October was a busy month with my brother's wedding, Halloween activities, and tons of work to do, but I've finished another chapter at last! Enjoy!
Asgard
It had taken a great deal of cajoling, but Fjolnir had persuaded his parents to return to Asgard a couple days earlier than planned. Amma and Afi had tried to make him feel guilty for not wanting to stay longer, but they knew how important what he and his mother were doing for Prince Loki was. Besides, they could visit again anytime the princes had to go do prince things on other realms, which might be a lot.
The only member of the royal family available to greet them when they reached Gladsheim was Queen Frigga, who informed them that the Allfather and the princes were in the middle of a very important operation with the Einherjar. Fjolnir pouted, but his spirits rallied when his mother suggested that he go visit his friends.
Less than an hour later, he was racing on Hvitfaxi out to the countryside. He heard children laughing before he reached his destination, so he took his hands off the reins to cup his hands around his mouth and blow several loud, warbling notes like birdsong.
Someone up ahead echoed the notes back to him before yelling "Fjolnir's back!"
Grinning, he leapt down off Hvitfaxi and ran through the gate to Volstagg's house, where he was promptly tackled by several Aesir children.
"You're just in time!" said Leif from somewhere in the pile. "Father's helping the princes fight the Dokkalfar right now, but he was sure it wouldn't take long."
"But Amma and Afi told me the Dokkalfar have been dead since they were little," said Fjolnir, frowning.
"Some of them aren't," said Leif, wiggling his fingers in a sinister fashion. "They've been hiding and waiting to strike!" he seized Jargsa, who squealed and tried to squirm away from him.
"Pabbi's going to get them first!" said Rolfe proudly.
"My pabbi's helping too!" said one of the non-Volstaggsbarn in the group. "Mama says there's going to be a big feast when they all come home."
"Well what should we do while everyone's gone?" said Alaric.
"We should practice defending Asgard in case we are needed!" said Leif.
"I know where we can do that!" said Fjolnir.
X
"What about the training grounds?" said Betty around a bite of something that resembled a pear but was probably going to ruin her for Earth pears for life. "You haven't shown me those yet."
Bruce narrowed his eyes suspiciously, his fork halfway to his mouth. "Why do you want to see the training grounds?"
"I'm sure they're just as fascinating as the rest of Asgard," said Betty innocently.
"I've never actually been close enough to see what they look like," said Bruce. "I didn't want to give anyone ideas. So I guess we might as well go now, before all of the Einherjar get back from dealing with the Dark Elves and start bugging me about fighting them again."
"Great!" said Betty, seizing his hand and hauling him away from the balcony table. "Let's go!"
Bruce carried himself with tension as they made their way to the back of the palace and down the stone stairs by the waterfalls, but nobody popped up to intercept him with more battle requests and he gradually relaxed, enjoying the scenery with her. Betty couldn't understand where all the constantly flowing water on Asgard came from, and the only explanation she'd been able to get so far was that it had something to do with the roots of Yggdrasil, so maybe it was flowing from an extradimensional source and then draining into another one? She and Jane would make sense of it before they went back to Culver.
"Huh," said Bruce, taking in the huge veranda against the cliffside with its sweeping stone arches and neat racks of sparkling clean weapons. "I don't know why I was picturing a bloodstained dirt pit with sharpened sticks lining the top. This is really nice."
Betty watched him covertly. His eyes were charting every way he might be able to quickly escape, and he seemed to find them reassuringly numerous. Not wanting to push too hard, she left him to his mental calculations, moving to investigate a console covered in runic inscriptions instead. She placed her hand on it in the same spot that activated the ones that controlled the magic elevators. Golden images sprang into the air above it. The whole thing was in Asgardian rather than Allspeak, but the figures and strings of words next to them reminded her of the character creation stage of some of the online fantasy games her grad students sometimes tried to get her to play with them.
"Brunnhilde!" said Bruce. Betty looked around. The Valkyrie stood frozen with her back to them at the base of the stairs. "You didn't go with Thor and Loki to fight the Dark Elves?"
"I wasn't invited," she said, turning to face them, looking a bit like a kid who'd been caught trying to sneak out of a mandatory school assembly. "I'm not an active member of Asgard's military."
"What's Asgard's typical strategy for dealing with enemies?" said Bruce. "Is taking prisoners pretty normal when you have the advantage?"
"Sure," said Brunnhilde. "Got a bit tricky during the Aesir-Jotnar war since neither side's climate was hospitable to the other." She kicked the toe of her boot against the stone ground. "Well, if you wanted to spar with the foe constructs, I can come back later. I didn't think anyone would be out here today."
"Oh, no, we just wanted to see how it works," said Betty. "You go ahead."
Brunnhilde looked reluctant, but she shrugged and marched over to the console. Betty stepped aside, and Brunnhilde reached for the floating golden images. She swiped her hand from right to left, causing the sparkling copy of an Asgardian soldier to slide out of sight, replaced by a series of increasingly large and dangerous looking opponents. She picked a two-legged dragon-looking thing the size of an elephant, then pressed a rune that caused it to split into three.
Betty caught Bruce by the hand again and they hurried to sit on one of the stone benches to watch. Within thirty seconds, Brunnhilde had dodged multiple jets of fire (presumably simulated to some degree, yet Betty had felt waves of heat coming off them), jumped on the back of one of the dragons, and forced it to wheel around in midair so that she could stab her blue shortsword into the chest of one of the others.
"Doesn't look like these are giving her much of a challenge…," said Betty.
"I'm sure she'll find a good one," said Bruce. The second dragon slammed into the benches above them and dissolved into golden sparks.
"You could help with that."
"Betty, it's dangerous."
"For once, I really don't think it is." She prodded him in the ribs. "Come on, the Einherjar aren't even here. Just one little fight. Nobody else has to find out, and it looks like she's got some steam to blow off too. You don't have to be afraid of the other guy here."
Bruce exhaled slowly, his face screwed up. Betty felt like they were back at Harvard and she was trying to convince him to shove the research for a night so they could go to a party. "If this goes bad," he said, "you get to head off everyone else who wants to fight for me as long as we're here."
"Deal!" said Betty. "Hey, Brunnhilde," she called before he could change his mind. "Want a better sparring partner?"
Having wrestled the final dragon into submission, Brunnhilde frowned over at them. "What? Is this about Banner's beast everyone's always going on about? I was starting to think he wasn't real." She sheathed her sword and crossed her arms. "Go on, then."
"You might want to keep that out," said Bruce, getting to his feet. "I'm definitely gonna regret this," he muttered through his teeth.
"No you're not!" said Betty sweetly. Barely audible over the sound of the waterfall, she thought she heard giggling. She turned and saw the tops of curly blonde and auburn heads ducking down out of sight at the end of the stone benches. Maybe she'd been too quick to assure Bruce that there wouldn't be an audience.
X
Dokkalfar Ark, Deep Space
The two halves of the boarding party reunited on the bridge, which had now been opened up to overlook many of the lower levels of the ship. The first thing Thor did upon seeing them was reassure himself that Loki's injury was not serious. Loki swatted his concern away in exasperation but did not object when Thor sent an Einheri to find a combat healer.
Nearly all of the Dokkalfar had cooperated with Algrim's surrender. The few who hadn't had mostly been subdued alive. Thor had ordered them to be grouped by family if possible and orphaned children attached to adults if not before removing them to the brigs of Asgardian warships.
General Tyr stepped onto the bridge not long after. "Prince Thor, Prince Loki," he said, putting fist to heart, "my men have finished the count. 89 dead. 1293 captured alive, including Malekith. 243 wounded."
Thor had no idea which category Kurse from the original timeline was in. He hadn't seen anyone who resembled him yet, and judging from how altered Malekith now appeared, he wasn't likely to. "And our men?" he asked.
"Fourteen casualties. A few will need the healing room for stab wounds, but they aren't in immediate danger."
"Thank you, General," said Loki.
"What are your plans for the prisoners?" said Tyr. "We don't have accommodations prepared, and there are far too many to fit in the dungeons."
"It wouldn't be too much trouble to set something up in a field out past the city, would it?" said Volstagg. He had been especially moved by the discovery of so many frightened children.
"I don't think we should bring them to Asgard," said Loki. "Even if the people didn't heartily object, which they would, their polluted seidr could be harmful. Perhaps Alfheim will have some wisdom to impart about that."
"My princes," said Heimdall, "why not return them to Svartalfheim? It is deserted and barren."
"Hmm, I like it," said Thor.
"We should be able to put up a barrier and establish a supply line for their basic necessities by day's end," said Tyr. "I'll set my men to it. Containment for Malekith will be more of a problem, however. I don't think we have anything that will hold him in his current condition, and I don't know of a way to reverse it."
They all glanced out of the window at Malekith, who was floating outside the ship in a sphere of seidr netting suspended between two galleys. "He can't do anything without gravity, so we should continue to withhold that," said Loki with some satisfaction.
"Father, how quickly can we bring Queen Brigit and King Eitri to a summit on this matter?" said Thor.
"I am sending emissaries to Alfheim and Nidavellir as we speak," said Odin.
"Might I suggest sending another to Jotunheim?" said Fandral, who was bearing up with his own wound fairly well. "The Jotnar fought against the Dokkalfar too; I'm sure they would appreciate being offered a share in deciding their fate."
Thor suppressed a snort at his eagerness and exchanged a brief glance with Loki. Fandral was perhaps overcompensating a little for his previous attitude, but the more ideas to promote the alliance that came from outside the royal family, the better it would be for public opinion on Asgard. "Agreed," he said. "We were allies for much of that war. This would be a good reminder for everyone involved."
"A fine suggestion," said Odin. "Will your wound prevent you from carrying it out yourself, Fandral?"
"Not at all, my king," said Fandral over a suppressed groan. To his credit, he did not appear to regret speaking.
X
Triskelion, Washington D.C.
Agent Jasper Sitwell made his way to the elevators. A few guys from the STRIKE team got in with him, punching in a different floor. There was a rumor going around that the building was going to be upgraded to a voice command system soon. (Mostly the rumor came from Koenig, who feared it meant his job was about to get automated out from under him.)
"Any word on Pierce's replacement yet?" said Agent Rumlow.
"Garrett's trying to get it, but Fury recommended Hill to the WSC," said Sitwell.
"Damn," said Rumlow. "No way they pick him if Fury's backing her, even with Malick's vote."
"Do you have any suspects for Pierce's murder?" said Sitwell.
"Still think it was an inside job?" said Rumlow darkly.
"Anyone attacking SHIELD would've gone for Fury first, with our help. Anyone attacking Hydra as a whole wouldn't have stopped with Pierce. A power play makes the most sense."
"We're keeping our eyes open," said Rumlow. A couple of the other guys gave curt nods.
"Hail Hydra," said Sitwell. They echoed him. The doors opened and they stepped off. Agent Barton was waiting outside, holding a coffee cup. One of the STRIKE guys fist-bumped him as he passed.
The doors closed. Barton raised the coffee to his mouth. "Thought you were on assignment."
"I got done early," said Sitwell. The rest of the ride to Fury's floor was silent.
"You Fury's two o'clock too?" said Barton when they both took a step forward to exit the elevator at the same time.
"Looks like it," said Sitwell.
"I wonder what mission he wants us on," said Barton.
"Let's find out."
The director's door opened before they reached it and the man himself ushered them inside. "Sitwell, report," he said.
Sitwell reached to adjust his tie. Something scarlet twinkled there, and then the image of the Hydra double-agent vanished in a flash of red light, leaving Natasha Romanoff standing in his place, her hand at the necklace she'd been gifted by Odin.
"Holy shit!" said Clint. "I actually fell for that." As he spoke, there was a quiet rustle from an empty corner of the room. They gave no sign that they had noticed.
"Yeah, that thing really blows our photostatic veil prototypes out of the water," said Fury. "I'm glad the magic space Vikings like us and not the other guys."
Natasha smirked and clasped her hands behind her back. "Hydra still doesn't have any theories better than the one we want them to have," she said. "I've got confirmation of eight more of the names Thor gave us and three to add to the list, including Gideon Malick."
"They got someone on the World Security Council?" said Clint.
"Not that much harder than getting a senator," said Fury dryly.
"So they're not on Ava's trail?" said Clint.
"No," said Natasha. "It's a good thing she used a different M.O. on Pierce."
"Agent Starr has been on assignment for me since the day of Pierce's murder," said Fury. "Sometimes I get behind on my paperwork, but the mission files now reflect that."
"Good," said Clint. "Maybe the Asgardians can help Dr. Banner figure out a cure for her condition while he's up there."
"I wasn't able to discover anything new about the 'computer brain in a military bunker' Thor was talking about," said Natasha, resuming her report. "I also got nothing on Sergeant Barnes and the Winter Soldier Program. That one's buried deep. Stark might have more luck trying to access the files his way."
"I wouldn't count on it," said Fury. "Barnes predates computers. His files probably do too."
Amma and Afi: Old Norse for Grandma and Grandpa. Fjolnir's referring to Gerd's adoptive parents. I liked adding an oblique reference to a pair of Ljosalfar to the Dokkalfar arc. Anyway, Fjolnir's back! I needed someone to witness what's happening at the training grounds and he was the most adorable option. Didn't take long for Betty to wear down Bruce's arguments, did it?
I'm looking forward to the summit meeting of the realms to discuss the fates of Malekith and the Dokkalfar. It wasn't something that I specifically had planned but it makes perfect sense to do it.
A couple chapters back, Tony was waiting for updates from Natasha about Hydra. Now we know what she was doing to get them!