh facility," said another disembodied voice. This one, however, had an accent. "As Colonel Rhodes says, we need to replicate the processing capabilities elsewhere and out of the sight of the Asgardians."

Dr. Riva shrugged as he finished what he was working on. "I'm sure you've got plenty of experience with that, Dr. Zola. Hopefully your German efficiency can help make it happen. Still think you're touched in the head with what you're building, though."

"First correction, I am Swiss. Second correction, while my body long ago succumbed to the cancers which ate it away, I assure you my mind is as sharp as ever. Even more so know that I've been uploaded into one JARVIS' back-up system instead of the miles of tape I'd been exiled to," Zola explained.

"Why again are we building you a body? JARVIS does pretty well without one" Rhodes asked. Vanko looked up. It was obvious he had been wondering the same.

Like JARVIS, Zola's digital voice could be convincingly human as the one time scientist to the Red Skull sighed, "JARVIS was never embodied as I was, Colonel Rhodes. For all the speed and other advantages being a digital being affords me, I still feel like a man trapped in a dream. I long for a body again, even if it is a metal ones. Besides, I have always worked best in the biological arena. It would be easier to do my experiments with my own hands. Hands that aren't tied to a facility as this one. There is much work to be done. Work which will go more smoothly now that Captain Rodgers has been found. His blood will fix many problems HYDRA and other groups working to reinvent the Super-Soldier Serum continued to have."

Dr. Riva frowned, "I realize our world has been subjugated, but do we really want to have legions of supermen running around?"

Zola laughed, "Do not worry, Dr. Riva. I had many years to examine the late Dr. Erskine work. I have come to the conclusion that he was right. The process amplifies what is already there. What is good becomes great. What is bad becomes worse. Both Captain Rodgers and the Red Skull illustrated this perfectly. I believe men and women of Rodgers caliber are few and far between. As you said, even with the threat from Asgard, the risk of is too great to not proceed with great caution. Even the Americans realized this after their first two failed attempts to create a new Captain America."

Rhodes face darkened at this. He'd only just learned the terrible tragedy of Isaiah Bradley who, in Rhodes' opinion had hardly been a failure. However, as a Black man in America, he couldn't find it in himself to be that shocked. What had shocked him was learning of a William Burnside. While he hadn't been openly Captain America, the foes of the US had tangled with him for almost 20 years had known him as such.

What had happened to Bradley was shocking, it was more so to see how far Burnside had fallen while fighting Communism. The records Fury had given him illustrated a man driven into patriotism fueled by paranoia which result in hushed up tragedies and multiple war crimes. In the end, he couldn't be controlled and he had been terminated while still recovering from the wounds he got while fighting the Red Guardian in Nicaragua. As Zola had said, bad had become worse and allowed to be so all under the banner of fighting the Red Menace.

JARVIS' voice broke into his thoughts, "Fabrication is complete. As soon as the armor is transferred, we can begin to have you uploaded, Dr. Zola."

Rhodes looked to Dr. Riva, "How are the numbers looking? Will you be able get your design up and running?"

Dr. Riva nodded as he gestured to the data on his screen, "With access to HYDRA's records, it shouldn't be that difficult to reconstruct the energy batteries used in World War Two. If they can do it with the tech of the time, it shouldn't be a problem now, especially with Dr. Zola's help from what he remembers from the Red Skull's works. With the power problem out of the way, dumbing down the suit, as it were, is another easily dealt with issue."

Rhodes nodded, "Good. As much as I'd like squadrons of Hammerdroids and more agents in better armor, the ARC reactor energy is too easily tracked. Having more primitive Iron-Monger suits means we can make more of them on the sly in more places around the world. Still worried that the energy from the Tesseract is going to be spotted by the Asgardians."

Vanko huffed, "You forget that all of this may be for nothing. They very well may be listening to us right now."

Rhodes turned to Vanko, "How so?"

Vanko made an airy gesture towards the ceiling, "My ancestors had their own old Gods. As the Norse people had Thor, we Slavs prayed to Perun who was our God of Thunder. Then there was Jutrobog. He could see all that was kissed by the morning dawn. The gods of my people were seen as myths but now the Gods of the Scandinavians rule over us. So if those ancient myths and legends are true, then the old god of the Vanir, Heimdall, exists. Like Jutrobog, he sees all. He was said to be able to hear the dew drying on the morning grass if he so wished. To see a leaf drop from trees in every realm of the Nine Realms."

Both Rhodes and Riva looked at each other in alarm.

Vanko saw this and chuckled as he bent back down to work on the device he had found, "Do not fret. This Heimdall is the guardian of their Bifrost. The bridge they use to move from their home to here. It is his role to protect Asgard from invasion. We can only hope his attention is taken up by that. Otherwise…well then we are truly doomed to be under Loki's yoke."

Rhodes thought on the implications of this. It might mean they had to be a lot more covert than they had planned to be. If they made too much 'noise' too quickly, it might draw Heimdall's attention. If Vanko was right and Heimdall could see and hear anywhere he focused, then they were indeed defeated before they even began.

It grated on his fighter pilot instincts. He wished they could just fight out in the open and be done with it. Now the grim reality was sinking in that it was their role to play the insurgent. To strike hard and quickly fade away.

He shook his head. It didn't matter. He'd taken an oath to serve. He'd do whatever was needed to win back the world for the human race.

XxXxX

ÍSSTÓLL [EESH-tōsh], TONSBERG, NORWAY, OCTOBER 15th, 2010 – LATE MORNING

Loki sat on his throne and pondered his next move. While his new palace was still under construction, his temporary throne room would do. For now, Loki had to deal more with the substance of ruling rather than the trappings of such.

Taking Midgard had been easy; it had fallen in under a day. Holding Midgard, however, was proving to be a different story. Still, his mother had assured him that the All-Father saw his handling of his rule here as a test of his abilities in order to ascend one day to the throne of Asgard.

Loki smiled at that thought. As if Midgard and Asgard would satisfy him! He was the rightful ruler of the lands Jötenheim where the Frost Giants held sway and he would bring that realm under his control in time. Then the rest of Jotenheim would fall thereafter. His smiled deepened. He might even make niece Þrúðr [Thrüd] his viceroy as she was one Utgards whose royal line had once rule over much of the warmer regions. A royal line now all but extinct save his niece.

Loki let his mind wander even farther into the future. He would take direct control over the other realms as his power grew. While Queen Freya and her Vanir [Vah-near] had been victorious in the ancient war between Asgard and Vanaheim, with three realms behind him, Loki felt he would be able to throw down the most dangerous threat to Asgardian supremacy.

After that? There was many realms which would eventually kneel before him.

But before his glorious purpose could fully unfold, Loki knew he had to tame Midgard. A task he was rapidly finding more difficult than he could ever have imagined. The humans had made such great strides from the last time he had walked these lands.

The door to the chamber opened and the party he'd been expected strode in with military precision. Loki had to smirk at who led the group. As the humans said, speak of the Devil. Taller than any of the other doughty Asgardian warriors, his niece Þrúðr had proven herself these last few months. He had always had a good relationship with his brother's eldest. More so know that he knew the truth of his own birth. If there was anyone in Asgard who could empathize with her lineage, it was him.

Her mother, the giantess Princess Járnsaxa [yarn-saxa], had been given to Thor as a peace-weaving to keep war from breaking out between Asgard and Jötenheim due to her brother, Prince Geirröðr's [Gear-rude], plot against Thor's life. Never trusted by the Æsir [Es-year], tongues always wagged with rumors and mistrust around her. It was at Thor's own hands that Járnsaxa died when Thor, in a drunken rage, had killed her for supposedly plotting to betray the Thunder God to her people. To this day, Loki wondered if even the All-Father knew if Járnsaxa had truly been plotting against her husband or if Thor had simply let his mead-addled paranoia, driven by the incessant gossip, to go too far.

This incident of Thor's rage had been one of many which had led to Odin banishing him to Midgard and thus to his death. It was little wonder that one of his Beltane Born sons from Lady Sif very name meant Wrath in the old tongue.

The group knelt as one. Loki raised his spear and rapped it loudly on the floor, "Rise Princess Þrúðr and report."

As his niece and her warband rose, Loki had to keep from smirking anew at the flinty looks many of the warriors had at Loki's using Þrúðr's proper title. Like himself, she was viewed with suspicion by many of the important families. He didn't need the All-Father's wisdom to know that Thor's sons were safely back on Asgard and no doubt hurriedly being given lessons if one of them were needed to ascend to the throne if Loki could not win approval of Odin. For all that she was Thor's eldest, Þrúðr was more like Lady Sif and preferred the field over the council chamber.

Þrúðr's face was severe, "My Lord Prince, while much of Midgard is still learning to accept your rule, a sect of the Sacrificed God remain devotedly opposed to it. Indeed, much of the conflict before out arrival on Midgard was in their lands before your rule put an end to them. Against their fellow Midgardians, they would go so far as blow themselves up with explosives among their enemies. To them, we are not only invaders, but an affront to their God. Plus magic is one of their Seven Destructive Sins. So even as we shower them with the fruits of Asgard's blessing, they reject it."

Þrúðr paused for a moment before sighing, "I fear we may well and truly have to blood our blades in the coming days. My warrior heart is heavy with the slaughter that this will entail. Yet even kind-hearted Volstagg the Voluminous reluctantly agrees that any diplomatic solution will be sneered at. I have spoken with soldiers from Europe and Vinland who were fighting in these lands. They too are not confident that even with our strength that the bulk of these Muslims would submit."

Loki sighed as he stood, "It is as I feared. Indeed, I expect the other sects of this Sacrificed God will also soon turn to rebellion. There are always those whose pride outpaces their place in things. No matter. I am told that many humans have been worried their primitive industries are heating up Midgard to an alarming degree. I think it is time I break those who oppose my rule even as I fix the climate mistakes of my new subjects. In doing so, I can remove the burden upon our hosts of such an unpleasant task. Besides, Midgard has always been too warm for my liking."

Many in the chamber could not help but feel a shiver of dread run through them at the cold glint to their Prince's eyes.

XxXxX

AUTHOR'S NOTES: Yes, I know I need to be working on my other projects. With COVID roaring back, I need to finish my "Pandemic Fic" One of One. I had originally was going to make this one of my Pernicious Story Bunnies. However, the story refused to be kept to just one long proof of concept.

Character Ages: To make things easier for me, most characters are as old as their actor. Shuri, for example, is supposed to be 18 in the Black Panther but it's obvious she's the 23 Lettitia Wright (born 1993) was at the time. So that's why she's 17 in this fic. Also, it has been confirmed that the little kid at the Stark Expo with the Iron Man mask who Tony saves was Peter Parker who would have been 9 and thus a Fourth Grader in 2010.

Norse Names: I try to use the more Old Norse spelling when possible. I ran them through Google Translate under Icelandic (closest to Old Norse) and this [name] is how it is to sound. However, while Google Translates does well with the sound, it doesn't work with the actual translation. For example, Þrúðr in modern Icelandic translates as Thrush (the bird) while the closest you get in an English to Icelandic translation of strength is Þrek which further translates more into endurance.

* Þrúðr: Usually angelized as Thrud meaning strength but more properly it would be Thrüd for those who know more of the Germanic pronunciation.

* Æsir: This is the formal name of the people of Asgard.

* Móði: Usually angelized as Modi but sometimes as Mothi. This doesn't surprise me because if you put Þrúðr into Google Translate it comes out Thoosh instead of Thrüd. Modi's name means Wrath while his twin brother Magni's means Mighty. I think we can guess which son would probably become king of Asgard if Loki or Þrúðr didn't work out. It also explains why Odin might think someone might use Modi's nature against his brother. It's interesting that all three of Thor's children are an aspect of him: Strength, Mighty and Wrath.

* Ísstóll: 'Ice Throne' which I think is an apt name for Loki's palace to be. It also is another good reminder that the spelling of many Icelandic/Scandinavian words sound VERY different than one would expect in English. Before I heard the Icelandic pronunciation, I was expecting Ish-tool instead of the actual Eesh-tosh.

Sacrificed God: Þrúðr is wrong to referred to Islam as being tied to the Sacrificed God given that in Islam Jesus was not the Son of God but one of the four main prophets. (Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed) However, also speaking broadly, Judaism, Christianity and Islam jointly have often been referred to as Abraham's People given all three's God is the God of Abraham. In fact, the often heard "There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is His Prophet" is a very bad translation. It should be read, "There is no God but the God of Abraham and Mohammed is the Seal of the Prophets" where being the seal relates to how in Islam, Mohammed is the final prophet who 'seals' the pact between God and man. That and Allah isn't a name like Jesus but means the Lord.

However, given how most of the people who used to worship the Asgardians as gods converted to Christianity it is much more likely for Þrúðr to refer to Islam as such being (to her eyes) just a different sect of that religion. (My knowledge of Islam came from studying it prior to deployment to Afghanistan. A big part of this came in special training which included the professor from Georgetown University who would advise President Bush the Younger on all things Islamic who taught us a day long block on the subject. However, this was 17 years ago. If you feel I've made a mistake, please PM me.)

Norse & Slavic Concepts: There are lots of sources in both the Norse and Germanic traditions and they often conflict badly with each other.

Thor's children: For the purposes of my all my Marvel related stories, while Sif is Magni and Modi's mother, she is not married to Thor. Járnsaxa is sometimes seen as a giantess and sometimes as an alternate name for Sif. I'm obviously going with the giantess myth. That and do you really think that in 1,500 years, Thor wouldn't have any kids?

Loki's Children: Sadly, the way the MCU is structured, I can't have Hel(a), Fenris, Jörmungand and Sleipnir being Loki's children. Of course, I've said in other fics how I still am angered that Marvel managed to switch Loki's parents! Laufey is Loki's mother with Fárbauti being his father. Thus if done right, it would be Loki Fárbautison and Loki/Sylvie Laufeydöttir. On a related note, the wolf seen in Thor: Ragnarök shouldn't have been Fenris but Garm, the huge hellhound who guards Gnipahellir, the entrance to Helheim.

Beltane Birth: This alludes to fertility festivals which honored the return of Spring. Given traditional Scandinavian naming structures are based on gender, bastardry isn't as a big deal especially if it is the result of magical fertility rites. That and children born of fertility festivals were seen as being blessed regardless of being born (usually) out of wedlock.

"Variant" Heimdall: While Jutrobog is a Slavic deity, I'm using what is known and altering him to be the Slavic equivalent to Heimdall as the god Perun is seen as the same to Thor.

Not Just Ice: In Norse 'canon' Jötenheim is the land of the giants and they come in all types. So it is not all just one big Hoth like planet the MCU shows. That part is just the realm of the Frost Giants. Most of the giants are more just the classic "Big People" type giants.

Although the MCU Frost Giants do look more like they'd melt if they got too much sunlight as they are shown to do in many Thor comics even though they are drawn (or they were back in the day) like the classic "Big Person" giant.

In fact, for those who remember Walt Simonson's run of Thor, the Utgard mentioned here refers to the Utgard-Loki. (In this case, Loki being a title showing that Utgard was a rarity in giants by being a sorcerer.) Simonson didn't make this character up as he plays a role in a certain Eddas.