- Chapter 14 -
23May2023 – Mid Afternoon
The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark
Shaking the grim thoughts from his mind, Odin looked back to James. Unwinding his seidr let Odin array the Learning Spell in his hand, which drew in his memories of the special runes, weaves, and weapons that were used to herd monsters away from cities, and a small request as well. A pearl of seidr formed from his spell in his hand which he offered to James. "Can your soldiers use these weapons?" He offered the pearl of seidr to James to take.
Curiosity over what he was being handed entered James' mind. Using his own Learning Spell, he touched the pearl of seidr and wanted to know. It was enough to activate the Learning Spell and pull the information into his thoughts. Garnet runes streaked up his arm from his hand, going over his shoulder, up his neck, and across his face to sink into his eyes. Confidential information on how Asgard drove back monsters, the weapons and magic that they used, as well as a request to keep the information confidential all filled his mind. As the information sank into his mind he reviewed it for compatibility with the Iron Flight and found the magic and weapons to be compatible. Looking up into Odin's eyes, he answered. "Yes. The weaves and runes could easily be integrated into the Runes of Revision interface. The weapons and their usage can be incorporated into the Iron Flight's coding." Looking down and putting his hands on his hips, James thought about it some more. Soldiers weren't the only thing that was needed. "A detection system is really what you need, maybe something to track them."
The urge to protest the ability to track monsters, that it even existed, came and went in Odin. Hesitant hope was what he grasped in his thoughts instead. "Do you truly believe that monsters could be found and tracked?"
That had Frey's absolute attention. He understood then what Odin was after and wondered if it wasn't a good idea. It would save the lives of his people after all. What interested him more was the prospect of a way to detect a monster before it got to a city.
He already knew they could and had good cover for how he knew it. "Loki described them as being made of corruption, which only happens in seidr. That seems to imply that they are made of some type of seidr. If it's got seidr in it then we can track it." As James thought about it more he liked the thought of making a detection and tracking system. "It would make the kids safer on Asgard and Vanaheim. Anthony will want to work on that. We could get it done faster together." Looking back up to Odin again he spoke. "Let me talk to Anthony about it and we'll see what we can come up with. We'll still need to work with a team if engineers who are familiar with the particulars of Asgard so that we can fine tune everything. Do you think it would be possible for me to get some scans of a couple of monsters? That would be very useful." I need to pull Morgan in on this. His insights will be invaluable.
Frowning, Odin could only respond, "There's only one monster in Asgard. It's been confined to an old pit for some seventy years, but I can grant you access to the area if you need. If there's anything or anyone that you need, please let me know."
"Vanaheim has twelve that are confined at the moment. Would those be useful to you? I can make anyone or anything available to you if you need it." This was an endeavor that Frey was willing to aid in with whatever resources he had. A way to detect monsters, to track them when they disappear?! For that they can have all they need. "I believe that Nidavellir has another seventeen. I could convince Lord Eitri to allow you access to the those for you work."
"That would be very helpful! Thank you. If you could give us a month to work on the basics of it, then we'll get back to you for how we proceed forward." Despite James being pleased to work on this project he was still nervous about a system meant to detect monsters. There were things other than ordinary monsters that it might detect, and he needed to find a way to keep those things from being found.
"Can I help, Uncle Rhodey?" The thought of being able to be a part of something that could help all of the Nine Realms sparked a keen interest in Jay's mind.
"I don't think so, Jay. The subject matter of this project isn't for children." He certainly knew several children who should never have been exposed to it.
"I can help with the machined parts, or the circuitry. I don't have to deal with the programming. Please, Uncle Rhodey!"
A little sigh left James' lips. The boy wanted to do good, and he wanted to encourage the boy doing good. This just wasn't a good topic for the boy to be involved in as he might find things he didn't need to. It all had to be handled delicately. "I promise nothing, and the answer might be 'no', but, I will give it fair consideration. That's all I can do."
"Thank you!" It was restrictive to be limited to only 'child appropriate' things, but Jay did understand that it was for his own good. He had views that were probably too mature for his age because of what he'd already been exposed to. At the same time as he didn't consider them to be detriments he also acknowledged that he was probably too young to make that determination properly.
Again, Odin appreciated that Jay wanted to do good in the world. Even though it was definitely driven by the boy's guilt over his previous actions, he still thought it was sweet that Jay wanted to contribute something to the work. But again, he agreed more with James. No boy needed to be exposed to monsters.
There was something that Frey needed to address, something Odin's request brought to him mind. "James, if you could create a way to detect monsters before they get to cities, how far would you be comfortable in spreading it?"
"I'm interested in creating a system to make sure that my nieces and nephews are safer, but I know that there are more children than just them, more people even than them who need this kind of protection. I know that Anthony won't mind spreading it to the rest of the realms once I talk to him about it." Anthony would definitely mind because he hated losing control of his inventions, it scared him. That objection could be overcome through conversation, so James didn't mind it.
"You truly believe that you can do this?" Frey's gaze drifted down before coming back up to meet Odin's gaze, "It would save so many lives."
Whether he would ever be able to find justice for those slain by monsters was still a consideration that bit into Odin, but it was lessened with the prospect of preventing more people from being slain. "Yes, it would."
There was one thing that Frey needed to know about these soldiers before he was truly comfortable using them. "Are these soldiers thinking machines?"
"No. They have programming which dictates most of their actions. In addition to that they have a learning algorithm, but that only produces output based on observations, interactions, and guiding principles. If nothing interacts with them or their sensors then they have no data to process. They also operate on a shared network which allows them to operate more efficiently as a single machine. They do not think for themselves." In the Elder Realms 'thinking machine' was a legal definition that even Kings had to abide by.
A little sigh of relief passed Frey's lips. "It is well then."
"Does anyone have any other questions about the Iron Flight? Or would you like to proceed on to the production facility at the bottom of the armory? Speaking of which," James looked to the guard Captain, "Formadr Frigga would you and your men like to explore the production facility before anyone else steps into it?"
"Is that where the Chitauri beast dwells? The 'white whale'?" Frigga wanted that beast dealt with before Odin got to the area. The size of it made it sound very dangerous.
"Yes, it's the centerpiece of the production facility." It was the centerpiece of his younger brother's obsession with keeping Loki healthy at all costs. It always sounded good, but the desperation just beneath the surface always made it less than good. James didn't grimace at it. He was too accustomed to the lines that desperation could that a person could cross to grimace at them now.
"How do you plan on dealing with this beast? Is it tainted as the Chitauri soldiers were? Would you mind if we destroyed it?" Frigga needed to know what she and her men were walking into.
"I want it destroyed because it has to be tainted as well. The soldiers' logs show that only five of them had regular direct contact with Thanos. Their taint still soaked through the floor into Jay's lab. This thing has had direct contact with Thanos as well. I expect it to be just as tainted."
"Why don't James and I handle the beast before you bring Lord Odin down into the facility? It would be safer that way." Volunteering to handle this was easy for Sean not just because he didn't want Frey near Thanos' corruption, but because he worked well with James. He felt that they could handle it in a satisfactory way.
"I would like to see the beast." While Odin did want the beast destroyed, he wanted to see it with his own eyes first.
"I'd like to have it studied." Frey also wanted the beast destroyed, but not before he could give his military information about it.
Unfolding his seidr again, James mounted a Conjuration Spell in his left hand. It released when he held up his hand, to create two small memory cubes it conjured various pieces of enchanted mechanical parts and a variety of engraved crystals. An unpowered Rune of Warning inscribed on each side of it. He was going to offer to transfer over everything they knew about the Chitauri Leviathan, including its programing, when he paused and wondered if there wasn't more that he should do. His father always supported the military, all the men in his family did. It seemed like the right thing to do, to at least try. So James mounted another Conjuration Spell and released it to create a small special memory cube. It was formed the same as any other memory cube, with mechanical parts and crystals, colored bright red with the biohazard symbol painted across all six sides of the cube. When it was formed he mounted a Learning Spell that drew in his memories. He released the spell into cube to copy over the information. Then he mounted another two Learning Spells which drew in his memories. Those two Learning Spells released to copy over a version of the Master Key to the Chitauri technology onto the first two memory cubes. When the cubes were done he handed the first two cubes with the runes on them to Frey and Odin. The third cube, with the biohazard symbol of it was handed over to Director Fury.
Looking at Frey and Odin, he spoke calmly. "This is all the information we have on the Chitauri. Anthony was injured several times studying this. There's no reason for your people to be injured." Flaring his seidr to each monarch there he warned them of what they had, This has a clean copy of the Master Key in it. With this you can reproduce or fight the Chitauri technology. Then he turned to Director Fury and handed him the third cube. "This has all the military information on the Chitauri, as well as a few pieces of information from the Chitauri on the micronizing of technology that SHIELD might find very useful. If this is used appropriately then there might be other pieces of technology that I can help you adapt. This will also work very well with the electronic warfare suit. Don't abuse it."
Hesitation entered the Director's thoughts. It was a large gift, phenomenal even and would jump human technology ahead, but he didn't want it to jeopardize the rest of what he'd been given. "You realize that this tech will be involved in missions once we adapt it. Some of those will be of questionable morality. It's just what we do."
"I know, but it comes back to old means versus new ones, and what your mandate is. What are you trying to do?"
"To save lives and protect the world from extraordinary threats." It was an automatic answer because Director Fury believed in it so strongly.
"And will using this further that goal? Or will it further an ally's goal of being re-elected, or otherwise installed into power? That's something you should be asking yourself anyway."
It was a quick thought, but a very honest one for Director Fury. "I need to hire you as an ethics consultant. When do you get out of the military again?"
A broad smile touched James face. "My retirement ceremony is tomorrow evening. We can discuss a consulting position after that."
Pulling out his phone, and bringing up his calendar, Director Fury marked the date of the retirement ceremony and that he needed James as a consultant. It was enough of a reminder for him. "Excellent. I'll have the proposal written up for when you stop by again," he looked up at James as he put away his phone and quirked an eyebrow, "Hopefully it'll be soon?"
"It will be. I have business to discuss with SHIELD now." There was potentially some very serious and personal business to discuss with the shady organization. He could certainly manipulate SHIELD into doing as he wanted. It would be all too easy to do for him. The risk he was running with that course of action was of them realizing how they'd been used and rebelling against the control he exerted over them. If he made Director Fury and a limited number of people aware of the facts surrounding his younger brothers then he could use SHIELD to get them more of the help that they needed. But to do that he had to extend more than a little trust to the shady organization. Then he had to file an emergency motion on the case and win it. It was all part of the process.
"Good. Are we squared away then?" The Director put the important and dangerous memory cube in another of his many pockets.
"That depends on Formadr Frigga," James' attention went to her, "I've provided the Lords with the information from the Chitauri Leviathan, and I can provide my memories of seeing the beast and its disposal. I don't want to speak for Sean, but I suspect he might not be opposed to providing his memories upon request as well."
"I'm not opposed at all to providing my memories of the beast before it's destroyed." It pleased Sean that James was willing to hand over the Master Key to Odin and Frey, and discreetly too. He liked that James was willing to share the treasures, both great and terrible, in this house. He still wondered over how Lord Stark was going to take this sharing, and at the same time didn't worry that James would be in trouble for it. Lord Stark didn't just seem to bend an ear to what James had to say, he actively sought it out.
Looking down at the small memory cube, with a Rune of Warning on each side, Frey marveled at it. He honestly thought it would be harder to get a hold of this. He was glad that it wasn't, because his military needed it, his Black Hand Service as well. The temptation was there to ask if Anthony would be well with this, but he suspected that James would discuss it and explain it to Anthony and that it would be well when he was done. There was something in James' voice, a power that was usually soothing and supporting but could be wrathful and rending. That was what Frey truly wanted. He wanted to know what magic could be so powerful and yet so pliable. He extended his seidr to grip the cube and dismissed it to his interdimensional pocket, furling his seidr back to his core. "Thank you. This satisfies my concern. Vanaheim will use this wisely."
Flaring his seidr to his wife, his seidr whispered to her, This has the Master Key on it. Right away she replied. You must be cautious with that, Frigga's seidr whispered to Odin. The worry in it was obvious. He couldn't disagree with his wife. What he had in his hand was the key to the enemy's technology, it was a technology of slavery and horror though. It had to be used with the utmost caution lest it consume Asgard itself. Odin's thoughts went to the beast that this held information on. He did want to see it with his own eyes but could understand Frigga's desire to destroy it before he got near it. Having someone else's memories on this matter was probably the safest thing for him to have, and having Sean's memories would be very interesting. "Yes, having someone else's viewpoint would handle my concern very well," he held up the memory cube and smiled, "Thank you for this. Asgard too will use it wisely." Odin extended his seidr to grip the cube and dismiss it to his interdimensional pocket before twisting his seidr back to his core.
Nodding once, Frigga looked back to James. "I would prefer to have the beast destroyed before Lord Odin sets foot in this facility. Would you mind leading the way for me and two of my men to this facility so that I might deal with this beast."
"Of course, right this way," James motioned towards the door opposite of where they entered.
"Huskarli Ellingboe, Bielke, we go to clear the way. Hirdmen Vilulf, defend Lord Odin in my absence." Frigga stepped forward to follow James towards the door at the other end of the room. The two huskarl followed silently after her.
Out the door, down another metal walkway to another elevator that led straight down from the last of the armory into darkened stone shaft. The sparse lighting created greying pockets of illumination in the dank darkness that lent credence to the unnatural feel of the clean cut stone. The farther down they went the more the air they breathed in had a quality of artificial sterilization in it. Members of the group wanted to say that there was something in the air that was bothersome, but it was quite the opposite. There wasn't anything in the air; none of the normal scents that comprised the background noise in the panoply of ordinary smells were present. The formadr and her huskarli recognized the smell as something that might come from the healing rooms. James was accustomed to the scent, but Sean certainly wasn't.
To Sean, it smelled awful for all the things it didn't smell like. He was glad the scent was dampened through the Easy Breathing mask he was wearing. It made the non-scent tolerable.
Out of the looming ill-lit shaft they descended from an unnaturally bright cavern opened below them. A shield of active runes glowed across the ceiling and walls of rock. They kept the moisture that would have clung to the rocks away, providing an easy light source, and purifying the air. Its carved out expanse involuntarily echoed the droning hum of the elevator traveling on its rails. Despite the persistent amplification of the elevator's noise, the sound was still hard to hear over the great sonorous moans and powerful clinking of the main feature of the cavern. Nearly sitting against the southern wall of the cavern was a massive groaning worm with an extended serpentine body with interlocking plates instead of scales, long head with a blunt boxy nose, and a mouth that could swallow cars whole. In the mouth was where its similarities to a snake ended. Instead of a few measly fangs to worry about this worm's mouth was filled with rows of shark-like teeth that were long, thin, and jagged like weaponized stalactites. All over its plated body were the mooring points for the armor it once wore. No longer did it have its own suit of spined armor complete with antigravitational wings, traveling spots for Chitauri passengers, and ion cannons. Now that it had been returned to its unarmored state it was only massive instead of unreasonably huge. It lay naked and chained to the floor of the cavern with its dense chains anchored to the armor mooring points. They clinked loudly as it struggled against them every minute of every day, without rest or pause of any kind. It was at the same time seemingly helpless in its entire and still extremely dangerous.
Along the south wall to its right was a hole in the natural rock wall that was plugged with concrete and covered in runes. To the left of the massive, captured worm were many circular, high pressure, white kilns laid out in a grid pattern on a floor covered in white tile. Dark smoke continued to seep out of them as their burned contents cooled. Behind then were dozens of large white tanks placed in tight rows. White shelves were built up around them to stack more tanks on the upper shelves. All the tanks were connected to white pipes which carried the coalesced machine solution up to the tanks. The white painted input machinery was in between the high pressure kilns and the towering shelves. There were taps at the bottom of each of the tanks. A tidal wave of coalesced machine solution was stored in those tanks until just a little while ago. Dark smoke was seeping out of the taps as their contents also burned in Jay's handling of the coalesced machine solution. Along the western wall of the cavern were several white resting cases for the drones that were normally working there.
The elevator set down in a spot carved out of the white tiled floor and the safety rails pulled back to let its occupants out. It was directly opposite the Chitauri Leviathan across the length of the cavern. Both of the huskarli gripped their staves tightly at the sight of the great worm. Frigga gripped the handle of her sword with one hand as she stepped off of the elevator towards the worm. It saddened her again to know that this thing had ever touched her child or grandchildren, that this was what Stark was forced to rely on to ensure Loki's health. It brought health to Loki that he or she might not have otherwise had. All it brought to Stark was desperation, despair, and madness.
Sean was disturbed by what he was seeing. The mooring points all over its body were visibly dug into its flesh. The metal was oddly dark in the seidr-laced flesh, so he focused on it. The seidr was mostly a murky white and stank of Thanos' corruption, but still told him about the worm's life before it was captured. Its free life was almost idyllic on a faraway desert planet. It swam through the sand oceans of its homeland, eating and leaving is spice scented larvae where it pleased. There were so few creatures to bother it, most lived on the rocky islands that dotted the desert. It lived happily in its own territory. What a simple life. Then came the Chitauri, with their cybernetic slavery and enduring pain. It went through an almost factory-like process to outfit it in vibranium armor and weaponry. No pain relief or sedation was used on the worm as it was torn open, rewired, linked to the Chitauri Command Center, and stapled shut for the coalesced machine solution to heal. This poor beast. The last of the seidr in the beast was a dark indigo and was moving about as if it was trying to evade him. It was what was reeking of corruption. Sean wasn't sure how he knew that he wasn't going to be able to focus on it without having his hands on it first. "Formadr Frigga, this beast has suffered enough in Chitauri custody. It can't be freed from that custody, but it can be freed from its life of pain. I request that it be freed quickly, or that I be allowed to free it."
"It will be done." Unspeakable anger roiled Frigga's heart at Sean's plea. There was nothing and no one that Thanos couldn't break when he got a hold of them. This worm was no different. She didn't feel overly for the worm itself, but for what it represented. It was the bearer of Thanos' corruption, a symbol of his antagonizing of the living. Suddenly Frigga could hear Loki screaming in the box as Thanos tortured/healed him. She knew that this worm must have screamed as it was made into an instrument of war. Frigga could imagine how the people who Thanos slaughtered must have screamed as this worm descended on them. There was so much screaming that it brought an idea to her mind as they approached the great writhing beast.
"Shield your ears." The command was issued to everyone she was with. The Huskarli 's helmets would shield them, Frigga knew, but James and Sean needed a warning.
Instantly, James wrapped his soul song of stillness around Sean's head while bringing the hardness beneath his skin more to the surface to protect his flesh. "We're shielded."
Sean didn't know what shielding James erected since he hadn't seen him use his seidr, or even move. What shielding? Wait, why can't I hear anything but the song and his voice? He reached up to touch at his ears. No physical ear protection was covering them.
Moving ahead to stand in front of the beast, Frigga was unafraid of it as it gnashed its teeth at her. This thing would hurt no one else, would be hurt no more. Unraveling her seidr fully lifted her up off the ground so that she was staring the worm in the eyes. The pressure of her seidr lifted up her ponytail; it floated out behind her. Her runework lit in brilliant flaxen runes across her upper body, down her arms and over her hips to her legs. She held her hands out at her sides. Power radiated from Frigga. She spun two weaves then: the Laedis' Wrath Weave and the Deathly Echoes Weave. She opened her mouth, inhaled as much as she could, leaned slightly forward with her pointed feet going back some, and then screamed as she released both the weaves. The two weaves combined in her mouth to create a fire storm blasting outwards that hit with a rending sonic boom. The screeching grew in pitch and intensity until everything in the cave was vibrating violently. The flames swirled around the sound waves that flowed over the worm. In less than a minute the entire worm was disintegrating into ash that was blown backwards violently. The enormous chains that held the beast in place bent, cracked, and broke under her assault. The destroyed chunks flew backwards into the wall behind where it was chained. Chunks of the floor joined them shortly after. When naught but a smoking wreck was left Frigga closed her mouth, ending the aural onslaught. Less than a minute had elapsed since her scream started. She could have gone on, but it wasn't needed.
Raveling her seidr back into her core let Frigga touch back down into the floor. Her voice was grim as she spoke. "It is done."
The woman that James had dealt with so far was Loki's mother, Jay's grandmother, Odin's wife. Beneath and before all of those was the potent mage and warrior that she was first. James liked seeing this side of Frigga. It provided him with a fuller picture of her that he wanted to have. Loki still had respect for her mother, despite everything that had happened. He could see why as she calmly stepped back down on the floor from obliterating the Chitauri Leviathan. He unwrapped his soul song from Sean's head and sunk the hardness back into his flesh since it was no longer needed to protect him.
The display in front of Sean would have been more impressive if he could have heard it. All he heard was the song from James' white seidr at a very reasonable volume when the huskarli were starting to turn their heads away from the noise. As it was he was left with a scene of focused devastation with the most soothing of songs. The dissonance between the two of them was almost comical if it hadn't prompted a serious curiosity in him. How is he doing this? I can't see his seidr moving. I can only hear the song from his white seidr. I wonder if Frey would know. I didn't see all of Frey when I focused on him yesterday, but there wasn't anything like this in the majority that I did see. I don't understand. Sean couldn't figure it out and was almost tempted to ask his Lady. Sean stopped himself from contacting her, deciding that he didn't want to bother Lady Audhumbla with petty concerns.
Huskarl Ellingboe subtly flexed his jaw to pop his ears. He could see Huskarl Bielke doing the same thing. Though it almost hurt his ears there was a weird sort of pride that his Princess, his formadr, could come close to overcoming the enchantments on their helmets. She was a fearsome example of the Royal Line. He was proud to follow her lead.
Outside The Bounds Of Time
Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers
The last thing that James did was to sign the court filing and put it in a manilla folder. It was handed to Herb who was standing next to the desk. Herb's soul song of stillness complimented James' own song. Despite the peaceful song, the six foot six inch tall Northern Californian man looked like a Viking body builder with lightly tanned skin, azure blue eyes, dark blonde long hair that pulled back into a ponytail with bangs over his face, a cheerful smile was under the long braided beard on his face, calluses on his hands, and a heavily muscled buid. James was glad that he was there, glad to be able to have his help in this matter. Unfolding his seidr, James mounted a Learning Spell which drew in his memories of the courthouse into it and gathered it into a pearl of seidr in his hand. "Lady Sjofn," he offered her the pearl, "could you please open a portal to this location at this time?"
The information streaked towards her eyes and sunk into Lady Sjofn's mind after touching it while wanting to know. "Yes." She extended her seidr into the currents of time around them and commanded them to open a portal to the desired location at the desired time. The portal opened in a dimly lit, seldom used hallway in the basement of the Los Angeles courthouse.
"We'll get together soon, brother?" Herb didn't like the thought of having to go home to Arno and not be able to tell him what was going on with Anthony. It couldn't be helped at the moment, James said as much. If James said it then it was the word of law to Herb, it had been for decades.
"I promise you, soon, no more than a month." He patted Herb on the shoulder. "Give Arno my love when you get home."
"I will," holding up the folder, he made his own promise, "I'll make sure that this is filed today. The Justices will have the time they need to look over it."
"Thanks, Herb." James watched as his brother-in-law turned and went through the portal into the courthouse. Nodding, he turned to Lady Sjofn. This business was done for the moment, but there was always more business for him to handle.
"Back to the mansion?" The Norn warrior's voice was soft and questioning.
"Yes," James turned to her to do what he'd done several times, "Thank you, Lady Sjofn."
"You are welcome, James." She commanded her sjel-seidr to close the portal and move them back through the currents of time. It was interesting to her that this man, Herb, had carmine and orange fires swirling around him in the currents of time. The firehawk had no conscious contact with him, yet the fires were still there. After dropping off James at the mansion, she went back a few minutes in time to observe James' associate more closely. Lady Sjofn decided to look back through time to see how long the fires had been there. There was an initial air of immortality about the fires, as they were burning across all times related to Herb. It interested her though when she dared venture closer to the fires, dangerously close, to examine the flames themselves. After a protracted examination of how the fires interacted with the currents of time, during which she was burned several times, she determined the flames to be new despite them stretching across all times. She looked between the firehawk and James' associate. Following the burning trail of the fires back she found they originated from inside the room she had pulled outside of time and were stretching into normal time. Again, she looked to Anthony. This seemed wrong to her since Anthony couldn't get out of the room. No, the firehawk wasn't the one who could freely move in and out of that room. Lady Sjofn looked to James then and wondered again. Who are you?
23May2023 – Mid Afternoon
The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark
Turning around to face James, Frigga questioned him. "Are there any other Chitauri down here?"
"No, that was the only one, and Jay destroyed the remnants of the coalesced machine solution that was in the kilns," he motioned to them, then to the shelves, "and in the storage tanks. We have no more Chitauri or coalesced machine solution anywhere in the world."
"Excellent, that is very well then. What of Wakanda? Do you know if they have any? How far are they from here?" A foreign nation was outside the remit of a formadr ordinarily. However, since the coalesced machine solution and the Chitauri posed such an extraordinary danger she didn't feel like she was overreaching in asking about them.
A calm smile touched James' face as he extended his soul song of stillness, with hopeful notes, again. "Wakanda is about 9200 miles away from here, on the other side of the planet. This Leviathan was the only Chitauri they had, and the only coalesced machine solution that they had Jay destroyed earlier when he dealt with our coalesced machine solution. Through the seidr that I lent him I could feel them being destroyed." A wider smile touched his lips. It is done now. "Would you like our information on how to track them, so your people can verify it?" Unfolding his seidr, James mounted a Learning Spell which he marshalled in his left hand as it drew in his memories of how to use the Asgardian electronic warfare suite to track and destroy the Chitauri and coalesced machine solution. He held his hand up to offer the pearl of seidr that contained the information and would stow his seidr back once she accepted and took it or declined.
A slightly predatory and very tart smile came to Frigga's face. "Yes, I would like that." She reached out to touch the pearl, wanting to know. Garnet runes streaked up her arm, across her shoulder, over her throat to cross her face into her eyes where they lit up her eyes with the garnet knowledge he was offering. With this information she knew that Asgard's militaries would be able to easily hunt any remaining Chitauri. Even if there were pockets of Chitauri here and there, the majority of them were wiped out and the remaining ones would follow soon enough. Jay's youthful outburst gave them a very real head-start on ensuring that Midgard was secure. Now it was time for the military to come into play. The garnet light faded from her vision leaving her gaze resting on Sean which sparked another idea, an idea of what Odin needed. She unraveled her seidr to spin a single Learning Spell, then thought better of it and spun several Learning Spells, each one drawing in different memories and creating several orders. The orders completed so she spun several Conjuration Spells which released to create several, small, rolled scrolls. Each was complete so she placed the name of the recipient on one end of the scroll and her seal on the other end of each of them. Their recipients would know who these orders came from before they even opened them. Now that they were done they dropped down into her waiting hands. Frigga turned to Sean and went to stand in front of him. "Truthspeaker McCorrmick, Lord Odin and Lord Frey need your assistance."
It wasn't offensive to Sean that Frigga didn't use his first name. She was on duty after all, and he understood. "What can I do for the Lords?"
"Can you send these scrolls through time, to give the people they must go to the time to all arrive here at the same time?"
"When would you like them to arrive at the intended points?" This was no problem to do for Frigga. Sean did wonder what was in the sudden scrolls though.
"When?" Turning back to James, Frigga asked, "How long do you think it will take to view Loki's laboratory?"
"All together it should take thirty to forty five minutes. The rest of this room shouldn't take but a few minutes since the Chitauri Leviathan was the main point of interest down here. There's not much else here. With your permission I can teleport Lord Odin, and the rest of the group from here to Loki's lab to save on travel time. It shouldn't take very long to go over her cave of wonders, and to view the saplings. She doesn't have anything else down there."
"What do those machines do," Frigga asked, motioning to the kilns, asking the questions that Odin and Frey would ask, "and were those tanks where the coalesced machine solution was stored?" she motioned to the tanks then.
James pointed to the kilns first. "Those are specialized kilns. They produce both the heat and the pressure that the coalesced machine solution needs to be made active after it's created. Other than that, they aren't special," he pointed to the tanks next, "The tanks were where the coalesced machine solution was kept before it was deployed out to the power grids. Some of it stored extra nimp. That's all they did," James pointed to the resting cases last, "The only other thing are the resting cases for the drones who manned this coalesced machine solution production facility."
"Might I have your memories of this room, James?" Frigga looked to Sean next. "Truthspeaker, might I have your memories of seeing the beast?"
"Certainly." Unfolding his seidr again, James mounted a Learning Spell which drew in his memories of the room and it functioning to full capacity with the drones drawing coalesced machine solution from a large tap in the side of the Leviathan, placing it in the kilns and then transferring it to the tanks. When the memories were drawn he created a pearl of seidr in his left hand which he held up and allowed Frigga to take it before stowing his seidr back.
Following suit, Sean angled his seir out of his core to bend into a Learning Spell. It drew his memories of the beast into it then created a pearl of the seidr and held it out for Frigga to take, angling back his seidr when she did.
After touching the pearl of James' memories with the intent to know them Frigga absorbed them quickly. The drones she saw in the memories reminded her of insects working in a colony to accomplish their assigned tasks. They were efficient, careful, and specific. They also showed her more of the process to create the coalesced machine solution. That was greatly appreciated. Next she took the memories from Sean and was instantly interested. It wasn't just how he was able to see the white seidr, but how he focused on it that interested her. The ability was fascinating. It was what the ability showed Frigga that did stir her heart. This worm had lived free and happy, in harmony with its surroundings before it was brutalized and debased. Such a proud and mighty beast should never have lived in bondage.
When the memories faded Frigga looked back to the two men who provided her with them. "This is an excellent presentation of what's in this room. Neither of the Lords will need to come down here. We can teleport from the room above us."
"So you won't be needing any of the equipment left down here?" James wondered if he could just be rid of the whole space.
"No, we need nothing from here. You've given us more than enough. We thank you for it." Giving the memories to Odin and Frey was going to have to suffice. There was no reason for them to come down here where Thanos' influence could be lingering. She knew what she needed to do now, so she turned her attention to Sean again. "Can you send these to their intended recipients last night when we arrived back on Vanaheim? It should give everyone time to get to where they need to be."
"Of course." Taking the scrolls from Frigga Sean grasped the frothy pearl of sjel-seidr in his seidr core. It spread rapidly through his core converting his seidr into sjel-seidr, lighting his runework brightly, empowering him. He extended the sjel-seidr and commanded it to take the scrolls to the people named on them at the same time as they arrived on Vanaheim the night before. The currents of time grasped the scrolls and delivered them without fail to the right people in the right time. Each scroll arrived in front of the intended person in a flash of pink seidr that would lend authority to the already acknowledged authority of the Queen of Asgard. Since they were delivered Sean let go of the pearl of sjel-seidr and angled his extended seidr back into his core. "They've all been delivered to their intended destinations."
"Excellent." Very shortly Odin and Frey were going to have the aid that they needed, and Frigga was pleased to have gotten that done. There was one more thing that she needed though. Her personal terminal was summoned from her interdimensional pocket and the small device was placed in the inner pocket of her vest. It was going to be needed soon.
"Since we don't need them…" James muttered before his voice died down into nothing. Switching his song to the soul song of withering he swept the room in front of him, guiding the discordant song with his hand. Metal shattered, tile crumbled, plastic disintegrated, and the runes clinging to the walls came undone. The kilns crackled, popped, and splintered down into piles of worthless powdery rubbish. The shelves buckled and collapsed under the weight of the tanks. They fell in powdery heaps to the floor as the floor cracked and broke under them. The marauding decay that James brought to bear swept over the resting cases next to tear them down into useless bits as well. They too crumpled into powdery garbage. By the time he was done it looked like several thousand years' worth of decay had taken place. No longer was there a pristine sanitized white about the room. Now there was a crumbling grey in all the places where he sang his song. He pulled his song back to himself and faced the people he was standing with, none of whom looked entirely comfortable now. "If everyone could please move back to the elevator so that I can safely finish dealing with this room, I would appreciate it."
With a single affirmative nod Frigga moved with her men and Sean back to the elevator. She didn't know what magic James used, since she hadn't felt him use any, but she didn't want her or her men near something so insidiously and completely corrosive to anything and everything, even Stark's seidr.
Sean almost put his hands over his ears. The discordant ugly song was back, and it was blaring out through James' white seidr. That cacophonous din was trying to breach the seidr shields that Frey put over his ears. What was more worrying to him was how the song seemed to speed up time to decay anything it flowed over. Nothing seemed immune from its terrible corrosion.
Everyone was on board the elevator and the rails closed so James took them up to the point where the elevator was about to enter the dimly lit corridor and stopped there. Extending his soul song of withering down and out let him finish scouring the room, removing everything that his younger brother put in that place. The runes on the wall were undone, the tile flooring was removed, the remaining metal chains were shattered into dust, even the bottom of the railing that the elevator rode on was withered to nothing. Then James decayed away the plug in southern wall. Chilly ocean water burst through the cracks in the plug to spray out into the room. When enough of the plug was withered the ocean water exploded through the wall. It was eager to reclaim what it had been denied.
"What are you doing?" To Sean it looked a great deal like simple destruction. After what he'd seen that day he knew that James had to have a reason for it.
"I'm returning to the ocean what belongs to the ocean. Let it be buried in the dark water, never to return." The cold water flooded in to rush across the destroyed floors. It was swallowing all the destruction he wrought, so James started the elevator moving up again. He decayed away the light fixtures in the ascending corridor as he passed them. The rails that the elevator was traveling on were decayed into powdery waste once they'd past the individual sections. The elevator could never go down again. Nothing was going to be left behind when he was done with this place. What had to be saved would be taken elsewhere. Everything else would be destroyed.
The elevator brought them back up to the rest of the group waiting for them and James decayed away the last light fixture near the top when the elevator came to a stop. When they stepped off of the elevator platform he decayed away the last of the rails with his soul song of withering. They were done so he struck at the platform itself with his song. It withered into rubbish and fell back down the shaft into the waiting sea water. "That room is disposed of." Satisfaction entered James' voice and he switched his song back to the soul song of stillness with hopeful undertones.
Both Odin with Jay and Frey came forward to meet Frigga when she came up with the others. The huskarli went back to the formation around Lord Odin. Each King worried when they heard the deathly echoes and booming. Though it was the potent smell of sea water that truly worried them. Something was amiss and they could see it. Frigga had a peculiar look on her face. Calling her his beloved was so normal for Odin that it was what almost came out of his mouth. He stopped and thought before he spoke, calling to her respectfully. "Formadr, what news is there?"
"We won't be going down to that room. The risk of corruption is too high. This place must be purified with the rest of the land. Come, I have memories for you. Give me your hand, please," Frigga motioned to Frey then, "Lord Frey, please give me your hand as well." She unraveled her seidr to spin into two Learning Spells which drew in her memories of the facility and of the worm then of James himself, then James' and Sean's memories of the room. Next she touched Odin's hand and then Frey's hand to release the two spells, transferring to them the memories of three people.
The hirdmen of the drengr was willing to admit that he'd seen many strange things that day, many more than most other days, but the gifting of memories was the weirdest. His formadr had to be using some truly fearsome magic to accomplish this. Hirdmen Vilulf couldn't see any other way for it to happen. He wasn't certain if he liked Lord Odin having that magic but was more proud to follow his formadr and to serve his Lord. They were both powerful and wise.
Several misty memories swept over the two Kings. Each of them liked the mundane memories from James that Frigga put first. They showed the facility as it was operating; taking coalesced machine solution from Stark's white whale, placing it in the kilns for a time then putting in the tanks to be stored or sent out in batches to other places. The worm in the first set of memories was perpetually chained and stripped of its armaments. It was still fearsome and fierce looking. It grew even more fierce as they walked with Frigga to face the great worm. In a display of wrath that the two of them hadn't seen in quite some time Frigga annihilated the beast, leaving burning devastation in her wake. Odin and Frey would have cheered the destruction of the great worm except that the next set of memories were Sean's, and they showed the two Kings how joyful and simple the creature was when it was free and the hideous process that turned it into a Chitauri. The worm's destruction was more sad now than cheerful since they knew it couldn't be returned to its simple life. Its destruction was necessary. They at least got a quick look at how Sean was viewing the world, which was fascinating. What piqued their curiosity was the last of Frigga's memories of James destroying the room by decaying it back into the ocean. Frigga hadn't felt him using any sort of magic, or even extending his seidr to use that. He did this without seidr or strain. To James, this was easy. The memories ended, satisfying their curiosity about the worm, and creating a new curiosity about James' abilities.
Odin and Frey were off on another trip through the memories, so James turned to Director Fury and asked him for what he needed. "Can you get out your memory cube? I'll put information about the production facility, and the Leviathan on it."
Pulling his memory cube out again the Director held it up. "We're not going down there?"
"The contents were destroyed, and the room was unplugged. I gave it all back to the ocean so there's nothing but dark water down there now. Nothing else remains." James unfolded his seidr and mounted a Learning Spell which drew in his memories of the production facility and the captured Chitauri Leviathan. He released it into the cube to write a new file in the growing list of them. "That file has an explanation of the coalesced machine solution production facility and pictures of the Leviathan as well as some video of it, both alive and as it was destroyed."
I need to view those pictures soon. Damn. I wanted to see the Leviathan for myself. I hope the video has multiple angles. Director Fury lamented that they wouldn't be going down there and wondered what kind of security risk had prevented them. What does she mean by 'corruption'? Magical corruption again, like Stark? I don't understand that.
The discordant song coming from James' white seidr was gone now and Sean was happy to hear it go. The soothing song with its hope for everyone who heard it was playing again. It was far better to listen to than a song which could corrode metal.
Odin looked to Frigga when the seidr in his eyes faded, then he looked to Frey who was looking to him. He flared his seidr to his Little Brother, The beast is handled, should we ask James about what ability he used?
We should plan it out along with asking about the old monster, Frey flared his seidr in return. We must be careful.
Indeed, when we get back to Vanaheim we will, Odin flared his seidr again.
The seidr lighting Frey and Odin's eyes faded so James looked to Frigga. "Formadr Frigga, do I have your permission to teleport the group now?"
Before Frigga answered James she turned to her men and spoke. "Drengr, James will be teleporting us to another location in the house where there are no people or Chitauri. Lord Odin, Lord Frey, please stand ready," she looked back to James then, "We stand ready, you may transport us now."
Swiftly James unfolded his seidr and mounted a wide Teleportation Spell, keyed the spell to where he wanted to go, then he gripped everyone there with the spell and released it. A swirl of garnet teleportation fire with hints of carmine in it swirled up from the floor towards the ceiling to engulf them. When the flames died back down to the floor they were standing in Loki's lab under the rooms situated down the cliff face. They came into the lab near its sliding door. The room had no windows, so only soft artificial light from four small gold and crystal lights on the ceiling lit the way. Dark brown stone covered the floor while the walls and ceiling were cream colored. On the wall to the right of the door was a rectangle running the entire length of the right wall that was cut out of the wall, filled with little plants and sun lights with glass doors enclosing all of it. Loki's potions cabinet sat near the in-wall greenhouse. Loki's workbench sat against the wall opposite the door with a deep sink next to it. It was covered in various knick-knacks and runed scientific implements. The wall that the door was on was empty, as was the wall to the left of the door. The seven, large, circular, plant containers sitting on stone stands that they saw holding Loki's small apple trees sat empty by the left wall. Even the dirt had been removed.
Looking around the lab that they were standing in, Jay remembered all of the things that happened there. It wasn't much better than what happened in his father's lab. Awkward emotion streaked here and there through his thoughts as he could hear his own voice again in his thoughts, LOKI! He never liked screaming at Loki, but sometimes it was the only tool he had to startle her out of lapsing into memory. Though he saved her from the perils in her memories he still felt guilty for having nothing else to use. Jay looked down to this grandfather's vest and started playing with the seams again. He wasn't sure that the guilt was going to go anywhere any time soon, but wondered if he would feel better if he followed Loki's instructions to him. She's not dead, but I still think she'd want me to give it to him. Maybe I should mention it?
Using his unfolded seidr James extended it into the left wall of the lab from where they came in next to the door. He sank it into the wall then cut the wall apart into squares that he stacked neatly in the lab. Behind the wall was a metal railing that was broken in half by metal stairs leading down to a long metal catwalk with safety railing on the sides. The catwalk was at the center top of a massive, perfectly square, cavern that was carved out of the rock beneath the mansion. James stowed his seidr back into his core then went to the front of the stairs down onto the catwalk. Only from those steps could the stairs to the right leading down into the cavern be seen. They weren't visible from in the room. "If everyone would come over to the steps, I can point out what's sitting in the cavern." The group came over to look over the railings and down into the cavern. Looking down showed them that the bottom of the cavern was divided into four different but equal quarters separated by high rock walls.
Pointing down, James smiled and moved to explain. "In the northwestern quarter, there, you can see Loki's Celestial apple trees." There were seven rows of ten trees, with each row being separated by a Hardened Light Barrier so that each row could have an environment that matched the realm it was meant for. They were trees designed by the Celestials and carried the power of the cosmos within them.
Moving his attention on, James pointed over to the next quarter. "In the southeastern quarter are Loki's pollution eating maple trees." Row after row of smaller trees filled this quarter. They were medium, spherical puffs of bright green leaves sitting at the top a long, thin, branchless trunks. They looked more like landscaping trees than trees that would clean a city's air.
From one quarter to the next, James moved on. "The northeastern quarter, with the desert there, contains one of Loki's purifying waterspouts." A small desert oasis sat in this quarter with a two story high, marquise cut, sapphire colored crystal floating above it. The crystal was creating the oasis. It was the key to clean water that Midgard needed.
Then James moved on to the last quarter. "The southwestern quarter holds the breeding pit for Loki's plastic eating jellyfish. It's emptied of jellyfish now, they're all out in the wild doing their job." A deep pit filled with dark sea water and a tunnel out to the open ocean made up the last quarter. Though it wasn't filled with two and a half million jellyfish anymore, it still had the homes of hundreds of thousands of the little, circular, flower hat shaped jellyfish that Loki's jellyfish were bred from. Her engineered little jellies were out cleaning the oceans of the plastics they were drowning in.
"James?" Director Fury looked down at the miracles made for humanity focusing on the smaller trees.
"Yes?"
"Did Loki actually patent those trees?" The Director pointed to the smaller of the trees.
"Yes, she did. I accompanied her to the patent office each time she went." It wasn't just making sure that she got a patent that sent James with her, but also making sure that her comings and goings were masked. He didn't need her leading anyone back to his brothers.
"And can I assume that it was magic that kept my agents silent about this?" I need that kind of magic. Director Fury couldn't immediately name all of the things that he could use that magic for, though HUMINT came to mind instantly.
A little chuckle tumbled out of James' mouth. "Something like that."
What exactly was it, something like the songs? Does he have a song that can convince people… Sean stopped in his own mind. He was listening to a soothing song from James that had undertones of hope in it. Those undertones were meant not just to offer hope to those who heard it, but to convince them to take the hope. You're convincing us right now, aren't you? How loud can you make that song? Thinking back, he remembered the increase in volume of the discordant song in the cave, and the powerful increase in the volume of the song from James at other times when people needed more soothing calm support. What else can you do?
Stepping down onto the catwalk, James turned towards them and pointed to the stairs off to the right going down. "Formadr Frigga, those steps lead down to the bottom of the cave and the grotto with the saplings in it. Would you like to send men down first?"
"Yes, thank you. Huskarli Leifson, Ohlson, descend and clear the way." While motioning to the stairs, Frigga issued her orders succinctly.
The two huskarli descended swiftly and silently down the stairs to the bottom of the cavern. As soon as Huskarl Ohlson set foot on the soil of the southeastern quarter the arched doorways in the high walls separating the quarters opened. They slid into the walls around them. From the northwestern quarter they could hear other things opening. Huskarl Leifson brought his weapon up at the noise, and his drengrmate followed suit. They scouted out the smaller trees before looking at one another. Huskarl Leifson flared his seidr out to his drengrmate with directions in it, I'll take this way, you take the other door, we'll meet in the section with the larger trees, then he froze his seidr back into his core. Huskarl Ohlson nodded once then proceeded on to the southwestern quarter while Huskarl Leifson went into the northeastern quarter. They went through their sections as silently as they went down the stairs, weapons up and wary. In the northwestern quarter, with the large trees, they found another arched doorway with a long corridor that was well lit in the rock. Each huskarl proceeded down the corridor into another bigger cavern, with a series of shelves with heavy cargo. Every shelf had a different realm's name on it and was colored differently. A large box sat in the far corner that had runes on it that neither huskarl knew. The box was large enough to fit a man in it by height and wide enough to fit several men. Upon feeling it at it with their seidr, and feeling how strange it was, they decided that it didn't look dangerous, but it was going to be reported to their formadr for her to decide. There was nothing else that the huskarli could see or feel that was dangerous to the Lord they were protecting, so they made their way out and back to their formadr. Huskarl Ohlson went back to the formation while Huskarl Leifson went to stand in front of the his formadr at the position of attention. "My formadr, there is no one down below, and only plants around. The only concerning thing is a large box in the far corner of another room that we found. It's engraved with runes that we've never seen before, and we couldn't feel what might be in it."
"Where is this other room?" Frigga asked quickly but calmly.
"In the section with the large trees, a doorway opened up in the corner. It leads to a long corridor which leads to a larger room filled with shelves and more plants. It's there that the box rests, ma'am."
Looking over the railing towards the section with the Celestial tree in it she could see a doorway that wasn't there before. Frigga turned to James then. "Do you know what's in the box, James?"
"I runed the box for her, but she would never tell me what she wanted to put in it. She put a magical lock on it after that." This was one of the few things that James honestly didn't know about in the house.
"Do you believe its contents to be dangerous?" What did you put in there, my child?
"I'd be very surprised if it was. She tries not to keep anything dangerous in the house near the kids. I can break the lock if you'd like me to."
"There's no need for that." Jay's little voice cut through their conversation. Awkward emotion continued to fill the digital boy's thoughts as he looked down at the seams in his grandfather's vest and ran his small fingers over them.
Jay was fidgeting again, and Odin worried over what they were about to find. "Jay, do you know about this box?"
A discontented sigh swept out of Jay's lips, and he looked up to meet his grandfather's gaze. "After the Dark Days mother was so insistent that she was going to die. She was fixed on it. Part of her preparing to die was making something special," he hesitated for a moment, "What's in the box is a gift. It's her last message to you." Shaking his head when his grandfather went to ask him what it was, "Don't ask what it is. Her instructions are for me to deliver it to you upon her death. You have to see it for yourself."
"You were tasked with delivering this?" Odin wondered very much what message might be waiting for him. Part of him feared it for the possibility that it might be hateful, or that it might be made of madness, or even worse that it might be filled with a love that he was undeserving of. Whatever it was, he found that he truly wanted it. Odin needed to know what it was.
"Father wouldn't have given it to you, so I was supposed to hop a lift on a ship going to Asgard and deliver it to you on a day when you were holding court. Mother wanted everyone to see it, to know that you have it." Jay swallowed thickly in his nervousness. He hoped that his grandfather would like it since his mother poured so much time and effort into it; almost as much time as she spent making his father's gift that was in the cave before them. Truthfully, he also hoped that neither of his grandfathers would be angry over it. "If we go down there, I can open the box for you, and tell you what it is."
Nodding, Odin turned to his wife. "Formadr Frigga, I would like to go down to the room to receive this gift."
Very quickly Frigga flared her seidr to her grandson to ask, Can you tell me the box holds?
With a little effort Jay was able to respond, A tree. The Tree of Gems. It isn't dangerous.
It must be a statue, no tree blooms gems, she thought, interested. Just as quickly she answered her grandson, Thank you, before she looked to James. "Can you lead us down to this box?"
"Yes, of course. If everyone would follow me." Towards the stairs and them down them James went.
"Drengr, we continue to move with the Lord." Frigga took up her place at the lead of the drengr and followed after their guide.
As they all moved down the stairs, with his grandfather still carrying him, Jay pointed to the small trees and spoke aloud his memories. "The little maple trees are so pretty, but they were scary to make. Mother tested them with high levels of radiation. We knew they were tough, which was why mother tested them like that, but I didn't think they'd survive the first radiation blast of 1,340,000 mrem, let alone the next four."
"Those trees have been irradiated five times?" If Jay was willing to answer questions then Director Fury was willing to ask them. He wondered how safe it was to keep going down.
"Oh no, not those. The ones in the testing chamber were irradiated." Jay motioned down to the bottom of the stairs.
"Is that where we're going now?"
"No, we're going to the warehouse. The entrance to the radiation lab was at the bottom of the stairs. Mother collapsed the room and filled in the entrance when she was done with the dangerous testing. She also left a Bekke's Soothing Weave in place." Because of that weave the radiation from the testes was all but gone.
"What does that do?" More magic. The Director was starting to wonder what he could do with magic.
"It's a weave that causes radiation energy to expend itself faster so that irradiated items and places are useable again." Motioning again, Jay pointed then. "The entrance was at the base of these stairs, we'll go right past it, but it won't set off a Geiger counter." A small flash of silver flames appears in front of Odin as Jay summoned a small rectangular white device with a digital display and a wrist strap. He handed that small AN/VDR-2 Radiac Set Geiger counter to Director Fury. "Here, this will show you how much radiation we'll be walking past. There's almost none."
Fiddling with the display the Director scanned the area he was in. It came up with a very tame 14 mrem, completely normal. It rose slowly as they descended until it stopped on a still tame 21 mrem. The walls at the base of the stairs looked solid and complete, like they hadn't been dug into. That was clearly not the case, so Director Fury asked after it. "Why did she collapse it if she could make it safe again? Why not leave the room accessible?"
Looking over his grandfather's shoulder and back at the Director he chatted. "She felt that it was best to contain the radiation in stone while the weave was working, for safety's sake. She didn't want it irradiating any of her other projects accidentally."
"There's no dangerous radiation here," Director Fury muttered as he looked around, scanning the walls, "Interesting," looking back to Jay he handed the device back, "Thank you for letting me use that."
"You're welcome." Jay smiled as he moved with his grandfather into the northeastern quarter and dismissed the Geiger counter back to his interdimensional pocket. The two story tall, marquis cut, sapphire colored crystal hung above them with a beautiful desert oasis directly below it. Pointing to it, Jay offered more of his memories, just to get them out of his head. "Mother had to come up with all new weaves, spells, and charms for that to work. The first one didn't work. It exploded near the wall I was in. I had to jump to another wall when it was blasted through. It was scary but she eventually got it to work."
Pointing over to the watery pit that could be seen through the doorway and whispering, Jay continued to share his memories. "There used to be a giant kolkrabbr in the bottom of the pit. It's like a kraken, but scarier. It tried to grab mother and bite her. Mother subdued it and then used it to make her jellyfish safer and smarter. Its beak is still at the bottom of the pit."
"There's the beak of an alien creature in the pit?" The Director looked over to the water but couldn't see anything in it. What else is in there?
"Yes. Mother had to use too much of it to transfer over to her jellyfish, and it was causing it too much pain, so Mr. Snappy was humanely euthanized."
"You named it 'Mr. Snappy'?" It wasn't the weirdest pet name he'd come across; it was almost cute in fact.
"He liked to snap at mother when she pulled him up out of the water. So I named him Mr. Snappy. It seemed appropriate." Jay imitated the creature's beak with his hand, 'snapping' at Director Fury as he spoke.
A little shrug rolled the Director's shoulders. "Ok, that's fair."
They stopped in the grove of Celestial apple trees as Odin looked around at them. "Mother used Galdr's flame to make these. She transmuted them out of the flames. It was frightening to watch her use something so powerful. It was scarier to watch her collapse after she was done," Jay paused for a moment as he reached out to touch one of the leaves on a branch hanging down, "I couldn't help mother to stop or even slow down. I couldn't even help her when she collapsed. All I could do was play music for her so that she could dance, and call father when she couldn't dance anymore." Looking around, Jay shook himself from the fog of memories. "There is great good here, and I'm proud to be a part of it even if it was scary."
Pulling Jay in for a hug let Odin feel slightly better about what he was hearing. When he let the boy sit back up he asked something that he needed to know. "Did you ever tell Loki that you were frightened by what he, what she was doing?"
"I told her, I told her that…," Jay paused again and looked down, he never once explicitly told her that she was frightening him, it was all for what seemed like a good reason, "No, I didn't want to complain, so I told her it was dangerous. That never stopped her though." A strong flash of guilt zapped through his thoughts. As much help as he was to Loki, he just wasn't enough.
This gave Odin a new perspective on what he'd seen the day before. At least he thought it did and hoped that Jay wasn't making a broader statement that Loki had collapsed several times. "What happened wasn't your fault, and it isn't complaining to let someone know that they're frightening you." Odin almost grimaced at his own poor parenting of Loki. "Fear can be dealt easily with if it's dealt with honestly."
"Living in a wall made many things scary. I would have been complaining if I mentioned all of it." Jay protested quickly.
Living in a wall?! Huskarl Kron wanted to find this boy's guard and beat them soundly for disgracing the profession of guardsmen. Taking a discreet breath helped him to set aside what he was hearing. He could give Lord Odin a proper guard and by extension this little boy as well. Clearing his mind, he returned to his guard.
As soon as James heard what his nephew was saying he did an about-face and went right to the boy, but Frey got there first.
"Did you think that Loki wouldn't listen to you?" Frey disliked the attitude his grandson held. It was unhealthy.
"I didn't think about that. She trusted me to help her, to get her work done. I didn't want to be a burden by complaining." This was something that Jay already knew he was wrong in. He knew he should have said something, but he honestly didn't want to burden either Loki or his father. "Mother and father each had so much to deal with. Even adding a little bit more would have broken them. I couldn't do that. I know I should have said something, but it would have been wrong to burden them like that."
"Have you been frightened today?" Despite the thought process being wrong, Frey could still understand it. It was compassionate and misguided. Making sure that the boy wasn't frightened going forwards was important to him.
"No. Everyone has been very supportive today. It's been nice to be able to be me and not Jarvis." A little smile found its way across Jay's face.
Yesterday Director Fury wondered what the cost for the gifts in this cavern would be, as nothing came for free. Today it was looking like its cost was the traumatization of a little boy that only wanted to help humanity. It wasn't a price that the Director liked. He wasn't going to spurn Loki's gifts to humanity. To do so would be extremely foolish for humanity and would be making light of Jay's sacrifices. The old spy wasn't going to do that.
"This is the same as earlier in the day when I told you that if anything I asked you to do made you uncomfortable that you're to tell me. If something or someone frightens you then you are to find me, your parents, one of your grandparents, even your other uncle, and let us know. We can handle the situation, and help you handle it in a better fashion. It isn't appropriate for someone your age to be handling things like that on your own yet. Do you understand?" There were more things that James needed to discuss with his nephew, and this was just a reminder of it. Some of them would be addressed at the boy's check-in that evening. When he saw the hesitation on the boy's face he spoke up quickly. "You aren't being a burden by letting us know. You aren't complaining unduly. All you're doing is letting us know that someone or something is making you feel unsafe and there's a situation that needs to be handled. We're adults and it's our responsibility to handle those kinds of situations. Even if it takes time out of our day, it's still our responsibility."
Jay could hear the words his uncle spoke to his brothers and sisters as he was teaching them. His voice was small as he spoke. "Because a good person tends to their responsibilities, no matter the time of day?"
"Yes." James nodded affirmatively at hearing his own words spoken back to him.
The digital boy continued down that line of thinking as he'd seen it taught before, his voice gaining volume as he grew more sure of himself. "And by not telling you I'm taking the chance from you to tend to your responsibilities? Like you were teaching Edward?"
"Yes and harming yourself in the process of taking our responsibilities from us. We're responsible. Let us be responsible." That his Little Hawk was picking this up so readily pleased James. He didn't want any of his nephews or nieces to spend their lives afraid. Children being afraid lead to warped adults, he knew that from firsthand experience.
The desire to acquiesce butted heads with the desire to not make changes, in Jay's mind. A little frustrated sigh resulted. "I'll try, but it's hard to make so many changes all at once."
Another tolerant smile touched James' lips. "No one is asking you to be perfect immediately, Little Hawk. We're only asking you to put forward effort to make progress, that's all." He aimed his soul song of stillness, with hopeful undertones, at Jay to support the boy. "You've learned to be silent when you shouldn't be. It's a habit now. You have these unhealthy habits, Jay, I understand that. Even in this I don't expect you to be perfect and tell us every time something frightens you. Of myself, I expect to have to ask you how you're doing, which is part of what the check-ins are for. Of you, I only expect you to begin trying to open up to the adults around you. Some days you'll be successful, some days you won't, but if you keep trying you'll make progress. That is all I expect, progress not perfection."
Understanding was present in Jay's mind, and he even appreciated that he wasn't expected to break all of his habits immediately, but there was still a problem in his mind. "I don't know if I can do this alone."
"You won't. We'll all be here for you, and your siblings. You'll all have the support you need to make the changes that will be healthiest for you." This was the first generation of the Stark bloodline that he'd been able to get to when they needed it. James wasn't going to let them go unsupported, not when every Stark descendent seemed afraid of being forced to be alone. Forcing them into that fear forced that fear onto others around them. Being abandoned was the worst outcome for a Stark descendent. He wouldn't abandon his younger brothers. He wouldn't abandon their children either.
I will be there for as long as you need me, and beyond, Frigga flared her seidr to her grandson to reassure him. As she would never willingly let go of her children, she would never willingly let go of her grandchildren.
"I will be there for you, Jay. All of these things you worry over, learning to deal with others, to open up to others, to trust and what to do with that trust; these are all part of growing up. I'll be there for you as I will be for all of my grandchildren. I know that your Afi Odin and Amma Frigga will be as well," Frey put a hand on Odin's shoulder, "Isn't that right, brother?"
"Yes, it is," Odin looked his small grandson in the eyes and marveled again at how beautiful the boy's eyes were, so like Loki's eyes, "You won't be alone as you grow up. The many changes and challenges you face as you grow will be done beside many different people, and we'll all love you."
It was settling to Jay in a deep-seated way to know that he wouldn't be alone and left out anymore. A broad smile touched his lips as moisture misted over his eyes. "It's so lonely to be left in a wall by myself. I'm so happy that I don't have to go back to living there." Jay threw himself into another hug. "Thank you!" His Afi Odin's hugs weren't as warm as his father's, but they were just as wonderful.
As little as Hirdmen Vilulf wanted to praise the Royal House of Asgard for anything, he had to give respect to where it was due. Lord Odin was a caring grandfather, more than that though was how impressive the hirdmen found the Lord's grandson to be. The boy had obviously been through several traumatic events, but he was still bright and cheerful, eager to help others and willing to admit when he'd done wrong. For as much of a child as the boy still was he was also mature and thoughtful. It was impressive and Hirdmen Vilulf wouldn't deny it.
One more problem to address tonight. He made a mental note of it. It wasn't as if James didn't already have enough problems to address with his nephew, he did. This wasn't going to slow him down though. All of his nephew's needs would be seen too. They were already beginning to be seen to since the boy was free of the walls now and would stay that way.
