.-.

Beneath

Chapter Two Hundred Twenty-Seven – Disclosure

"Tony! My friend! It's so good to see you!" Thor called when Tony appeared on the other side of the door and opened it up. He dropped his burden, gripped the arm Tony extended, and pulled the other man into a stumbling, clearly unexpected embrace. Thor didn't care. The air was sweet with peace and he wanted Tony to have no doubt in how much their friendship and alliance meant to him.

"Thor, buddy, Your Royal Buffness, I was starting to think you wouldn't make it. Congratulations on the victory and the end of war. And you brought celebratory gifts? Of the potable sort?"

"Some of Asgard's finest mead. Jolgeir said you might enjoy trying it."

"You brought enough for a solid sip or two," Tony said, gesturing at the two large barrels Thor had carried. "What's the best if used by on these babies?"

"They age well when properly stored. This one is certified as one century, and that one as five."

"Five…centuries?"

Thor nodded. "From reserve stores. It isn't what we drink every day."

"Special occasion mead, got it. Well, come on in! Hope you don't mind being the porter?"

Thor followed Tony in with the barrels back up on his shoulders, into the elevator and to whatever floor Tony sent them to – Thor couldn't see much other than in a straight line forward.

Tony meanwhile kept up a mostly one-sided conversation, on the business deal he'd gone to Bermuda for, on Jolgeir's visit, on trying to convince Bruce Banner to work with him on some project Thor didn't quite grasp, but didn't think he needed to, either.

"So, shall we open this up? Special occasion mead?" Tony asked, angling a thumb back in the direction of where Thor had left the barrels at Tony's instruction.

"I will gladly join you in that, my friend," Thor said, but then fixed his eyes upon Tony's, intent on conveying how vitally important this was to him, how intensely felt. "First, though, I bring you a most personal matter, from my heart and intertwined with its every beat."

"Does Jane know about this?" Tony interrupted before he could explain.

The unexpected question threw him off course from the explanation he'd prepared, his gaze drifting and eyes losing focus for a moment. "I'm not sure. Loki may have spoken to her about it."

"Loki's involved, too? Kinky. Okay."

Kinky? Thor's expression began to twist, but he consciously smoothed it out again when he realized the ridiculous juvenile jest Tony was aiming for. Deciding that feigning continued ignorance was the simplest path, he forged ahead. "When we were all on board Nick Fury's airship, I said something I shouldn't have. Something I now deeply regret. I must—"

"Thor, buddy, let me stop you. We all said some things we regret. Things got a little heated. Nobody's holding any grudges, far as I know. What brought this on now?"

"You refer to the moments before the ship was attacked, and the rest of you were exchanging petty insults?"

"Um…yeah? In fact as I recall, that's exactly what you called us. 'Petty.' And…'tiny'? Not that I'm keeping track. Are we remembering the same incident?"

"No. Yes, that one…I apologize for that, though, too," Thor added, even if he didn't feel especially sorry. Midgard had faced an impending attack from beyond the Nine that they were woefully underprepared for with Asgard woefully limited in its ability to assist, and the Midgardians had been bickering as though they had nothing more important to do. In those moments at least, he could not find true fault with "petty" and "tiny." Now was not the ideal time to say so, however, for reasons of both diplomacy and simple expediency. "I refer to earlier. I was angry and confused about my brother's actions. My instinct was to defend him before you, but I was also ashamed. Of what he was doing, that he was doing it in Asgard's name. Of how that tarnished my father's name, and mine. When Natasha told me how many he'd killed…I succumbed to the shame," he said over a fresh wave of that shame, both for Loki's actions and his own reactions. "I revealed that he was adopted."

Tony stared at him for an uncomfortably long time. "Is that it? The matter intertwined with every heartbeat? Just…he's adopted? That was a secret?"

Thor nodded slowly, lips pressed tightly together to ensure nothing else slipped out.

"Oh, is that a royal bloodline thing? Can't have royal blood mixing with commoner blood? Uh-oh, is that going to be an issue for you and Jane? None of my business, I know. Can't help it, I'm curious."

"I— Jane and I—." Children were the furthest thing from his mind, something to consider in his next millennium. But Jane did not have another millennium. Did Jane want children? With him? Now? She wanted to talk about their future, but she'd never even hinted at an eagerness for motherhood. Reminding himself of that tempered the rising panic. Not that the idea of children was so terrible. He loved Volstagg's children. He'd simply never thought about himself having them, beyond random abstract images of some imagined distant – very distant – future. He scowled at Tony, who was even better at derailing a conversation or a train of thought than Loki, who was extremely good at it. "My blood is no different than that of any other Aesir. But it is not shared with Loki," he said, mumbling the last, which came dangerously close to again revealing more than he should. He plowed ahead before Tony could question it. "No one on Asgard knows of this, save our family, Heimdall, and Eir. Loki himself only learned of it while I was banished and in New Mexico with Jane. I didn't find out until after I returned to Asgard, after Loki was gone, and presumed dead."

"Stop the presses. Is this the granddaddy of all coincidences, or is there a straight line between 'found out he's adopted' and 'decided to proclaim himself King of Midgard'? And running right through 'destroyed a little hamlet in middle-of-nowhere New Mexico'?"

Thor was conscious of his lips twitching as he tried to respond and rejected every word that reached his mouth.

"You know, with every passing second this is looking more like this adoption business is just the tip and the Titanic's hull is about to get shredded. You're not looking like yourself or sounding like yourself, what with the intertwined heartbeats and what have you. Cards on the table, what's going on?"

"My brother's…adoption…is a secret he very much does not want known. I knew that, and I revealed it anyway. In doing so, I disrespected him, and I hurt him."

"He was attacking my planet and killing people at the time, so in a side-by-side comparison, I think—"

"A comparison is meaningless. His wrongs do not justify my own. There was no need to tell you what I did. It was irrelevant to any effort to subdue him. I understand that it seems unimportant to you, but it's important to Loki and therefore important to me, as well. I've come to realize that my own words and deeds contributed to his discontent on Asgard. I'm determined to try to repair that, where I can. I'm sure you'll see little merit in protecting a secret for Loki's sake—"

"You got me there."

"—but I beseech you most earnestly to do so for mine."

Tony sank back in his chair, looking as though the breath had been sucked out of him. "Wow. Nobody's ever beseeched me most earnestly for anything before."

"There is no jest here, Tony."

His eyebrows went up. "Earnestly. Right. Okay, here's the thing," he said, leaning forward again. "You remember I wasn't even in the room when you said that?"

"I remember," Thor said with a crisp nod, already relieved simply because he could tell Tony was finally taking him seriously. "Still I thought it best to go to you. Should I be speaking with someone else instead?"

"Not necessarily…no. I did know about it. Found out from Bruce. He asked if I'd heard about it, I said no, we moved on to something more interesting, like whether the helicarrier's cafeteria had hot lunches. But you tossed that little nugget out on the bridge. A dozen or five dozen people might've heard you, and randomly mentioned it to a dozen more."

Thor winced as the numbers in his mind grew. He'd been speaking to Natasha, with a couple of others present as well, but it was true that plenty more were around. He'd made no effort at all to lower his voice or otherwise limit who might hear. He'd given no thought to protecting Loki's privacy in that matter, only to himself, to his own need to distance himself from the brother he'd just been defending.

"I don't think you've thought this through, pal. Loki is a threat to Earth. He—"

"Was a threat to Earth."

"We can quibble over that one later. SHIELD has files on this stuff. Every detail known about Loki, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, is going to be in his file. They probably restrict access to files on alien invaders, but that's still got to be hundreds, probably even thousands of military and feds with access. For your sake, since you beseeched me so earnestly and all, I'd be okay with keeping this particular secret. But you're looking for a bag the cat's already on the loose from."

Thor's heart sank further. This was so much worse than he had assumed. Only five on all of Asgard and all the other realms, and thousands on Midgard. All because he hadn't given a second's thought to the impact his words would have on his brother. With ongoing contact between Asgard and Midgard expected, how could the secret of Loki's birth not eventually reach Asgard? "Is there nothing to be done?"

Tony put his hands out in a gesture that conveyed little hope. "I could probably get into the files and delete the 'adopted' line. Not an easy task, mind you, because no way are we talking about a single centrally located file. Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. I can't do anything about hard copies a few dinosaurs probably have. Ink on paper in a filing cabinet. I also can't do anything about the random analyst who happens to remember he's adopted because her kid was adopted, too."

"But it would greatly reduce the number of people who know, wouldn't it? That sounds much better."

"In theory. But here's the problem. What happens when somebody notices the dinosaur's hard copy differs from the soft copy by precisely one word? Or when that analyst looks back at the soft copy and notices the 'adopted' line isn't there anymore, but she remembers plain as day it was there? Adoption is a totally normal, ho-hum, scandal-free thing here. Not ho-hum if you're the happy new parents, obviously, but otherwise it's just another biographical detail. Treat it like top secret information that gets stealth-edited out of all records and it's not so ho-hum anymore. You go from less interesting than what's on the menu for lunch to the most intriguing detail in the file and precisely one question on everybody's mind."

"That would be a nightmare. I can't let that happen to him. There must be something we can do. It is imperative that this secret not spread, especially to Asgard and the other realms."

"There is. Nothing."

Thor nodded in resignation, though he had still not quite accepted it. He would think of something. He would get this information to Loki somehow, and Loki would think of something. Or perhaps their parents. Asking Loki to solve this problem himself seemed horribly unjust. "Will you swear that you at least will not tell any others?"

"Eh, sure. But I meant 'nothing.' As in, 'nothing' is what we can do. I don't think you get how much of a non-issue this is here. JARVIS, drop us a stat: How many Americans are adopted?"

"Currently approximately seven million Americans are adopted, sir."

"Seven million? That's far more than the entire population of Asgard."

"And just in one country, albeit a big one. So we just leave it alone. Some Asgardians come to you and say, 'I just heard the craziest thing down on Midgard. They said your little brother's adopted!' What's your response? Panic? Deer in headlights? No. You throw your head back and laugh. You tell them those Midgardians are full of wacky stories. They probably got it from their mythology. You tell them they also think Loki gave birth to a horse."

Thor's head snapped up at that. He'd been trying to follow, trying – and failing – to imagine laughing off a question about Loki's parentage. "You know of that?"

Tony's response was not nearly as immediate as his usual. "If you're going to tell me that's true, then I'm going to have to insist on some actual answers as to why you're more concerned about your brother being adopted than about him birthing a horse."

The laughter that followed was not quite as raucous as it had been with Loki in Brokk's underground hiding place on Svartalfheim, but it rejuvenated his spirits nonetheless. "And Loki thinks I'm gullible! Of course it's not true. But Loki told me such a story existed here. I tried to look for a blemish on his belly and at first he was not amused, but then we shared a good hearty laugh." He sobered, though his smile remained. "It was a fine moment. It felt like I had a brother again."

Tony got up while Thor's attention drifted with the memory of that time spent with Loki, quiet minutes that were surprisingly relaxed and amiable, at least in retrospect, despite the gulf remaining between them, despite what Loki had just done, despite the conspicuous presence of Brokk still sitting in his chair, Loki's dagger in his chest, then lying on the floor where Loki unceremoniously dumped him.

When Tony returned, it was with two glasses, one of which he handed to Thor before settling back down on the sofa.

"Do you have a brother?"

"Only child," Tony said. "I think when I showed up they decided one was more than enough."

"A brother is different than a friend. Something more, something…different. I never much thought about it before. Loki was always there with me, always my brother, as far back as my memories go. I took him for granted. I took brotherhood for granted." Another long moment passed; Thor brought the glass to his lips, inhaled the scent of the mead, and downed the contents. Hurling it to the floor to mark the tide of emotions flowing through him felt appropriate, but he resisted the instinct and instead carefully set the empty glass on the low table before them.

Tony lifted his glass as if to follow suit and Thor put a quick hand out, remembering the care Jane had taken with Asgardian drink.

"Perhaps a slower start. We still have things to discuss."

Tony shrugged and took a more measured single swallow. His eyebrows went up but he didn't comment; Thor fleetingly hoped Tony liked it. "Want to practice?"

"Practice what?"

"Your Majesty, I was slumming it with the mortals for uhhhh, for reasons – wow, this stuff is strong – and I heard the most scandalous thing. The President told me that Prince Loki – that really doesn't roll off the tongue, does it? – that your brother doesn't have a drop of royal blood. He said Loki's adopted."

"Ahhhh…adopted? No," Thor said, then remembered what Tony had told him before and pushed out a loud laugh. "Ridiculous, my friend. They even think Loki somehow gave birth to Sleipnir."

"Okay. That was, um, okay, it was a start. Question: Sleipnir is real?"

"Of course. But Loki is not his mother."

"Got it. Moving on. Do you have anybody you can maybe practice some more with? Do a little role-play?"

Thor quickly ran through his few options, realizing at the same time that he would have to discuss this problem with each of them. They would all need to be prepared. Practicing with Heimdall might be the most practical and least humiliating. He nodded. "You really think that will work?"

"What you just did? No. But in principle? Yes. And if somebody here brings it up to you, you could even say you were making the whole thing up. Standard Asgardian joke. Your brother pisses you off, you say he's adopted. To be honest, probably not an unheard-of joke right here on Midgard. But the main idea is not to focus on it. Move right on to something else because it's unimportant, and everybody else will think it's unimportant, too."

"It isn't unimportant."

"Not to you. But if it comes up here and you act like it's unimportant, then no one will have any reason to think otherwise, and no one will have any reason to bring up this random unimportant thing to anybody dropping by from Asgard. Right?"

"All right, yes. I understand. Thank you for your advice, my friend."

"Anytime, buddy," Tony said, lifting his glass and taking another sip. "Want a refill?"

"Perhaps later. There's, ah, something more I must discuss with you, also of a serious nature."

"Yeah? Me, too. Let's get through your list first, though."

Thor took a deep steadying breath, Jane's words of concern regarding Loki's judgement over Geirmund replaying in his mind. He had taken some time before coming here – avoiding it, Loki probably would have said – pondering how to broach the subject and wishing he hadn't instructed Jolgeir not to. Tony, at least, had already raised Midgardian mythology. "There's another tale of us you may have heard. A tale about the death of my other brother, Baldur."

"I read it, yeah. I read all of it. Is that one true?" Tony asked with an unabashed grimace, which reminded Thor of something else Jane had told him.

"Some of it. I don't know your version of events, but Jane said that some details in your tale are more gruesome than reality…although I'm not sure Jane understood all that happened when she said that. Baldur died when he was just eighteen, from an arrow to the heart, and Loki was judged guilty of his death."

"Was the arrow made of mistletoe?"

"It was."

"Because it was too young?"

"Too young? Is that what your story says? Somehow the mistletoe failed to respond to the magic my mother used to ensure nothing could harm Baldur. I don't know why. There had been threats against his life, and he was not fully grown, still vulnerable…Baldur was too young." Thor pushed aside an unexpected welling of grief to continue, laying out the story as clearly as he could, without getting lost in less relevant details or his own newly raw feelings, made easier because Tony, incredibly, did not interrupt further, other than stepping away for a moment to refill Thor's glass. Thor had not requested it, and suspected that Tony simply needed the break from the horrible tale. He understood and waited patiently until Tony returned, sat down, replaced the glass on the low table, and gestured for Thor to go on.

When he reached the revelation of Geirmund as Baldur's true killer, he paused to give Tony a chance to respond. Baldur had died in the time of Tony's long-dead ancestors. Geirmund Tony knew.

"Gingerbread?" Tony asked, eyebrows climbing toward his hair. "The way you said that…we're not talking some other random guy with the same name, are we."

"Unfortunately not," he said as thunder boomed.

"That you?"

"Probably," he muttered.

"I don't get it. Was he climbing the ranks to get access to you? Trying to orchestrate a coup in the longest of long games?"

"It would make for a better story, had my brother died for such a reason. But no, he died because of Geirmund's petty jealousy over a girl."

"Geirmund. I gotta admit, he doesn't seem the type. Really earnest. Deferential to Krusa…eager to please? Too eager to please?"

Rain began to pound on the glass that formed the wall behind Thor. His connection to the skies was deeply ingrained, his to command when he thrust Mjolnir upward and directly willed it, and otherwise not always so fully under his conscious control. Mjolnir sat idle – useless – at his feet. "Too eager to convince himself that he was a man of honor who once made a terrible mistake, instead of a villain who made a terrible mistake and fled Asgard, and who upon returning and learning what Loki had suffered for being judged guilty, said nothing. He took Baldur from us one day long ago, but he continued taking Baldur from us every day since. We didn't speak of him. Not because we wanted to erase him from our memories, but because we couldn't speak of him without thinking about what happened, not with his murderer back among our family, so we believed. He died still a youth. He'd had no feats or exploits. He was known only for his death at the hand of his own brother."

"Could be misremembering, but I don't think so: The only thing recorded about Baldur in mythology is his death."

"That's exactly what we didn't want on Asgard," Thor said, nodding sharply. "What my mother didn't want. It was her decision, I think. Our way to be a family again. To resume living." He drew in a deep breath and slowly released it; the rain quietened to a gentle tapping against the glass walls.

"Life keeps going, so you have to figure out a way to keep living it."

"Indeed. And about Geirmund not seeming 'the type'…I no longer know what 'the type' is. Two years ago I would not have thought my other brother the type to attempt to destroy or conquer one of the Nine. Six months ago I would not have thought Nadrith of Alfheim the type to attempt to topple Asgard, and seize its position in Yggdrasil. How can we know what decisions someone will make when faced with terrible circumstances? Or when offered some prize that tempts a suffering soul? Or a fearful one? Or simply a greedy one? As king, I'm meant to rely on my advisors. To trust them. How am I supposed to do that when it turns out that one of them killed my brother?"

"Well…do you have any other brothers that met untimely deaths? Or sisters, maybe? Sorry, too soon?" Tony asked, reacting to the distaste Thor didn't try to disguise with politeness. "I am sorry. I can get a little too glib when things hit a little too close to home. And you've been having some deep thoughts there, haven't you? I had a Geirmund once. I guess I never told you how I got involved in this nifty club of ours. Stark Industries was my dad's company. He and my mom died when I was seventeen, still a minor in these parts, so my dad's friend and business partner became CEO until I turned twenty-one. But even then…I liked the creative side of things, inventing, engineering, later I got into sales, sounds boring but it's not exactly like schlepping encyclopedias door to door, you know? Of course you don't, never mind. But board meetings, getting down in the corporate weeds, the day-to-day grind? Not my preferred grind. So Obie stayed on running things while I dabbled in…whatever struck me that day."

"And this Obie betrayed you?" Thor interjected, hanging on every word. He was still learning about running a realm and knew little about running a company, especially one on Midgard, but he could see himself in aspects of Tony's story, and from the set-up he knew exactly where it was headed.

"You got ahead of me there, but yeah, he betrayed me. When it came to weapons sales, I played by the rules. We sold to the U.S. military and other approved countries. There's a process for these things and we followed it. Only it turned out Obie had tossed out the rule book. He was selling to anybody who'd pay his extra premium. Terrorist groups, countries under sanction, both sides of armed conflicts, didn't matter. He set up a plot to get me removed from Stark Industries and from life. I built my first Iron Man suit in what you might call sub-optimal conditions, but it turns out a desperate desire for self-preservation does wonders for motivation and innovation. I didn't know Obie was behind it all until months later. I trusted him completely. He was a partner, a friend, little bit of a father figure. And a conniving snake-in-the-grass who was only ever in it for the money and always wanted more. You know who I trust now?"

"Who?"

"Pepper. I handed the reins to the company over to her. She was my personal assistant so she was already handling me, how much harder can it be to run a multi-billion-dollar company? Everybody else? Trust but verify."

"Trust but verify," Thor echoed, turning the phrase over in his head. The words sounded wise. Logical. But how would he implement them? And who was his Pepper? He trusted Jane, but Jane did not have the kind of experience parallel to what Pepper apparently had with Tony's company, as far as he knew. Sif he trusted, but Sif had also allowed her suspicion of Loki to lead her to poor judgement. He supposed he need not think only of his female friends, but the Warriors Three, each of whose judgement he had trusted in various matters over the centuries, had likewise been led astray. Heimdall had ignored Loki's commands. He had always trusted and revered his father, but with all he'd seen and heard concerning Loki over the last couple of years, that trust no longer came entirely without question. The same could even be said of his mother. What else might they have kept from him, or choose to keep from him in the future?

He had no single person who could do what Pepper had done for Tony after Obie's betrayal. Even if he did, he could not do the equivalent of what Tony had done, hand over the throne to someone else. A company was not the same as a realm. He had been raised for this responsibility, and he would not run from it.

Meanwhile, Tony was continuing unabated, unaware or simply unbothered that no one listening, something about a Reagan and Russians and a cold war.

"Still trying to get this Geirmund thing to sink in, though. And geez. For an entire millennium, everybody thought Loki killed Baldur, and all that time he was innocent. That's really got to mess with your head."

"Loki would not say he was innocent. But I would. It was not just Loki's arrow that brought us to that day. But Geirmund's actions set us on the path to it, and Geirmund's actions…he ended Baldur's path. And it does mess with my head, as you say."

"I meant Loki, but sure, you, too. All of you. You have to rearrange your entire understanding of...of a whole lot. Something to chew on. Feels kind of weird to feel bad for Loki, but…yeah. Raw deals don't come much rawer than that. You know what? I think I prefer my villains all mustache-twirly and one-dimensional. This is getting uncomfortable. You know what else is making me uncomfortable?"

"No, what?"

"It's a heck of a story, but I can't for the life of me figure out why you told me so much about it. Way more than you needed to just to tell me why Geirmund wouldn't be showing up here anymore, and I didn't get the sense you were trying to get me to cry you or Loki a river. Some other secret you want me to help keep? Or you want me to correct the mythological record on what happened to Baldur? It's a thousand-year-old work of fiction that includes other gems like Loki being mama to a horse and papa to a snake, you being married with a kid or two, and you and Loki not being brothers, adopted or otherwise. And Loki's little image-problem here is 100% twenty-first century reality, 0% Norse mythology, so I'm not quite seeing the logic if that's what this is about. Which makes me think that's not what this is about."

Thor nodded, slowly. It hadn't been easy, laying out before Tony everything that he had. The trust he had extended to his brother's murderer. The trust he had not extended to his other brother. The grief and anger, healed into peace centuries ago and now given new life, a wound unnoticed until disturbed. Simply speaking of Baldur in the first place was still novel enough to be difficult.

Telling this story, though, had perhaps been the easy part. "You have led me back to my request well, my friend. As you now understand, Loki endured punishment for Geirmund's crime. The situation is uncommon, but it conferred upon Loki certain rights."

"Okay, I'm officially getting a bad feeling about this."

"There's no need. My brother exercised his rights soberly and responsibly. I believe he had originally intended lashes and an execution, which would have also been in line with Asgardian law, but when it came to light that Geirmund was callously reckless but did not deliberately murder Baldur, Loki reconsidered. Instead, for Geirmund's disregard for Baldur's life, and for his silence in allowing everyone to continue to think Loki guilty, and even causing Loki himself to think his contribution…decisive," Thor said after struggling for the right word, still uncertain he had found it, "Loki exiled him from Asgard, for life."

"That sounds surprisingly lenient, coming from Mr. Free From Freedom. Exile, for leaving you tied up under a magical venom-dripping snake for years on end, after killing your kid brother and letting everybody think you did it?"

"Yes and no," Thor said with a shrug, at this point unconcerned with the nature of Loki's ordered punishment, intent only on seeing it carried out. "Geirmund will spend the rest of his life, perhaps another 4,000 years, away from all he knows and loves. He will never set foot on Asgard again. He will keep his life, but it will be a difficult one that will never let him forget what he did."

"Huh. I guess I'm picturing Pilgrims and Manifest Destiny, but those people at least had a chance, even if a slim one, of seeing their loved ones again. They could send letters once the postal service caught up, telegrams maybe, and waaaait a minute I think I just added up two and 4,000 here. Oh, God. Mayhap did Bad King Wenceslas so soberly and responsibly exile Geirmund the Ripper to Earth?"

"He did. But-"

"Where is he?" Tony asked.

"Geirmund? In a prison cell on Asgard," Thor answered at Tony's nod. "It isn't simply exile. As uncomfortable as it is to say this now, Geirmund did serve Asgard well during the war. His record has in fact been exemplary, as though in this way he could atone for his crimes. Loki thus wisely ordered that Geirmund continue his service in his exile. Asgard made an agreement with you, that we would provide payment in the form of gemstones and assistance in improving the efficiency of your crops."

"I made that deal with Geirmund, actually. Is it even still valid?"

"You discussed it with Geirmund. My father personally approved it."

"Yeah, okay, I guess he did say that."

"Gemstones we have provided, and will continue to, in compensation for the final deliveries. As for the other part of that bargain…it will be difficult for Asgard to fulfill it now. Our realm is once more at peace, but we remain under great strain, and recovery efforts will take time."

"Oh, this is a bad idea," Tony muttered, quietly enough that Thor chose to ignore it.

"Geirmund is a magic user, and he has some experience with farming, and obviously he's already learned how to work with Midgardians and knows something of your realm. We believe it to be a reasonable solution."

"Do we now? Especially Loki?"

"We are all agreed," Thor said after a quick moment's consideration. Tony would agree, too, in the end. Thor was certain of it, because he had to be. He had never seriously considered that Tony would refuse.

"Okay. It's just that it sounds to me like this is another giant middle finger from Loki to the old Midgardian stomping grounds. How are we supposed to be this guy's jailor for the next 4,000 years? And by 'we' I'm guessing I mean 'me.' How's that going to work? My non-existent offspring inherit him from me – and by the way that sounds a lot like slavery, just a smidge illegal here these days – and then their kids and their great-grandkids and so on and so on? Put him in the will like a piece of property? I can't do that."

"It doesn't have to be like that. He will not require a jailor, or to be treated as property. He will do as he's told, stay where he's told. He could be provided with modest means, a space to live and work. He can eat what he grows. Of course, he should not be permitted to accumulate wealth or otherwise live in luxury, but there's no—"

"And if I stick with Nancy Reagan's advice and just say no?"

Thor fell silent, and remained so for a moment he felt the physical weight of. "I ask you not to put me in that position."

Tony nodded, looking away; though the nod did not quite have the appearance of acquiescence, Thor clung to his conviction. "This was Loki's idea, right? Did he do it just to piss me off, personally?"

"It was his idea. But I doubt you were part of his deliberations. Can't you see the merit in it? It solves two problems with one blow."

"So, if I agree," Tony said, staring off into the distance, "I can at least say I'm doing your bidding instead of his?"

Again Thor took his time, choosing his words carefully. "You could say you're taking advantage of the abilities of an Asgardian who will willingly dedicate the next 4,000 years to ensuring your people have the means to produce sufficient food, even in the most impoverished regions and adverse conditions, in ways that are both cost-effective and protective of the natural environment."

Tony frowned, shoulders visibly slumping. He looked Thor in the eye again. "You've picked up a thing or two about politics, haven't you?"

"The lessons have been painful. But I have been paying more attention."

"Seems like the best lessons are, unfortunately. Okay, what kind of timeline are we talking for us to take custody? And what else do I need to know? Care and feeding instructions for life-long caged Asgardians?"

Thor strove to tamp down on his exuberant relief, though he had not become that skilled at politics and knew he had failed to conceal it. "As soon as possible. Today, if you're able."

"Today…uhhh, no. Okay, let's say give me a week, depending on what else you tell me. And assuming you're not sugar-coating things, telling me he'll stay where he's put and I don't actually have to build a cage that'll hold him. And no other criminal history? No danger to others?"

"No. And he will do as he's told. If ever he doesn't, we will handle it. But I believe he will. I leave the details to your discretion. I do not wish for this to be a burden for you."

"Maybe it won't be, in the end. Four thousand years dedicated to one problem? When he gets that one figured out, we can put him on another one. Renewable water, new green forms of energy…does he know anything about energy?"

"Not to my knowledge, but he will have plenty of time to learn."

"Yeah. You know, the more I think about it, the more onboard with this madcap plan I am. Or maybe I've just lost my mind? But what the heck, right? I flew into outer space and tossed a nuclear bomb at an armada of hive-mind lizard aliens and lived to tell the tale. Taking custody of an alien killer who's going to outlive me by a few millennia? Eh, no biggee. And he did strike me as a sharp guy. Asked good questions. You know, I even mentioned Stark Industries' Intellicrops program to him a couple of times. But he never said anything about having a background in agronomy."

"He does not have a formal background in agronomy, exactly."

Tony exhaled slowly, then remained still and silent while looking Thor directly in the eye until Thor felt compelled to glance away in discomfort. More honestly, in guilt. Tony stood up then. "Not exactly? Be straight with me, Thor. Does he know anything at all about agronomy? Biotechnology? Agriculture? Horticulture? Botany? Should I keep going? Because you aren't answering."

"I will always be straight with you, Tony. I don't know the details of his background. He has long been a clerk serving under Asgard's trade advisor. But he grew up on a family farm."

"He grew up on a—. Well, there you have it. I mean after all, I grew up in a city, therefore I'm an expert on urban planning. Bad example, I actually do know a lot about urban planning. Maybe not expert-level, but still. He grew up on a farm," Tony said, then sighed as he shook his head.

Thor hung his head – being caught in a clear exaggeration of Geirmund's abilities was embarrassing – but he wasn't worried. Tony had already agreed and he didn't think the Man of Iron would go back on his agreement now.

"Okay, so he's a glorified paper pusher who got promoted to deal-maker. But he's got the magic mojo and he can learn. At least he's already got a basic knowledge of some of the supply and productivity issues on Terra Firma, and like you said, time to learn. We'll figure it out. But Thor, this isn't charity. If he turns out to be useless at this, I have to reserve the right to call in the chip for an actual Asgardian expert."

"And we will figure that out, if we must. Although the Asgardian who has the best combination of skill in magic, understanding of Midgard and Midgardian science, and ability to quickly learn—"

"Stop. Enough. We'll make it work with Geirmund. Question though. Where are your actual agronomy experts? They aren't available?"

"Asgard has little large-scale farming. We import most of our produce and especially grains, as you know. We have natural environment specialists, but I think this is not exactly what you're seeking, and the extensive damage to our own natural environment will see them quite busy for years. We can of course make them available to you after that, and provide consulting services in the meantime."

"Consulting."

"Yes. Do you not have this concept? We may be able to provide some limited advice or other input as—"

"Is this divine justice?" Tony interrupted, falling back into the sofa and looking not at Thor but upward. "Okay, I guess I deserve it. Oh, the ironies! I could take the financial hit, you know. And it was significant. Not just buying stuff, that's not that hard. Finding the right sellers, arranging the transport, keeping it all off the radar. Asgard's pretty baubles won't even cover it, frankly, at least in the near term. The radar might notice a sudden influx. I'm not complaining; friends don't let friends get starved out by other planets. But gems for the trade? Geirmund's idea. My contribution to the agreement, as it turns out, was Geirmund himself. Wait, are you sure he's not going to hold Loki's exile deal against me? Track me down and stab me in my sleep?"

"I'm sure. Loki wouldn't have ordered this if Geirmund posed a threat to anyone here. He would've been for the ax. He knows that's the alternative."

"The ax. Old-school. Okay, I'm taking your word for it. What else do I need to know about this guy?"

"Nothing else. Not about his care and feeding, as you put it. But…there is one more thing."

"Of course there is. Hold on." Tony reached for his drink and took a large swallow before coughing into his glass and swiftly setting it down again. "Okay. Hit me."

Thor drew back, brow raised and hands firmly gripping the cushioned edge of his seat.

"It's an expression. Hit me. Lay it on me. The other thing." Tony then shot up from his seat again, swayed for a moment, then sank back down with a colorful oath. "It's two more things, isn't it? Are you intentionally stringing me along here? Am I opening an Asgardian daycare?"

"He told you?"

Tony swore again. "You were supposed to say, 'Don't be ridiculous, Tony!' He mentioned it, yeah. He never much wanted to talk about himself, but I saw him getting a little schmoopy one time and dragged it out of him. Thor…give me a break, what am I supposed to do with an Asgardian kid here? And a wife? I don't suppose she has any useful expertise?"

Thor sifted through what he knew of Dagrun, which took only seconds because he had no idea what position she held. He explained the situation as best he could, emphasizing that the child would remain on Midgard for twenty years at most, perhaps not at all, and Dagrun herself could choose to join in Geirmund's exile and work with him, or to return to Asgard. "We will not colonize you like Australia," he finished.

"You colonized Australia?"

"Of course not. But Loki said—"

"Yeah never mind. I'm really not in the mood to hear anything that begins with 'Loki said.' Any other details you've been holding back?"

"No," Thor said with a resolute shake of his head, finally going for his glass in an attempt to appear unconcerned.

"Okay. Can I ask a question?"

"Of course, my friend!" The familiar sweet warmth of the mead rolled down his throat, chasing away the discomfort.

"What if they have more kids?"

Thor froze, glass almost back to his lips to finish off the glass.

"Didn't think of that, did you?"

No. But he didn't have to admit it. "Preventing pregnancy is a simple matter."

"Should be, but a lot of surprised parents out there beg to differ."

"On Asgard it's a simple matter. I'll ensure that they know it's a condition of the exile, but I doubt they would want to put another child through such difficult circumstances anyway. It's an unpleasant situation, Tony. But the death of my youngest brother was also unpleasant, and the assumption that Loki was the one who killed him, which Geirmund allowed to endure for over a thousand years, was also unpleasant."

"Yeah. Unpleasant. You know, I was once a teenager just revolutionizing automated machining and trying to figure out how to hide my age from college girls. Eh, so what? You grow up, life gets more complicated. Okay, we've been trying to set up a lab in South Sudan, but it's got some stability issues, not a lot of infrastructure…he might actually be a good fit there…help get things established while he studies up…it's relatively isolated…it could work. There are other possibilities, too. I'll think about it, talk to Pepper…I'll figure it out."

"Thank you. I'm grateful."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Refill?"

Thor held up his glass; Tony filled it from the barrel and returned.

"My turn now," Tony said as soon as Thor had taken a drink. "We need to talk about Loki."

Thor knew better – he could tell Tony was being serious – but his relief plus the mead warming his belly left him so relaxed he couldn't help a hearty laugh. "You just said you didn't—"

"I know. But remember I needed a storytime, too? So are you done-done? No more murderers to banish down there to good old Midgard? Ahhh! I just got the Australia reference. Little off on the delivery, but good one. I'm guessing Jane wasn't quite sold on this whole idea either, am I right? Whatever, we've moved on. But no elderly grandpa Geirmund has to take care of? Special dietary requirements? Animal menagerie he's bringing with him?"

"No," Thor put in once Tony paused long enough for him to not interrupt. It was possible there was some other complication he hadn't thought of, so best to let Tony ramble, just in case.

"Great. First off, do you have any idea what your brother dearest is up to down at the South Pole?"

Thor nodded. "His friends there wished to bid him farewell, but he arrived when most were already asleep, so he decided to stay overnight. It may seem strange to you, but he did find friends of a sort there. He means no harm."

"You sure about that story, are you? Because I checked in with their Comms guy about twenty minutes before you got here and it turns out Loki's sticking around for one doozie of a long farewell, as in another four or five months."

"No, he…he said he was going to Alfheim."

"Not today he's not. They all agreed. Mostly agreed. Wanted him to stay. Can you believe that? I can see that you can't. The guy's got more than friends down there. He's got fans. A South Pole army, if you like."

"I thought they wanted him to leave. He deceived them."

"Yep. Apparently they got over that, right along with his earlier misadventures here on Earth. A forgiving lot, they must be. Comms Guy swears it was their idea, not his."

Thor frowned at that, and at his growing dislike as the reality of this new plan sank in. "Loki knows how to make his ideas seem like yours."

"I suggested that might be the case. He said they had to talk him into it. Anyway, I'd be lying if I said I'm not concerned, but it's not like he's breaking any laws by staying there. I was just curious if you knew."

"Loki does not have to inform me or anyone else of his comings and goings."

"I know, don't get testy. Figured you'd want to know about this particular coming and going if you didn't, since he's down there with Jane. And I have to ask: Are you confident he's all there? Let me rephrase before you ask. I don't mean physically all there. Is he stable? Is there a chance he'll lose it, turn on them and start calling more armies down from the sky, I don't know…lose it," Tony said, a hand up near his face and finger wiggling.

The gesture meant nothing to Thor. He shook his head. "I cannot claim to fully understand my brother. And I think he prefers it that way. But I stand by what I said: I don't believe he means them any harm. And I don't believe he will be calling down any more armies. Besides, according to you, he already has a new one."

"Yeah, well, take a look at this. Press play, JARVIS."

An image of Loki appeared in front of Thor, to the right of Tony, dressed surprisingly casually in a simple black tunic and black leather pants and standing with his head down in front of a sink and mirror of a style familiar from Midgard. "What is this? This is not appropriate, Tony," Thor said as soon as he realized what he was looking at.

"Just watch."

"I will not—."

"Heimdall," Loki interrupted from the display, dispelling Thor's initial assumption that he was looking at a still image. "Watch me."

Curiosity overcoming his objections, Thor fell silent and watched. "How long does this continue?" he asked when Loki neither spoke further nor shifted his position.

"Eleven minutes."

Eleven minutes was a long time to stand as Loki was. Thor was about to again tell Tony he did not need or want to see this when he realized that the countertop was crumbling where Loki's hands were clenched around it. "What is going on? What's wrong with him?"

"You think I know?"

Thor frowned. Tony didn't know, but apparently thought Thor would. And thought Thor would tell him.

"Fast-forward to when we showed up, JARV."

Loki was so still that Thor could not detect the time jump, but in the next second he heard Tony's voice coming from near Loki. "Everything okay in here, Snow White?" Loki didn't react. A familiar voice spoke Tony's name, then Steve Rogers stepped into view beside Loki, who did not react to the captain's presence or question either. When Steve leaned in closer and wrapped a hand around Loki's upper arm, Loki seemed to shudder, and a few seconds later he straightened up and twisted around, drawing back a fist as though to strike. He didn't, though, to Thor's relief.

"What's going on here?" Steve asked.

"That's exactly what I was going to ask. Do you not afford a man privacy in the bathroom here?"

Thor shifted uncomfortably, the frown that had never gone away deepening.

"JARVIS said you weren't using the bathroom. He said you were standing here staring into space," Tony said.

"What a pleasant thought. JARVIS, I didn't realize you engaged in such perversions. And here I thought we had gained—"

"Enough of this Tony. JARVIS, stop this display."

"Come on, there's nothing indecent here. It's not like he's standing there with his fly down. He just happens to be in a bathroom, because he figured it gave him an excuse to—"

"It's not about that. It's mostly not about that. If you spy on my brother, I cannot stop you, and perhaps I cannot even blame you. But I won't be made a participant."

"Okay. Can we at least talk about it?"

"I suppose," Thor said with little conviction. "You were arguing about something before this?"

"Not right before this. We were talking about prosthetics. Loki never really explained. He said he had a headache, but he said it with a particularly obnoxious look on his face that made it clear he was lying and didn't care that we knew it. He did feed us some mumbo-jumbo about the scepter we confiscated being nearby, some kind of vague threat that he might feel the need to reclaim it. That he could do that the same way you reach out and Mjolnir flies to your hand. Can he really do that?"

"I don't know. Perhaps. Loki is…ill-tempered at times. Perhaps this was simply him calming himself. Restraining himself from reacting to something that angered him."

"I don't know what that could have been."

"That doesn't mean it didn't happen."

"So he randomly gets up in the middle of the conversation, stares at a mirror, and breaks concrete just by squeezing? If that had been a hand he would've pulverized bone."

"What do you expect me to say?" Thor snapped. He shook his head again. "I don't have any answers for you on this, Tony. If I knew the thoughts in Loki's head…. If I knew his thoughts, much would be different." He thought back to what Tony had shown him – Loki, the mirror, the damaged counter. He remembered the broken mirror in Loki's chambers. What do you see when you look in the mirror, Loki?

"Okay, I get it, you don't want to pry too much into his business, and you're not a mind reader, anyway. Especially not of Loki. Probably for the best. Bruce says his mind is like a bag of cats. Maybe you go inside that, you get scratched. I just wanted to get a handle on what we could be dealing with down at the Pole."

Thor stared into the finely chiseled glass, so different from what they used on Asgard for mead, while he mulled over this new development. "I still believe your concern for the safety of Jane and the others at the South Pole is unwarranted. However…perhaps some investigation is warranted."

"See, that's what I was thinking. I can go check things out, get some fresh scans of the repair work as an excuse, see what's really going on down there."

"No. Not you. I shall go there myself."

/

Hi there! This go-'round I just wanted to echo what I've said on my profile page - I'M SORRY for lack of responses from me, please please don't take it personally or assume it means I'm not interested or not grateful for every review and happy to chat via PMs. It's a combo of lack of or inconsistent e-mail notifications (I just saw there's been some change whereby if you want e-mail notifications you have to go into your settings and explicitly say so?) and *mostly* just me continuing to be overwhelmed by stuff, for which there's too many reasons to list. On top of that, I'm now in the process of prepping for the next international move. (Just like they say about having a baby, you forget how awful it is each time after you've done it.) I was recently traveling, and in a location with some beautiful views, and was so irked that it didn't seem to be doing much for my "creative juices," when I realized I was using the time very ineffectively, b/c at that point what needed to be done was editing (of this chapter)...and editing ain't about creative juices, folks! It's about a clear mind and focus and hard work and the view doesn't have an iota of impact. (At least this is how it works for me.) Once I realized that and set aside editing to dive into starting 229, ahhhh those view/travel-aided creative juices! But I guess it's also part of why I didn't manage to finish the final edit at that time, two weeks ago. :-)

Previews for 228: The Pole is back to Population: 50...but Loki's still got to figure out how that's actually going to work. Everyone else does, too. And what happens when it looks like a visitor will bring the total to 51?

Excerpt:

"Sue's the closest thing we have to a neat freak," Wright said. "Well…other than you," he tacked on, turning his gaze toward Loki's desk, which held a notepad he'd used for taking notes on Jane's work, a stapler that had been there when he arrived, a small screw that had appeared there after he left, and the provided computer.

"You never put up pictures because you couldn't? Your pictures wouldn't look…'normal' to us?" Carlo asked, hooking his fingers in the air over the word "normal." "We'd know they weren't from Earth?"

4/21/23, edited Pri/Cav/Pri