A/N: Bum Bum Bum
The Avengers, Loki, Iron Man, or anything of the like. Just the thoughts inside my head. And taking some personal freedoms with mythology and lore.
Loki kept on his gold and green as they went to Jotunheim, skin blue, eyes red, line prominent on his face. Balder hadn't tried to hide his curiosity when he inspected Loki's look, having only seen it maybe once in passing.
"Damn, it's cold," Balder shivered, pulling his jacket tighter around him. "It makes sense now while you were never cold when we went out hunting." Loki hummed as they started to walk through the snow. "So, do we look for them right away, or do we try to make nice with the Jotuns and ask for help?" Loki looked at him and he lifted his hands. "Right, right, look for them ourselves. Any spell you can use?"
"Not yet." Loki shook his head. "I don't want to cast one and risk being caught by someone. Let's just put your tracking skills to use right now." Balder nodded and took a breath, hands starting to glow.
"We'll have to move quickly if they've been here since last night. They're resourceful mortals, right?" Balder looked at Loki briefly.
"I wouldn't have put up with them being a constant presence in my life if they weren't good for something."
"Somehow, that actually makes me feel better." Loki snorted.
Steve opened his eyes suddenly when he thought he heard voices. He put his hand over Nathan's mouth and shook his shoulder to wake him up. Nathan jumped a little and blinked. Steve put a finger to his lips then pointed for him to move over to the wall, hide in the shadows. He nodded and rolled over, moving low and quiet. Steve moved over and pushed some of the extra moss over the fire to smother the fire out then moved to stand by Nathan.
There were two different voices, two sets of footsteps. Steve motioned for them to head further into the cave, away from the fire. Steve stopped when he suddenly ran into Nathan and looked ahead, feeling a pit in his stomach. There were three in the cave, and the third was in front of them.
"Mortals," the deep voice chuckled as the other two frost giants came over. "Probably who the others were looking for." Steve tensed when he felt the large hand grasp onto his shoulder, feeling the cold seeping into his skin.
Tony had an uneasy feeling. He watched Emma color a picture at the table while Bruce was cooking dinner. It had been a week and he hadn't heard anything from Loki, or even Nathan or Steve. Enough time had passed to hear about the Trials at least. Balder should have been back as well, but there wasn't a peep from Asgard, and Tony didn't like it.
"Tony, you're hovering," Bruce said, never looking away from the stir fry he was preparing. "What's wrong?"
"Hmm?" Tony glanced over at Bruce, not paying attention.
"Something is on your mind, it's not that hard to see." The scientist looked at his friend. "There's a number of things that you could be worried about, but with the face that you're making I doubt it's about any of the weddings, and probably more about Loki and the baby."
"Are you sure you didn't want to become a therapist?" Bruce snorted. "Yeah yeah, you don't have the temperament" He sighed a little and nodded. "Yeah, I haven't heard from anyone up there, and it just isn't sitting right with me. I know Loki said it might take more than a week, with the time different and all, but he would have at least sent down word, or an update or something. He would have told us about Steve and Nathan too, anything."
Bruce nodded a little, not saying anything while he talked. "You know, I can stay here for a bit, watch Emma for you." Tony blinked and looked at him. "Pepper and Phil are around, and so it Gabby. And I'm sure if I needed it Clint and Tasha would come around too. it would just better if you went while I knew about it, anyway."
"Are you sure?" They both knew that Tony was only asking at this point to be polite. Bruce nodded.
"I promise I'll be good for Uncle Bruce," Emma said without looking up. "I'll listen to him, and I'll do my homework, and I'll even eat all the icky vegatabals." Tony smiled at the little girl.
"And why are you so willing to follow the rules?" Tony had to ask as he walked over and picked her up.
"Because I want Dad and the baby to be okay, and I know that you can help them." She looked at him with the most serious face she could muster. "And because you two can't miss all the weddings! We all have to dress up and dance and eat lots of food."
Tony snorted and hugged her tightly. "You are a special little girl, and you're very smart, and don't let anyone tell your otherwise." Emma giggled and gave him a sloppy kiss on the cheek.
"Don't be gone too long," she pointed a stern finger at him when he let her go, setting her on the ground. "I want to see my little brother as soon as possible." Tony kissed her forehead, nodding. He looked over at Bruce, who just nodded to him, before heading for the elevator to take him to the roof. He hoped Heimdall would be listening.
Tony asked a few questions to the guards and that led him to Jotho and his assistant. He didn't like that Jotho seemed to the central catalyst for all four men disappearing, and almost wished he would have brother his Iron Man suit.
Tony didn't bother to knock on the adviser's door before he walked in. "So, where are they?"
Jotho looked at Tony, raising an eyebrow. "Where exactly are whom? There are a lot of people away from the kingdom at the moment, and-"
"You know damn well who I'm talking about." Tony was not in the mood for any crap.
"Hmmm, you mortals, always so brash." Jotho tutted and Tony frowned.
"I'm not mortal anymore, not that it should matter to you." Tony followed the man with his eyes as he walked around his office. He exchanged a parchment for one in a cubby hole, taking it over to his desk. "You don't run Asgard, you just take the orders. Now, where are they?"
"They're all on Jotunheim," he responded calmly, reading through the parchment. Tony turned his his head when his assistant shut the door to the office. "With any luck, the two mortals are dead, and Balder and Loki have been captured, possibly beheaded." He snorted a little and looked up with a small smirk on his face. "I know I shouldn't, but I dare to hope."
Tony was taken aback by the brash honesty of Jotho. "Christ, you're serious. You know you're talking about the murder of two of your Royal line, and two humans. We won't take that very lightly back on Earth."
"Just like we take the Trials of Courage so lightly? Offering it up to any mortal around?" Jotho snarled. "You were a fluke, you should have died before you were even given the chance to be granted powers like ours." He took a breath trying to calm down. "But, that's alright, I have a contingency plan."
Tony took a step forward then stopped, eyes wide, hand flying to his neck when he felt something sharp. He pulled out a small vial and looked back to see that Jotho's assistant had taken several steps back. Tony blinked sluggishly and looked back at Jotho, shaking his head to clear the fuzzy feeling.
"Please do say hello to the elves for me, I think this should price enough for the bargain." Jotho looked back down at the parchment, mumbling something under his breath before Tony felt himself drop to the ground. But he didn't land on the hard marble floor, he landed on wet grass. He opened his eyes one more time and saw three figure standing in front of him.
