Tony-she was unsurprised to find-was covered in grease, his hair mussed and slightly singed, and frowning intently at a new collection of notes that Jarvis had transferred to his tablet in the dining room. A plate of cold, untouched food sat next to him at the table and Pepper was in the living room, feet tucked under her as she flipped through the latest news.
The inventor barely looked up when Clint entered the room. "Food was order out again. Chinese tonight. Help yourself," he said waving at the cartons. "Leftovers are in the fridge from last night."
Clint made a face at the cold food and opened the fridge while Sigyn stood at the edge of the dining room and studied Tony. From the fridge, Clint pulled out part of a leftover pizza and stuck it in the microwave. When Sigyn finally moved into the main room, Tony looked up at her with a blank look that vanished after a moment and he recalled what they had had planned for the night. "Uh…" he started eloquently and she could almost see him still sorting through his notes on Extremis.
"Finish up that last thought and come join us when you have it down," she suggested, recalling the many times she had handled Loki after weeks of seclusion. She blinked and, just for a moment, superimposed a quill into Tony's hand and replaced the tablet with parchment and she had to chuckle. Really, the two of them were similar in their approach to a problem, if not of a similar mindset when it came to their projects. Anything else and she suspected that they would argue vehemently.
In lieu of comparing the scientist and the sorcerer, she turned to the familiar kitchen and looked through the food and the leftovers. By the time that she had collected a sufficient amount of ingredients that looked edible, Pepper had switched off the TV and slid up beside Tony to start closing out of a few of his programs while he was working on something else. Finally, he threw his hands up in the air and sighed. "Between you and Jarvis, I'm certain I'll get nothing else done. I give up," he chuckled as he draped an arm around Pepper's shoulders.
Carding his fingers through Pepper's hair, he kissed her forehead and returned the amused look that she was giving him. The warmth of her body folded into his side had never felt so normal, he realized with a rush of gratitude. When his gaze flicked to Sigyn, he wasn't surprised when she held it. Then, Clint made a gagging noise that had them blinking and looking at him as he dumped the pizza into the sink and flicked on the garbage disposal. The sound of it drew Sigyn over and she watched the water run into the drain at Clint's side as the archer gave his former dinner a disgusted look.
"Garlic does not go well with pineapple," he muttered, casting an annoyed look at the scientist before he flicked the garbage disposal off again. He smacked Sigyn's hand away when she twitched towards the switch. Then, he blinked at what he had done and looked sidelong at the amused expression she was giving him. "Uh…" he started, stepping away from her. "Sorry. Force of habit with Nat. She tends to get into the worst of situations by and large because she can't keep her curiosity to herself."
She flicked the switch on at that point just on principle and then jumped at the dry wheezing scream it emitted with no water or food to grab onto. Jarvis switched the disposal off when she leaned over the sink to get a better look at it. "Jarvis!" she protested, toggling the switch on and off with no success.
"My apologies, Ms. Sigyn, but it appears that you have…broken it," he said dryly and she chuckled, abandoning the newest technology.
"Alright. I give up, but I'll want to take another look at it before I leave," she said, turning back to Tony. "So, you or me?" she asked him, taking up the cooking again. Clint perched himself on one of the bar stools at the counter and watched her make some semblance of a meal for them.
"Me, I think," Tony said, his voice a little rough. "Brains before beauty, as they say." He frowned at how he had worded the saying.
"In that case, perhaps Ms. Sigyn would be better to go first since you fit neither category, sir," Jarvis said dryly.
Tony tossed his AI a dirty look as Pepper chuckled. "Oh, I think he's a little better than falling into the 'brains' category. Genius isn't, after all, a term that most can claim. Beauty? I think that better applies to me, don't you think?"
He could only smile at her for that. "Well, I suppose the simplest way to start would be to say, a change of location was probably a bad idea…"
Though Jarvis had given her an idea of what had happened, there were still a few parts that startled her-like the way he could summon his suit now-and the fact that he had threatened a terrorist practically to his face had her chuckling a little. The rest of it kept her sobered and almost wishing she had listened to Loki a little earlier when he had told her he was strong enough to teleport her to Tony and ask about the project she had asked of him. The only pause in his telling came when Clint snatched his food from the counter and whisked it away to the table where he dug in heartily. Sigyn could only chuckle when she set another plate before Tony and gave Pepper the other one. Then he was done and she could only eye the scientist in appreciation.
"Well. That was one hell of a gift," she said and shared a glance with Pepper. "You have, I take it, almost completed unlocking Extremis' secrets?"
He waved a hand at her in a dismissal. "Understanding it isn't the issue. Undoing it is," he said. "Bruce and I were almost sure we had it this afternoon, but…well…" He shrugged and shook his head. "Apparently not. We're going to approach it from the side tonight and see if that helps any." There was a pause and she almost said something, but, "Your turn. Tell us about your mini-war that you waged with Thor and Reindeer Games," made the words slip from her mind.
"Where would you like me to begin?" she asked.
"When you teleported out of here, where did you end up?" Clint asked promptly. "Start there."
It was easier than she had thought it would be to tell their tale of what had happened. The only pause came when Clint slipped into the kitchen behind her and started cleaning everything up. By the look on Tony's face, the archer wasn't usually the one to take care of such tasks. She could only chuckle at the response before diving right back into the way they had had to rip themselves out of the dream-trap Odin had crafted for them. When she finished with the Loki's final teleporting of the wolves and Sleipnir, her throat was dry and she could use that as an excuse to turn from the mingled looks of shock and pity at how Odin had taken a victory from them.
Her fingers had only just touched the glass when Jarvis asked, "Are you certain that the one contained is the Allfather that has done you so much harm? You mentioned that you checked for signs of life within the prison, but did they grant you a visual of who was contained?"
Glass shattered against the hardwood floor when it dropped from between numb fingers. Her eyes were wide with shock and a little terror as she considered the possibilities. How many places could he have gone between one breath and the next? He had known what the spell was before Loki even cast it. There could have been countermeasures put in place to teleport himself away and let someone else take his place. If he had done such a thing, where would he have gone? The answer presented itself to her almost before she had finished her thought: Angrboda.
She turned from the cabinets, away from the food and took one step forward before she could stop herself. Tony, Pepper, and Clint were watching her, gauging how she would respond. Instead of flying off into action as her body demanded, she stepped back and leaned against the counter to grip its edge and will herself to calm down. "No, no it did not, Jarvis. I don't know if the spell worked properly in that case," she said, trying not to let her mind spin into the possibilities again.
"You know," Clint started, "I find it hard to believe that anyone could be paranoid enough to guard against all possible spells that your husband would have chosen to use." There was a pause and she saw the dark shadow of memory pass through his mind. "Very likely, he was prepared for some, but not the one that was actually used. It would have drained an awful lot of power to keep that many spells active, but that's just my opinion." And that, more than anything, leeched most of the anxiety in her. It wasn't enough to make her entirely comfortable or not want to check, but she no longer felt the edge of panic she had. The archer met her gaze and then turned away. "I'm gonna go make sure Darcy and Jane have eaten tonight. They can be worse than Stark in a project mode and they've been swearing up and down they've almost got the calculations right."
Tony just threw a bit of food at Clint as he retreated before turning his tablet back on. Pepper had long since given her plate to Clint and walked back into the living room where she could pick up what she had left off doing. Before Sigyn could so much as move out of the kitchen, Tony said, "Before you hare off after that spell, why don't you pop in and say hi to the girls? They've been worried enough over you and Thor to give themselves an ulcer. I'm sure Bruce wouldn't mind visual confirmation that you actually succeeded, but Jarvis finally got him to crash an hour or so ago so I doubt we'll be seeing him any time soon."
"Indeed not, sir," Jarvis said. "I shall pass along the information received here tonight and your regards-am I correct in assuming you give them, Ms. Sigyn?" He waited only long enough for her nod before continuing, "But his seclusion and rest shall remain uninterrupted for the next seven hours. At that point, sir, you shall change places with him and rest before you step foot back into your lab to conduct more experiments."
Tony made a rude noise before turning his attention back to his notes. Sigyn could only smile as she watched his mind slide away from their presences and he became absorbed in his work. Crouching down, she gathered up the shattered glass and disposed of it before she straightened and said, "Thank you, Jarvis, for thinking to give us the scepter. I doubt I would have done quite as well as I did if I had not had it."
"You are quite welcome, Ms. Sigyn," was her only response.
Clint paused in the doorway when he saw the blonde and brown heads bent over a hologram of what looked like a bridge. Jane and Darcy were discussing something in tones so quiet he almost couldn't understand them and what he did catch, they almost could have been speaking another language for he understood of the scientific terms they were bandying about.
Darcy was the first to see him. "Did Tony blow something up again? Or does he want our help on another simulation?" she asked. Taken aback by the abrupt change of direction, Jane looked around at him and only smiled momentarily before she turned back to the hologram and continued tweaking some of her calculations.
"Actually, Sigyn is here," Clint said and that was as far as he got before Jane turned and walked right out the door, her path seemingly intent on the direction he had just come from.
Darcy stared after her boss for a moment before she shook her head. Glancing at the project, Darcy switched the simulation off and started collecting the papers and tablets that had spread out across the table. "That, I suppose, ends that for the day. We'll never get anything productive done while Jane interrogates her."
Clint took in the set of her shoulders and the tension in the lines of her features and almost sighed. "You've been worried, too," he said and Darcy only smiled wanly.
Shuffling the papers into a neat pile on the desk, she said, "Yeah. I have been, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hare off and bombard her with questions or smother her with my presence. She's probably got enough to deal with anyways."
There was a moment of silence and the light tread of feet from the doorway and she thought Clint had left until, "Enough to deal with, yes, but forgetting to at least say hi doesn't get pushed off my list of things to do when I'm here."
Darcy could only grin when she turned to see Sigyn in the doorway. Instead of rushing in to hug the Aseir, she pointed at the table next to Clint where her taser sat and said, "I made some modifications to it. You might find it useful if you find yourself in a tight spot with your Enchantress. Would you be a doll and hand it to her, Clint? Thanks!" She only laughed at the dark look Clint cast her before tossing the little instrument to Sigyn, who caught it and eyed it mistrustfully. "Oh, don't worry. As long as you don't aim it at yourself, you should be fine. Jarvis helped a little with the readings and everything, but you should be able to point it at her and disrupt her casting for a little while with the charge on it." A grin broke out across her lips when Sigyn's features turned thoughtful and the Healer tucked the little device away. "Did you pass Jane? She was just headed your direction."
Sigyn had drawn breath to say something when the light of a spell wrapped around her and she vanished from the spot. Clint sprang away from where she had been and blinked hard before turning to share a concerned look with Darcy.
The spell deposited her chest first into the forest growth of the island amidst a cacophony of sound. Scrambling to her feet and calling to her the magic for a spell, she looked around in confusion. The wolves had drawn tightly around her and a few that bore burn marks. She could feel the growls vibrating through their bodies and realized that they were yipping to each other and trying to press her and the wounded back, back and away from…Loki and Sleipnir, who seemed surrounded by a shimmering haze of power.
Loki stood in front of his son, his features twisted in anger, while Sleipnir appeared to have sunk his teeth into the collar of Loki's shirt. Fenrir stood between his second sire and his pack, ears flat and teeth bared.
Back, protect, back, Fenrir was calling to his wolves. Dame and wounded back. Protect.
Loki cast and she cast its counter before she thought about it. The wolves surged around her and almost knocked her off her feet when they pressed against her, ushered her back, but she struggled against them, wove her way forward, sidestepped those trying to obey their alpha. Loki's gaze locked to hers and she could see the rage flickering through him. "You deal with them, then!" he snarled before he stepped back and twined a hand through Sleipnir's mane and teleported them away.
"Lo-" she began, but he was gone. The wolves redoubled in their attempts to herd her and she let herself be led away, confused and trying to sort through what had happened, but it didn't make sense, none of it did.
A/N: Thank you for your patience in waiting for this update. I'd have had it up sooner, but new jobs do tend to distract one from writing! :)
Thank you to my reviewers: Maia2, Leoness, and wbss21.