Vicissitude
Chapter Seven – Who Wants to Live Forever?
"You ready?" Steve asked.
"Sure am" Carol answered.
"Okay... so... what are you waiting for?" Steve wondered.
"You" Carol said.
"I'm good to go" Steve told her confidently.
"Okay, well, strap in, then." Carol said firmly.
"I'm okay, I can just hold on" Steve said casually.
Carol fixed him with a commanding look. "Sit your ass down, sir."
"Seriously, Carol, it's fine. I always just hang on."
"Not on my jet" Carol said, folding her arms.
"Carol! We need to get airborne!" Steve said urgently, all set for an argument. "We don't have time to discuss this! We have unidentified aircraft over the city, and we need to get on it!"
"I'm not having you rolling around back there. Maybe you're a super-soldier, but you can still break your head if there's turbulence."
From the co-pilot's seat Natasha sighed. "Capt., you better belt in. She's not taking off until you do."
Carol reached up to her console and flipped on the in-flight PA system. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. Before take-off I need you to make sure your seat-backs and tray tables are in an upright position, and that your safety belts are fastened low and tight across your hips. This means you, Steven Rogers."
Steve looked mutinous. "Fine!' he cried. He stalked back to the deck and strapped himself in across the aisle from Bruce. Bruce, who was already securely harnessed in his seat, gave him a tight smile and shrugged. "You might be The Capt., but in the jet she's the Captain."
"Right" Carol announced. "Now that everyone is complying with aviation safety regulations..."
She fired up the engines and lifted off hard and fast. The Quinjet shot straight up in the air, and once they'd reached a safe height above the landing pad, Carol gunned the jet forward. Steve's stomach lurched so rapidly in every direction he was secretly glad that he'd obeyed his pilot.
Tony's voice came over the comms."So, now that you've settled your cute little domestic dispute, you wanna come give us a hand?"
"You heard that?" Steve asked.
"Every word" Tony confirmed, and smile in his voice.
Steve sighed inwardly.
"Have you been able to get a look at the bogeys?" Carol asked.
"Not closely- I don't know who these jerks are, but they're fast" Tony said.
"I get the distinct feeling they're from way out of town" Rhodey added. "The silhouette of their crafts isn't like anything I've ever seen before."
"Not Chitauri?" Bruce asked.
"Not unless they've hired a ship new designer" Tony grumbled.
"Thor, they look like anything you've seen before in your travels?" Steve asked.
"The design is unfamiliar to my eyes" Thor added. His voice was nearly drowned out by the sound of the wind whistling through the comms as he flew.
"You slackers need to double-time it. We're nearly at the Canadian border and they aren't slowing down for Customs" Tony warned the Quinjet crew.
"Well, if the Capt. could just learn to follow orders, we would have been in the air sooner" Carol complained. "But we'll make up time if I have to fly her apart."
...
By the time Quinjet caught up to the other Avengers, they had pursued the mystery aircraft well into Canadian airspace.
"Okay, these guys are really boring me. What say we call in Alpha Flight to take over, and go get some Tim Horton's instead" Tony suggested.
The bogeys, which had been flying together in tight formation the entire time, began to break off from one another. The three smaller craft broke formation and sped off in various directions.
"Looks like they want us to split up" Tony assessed.
"I don't like it" Natasha said.
"Tony, Rhodey, Thor- keep on them, see what they're up to." Steve instructed.
"Copy that" Rhodey confirmed. He, Tony and Thor all changed course and kept on their pursuit.
"Let's start to worry this one and see what happens" Steve said.
The lead jet suddenly flipped one-hundred- eighty degrees and began to bear down on the Quinjet.
"Whoa! Whoa!" Carol yelled, impressed and alarmed "Did you see that? The manoeuvrability in a ship that size!"
Alarms began to sound. "They've got weapons lock on us" Carol said. "Hold fast!"
She banked hard to starboard, rolled the jet and shot under the enemy craft. The alarm stopped beeping.
As he experience momentary weightlessness from the sharp move, Steve was suddenly glad he was harnessed in. He bit his lip and drew in a deep breath, regretting the meatball sub he'd had for lunch.
"Oh wow. I really don't like upside-down" Bruce said calmly.
"You dorks okay back there?"Carol called as she levelled the jet.
"That was fun" Steve said dryly.
"Wanna do it again?" Carol asked, not really joking.
"No!' Bruce said definitively.
"Well suck it up, buttercup, because unfortunately-"
Before Carol could finish the sentence the alarms began beeping again. She swore and peeled hard to the left. The enemy craft stayed tight on her, and the weapons lock alarm continued.
Carol broke out her best, most unpredictable moves, and the other aircraft couldn't keep lock long enough to get off a straight shot.
Steve pushed up the armrest next to his seat, and pulled up the mini-screen stowed in the compartment between the seats. He pressed a series of buttons and bought up the jet's rear cameras. The enemy craft was the weirdest looking thing he'd ever seen; Rhodey was right, it didn't look local. It was massive, with a hard, hulking form that made it look like some kind of deadly bug.
Across from him, Bruce had done the same thing. He stared thoughtfully at the screen, trying hard to ignore the way Carol's dogfighting manoeuvres shook them all around.
"What do you think we're dealing with here?" Bruce asked.
"Well, we've either got some brand-new maniacal despot with his own private air force, or... these guys are aliens of some kind" Natasha guessed.
"Oh, please let it be a despot" Steve muttered. "I'm still trying to get my head around the last alien invasion we were involved in."
The weapons lock alarm sounded again and Carol swore aloud. "They're right on my ass! This is gonna get ugly, guys" She veered hard and sharp to port. The alarm continued.
"They're firing" Natasha reported.
"Deploying flares" Carol said calmly.
The Quinjet shook at the missile detonated just behind them.
"Nice flying, Carol" Bruce said.
"Okay, that's it! No more mister-nice-Carol" Carol muttered. She fired weapons at the enemy craft. The craft dipped and skimmed and avoided the hit. They fired again. Carol deployed flares and whipped the jet hard to starboard. They shuddered from the near-miss.
"That was too damn close. Are you guys doing the hokey-pokey like we are?" Carol asked over the comms.
"Well, I'm taking turns playing kill-or-be-killed with mine" Tony said, clearly annoyed.
"Yeah, me too. This is one ugly, angry little ship" Rhodey reported.
"Lightening does not appear to harm the vessel" Thor grumbled. "As soon as I get my hands on it, I will give it a taste of Mjolnir, and see how much it likes that!"
"Damn right" Carol seethed. "I think we might be in real trouble, here. I cannot get this jerk off my tail! If it keeps chasing us like this we're either gonna run out of fuel, or end up in Australia!"
The weapons lock alarm sounded again. Carol rolled the jet, whipping hard from port to starboard. Steve watched the enemy jet on his screen as it kept pace with them.
Steve looked across to Bruce. The doctor was pale and sweating.
"You okay?" Steve called.
Bruce nodded weakly and reached for an air-sickness bag. "I'm gonna hitch-hike next time. No offence or anything, Carol"
"None taken" Carol said, clearly distracted.
"Carol" Natasha said in a warning tone.
"I know!" Carol said through gritted teeth. "Hold on!"
Steve watched as the enemy vessel fired another missile. He saw the missile began to close on the jet. He gripped his seat, feeling his heart start to hammer in his chest. He tore his eyes away from the screen to look at Carol. She was hunched over the controls, flicking switches, pushing the throttle.
The warning alarm grew louder, the beep becoming faster. Carol wrenched the jet hard to starboard just as the missile detonated. The jet lurched violently, the explosion startlingly loud. Steve and Bruce were flung hard to the side as the jet rolled, their safety harnesses holding them painfully in their seats. Natasha swore in Russian. Warning alarms beeped, and suddenly they were falling from the sky.
"Starboard turbine is on fire" Natasha called.
"Trying to bring suppression systems online" Carol responded. "Nope, suppression is gone. Along with most of the turbine."
Steve looked up at Carol again. Her hands flew across the control panels.
"Bruce? You okay?" Natasha called.
Bruce had a white knuckle grip on his harness, and was breathing hard. His eyes were closed, and Steve knew the scientist was trying to keep himself under control. "I need to get off this jet" he muttered.
"Hang in there, Bruce. I'm doing everything I can, okay!" Carol said.
Steve looked up at her again, and then beyond her, out of the front window of the jet. It took him a few seconds to realise the white expanse he could see was the ground, closing in on them.
They were going to crash into the ice. He felt the bile rise in his throat. The memory was too strong, and time seemed to slow down. He tried to tear his eyes away from the dazzling white expanse that was getting closer, closer. He wanted to look at Carol. He wanted her to be the last thing he saw...
"Jettisoning the turbine" Carol reported.
"Carol, you'll lose all stability!" Rhodey cried over the comms.
"I'm gonna lose the entire wing if I don't" Carol said, perfectly calm.
She flipped open a panel and pressed a button. The jet shuddered again, dipped hard to starboard, and then rolled violently to port.
"I'm gonna steady her out, and find somewhere to put down."
"The bogey is still on us!" Natasha said.
"I need to get off this jet" Bruce said tightly.
"Everyone, you need to sit tight. I'm not letting those bastard win today" Carol growled.
All Steve could see was white. He ears were ringing, his heart pounding in his chest and temples.
"Carol! Open the hatch!" Bruce called. "Let me out!" He started pulling at his harness.
"Don't be crazy!" Carol yelled. "Keep your ass in your seat, Banner!"
"No! Carol, do it!" Natasha cried, craning around to look at Bruce. She knew he was moments away from a total meltdown.
And his idea was pure genius.
Carol couldn't spare him a glance, but she seemed to be cottoning on. "Do it!"
"Steve, this is going to get even bumpier, so hang on!" Natasha warned. She hit the button to open the rear hatch, and Bruce tore himself from his seat, already transforming into the Hulk. With a truly terrifying roar he bolted towards the hatch, and then launched himself out of the Quinjet...
and right onto the enemy fighter.
"And they never knew what hit them" Natasha said with an air of satisfaction, as she closed the hatch.
Steve rocketed around in his seat. He was breathing hard, staring at the white expanse that was once again trying to claim him. The sense of deja vu, and the feelings of bitter regret it stirred up made him want to weep. He gritted his teeth, and tensed, waiting to hit, waiting for the freezing white to take him.
"There!" Carol cried. "Hold on, this isn't gonna be pretty!"
The jet rolled hard to port and shot forward. The sound of metal scraping metal drowned out the alarms, and the jet shook sickeningly. Then with a great jolt, there was stillness. Carol reached up and flicked switches, and the last of the alarms died. Then she sat back in her seat and sighed. From the co-pilot's seat, Natasha studied her silently.
"You on the ground?" Rhodey asked over the comms.
"That we are" Carol told him.
"How many pieces are you in?" Tony wanted to know.
"Several"
"But not nearly as many pieces as the enemy- we threw the Hulk at them" Natasha said smugly.
"I almost pity them!" Thor said, a smile in his voice. "My foe has been vanquished, I will attempt to locate you."
"Yeah, I'm about done here" Tony said. "I think this one self-destructed or something."
"Mine, too" Rhodey said curiously. "A SHIELD clean-up crew is on it's way, they'll be able to take a closer look."
"Something about this whole operation is off" Natasha said darkly.
"Okay. Now the part I hate" Carol muttered. She flipped the switch to open the rear hatch and stood on slightly shaky legs. "I'm almost scared to look. But I get the horrible feeling I'm gonna lose my no-claim bonus."
Natasha followed her, and Carol stopped to give Steve's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm not going to say I told you so" she said with a tiny smile.
Steve still couldn't open his eyes, but he tried to hide the violent shaking in his legs. He nodded weakly.
With a sigh, Carol went outside to check the damage. She swore when she saw what was left of the starboard wing.
Natasha gaped at the jet. "I can't believe you got us down alive" She breathed. She pulled out her phone and snapped a photo of the jet "I'm Facebooking this shit! Barton is not going to believe his eyes."
Carol reached up and patted the one part of the fuselage that didn't have damage. "It's the beauty of VTL. Though wings do help with the whole flight thing. You have Facebook?"
"Wow. You're grounded. Fury said you could only drive it if you brought it back without a scratch" Tony quipped as his helmet retracted.
Rhodey landed a moment later, and hugged Carol. "Good work, that was some nice flying"
From the distance they could hear a thumping sound, which steadily grew closer. The ground began to shake, and Hulk came stomping into view. He stared at the jet. Carol stared at Hulk. The idea that this was mild-mannered Doctor Bruce still baffled her.
"Jet smashed" he growled.
"Yeah, but Hulk smashed bad guys that hurt jet!" Tony said.
Hulk grinned proudly.
Thor landed, and dropped Mjolnir with a tired sigh. "Are we all well?"
"Well, some of us look a little more wind-swept than others... but we've all got our fingers and toes..." Tony said.
"The craft I was pursuing seemed to destroy itself. I had barely laid Mjolnir on it when it exploded."
"Yeah, nearly knocked my socks off" Tony grumbled. And there wasn't much left, wreckage-wise."
"Same" Hulk said angrily.
"So what gives? It seems strange to send a handful of alien vessels all this way, only to destroy them without trying to make any sort of contact" Rhodey wondered.
"Unless they were scouts" Natasha reasoned.
"Or a distraction" Thor said grimly.
"I don't like the thought of that" Tony said darkly.
...
Steve breathed slowly and deeply, and after a few minutes he managed to fumble off the safety harness. He swayed out of the jet, his legs so weak he could barely stand.
He stopped and looked at the clearing Carol had put the jet down in. Towering over them on all sides were steep, rocky, snow- covered mountains, and all around, tall, strong trees.
Steve slowly made his way around the jet. There was little more than two feet of clearance on every side. In the middle of snow and tree covered mountain wilderness Carol Danvers had found the one place you could park a jet, and had landed dead-centre in it.
He came around to see his other Avengers looking over the damage. The starboard turbine was gone, what was left of the wing was charred, brittle mess. It seemed impossible that they had survived the attack, let alone the emergency landing.
Carol was standing slightly away from the group, looking over the jet with a sad, studied eye. Looking at her made Steve's heart sing. She was one of the most amazing, audacious women he'd ever met, and he admired her like crazy. And now, standing there looking at her, he realised that Carol didn't need a coward in her life, she needed a man who would be worthy of her.
He squared his shoulders and walked straight over to her, past Tony and Rhodey, Natasha and Thor and Bruce in his Hulk form. He walked up to Carol, put one hand on her waist, the other on her shoulder, drew her to him, and kissed her.
It took Carol a few second to understand exactly what was happening. At first she tensed slightly, but Steve's kiss was firm and persistent, and slowly Carol relaxed into it. She reached up, sliding her arms around his waist and drawing him closer to her body.
For a full minute they were completely oblivious to their team mates- Tony rolled his eyes, exasperated, but he couldn't keep from exchanging a canary-eating grin with Rhodey. Natasha smirked and shook her head. Thor looked proud and pleased. Hulk looked puzzled. He pointed at the happy couple. "Huh?" he grunted.
"Oh c'mon, as if you didn't see that coming! It's been brewing for weeks" Tony said sarcastically.
"About time" Natasha drawled.
Hulk shrugged his massive shoulders. "Hulk like." He started to wander away from the group, suddenly subdued enough to transform back into Bruce.
"Will you two knock it off? You're grossing out the Hulk, and I think we all know that's usually impossible to do" Tony complained.
Steve and Carol drew apart. Both were flushed, but there was no hint of embarrassment from either of them.
"Um. You're welcome?" Carol murmured to Steve.
"You're... amazing" Steve breathed.
"Look, I hate to be the one to break up your little mutual-admiration society, but there's the small matter of the unidentified flying objects that we just chased across Canada, before they all suddenly went boom" Rhodey said.
Steve drew in a deep breath, and got his game face on again. "Is there much left of the one Hulk took out?"
"There's wreckage about three clicks from here. The one I was chasing ended up as little more than smoke and ash. It was weird" Tony reported. "Literally nothing left."
"Kinda hope they were unmanned" Steve said, frowning.
"So, we're all thinking alien?" Natasha ventured.
The team nodded.
"What kind of alien?" Thor asked grimly.
Tony's comm unit beeped. "Mister Stark, I have Miss Potts on the line for you, I believe it's urgent" JARVIS announced.
"Pep, this really isn't a good time" Tony said wearily.
"We're being attacked!" Pepper cried through the comm unit.
Tony straightened up, his expression immediately becoming focused, intense.
"Where are you? Who's attacking you? Who are you with?" Tony asked sharply.
"In the Tower. There are two men, they've got... some kind of laser gun. Loki's here. He's... trying to fight them off!" Pepper explained, distressed.
"What the hell?" Rhodey said.
Tony and Thor exchanged a dark look. Without another word, Tony's suit sealed up, and he blasted off. "Loki's fighting these guys? Not... fighting with them?" Tony asked over the comms.
"He's definitely not with them" Pepper confirmed for the team.
"My brother would not turn on us again, he's come too far" Thor muttered. He began to swing Mjolnir. "I must away to my brother, he needs me" he said, earnestly. He swung Mjolnir aloft and lifted off.
Natasha frowned deeply. She tapped a series of numbers into her comm unit, and turned away from the group to speak on another line.
"I'm on my way back" Tony's voice was tense over the comm unit, he'd already disappeared into the horizon. "I'm calling Fury, he'll get agents there as soon as her can. Sit tight, okay?"
"I've called it in. Fury's scrambling an emergency response team to the Tower" Natasha said.
Steve turned to Rhodey "Follow Tony and Thor, back them up if they need it. The situation might need a cool head, considering who's involved. We'll get back home soon as we can"
"I'm on it" Rhodey said. He sealed up and sped off.
Carol sighed and looked at the wrecked jet" Well, we're not going anywhere for a while" she muttered.
"How long until SHEILD support get here?" Steve asked Natasha.
"ETA seven minutes" Natasha said.
"Go get Banner, we'll grab what we need from the jet. Something is seriously wrong with the timing of all these events: I want to be back at HQ so we can figure out what the hell is going on before things escalate further" Steve said.
… … … …
Tony knew Pepper was okay.
She had called him almost as soon as the situation was under control. She gave him a very sketchy report of the events, from the moment she and Loki had walked into the apartment, up to Agent Barton's impeccable timing.
She said she was okay. Barton and Fury and a SHEILD medic had checked her out on site, and at Tony's repeated insistence she'd even consented to going downtown to SHEILD HQ to get a proper examination and scans from a doctor.
She was fine.
That didn't stop Tony from flying so fast that the suit, and his teeth, began to vibrate. He'd muted JARVIS when the AI began warning him, a little too repeatedly, that the suit was starting to suffer fatigue, and that if he continued at that velocity, structural integrity would experience a catastrophic failure. He flew through a rainstorm in upstate New York, ignoring the way the cascading rain instantly turned to steam as soon as it came in contact with the suit.
He wouldn't stop until he could see with his very own eyes that she was fine.
He practically tore himself out of the suit- the auto disassemble was taking too long- and hurried to their bedroom, where Pepper was recovering. She was propped up against several large pillows, typing on her laptop.
"You're supposed to be resting" Tony said.
Pepper looked up, startled, and looked somewhat abashed. Tony moved to sit next to her, plucked the laptop from her hands and tossed it onto the bed next to them. He fixed her with a hard, appraising look.
Pepper recognised that expression. "Tony, I'm fine" she reassured her.
"Uh huh, sure. Just more bad guys. Another day of being Tony Stark's girlfriend."
"Well, it's better than just being your PA" she said dryly.
Tony pulled her into his arms, and she sighed and curled against him, resting her forehead against the crook of his neck. They sat together like this in silence for several minutes. It was hard for Tony to be still and calm, but he knew Pepper needed this quiet reassurance, so he kept his jittery panic, anger and millions of questions to himself for as long as could.
"So" he said finally. "Loki's your champion now. That's a hell of a thing."
"He was..." Pepper struggled for words "Amazing. The way he moved, the way he fought... and Tony- I need to tell you something. I'm pretty sure he was working magic."
Tony pulled away and looked at Pepper askance. "But... he's got bond of high magic or something on him from Odin."
Pepper shrugged. "I'm not certain what I saw. I mean, I've never really seen magic... but that's what I imagine it would like. And... he spoke. He could talk. His mouth was bleeding like crazy, though."
"Huh" Tony said.
"I don't really understand everything that happened with him, but he took a hit from those guy's laser guns. I thought it had killed him, but he kept on fighting. And then..."
She went on to explain the terrible confrontation between Barton and Loki, and Tony began to understand why she was so rattled. It wasn't the attack on her, it was watching two men she thought she knew try so earnestly to hurt each other.
"JARVIS, where are Loki and Barton now?" Tony asked quietly.
"Loki is in his quarters. Thor has arrived and is attending his brother."
"You should give them some space" Pepper suggested. Tony considered that for a moment and nodded.
"Agent Barton is in Agent Romanoff's quarters" JARVIS reported.
"I'm gonna need to thank both of them at some stage. And talk to Barton about how he just nearly got himself death by Thor" he sighed, troubled. "I really should have seen that coming. Should have done a better job... I don't know... keeping them apart?"
Pepper licked her lips. "It's not much of a surprise that it happened, is it? It's actually pretty amazing that Clint kept himself contained for so long."
Tony nodded and shrugged. "And what about Loki's behaviour- that I also didn't see coming."
Pepper clearly didn't know what to say.
Tony studied her. What he really wanted to do was ask her about the jerks who had gotten in to their state-of-the-art private, secure home. He wanted to know what she and Loki had walked in on. But Pepper was wrung out, and talking to her about it was a bad idea.
"I need to look into the security breach" Tony explained. "I'm going to go over the footage with the team, and run a full systems analysis, try to figure out what they were after, who the hell they are, and then... I'm going to track them down and have a conversation with them."
… … … ...
"Wait- did he just-?" Tony asked, his voice rising in disbelief.
"Uhhh" Bruce hummed, uncertain.
"JARVIS, take the footage back about five seconds, and zoom in on the bottom right-hand corner" Tony instructed.
He glanced over at the team mates who were present: Steve, Carol and Rhodey had all watched the playback of the assault with the kind of professional detachment of people who were used to analysing conflict, but Tony had noticed the way Steve's hands had clenched into fists every time Pepper had been threatened, the way Carol had nodded every time Loki has done anything especially bad-ass (they had all agreed that Loki had definitely gotten his magic mojo back) and the way Rhodey's shoulders had gotten more tense the more he'd watched. Bruce shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he'd watched the fight, glancing away from the screen several times when things had gotten particularly harrowing.
Tony himself fought against the feeling of rage that had started when the intruders has seem to have just materialised inside his private elevator, and had rapidly escalated as they gutted access panels and scanned computer cabling with hand-held devices- doing who-knew-what. His ire reached a crescendo as he watched Pepper and Loki fight for their lives.
And now he'd seen something that he just didn't quite believe.
JARVIS played the zoomed-in view he'd requested.
"Again" Tony barked.
The footage replayed.
Tony pointed at the screen, baffled. "Did that guy just turn green all of a sudden?" He looked questioningly at Bruce, as did the others. "Anything you need to tell us, Brucey? Any jolly green love-children out there we don't know about?"
Bruce looked at Tony like he was deranged. "No, Tony. He's not mine."
Rhodey shook his head at his friend. "The dude on the ground, there, doesn't look like Hulk."
"Not as big, for a start" Carol said casually.
"But suddenly he goes from looking human, to being green, which is a very flattering colour for some, but not really a skin tone you see every day."
"What are you thinking?" Steve asked.
"Shape shifter?" Tony ventured.
"Shape-shifter?" Steve repeated, looking like his brain might implode.
"Or... it was a disguise? He was he wearing an image modifier that malfunctioned?" He looked around at the baffled faces of the group.
"I don't even know what that means" Steve muttered, shaking his head.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! JARVIS! Back up! Back up again!" Carol cried, her eyes still on the screen.
The rest of the team whipped around to look at the screen again. The footage Carol exclaimed over replayed.
"Wait. Where did they go? Did they just teleport away?" Tony breathed. "They did not just teleport!"
"Teleport?" Steve asked. "You mean, like on Star Trek?"
"Yes, like on-" Tony began to answer, but broke off and looked at the Capt. "You've seen Star Trek?"
"I got him watching it" Bruce admitted with a small shrug.
"Teleport?" Carol questioned, bring Stark back into the conversation. "Seriously?"
"How is that even possible?" Rhodey asked.
"Oh, it's kinda not" Tony said, excitement threatening to overwhelm is blazing anger. "Theoretical, of course. But no scientist has ever successfully transported living matter, even the tiniest distance."
"No human scientist" Bruce elaborated, giving Tony a knowing look. "-That we know of at least."
Steve sighed. "So, more aliens. Great."
Carol reached over and gave his shoulder a squeeze. "Little green men" she muttered.
Tony made a thoughtful noise. "It's the only explanation. If they're from another world, they'd have to have all kinds of advanced tech. Their jets- ships- whatever- were superior to anything we've got, and we've got some impressive stuff, largely thanks to me, of course. But still- they overrode my security systems at practically the push of a button. And those hand-held devices they were using to scan my systems- they weren't Smartphones. And JARVIS still can't pin down what they were scanning for, or how they were even hacking in!"
"I continue to work diligently to answer your questions, sir" JARVIS said crisply.
"Thanks, honey" Tony shot back at the AI.
"Why now? Why, all of a sudden, is it War of the Worlds around here?" Steve demanded.
An uneasy silence fell over the group. Bruce looked at Steve and Tony. "Remember what Thor said, when the Tesseract was here? That it was a signal to other worlds that Earth was ready for a higher form of war."
"So, you guys got rid of the Tesseract, and it's still coming back to bite us on the ass?" Rhodey stated.
"Looks like" Tony said with a sigh.
"We need to talk to Thor" Steve said decisively. "Get him to warn Asgard that someone else is sniffing around for the Tesseract."
"We need to talk to Loki, too." Tony added.
"Think he might know who these new guys are?" Rhodey wondered.
"Maybe. He might have seen or heard something on his strange journey" Steve reasoned.
"Yeah, well, actually, I'm going to thank him, I guess, for getting himself zapped trying to save Pepper. You guys can do all the good-cop bad-cop crap. Or are you saving that routine for Barton?"
Steve's face fell. "No. That's a mea culpa one for me. Maybe you have to thank Loki, but I have to apologise to Barton. He's been spiralling downwards, and I should have seen it, and stepped in sooner. I need to make this right for him."
"Don't be so hard on yourself, Capt. This situation is bigger than all of us" Bruce said gently.
Steve opened his mouth to reply, but broke off when a rumbling, rushing sound filled the room.
"Oh, what now?" Tony demanded, suddenly furious again.
The room filled with prismatic, rainbow light, so blindingly pure that the team had to shade their eyes and look away. As rapidly as it started, the noise and light died away, leaving a soft swirling vapour in its wake. In the midst of this haze stood Frigga, Queen of Asgard. She looked around the room, disoriented.
Tony's mouth fell open for the third time that afternoon. He stepped forward, and dropped to a kneel, his head bowed. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of her.
"Your highness. Welcome to New York." Tony said.
Frigga had regained her composure. "Mister Stark, it is good to see you again. But I must ask you to take me directly to my sons."
… … … … …
Vicissitude ends
… … … … …
Author's notes: So, In the last chapter of 'Notes from a Royal Screw-up' Loki & Pep & Clint were having the rumble in the Tower with the MYSTERY VILLAINS (have you figured out who they are?) MEANWHILE...The Avengers were being taken on a wild goose-chase. I thought it would be fun to drop in a totally random Alpha Flight reference, and what visit to Canada is complete without a Tim Horton's reference? (also not owned by me!)
The aerial fight scene was one of the hardest things I've written. I'm sorry if it was derivative in any way of anything else, but this is just how it worked out, and any similarity to other fictional aircraft fights was quite unintentional. Despite a little research I have no real understanding of aerodynamics, dog fighting or combat manoeuvres; this is fiction, but I hope I painted a picture that made some sense. And then Steve snogged Carol, so YAY!
Aslo- the opening conversation between Carol and Steve- I can't possibly be the only one who watches The Avengers movie and gets shirty when they crash the jet onto the street in NY and Capt is flailing around in the back, not strapped in and just holding on... Silly man, sit down! So I wrote that in because someone has to be sensible!
Thank you, dear readers, this is where this story arc ends, and there is only one more chapter left in 'Notes from a Royal Screw-up.' There will be further adventures for Steve and Carol, and maybe, if I can get myself organised, Loki, the Avengers and the Asgardians will team up for a big finale ultimo. Madness! We'll see.
Thanks for reading, and many thanks for reviewing xx