J for Jump Part 1


IMPORTANT: This chapter is so much fun if you are an RDJ fan and loved him in the Sherlock Movies, as I did. You will all notice the Reichenbach references, and I think its fucking awesome, but that's probably cuz I'm the one who wrote it so yah…

Ok, so this prompt is one that wasn't so much a prompt more than a plot theme – I had a lot of requests for "Jump", but a specific request that we see more of Tony sacrificing himself for his teammates. Naturally, I am happy to oblige. Please enjoy this latest installment of cruelty…


The quinjet blades whirred at their familiar frequency, adjusting speed and repulsion angle to settle the aircraft as gracefully as possible. Before the landing gear was even fully braced on the ground, the bridge was descending from the rear of the plane. Heavy metalloid boots stomped into the wet grass, followed by the purposeful strides of combat boots. The two were flanked by the rustle of Kevlar and the clicking of arrow heads.

More footsteps joined the parade, this time descending from the sky – but landing much less gently than the quinjet. Black footgear, lined with alien metals, quickly fell in sync with the march of its teammates.

"We are close. I can feel it." The Asgardian's eyes were hooded in severity – his long blonde mane was concealed under a dark hood that covered the length of his body. Stealth was of the utmost importance to the team. If they did not have the element of surprise, they had nothing.

"Iron Man, scanning report." Steve Rogers spoke softly, but not in a whisper. His commanding tone was hard to miss. There as a sharpness to his voice that the team often forgot he was capable of – but who could blame him? This mission had put the whole team on edge.

Even Tony, who was usually brazen and childish, had relinquished all juvenile schemes. His face the mask of perfect discipline, the gravity of the situation becoming more and more apparent with all that Thor had relayed to them during briefing.

JARVIS interpolated within his helmet, throwing up heat signatures and lifeform analysis. Although there was nothing in the immediate proximity, readings were getting….odd… deeper into the forest.

"There is," the engineer began softly, "a gamma anomaly radiating from the epicenter of the magnetic field we had found earlier." Calculations and extrapolations started flying through his mind, each grimmer than the last. "Whatever she is, she is not leaving without one hell of a fight, you guys."

"A fight is what we're trying to avoid. We just want to talk, remember?" Steve, ever the voice of practicality.

"This is one hell of a chit-chat, boys." Natasha spoke softly, running her fingers over her gear.

Barton leaned in to Tony's side, mumbling under his breath. "If we're just hear to chat her up, I don't think I'm the man for the job. You can tell by my taste in women that I'm not much of a conversationalist."

Tony gave a hearty laugh, then choked it down into silence and scoffed a bit, the mischievous smile playing at his lips hidden under his faceplate. Barton had no shield for his shit-eating grin, and it was quickly killed by Thor's glance of disdain.

"This is no laughing matter, Friend Archer." The stormy eyes of the Asgardian king were roiling, a mix of pain and anxiety. "Levity will be our doom. This must be treated as delicately as possible." He looked ahead into the dark. "There is no telling what she has become by now; and perhaps even more terrifying, there is no telling what she will become if we do not succeed." Thor let out a shaky breath. "If we fail, Midgard is forfeit."


24 hours earlier, SHIELD BRIEFING ROOM


"Sorry, Who?"

"Frejya."

"Fraza?"

"No, Freyja."

"Felma?"

"By Gods, man of arrows, you-"

"Settle, children." Natasha didn't even look up from her utility belt as she studiously inspected and cleaned it, tightening straps and securing ties.

Steve, from the other side of the room, scrunched his forehead and brought a hand to his temple. "Just-Just go through it again, Thor? Tell Fury what you told us this morning."

"Yah, Caped Crusader, tell Dear Saint Nick what you told us this morning – you remember, right after you burst through my fifty-thousand dollar window and landed on my Italian Leather Sofa." Tony shot a venomous glare to the Asgardian who at least had the decency to shrug apologetically.

"I do beg forgiveness for disturbing your slumbers," He caught Tony's eye again. "And for disturbing your upholstery – but it was of the utmost import that I warn you all of the threat you now face."

Nicholas Fury, who had been silent up to this point, placed his elbows on the conference table, lacing his fingers and putting his lips to his knuckles. He rested, in such a position, for only several more moments, deep in contemplation, bracing himself for the next disaster.

The director's one eye locked authoritatively onto the Norseman's face.

"What is it, Thor? And how do we stop it?"

"Her name is Freyja – Lady Freyja, and she is of kin to me - we are both Asgardian, but she is very ancient and of other times and older realms. In the Midgardian tongue – the Norse folk who worshipped us – her name means 'The Woman'…" Thor trailed off slightly, obviously unsettled. "Freyja is a great warrior and a powerful omen among men. In your old religions, and in ours, she is akin to a goddess. She represents the best and worst of man: her very visage is that of intense sexuality, beauty, fertility, riches-"

"I have yet to see the down side." Tony interjected, high fiving Clint in the process. Steve rolled his eyes and threw a pen across the table at the two of them. Thor glared, pointedly, emphasizing his next words with care.

"She is also the harbinger of greed, sorcery, war, and death. She is two sides of a coin melded into a single being, and her power is far more than even Loki could ever have hoped to achieve. Freyja is of old magic, not even comparable to my brother's silver-tongued manipulations and malice.

There was an uncomfortable silence in the room as the mood darkened noticeably. Tony couldn't help but contemplate the meaning of Thor's words. If Asgardians were seen as ancient gods to humans, but Asgardians have their own ancient gods… These were old forces more powerful than they could ever hope to understand.

The Director spoke for the first time. "Why is Freyja a threat to us, Thor? Why now?"

Tony sat up straighter – leave it to Nicholas, always asking the right questions.

Thor's head drooped in a bitter display of regret and mortification. "I am ashamed to say that it was my own men who have brought this upon you." He sighed, disgust filling his tone. "A scouting mission – nothing more, nothing less. Asgardian Soldiers are the best trained militants in all the nine realms, they do not make mistakes…well, until yesterday.

"The high council of Asgard has been scouting the stars relentlessly for months, now – they search for a planet, isolated and distant, to house our most dangerous threats. After…After Loki escaped, and had access to so many weapons, so many avenues for evil." It was hard to miss the sadness cloaked behind Thor's anger. His brother was still a sore subject, even though he had been dead now for almost two years. "My council has been searching for a lone, inhospitable region to keep our strongest foes under lock and key with nothing but the planet itself as their prison. After ages of searching and venturing, we thought we had finally located a cluster of orbiting bodies that would suit our needs, so far from Asgard it was on the edge of almost every chart we had. I sent a battalion of my finest scouts to map the terrain and send back a full report. As their leader, I assume full responsibility for what happened next."

Fury was visibly on edge. "Would you care to share with the class?"

"Just tell him what you told us, Thor." Nat was looking at him with a rare expression of sympathy. Thor had never been one to hide emotions, and the pain on his face made them all shift uncomfortably.

"They went deep – deeper into the planet than I had expected. I suppose they were just being thorough, but…they found…something. Something which I had long believed to be a myth…a legend. They should have recognized, they should have thought longer and harder but they did not, and now we find ourselves at an impasse, my friends. They took a relic – an ancient pendant. It is known as the Brísingamen. In your tongues, it means the giver of fire."

"No offense, buddy," Tony coughed quietly from the other side of the table. "But what does a necklace have to do with this? With Freyja?"

Thor took a deep breath. "Because that necklace as you call it belongs to her. It is said that when Freyja wears the Brísingamen, she is cloaked in ethereal beauty and insurmountable strength. And without it, she becomes…another creature entirely. Just like the natural order of the universe, there is a dark and light. As I told you before, Freyja is two sides to a coin – passion and love, but flipped, she is darkness and death. That pendant is the light side of her being. Her celestial form cannot be balanced without it, and now that it is no longer in her presence, she will succumb entirely to darkness. She is a shadow – a dweller of the dark."

"She sounds like a bedtime story." Huffs Steve, ever practical. "This is something to scare kids into behaving."

Thor's words were like ice, and the team would never forget the look in his eyes when he spoke next. They had never seen him so shaken.

"It is not just the children who should be afraid, Captain. We should all be very afraid."

Steve bristled. "Yah, but what do we have to fear? Earth has no part in this fight."

Very slowly, Thor turned, reaching deep into his cloak. He pulled out a small satchel, and began pulling the strings, unfolding leather wrapping after leather wrapping. The whole team held their breath, silently dreading that their growing suspicions were about to be confirmed.

With a final reach into the bag, he withdrew a hand to reveal an ornate pendant, glistening with silvers and golds and immaculately cut fire opals. Everyone's jaw dropped. Guilt washed across Thor's face.

"You do, now."

The room erupted.

Tony looked bewildered, a string of sarcasm erupting from his mouth about how "it's time we had another space war, he was getting bored watching videos of himself on YouTube from the last one". Tash's only tell was the way her hands tightened swiftly around her pistols. Barton jumped from the table, pacing, but never leaving his partner's side, cursing like a sailor. Fury's rage didn't even try to be silent, full of accusations and political whiplash and vigorous rubbing of his bald head. Maria Hill, walking past in the hallway, rushed in, took one look around, and backed out without a word. Steve was pointing and gesticulating at Thor, a mix of anger and betrayal clear in his eyes. The room was ripe with testosterone and concealed panic.

"DO YOU REALIZE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?" Fury's voice rose above the rest in a tidal wave that crested and crashed over Thor, only amplifying the turmoil in his mind.

"OF COURSE I DO!" The Asgardian bellowed in return, effectively silencing the rest of the team.

"I, more than any of you, know the consequences of my actions. Which is why-" he stood, "-I have come to warn you and lend you aid. I have brought this new threat to your realm. My father grows sickly - Asgard is too weak to deal with a threat such as this – but I believed Midgard to be capable. It is my duty to help you vanquish Freyja, and on my honor, I shall not fail you."

"You better not." Director Fury's voice was low and dark. He held eye contact with the Asgardian for a plat second more, and mutual understanding rang true. There was a job to be done.

"Alright, Avengers. You've got work to do."


The Team had, from Thor's approximations, less than 36 hours before Freyja tracked her pendant to Earth. For the rest of the day after that briefing, the Avengers lay sprawled in various positions around Stark tower, reading everything they could get their hands on concerning Ancient Norse Folklore. Thor, of course, found this quite amusing, and very frequently in their studies, he would interrupt the silence with a shout laughter or indignance when a story was greatly exaggerated. Jane Foster was on call from Nevada, alerting the team to any sort of inter-dimensional anomalies. If an Einstein-Rosen Bridge opened anywhere on the planet, Jane would know.

As the crisp November dusk settled over Manhattan, Agent Romanoff cleared her throat in the living room – it was the first sound he had made all day.

"Thor?" She called.

He looked up from his book with a kind smile. "Yes, shield maiden?"

"This book says that Freyja's pendant makes her irresistible to men, but what about women?" The whole team raised their heads from their books; the vast majority of them being male, the notion had never crossed their minds.

"Like a siren?" Bruce cut into the conversation from his screen in the study. He was in Nevada working in a radiation lab with a Doctor Hank Pym, but he had agreed to lend the team a hand. At Nat's words, he had lifted his nose out of his eBook and perked at the chance to assist. His hair was rumpled and his shirt needed desperately to be ironed, but since he looked like this most days, there was nothing out of the usual.

Thor's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What is a siren, good Doctor?"

"Sirens," Bruce stretched his neck, "are mythical creatures, featured most heavily in Greek and roman literature, though their legends have extended far past the faiths that created them. They are nymphs – water nymphs, like…" he searched for the word, absentmindedly pushing his glasses up his nose. "Like evil ocean fairies. They would sing to sailors, luring the men into danger. The ships would crash against rocks and kill everyone on board; or the men would dive into the depths trying to catch the sirens, and they would drown. Fictional, of course, but the principle is the same."

Thor digested this information, and then turned back to answer Widow's question. "The book is only half correct, Lady Natasha. While Freyja's charms can be magically based, I highly doubt that she will attempt such a thing during our confrontation." He thought more deeply. "However, should it come to that, you, milady, would be safe. Not because her magic won't work on you, but rather simply because Freyja preys upon what she assumes to be attraction. She cannot create a feeling – only amplify it."

Thor nodded pensively, and Tony piped up from his spot on the kitchen counter where he was scribbling down notes and eating an enchilada. "So, you're telling me," he swallowed. "That Widow is immune to sexy Freyja? What about Dark Freyja?"

Bruce marked his page and leaned forward. "Hmmm, I don't think Dark Freyja will be trying to seduce anyone, Tony, not by what Thor has told us. It's only once we return her pendant to her that we are at risk from her…womanly wiles." Nat snorted in the background.

"So that's the plan, then." She stood. "You all convince her not to kill everyone, we return her necklace, and I make sure none of you get seduced by a goddess." She turned to Clint. "Especially not you." Her tone was playful, but they all knew that she wasn't kidding.

"Babe, I already get laid by a goddess!" Barton wrapped his arms around her waist and gave her a sloppy kiss on the cheek. "Almost every night, actually - sometimes twice on Tuesdays-"

"CLINT!" She slapped him roughly on the cheek, genuinely indignant, but he sniggered. Tony pretended to gag on his snack and Steve turned about six shades of scarlet from his position at the kitchen table. Thor just grinned like a child, jigging his eyebrows at Clint. The archer made the mistake of winking back at the Asgardian, only earning himself another slap.

Nat got up and strode to her room. "I'm taking a shower – I need to cleanse myself of your collective stupidity." Barton's smile fell.

"I am invited?"

SLAP!


The team packed their go bags and loaded up the SUV to drive to SHIELD headquarters. Their orders were to spend the night in the Quinjet Bunker so that they would be ready for takeoff at a moment's notice.

Clint and Tony grabbed the top bunks first, but it was soon decided that this was a terrible idea because they would be dropping things on everyone all night and nobody would get any sleep – so they were forced to take the two adjoining cots at the far end of the hangar. Bruce and Nat snagged the lofted beds, instead, and Thor and Steve - who were too heavy to be on the top bunks, anyway – settled into the lower ones.

They were all hoping for a few good hours sleep before the alarms went off, but it had been hardly an hour with the lights shut off that Tony Stark's phone went wild with messages from a Dr. Jane Foster. Soon, sirens echoed violently in the hangar, and the Quinjet was roaring to life. Without a word, the team was changed, packed up, and boarding the aircraft. Coordinates were locked and loaded. Freyja had touched down on Earth in the southern Yukon Territory, Canada.

The Avengers took to the sky.


BACK TO PRESENT


It appeared that, luckily, their arrival had yet to be noticed. The forest was dark and old, and even Tony would admit that it was creeping him out. The woods, in combination with the freaky energy signatures emanating from the epicenter of Freyja's arrival, were giving him the heebie-jeebies.

The rocks here were sharp, with no bushy moss to gentle their appearances. The terrain was scarred and jagged, with steep cliffs rising around scraggly outcroppings of prehistoric pines. The moon painted the waterfalls in the distance a cold silver, and the white puffs of everyone's breath seemed to be the only sign of life around them.

It was too quiet.

They walked for several more minutes in complete silence until Steve, from the front of the march, raised his hand to stop them. Shuffling ceased immediately. With a series of well-rehearsed hand signals, he initiated phase 1 of their plan. Thor nodded, pulling the pendant from the satchel at his side and handing it to Natasha. Agent Romanoff looked cool and collected, as usual, but it wasn't Nat who Tony was worried about – it was Clint.

The apprehension on Hawkeye's face was well-hidden to anyone who didn't know him, but to his Avengers family, it was obvious that he was nervous. Tony could understand well enough. If he was sending Pep into a situation like this by herself, well, they'd have to tie him down.

Nat gave a nod, and Steve responded with a reassuring huff. He signaled for the march to continue in phase 2 formation. Half of the party went left, half went right. They would have the clearing circled when Tash made her big entrance.

As a unit, the team crept forward, making the diameter of their circle smaller and smaller. Inside the Iron man helmet, silent alarms were plastered on the screen – energy readings were spiking off the charts, gamma radiation was leaking violently, and natural forces were warping.

"Cap, Tony whispered. "The scanners are going nuts. Hell, even the gravity in this place is lighter…"

"Affirmative." Unease was seeping into Steve's stomache.

The team continued their silent creep forward, and as they did, they could see the wisps of light and luminescence emanating from the clearing ahead. But this wasn't a chipper light. This was a heavy shine, a glow that fell short of beauty. It was one of dark reds and fierce blacks – a dark so dark that it looked as if it would swallow the night whole. Each team member crouched behind bushes and trees, remaining perfectly still. If they blew Tash's cover, they were all doomed.

"Phase three is go." Steve whispered into their earpieces.

Per the plan, they all peeked into the clearing to establish their visuals.

What they saw was beautiful in the most horrifying sense of the word.

It was a woman – that was plain and clear to see – but it…it wasn't. Her body was a dark mass of featureless night. She was a black hole with a mouth and hair, as if all the light in the heavens belonged to her and she was taking it back. Stunningly high cheekbones framed a face that held no semblance of her ancientness, yet carried the weariness of a figure who had seen too many millennia. She was old and wise and strong and terrifying, only a faint glow even giving her form definition in the pitch black of the Yukon Pine Shade. The moon almost seemed to retreat in her very presence. She was intimidating, she was blackness, she was death, she was ferocity, she was powerful – she was a goddess.

"Holy shit." Tony's words were hardly a whisper, but there message was clear.

"Same." Barton breathed into his mouthpiece.

God knows how she did it, but as soon as Steve's uncharacteristically nervous voice came over the comm system and heralded in Phase 4, Natasha rose steadily to her feet and walked slowly and carefully out of the tree line. Barton almost moved to stop her, but Thor must have clamped the archer's mouth shut, because all they heard were muffles and angry whispers before the line quickly fell silent.

Earth's mightiest Heroes watched with intense apprehension as Black Widow walked, blazing pendant outstretched in her hands, fearlessly towards the enemy. Freyja's head snapped to her immediately, piercingly bright amber eyes a startling contrast to the darkness. The goddess let her gaze settle on the necklace in Nat's hand, and she let out a gruesome and bloodcurdling howl, furious in her heavenly ordinance. Like a dark cloud, the woman whisked herself, traveling like smoke, right to where Natasha stood, hovering above her at ten feet tall.

"Freyja," Nat's voice didn't break once. Clint felt his chest swell with pride. "Freyja, Midgard wishes to return your pendant to you. It was unintentionally taken from you. Please accept it and leave this realm."

Thor nodded along from the sidelines. She was delivering it exactly as they had practiced. She needed to lull Freyja into believing they were here to pacify, not contain a threat. Once Freyja was vulnerable, the team would strike. At first, Steve had raised the obvious question: what if Freyja takes the necklace and leaves in peace?

Thor had looked at him like an exhausted teacher may look at a pupil. "My Captain, do you think I would have brought Freyja here if I believed she might leave Asgard in peace in the first place? Everywhere she goes, there is bloodshed. She will fight. We have but one option."

With this, the team watched as Thor withdrew second item from his satchel. A shimmering steel bracelet cuff, beautiful in its simplicity. When Thor placed it in his hand, however, it began to glow along invisible lines, etching patterns of light across the shiny metal. Tony recognized them immediately.

"Aren't those the same voodoo-Asgardian sigils on your hammer?"

Thor's mouth twitched up in amusement. "Yes, Anthony, this bracelet is made of the same material as Mjolnir, but it was forged by high priestesses of Asgard many, many millennia ago. This cuff binds any magic, preventing the wearer from casting any spell or enchantment. It cannot be taken off by the captive, only by its captors." He turned to Agent Romanoff. "Milady, when you have lured Freyja close enough to take the necklace, you must slip this onto her wrist. It will leave her completely magicless, and completely mortal. However, she is still an incredibly powerful being – even without her sorcery. If it comes to a battle, we still may not best her. It is imperative that you succeed - and quickly. She cannot know our intentions, or she will kill us all with the flick or her hand." Tash had nodded solemnly, along with the rest of the team. If anyone could do this, it was her.

Now, back in the field, Barton could just make out the glint of ancient steel in the back loop of Natasha's utility belt. He only hoped that she could complete the mission without getting herself hurt. The whole scene was making him sick to his stomach.

Slowly, like an animal approaching food from a hunter's hand, Freyja's hands came up, dancing around the pendant in the Russian's hands. She was captivated by the sight of her lost jewels, and she seemed almost reverent of them, unwilling to touch them just yet.

"C'mon…just a bit closer…" Steve's was urging in hushed tones. They were all on the balls of their feet, ready to sprint out at a moment's notice. Freyja's hands got closer to Natasha's. How the Russian wasn't shaking in her boots, Tony would never know.

"Closer….just a few more inches….just one more hair…"

Silence.

"NOW." Steve's command was almost too slow for Natasha's reaction time. In less than a blink of an eye, her fingers nimbly withdrew the silver cuff, producing it and slamming it home, watching with pure satisfaction as it slotted over Freyja's wrist.

Freyja howled, completely outraged, and raised her hands to Nat, open palmed, casting a god-knows-what spell that probably would have turned her into a pinecone or Jell-O or…or nothing.

Nothing happened, and Tony let out a whoop from the tree line as Freyja visibly panicked and tried again. Barton let out a breath and felt a million pounds fall from his shoulders as Nat retreated toward their cover.

Thor and Steve intercepted Nat and kept moving forwards toward the screeching Alien as she pulled desperately at her wrist. Barton met Widow halfway, quickly checked her over for himself, and the two of them jogged the rest of the distance together to join their teammates. Tony took to the sky, hovering around the clearing, guns pointed straight at the target.

Now was her chance to be cooperative.

"Freyja!" Thor bellowed, standing with his shoulders squared and his face even. He was addressing her as his captive, yes, but there was still a respect there.

"Thor…" She spoke for the first time. "How charming to see you, after all these years." The sound of it had goosebumps running down everyone's spines. Her voice was like…like drowning. It was cold and absolute, dark and consuming, but almost…ensnaringly peaceful.

"Freyja," Thor remained tall. "You came here with evil intentions. You came for battle, and you have been bested. We will return the Brísingamen, but you must go in peace. Leave Midgard, it has no quarrel with you, nor you with it."

Freyja gazed down at her wrist, almost pouting. "If you have no quarrel with me, Thor Odenson, then why trap me so?"

Thor gave a bitter grin. "We both know, Freyja, you came here not for peaceful conversation. Now, take your talisman and leave, and when you are clear of this realm, I will recall the bracelet that traps you and you may return to peaceful solitude where you will not again be disturbed." His eyes were storm clouds. "Do we have deal?"

The goddess gave a dramatic sigh, flipping her raven locks. "I suppose that we do,"

Thor nodded. "Milady Romanoff, if you would be so kind."

Natasha wordlessly moved towards the goddess. She held the necklace at an arm's length. Clint stiffened visibly and tightened his fingers around the arrow he had notched and ready in his bow.

The goddess' hand, black as night, wisped and floated down through the air and almost tickled the silver and gold intricacies before grasping the pendant in her willowy fingers. Almost immediately, she began to change.

Her silhouette changed from its tall and dark length to more human, shrinking in height but not in stature. Color invaded her features, like paint being splashed onto a blank canvas. Her straight and regal nose became visible against the rest of her face – her radiant bronze skin and striking green eyes popped. A natural blush settled on her cheeks, and her arms and legs filled with smooth and silky flesh tones. Her black drapery became shimmering metal and vibrant pink silken robes. She exuded sexuality and confidence, but there was an heir of danger there – a sense of uncertainty and wildness that not even a necklace can contain.

She heaved a great breath, and the very trees around the clearing seemed to quiver. Her long red hair, wavy and thick, framed the calculating expression on her face.

"Much…much better." This Freyja – her voice was a wind chime, trickling through the breeze and the mountains with a strong allure. Everything about her was full of life.

Natasha had to physically slap Tony on the arm for him to realize his jaw was hanging open. A quick glance to even Steve showed that he was in the same state of awe. Barton was a lost cause altogether, drool spilling from the corner of his mouth. Nat gave him an especially hard slap.

Thor never once lost his stoic expression. "Milady Freyja, now, per our agreement – if you would be so kind…leave Midgard and do not return. When you have returned to your realm, I will summon the bracelet and you will be freed."

Freyja flipped her hair causally over her shoulder, watching it shimmer with a light that seemed to be emanating from her, not reflecting. She absentmindedly fastened the necklace around her neck, letting the fire opals and ambers drape sensually across her cleavage. Tony had to physically avert his head. He was getting distracted.

Freyja turned to the group, halting her vain strokes. "Oh, my dear Thor. How…big… you've gotten," she gave a flirtatious giggle, running her fingertips across the Norseman's chest, circling him slowly. "The last I saw you, you were naught but a child running at your father's feet. Oh how the millennia pass…and oh, how kind they were to the both of us…" she trailed her fingers across his shoulders, daring to dip her hand down his back and across his chest. Without a word, Thor grabbed her wrist roughly in his, halting her touch.

"Enough, Freyja."

Her lips puffed out slightly in a pout. "Oh, Thor…Too much like Oden, I see. All work, no pleasure." She sighed wistfully. "Too bad. We could have had fun." She straightened up, her eyes colder than before. She slowly passed her gaze over each member of the team, all standing in a ready formation, braced for a fight.

"Very well. I will leave Midgard post haste."

Thor was visibly relieved. "Thank you, Freyja, for your mercy. I am very pleased this did not come to violence."

But that's when Freyja laughed, an icy tinkling sound, and a chill ran down everyone's spine.

"I will leave Midgard post haste, Little Prince." She punctuated her next words with a sickening sweetness. "But only after I have killed each and every one of you."

There was a moment of silence, but it spoke volumes.

Before Tony could even raise his weaponry, Freyja's arm was flying towards Thor. He didn't have a second to react before a powerful backhand struck him and sent him flying into a tree. He shook himself off and rose to his feet, roaring. Clint was notching bolts and firing immediately, rolling towards the tree cover, trying to get a good vantage point to neutralize the threat. The fight had gone from zero to sixty in the blink of an eye.

Tony was firing repulsor after repulsor, but Freyja was fast – too fast. Even without magic, she had all the combat skills of Asgard's finest warriors and eons of training. She was a true Valkyrie – an Alien of ancient age who was several planes above human ability. Widow fired round and after round as well, and though she never missed, the shots bounced off of Freyja's armor with sparks accompanied by cries of outrage from the disillusioned goddess. The silver gauntlets on her forearms shielded any shots from her face as she dodged them with impossible reaction times. Her eyes were aflame in fury and menace.

With a roar, Freyja charged Tash as the Russian scrambled to reload. The fresh clip had just clicked into the Glock and Romanoff was raising her weapon – but the alien was quicker, and in an instant, Tash was flying through the air. Clint's blood ran cold as ice as he watched Freyja strike her in the chest with the force of an ancient queen. Before the archer's horrified eyes, his lover flew through the air, wrapping around a pine tree with a sickening thud. The crack echoed through the clearing as her skull connected with the unforgiving petrified wood.

"NOOOOO!" Clint cried, his mouth dry and heart beating wildly. Hawkeye scurried straight across the battlefield, narrowly dodging flying shields and repulsor blasts by pure luck. He slid the last few feet on his knees, cradling Natasha's head in his lap as a gash on her forehead trickled freely. Panic welled in his throat, but he forced himself to swallow it down. He needed to get her to safety. Emotions could be dealt with after.

Tony, who desperately wanted to fly over and help despite the raging Asgardian in the clearing, watched as Clint signaled to him. Barton would find cover for Tash and return to the fight as soon as he could. Tony nodded clearly and sharply. Then turned his attention back to trying to land a single goddamn shot on this bitch.

Tony registered Hawkeye cradle Widow in his arms and take off back toward the direction of the quinjet. There was no telling how long he'd be gone, though Tony knew Clint would hurry as best he could.

Let's keep the birthday girl occupied for now.

Tony swooped in low, clipping Freyja on the shoulder with the suit while she was distracted by a blustering Thor. She cried out in annoyance, but he banked a hard left and hit her on her other side with just as much force. These shots wouldn't kill her, but they would hurt – and if she can hurt, she can bleed. If she can bleed, she can die.

Hopefully.

The only problem is that Freyja knows that she is mortal. If she felt invincible – if she had her magic back, she wouldn't be on the defensive. She would open herself up to attack, expose her vulnerabilities under the pretense that her magic made her impenetrable.

All Tony needed was a clear shot.

It hit him like a ton of bricks.

It was a stupid idea. Completely reckless, improbable, unlikely to succeed…stupid, dangerous, moronic…half-baked… and it was genius.

"BLONDIE!" Tony shouted over the comm system. Steve, on the other side of the clearing, battling away, nodded that he could hear.

"Cap, I need to take off Freyja's bracelet. We need to unlock her magic!"

You know what? Now the he said it out loud –

"ARE YOU MAD?" The Asgardian prince roared from his front, startling even Freyja, but the fight continued smoothly. Tony spat out the rest of his idea.

"Look Freyja's "magic" is based in science – telekinesis! She manipulates waves and magnetic fields. That's all her magic is! That's how she fights. If we can give Freyja her magic back, we can lure her into a false sense of security. The iron man suit can resist magnetic fields to a certain degree if I throw all the power into the subsystems. I take off her bracelet, we fight, I charge her, and slap on the bracelet again with a full force attack that lays her out right as she assumes mortality. WE can't keep fighting her like this. I'm being wasted! She's a goddamn ninja warrior, the suit isn't built for this kind of hand to hand bullshit. I can't get off a clean shot and she's too damn fast to isolate. Steve, I need a gauntlet pass - A Hail Mary."

Captain America was throwing his shield, dismally watching it miss its target by a hair every time, and getting a goddess-punch to the shoulder in return. Tony cringed in sympathy as Captain America went to one knee with a wheeze. Just as Freyja was about to land a second crunching blow, Thor grabbed her from the side and those two reengaged in their own alien duel. Exhaustion was written across every Avenger's face – but Freyja looked like she was getting bored.

"Dammit, Stark." Steve resigned. "Do it…just don't mess up. That's an order."

"Me? Make a mistake? You might want to sit down, Cap, I think you're unwell." Tony's retort was witty, but hollow. They all knew the stakes.

Stark turned and returned to the fight. The battle had taken them on a wild ride, and the thunder of the falls was closer than ever. The trees croaked in the bitter winds at the top of the cliffs and the night was clouded and dark. Tony charged the goddess with an ostentatious cry.

You can imagine Freyja's surprise when she braced herself for the flying metal suit and instead was met by a hand wrapping around the only thing keeping her enemies safe from her magic. Stark had that bracelet off in record timing, spinning away to avoid her downward strike.

In his head, he accredited such nimble fingers to his years of experience removing bras with one hand.

"Wha…? You…You fools!" She laughed, unbelieving that freedom had come so easily. The depth of her laughter melded with the rush of the waterfall nearby as the river tumbled down the hundred yard drop. Freyja brought her arms up, and Tony watched with newfound uncertainty as sparks fell from her finger tips. She shot a hand out, muscles tensed, and clenched her hand. Immediately, Steve and Thor let out shouts of pain and were both immobilized. Stark's eyes grew big as his teammates were lifted into the air, struggling against invisible bonds.

"You've doomed your friends, Man of Iron." She tsk tsk-ed. "Such pity is this, and all for naught."

"Oh, no, madam." Tony's retort was sauntering. "For the woe is all yours."

He took to the sky, circling the three below and lining himself up as best he could. He eyed the waterfall behind her. All he had to do was hit her hard enough to send her flying over the edge and everything would be fine. The height of the drop was 300 feet, and if she descended at 9.8 meters per second per second without any velocity in the horizontal then her descension rate would be approximately-

Tony hesitated. The flight time wouldn't be enough to restart his operating systems. If all his juice got put into resisting the magnetic fields, he would need 6.8 seconds to restart JARVIS and have power rerouted back to the repulsors and life support systems. In conclusion…He would hit the water too.

No, there is always another way! Maybe I just did the math wrong.

But he was Tony Stark. He never did the math wrong.

Tony shot a look at Steve and Thor. They were struggling, getting pranced through the air like puppets, crying out in pain against the crushing force compacting their ribs. His glare turned to Freyja, who taunted him from the ground as she displayed her prowess, ignorant of the split second decision Tony had just made.

But "split second" maybe wasn't the right adjective. It was a decision that Tony had made immediately. It was the decision to protect his friends above all else, and whatever situation he was in, the choice would always be the same.

"JARVIS, when I give the word, I want every drop of juice to be put into the anti-molecular stimulation subsystems. Particulate ions, wave frequency disruptor – the whole package, got it?"

"But, Sir, If I may-"

"No, pal. No you may not."

"Yes, Sir."

Tony shouted down to the goddess from his vantage point in the sky. "HEY MADAM?" Iron Man raised his helmet, letting the cool breeze run across his sweaty face. He locked eyes with Thor and Steve, and when they saw the look on the engineer's face, they paused in their struggles.

"Stark?" Steve wheezed out quietly.

Tony mustered up all the courage he could and gave them the ole-razzle-dazzle Anthony Edward Stark trademark grin.

They saw right through it.

"STARK, DO NOT!" Thor cried. He was cut off by a fresh wave of pain as Freyja's magic squeezed harder.

"SILENCE!" She bellowed, her eyes dark. She gave a hooded stare that filled Tony with hatred. He pictured Natasha, lying half dead on the forest floor. He let the cries of his friends from below reverberate in his skull. He allowed himself to fill with vengeance. And he let it out with a battle cry fitting for his enemy – and his audience.

"AHEM!" Tony gave the boys one more soft look, and then locked eyes with Freyja. "NOW JARVIS!"

He charged through the sky, swopping low and heading in hot on a collision course.

Tony felt the power draining from his repulsors, but he held his hand out strongly with the bracelet firm in his grasp. He had mere seconds to send them both over the edge, and by God, he would not fail.

Freyja waved her hand at him, and he felt the suit shudder, but it didn't change course. Her face fell from confident to confused to terrified as her repeated efforts did nothing to slow him down. The suit was glowing hot and coming in with enough force to crash through a brick wall. His sensors were locked on. His particle disruptors created a bubble of magnetic infrequency. The closer he got to her, the less power she had. She dropped to her knees in weakness and fright, and Tony watched in relief as Thor and Steve fell to the ground, gasping for air. Freyja roared as Tony leveled out a mere twenty yards away. There was no dodging this.

"I HAVE A QUESTION FOR YOU, MADAM!"

Ten yards. Tony held out his hands.

"DOTH MOTHER KNOW YOU WEARITH HER DRAPES?"

And with that, Tony Stark hit Freyja with all his strength, her powers useless as the bracelet fastened securely over her wrist and the two opponents went flying. The pair struggled in the air, Freyja punching and wailing. Through the suit, Tony could feel metal denting under her strength and his skin being sliced and bruised. He ground his teeth as not to cry out, and with a final burst, the suit sent them over the edge of the falls. Tony ignored the blinding pain as Freyja punched at his exposed face, feeling his vision black out and blood fill his mouth. The hit was so direct that his body went slack, and his grip on the Asgardian loosened. She fell next to him, wailing and clawing at the air, but nothing was there to stop her fall. Nothing was there to stop his, either.

In a matter of seconds, Tony watched the water coming up to meet them. The hundred yard gap closed in the blink of an eye, and the mist swallowed Freyja's yells – while the roaring falls surrounded Tony.

He closed his eyes. His body hit the water.

Tony Stark's world went black.


"TONY!"

Steve Rogers was at the edge of the cliff, shouting hoarsely into the falls. He was coughing, clutching at the broken ribs that he could already feel were mending themselves. Thor was hunched over at this side, desperately gazing into the churning black water. The fall was of epic proportions. If it hadn't been for the suit, Tony would have been killed by the force of the drop.

"Where is he?" Steve was on edge. Tony should have flown up by now, completely unscathed, laughing about how ridiculous they both looked worrying like mother hens on the side of a cliff. He should be up here doing midair pirouettes and insulting someone.

So where the hell was he?

"STARK!

Sure, it had been reckless to do what he had done, but when wasn't Stark reckless? Honestly, as the Team Leader it was a happenstance that Steve had just come to accept and utilize. Unpredictability was oftentimes an ally for the Avengers, and nobody was as predictably unpredictable as Tony.

Thor's brow was furrowed on his broad face. "Something is amiss, good captain. I fear Stark is in trouble."

"No…No it just doesn't make any sense. He flew over the edge, we SAW the bracelet go on Freyja's wrist…there's no magic to threaten him with, no power that she had over him to prevent him from flying back up. It...It doesn't make sense." Steve didn't lift his eyes from the obscuring mist.

"What truly makes no sense is how he got so close to her." Thor said it lowly, suspicion clouding his features. "No man poses a threat to her, yet despite Freyja's best efforts, our Man of Iron dove directly at her. What you would call a… Hail Mary, yes?"

"No, Stark told me he could disrupt the magnetic fields of something or other with a thing that his suit does and…it…it was scientific, alright? He said he could jam her signals. He said the suit could do it, that it would require some rerouting but JARVIS could get it done in no time and that the suit would –"

Steve stopped, realization hitting him in the gut. "The suit."

"Captain? What ails-"

Steve shot from the ground, ignoring his protesting chest and spoke frantically into the comms, ordering Barton to finish strapping Natasha into the medical unit and get the quinjet to their exact coordinates as fast as possible.

"Captain! Why do you-"

"THE SUIT, THOR. HE CUT THE POWER TO THE SUIT. HE CAN'T FLY BACK UP – HE CAN'T EVEN MOVE. HE'S GOING TO DROWN."

Without a second of pause, Thor grabbed the straps of Steve's uniform and swung Mjolnir above his head. Sparks flew and the Asgardian launched them both flying into the crisp air. They swung out over the cliff and spiraled purposefully into the mist of the falls, each of them desperately searching. At twenty feet about the water, Steve tugged on his leathers and was released swiftly, diving into calmer waters. The cold was intense, but not unbearable. The water was churning, but thankfully clear and surprisingly clean. With his enhanced vision, Steve could see the bottom in the swiftly moving currents. He followed the river, taking breaths, frantically scanning debris at the riverbed and the banks. The quinjet arrived, roaring overhead. Barton must have flipped on autopilot, because in seconds, he was repelling down on a line, jumping into the water as well. Thor must have filled him in, because he wasted no time looking for explanations. He dove under and bobbed along with Steve, each praying for a glint of steel or a glimpse of shaggy brown curls.

Thor continued to patrol the air and keep watch, wishing for any movement other than the surfacing heads of Hawkeye and Rogers. Maybe a flash of metal crawling up onto the shore – or a gauntleted hand waving for help at the water's brim – but nothing came. Guilt weighed on him with more of a crushing force than anything Freyja could have conjured.

What had only been minutes passed like hours, and Steve felt himself struggling to keep his panic at bay. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. This wasn't supposed to be the plan. Everyone was supposed to live. Everyone was supposed to be fine. Instead, Tony was MIA, Natasha was unconscious, and Barton was probably in the process of getting pneumonia from an impromptu swim in a Canadian river. The feeling of failure was a bad taste at the back of the team leader's mouth.

"TONY!" They called, over and over again. They screamed it to the cliffs, they screamed it to the pines lining the shore, and they screamed it underwater where it turned to a shrill, muffled siren.

But nothing graced them with a response.


After almost thirty minutes, doubt was trickling into everyone's minds, although nobody would be the first to say it. Steve felt tears clawing at his eyes and a painful lump in his throat as he croaked out another strangled cry. His voice had gone hoarse ten minutes ago.

He took in the state of his team. Thor was unmoved, eyes intent in their search, pain splashed across his eyes. Barton was shivering, exhausted, and half dead at the shore - nose running and eyes leaking freely as he mourned his friend's fate and worried about the unconscious agent in the jet above. When he had gotten her to safety, he'd given her the once over, and knew that it could have been much worse. A nasty concussion, a broken collarbone, and a couple cuts and scrapes – all trivial to what may have been. But regardless to how relatively minor her injuries were in the wake of such tragedy, she still needed medical attention as quickly as possible. Steve had to think of Natasha, too.

A good captain never leaves a man behind.

But a good captain also does what is best for the team.

"Barton," Steve called. The archer immediately perked up, hope threatening in his eyes. Steve had to crush it. "Barton, I need a status report on Black Widow. Thor, return Hawkeye to the quinjet."

Barton clenched his jaw. "No, Steve. Dammit, man, I see what you're doing. No. I'm staying here until we find him. We are gonna find him, and when we do, he's gonna be okay and I'm gonna tell him he's a jackass and that he has the mentality of a five year old and he ages me ten years every time he puts me through this shit."

"Barton, that's an order. Go back to the quinjet, put on some dry gear, and give me a status report on Natasha."

"To hell with your orders, Steve." Barton was standing, his anger radiating off him in waves, almost warming the blue tips of his fingers. "He is my friend, too. And when we find him, I will be here."

Steve had to do it. He had no choice.

"You mean IF we find him."

Clint looked like he had been shot.

"Are you giving up on him?" His voice was a breathy intake of complete shock. "Are you fucking giving up on him? After everything he has done for this team?! You, Steve rogers, Mr. Goddamn America, are giving up on him?"

"Get back to the quinjet now Agent Barton." It took everything for Steve to remain stoic and not crumple at the absolute shattered look on Barton's face as he said these next words:

"He's gone, Clint."

Barton's face was filled with reproach – complete and utter disgust. He felt bile tickle the back of his throat, his eyes filling with tears. "You don't mean that."

"Yes I do." No I don't.

"You can't mean that."

"I can mean it – and I do mean it. Now get back into the cockpit before I write you up for insubordination."

"You want to see insubordination?" The fiery shorter man stood, damp dirty blonde hair plastered to his clammy forehead. "I'LL SHOW YOU INSUBORDINATION. YOU SELFISH, GODDAMN FLAG WAVING, MOTHERF-"

"Woah there, Featherface. Don't bring…Wonderboy's mother into this…He has… enough childhood trauma to deal with… as it is."

The voice sounded terrible – waterlogged, half-dead, weak and trembling, but Christ, if it wasn't the best voice they had ever heard.

Clint spun around to the shoreline, knees almost giving out at the sight of a freezing cold, horribly battered Tony Stark limping lowly out of the water towards shore. Steve didn't even remember swimming in to meet him on land but the next thing he knew, his own boots were on solid river rock and his legs were running towards the engineer.

Clint was racing towards him from the other side. "Tony?! We thought you were dead!" The archer cried out between emotional breaths, half choking around his sobs of relief. Thor let out a victorious bellow and landed nearby.

"Thank God you're okay, Stark. Thank God you're okay," Steve was almost to him, repeating this more as a mantra for himself and his own shattered nerves than for Tony's benefit. "Crazy bastard, thank God you're okay…"

"Yah, well," the engineer tried to give a wisp of a laugh, and his breath wheezed. His left eyes was swollen shut and his lips were pale blue. His armor was dented in on itself, undoubtedly cutting skin, maybe cracking bone. His face was bloodied and his cheeks were dark and haggard. "I...I think 'okay' might… be a bit…of an exaggeration, boys."

And before Steve could say another word, Tony Stark's eyes rolled back into his head and his knees buckled. He collapsed onto the river rock; the sound of his name being called frantically echoed away in his ears, muting out gradually until the whole world fell silent.


I can't thank you all enough, again. I'm happy to say I'm back for at least the next few weeks. Expect a part 2 to this one and some Tony!POV on what happened. I think we should be able to get through a few more letters in that time!