Last time...

"I did not know it was even possible to fly and fuck at the same time."

Chapter 127

Tony woke up to the sounds of clanging coming from the kitchen area. It sounded too loud to be Hera, which was even more alarming to him. He'd gotten used to finding Hera rummaging about in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning, knew her sounds of movement; This wasn't her. Hoping it was one of the others that had decided to stick around last night, and not a burglar somehow, Tony carefully made his way towards the sounds. He wasn't prepared to see Salazar frantically raiding the fridge like his life depended on it.

"Are you…Are you taking bites straight out of a whole ass block of cheese?" Tony found himself asking in shock. Salazar jumped, glaring when he caught sight of him; block of cheese still in hand.

"You try realm hopping through dreams unprepared then, and see where that gets you." Salazar scowled, before savagely taking another bite. It was only then that Tony noticed how shaky the boy was. "If I don't eat everything in this fridge right now, I will surely die."

"You will not." Tony snorted at the dramatics, but moved about the kitchen; setting things up as he had seen Hera do. "I'm assuming the urgency is why you didn't just fix something before you decided devouring the fridge was the better part of valor?"

"…I don't know how to cook." Salazar admitted grudgingly. Eyeing Tony with suspicion as he set about things, he added. "I'm not giving this up."

"Keep your cheese." Tony snickered, as he worked. "I don't know how to cook either. Never had much reason to, ya know? I've seen Hera at this a few times though, so I figure I can muddle through without burning the place down. Speaking of which, Jarvis, is Hera up yet?"

"She is, and has asked me to pass on a message." Jarvis confirmed. "Her words are 'Back away from that stove right now, Tony, I've seen you burn water'."

"You gonna tell her if I don't?" Tony asked, already grinning.

"I won't need to, Sir." Came the smug reply.

…

"Why did you not think to warn me about the side effects of realm hoping through dreams?" Salazar demanded grumpily, stumping Hera as she realized he was eating a literal block of cheese. "I might die of starvation at this rate."

She couldn't help but snort, already setting out to make use of the things Tony had gathered, as she replied. "You will not."

"Got to admit to some jealousy here." Tony commented, moving to help her. "The two of you get to see other realms, probably have kick-ass adventures together, and here I am stuck Earth bound."

There was a ring of truth to his words, and Hera let it sit with her for a moment before replying. He said it knowing she could tell his words for what they were. There was truth there, but no real resentment or anger; jealousy without resentment. For Tony to admit something like this, what with the 'dreaded feelings' being involved, was huge. It was clear he was trying to be more open with what he felt he could be, showing her that she could do the same.

"Well, would it help knowing that you're technically a prince now?" She casually offered, causing him to sputter even as she quickly turned to Salazar. "You too, by the way."

"Food first, stories later?" Salazar asked, shocked and hopeful, before taking another bite of cheese. Tony was still too gobsmacked to react further.

"Alright, but you're helping with breakfast too." Hera countered. "Don't worry. It won't take long. It's about time the both of you learned this stuff, you know."

It wasn't long before they'd crafted a rather substantial breakfast for themselves. The other three hadn't made it in yet, though she suspected they would be soon; ingredients had been set aside for them just in case. She kept Salazar to chopping and dicing the vegetables at first, knowing it was closer to something familiar to him. She had Tony keep to the stove for the time being for the same reason.

Eventually, she had them switch. Tony handled the chopping and dicing well; and the more he did it, the better he got. With Salazar, she went over how to operate the stove settings, and general safety; he might have grown up in a muggle orphanage, but he'd thrown a lot of that knowledge away, and things had changed a lot since then. After that, she had them fix their own omelette. She did stand with them to make sure neither of them burned themselves on accident, though she made a point not to hover over them, and they all made for the table once they'd plated their food.

"Alright, D.M, how about that story time?" Tony teased, poking her in the ribs.

"Game reference, haven't played yet, but Tony insists it's a thing I'd be good at." Hera explained, when Salazar looked over in curiosity. "Where do you think we should start this? You're the one who had to babysit Thor most of the time."

"True, but we both had to corral him into that dress." Salazar pointed out, glowering at the memory. "You'd have thought we were cutting off an arm."

The two took turns explaining where they'd appeared, the exploration of the castle, and the meeting at the BiFröst. Tony almost died via coffee inhalation when Hera went over the public service announcement she'd given Thor about his mother. From there, Salazar took over telling how he'd had to keep Thor from blowing his cover, coming up with more and more ridiculous excuses for why 'Frigga' did things. Tony was red faced, he was laughing so hard, and Hera was much the same. Her laughter cut off when Salazar explained the end of his tale, about how Thor had wanted to slaughter them all.

"I didn't let him." Salazar assured her, looking uncertain; likely due to her sudden mood shift. "I cast a quick spell over the room to send them all into sleep. I knew that – whatever your thoughts were – you wouldn't have wanted them all slaughtered in needless bloodshed. Incidentally, he might think fucking while flying is possible."

"It is." Tony quipped. "It's called the Mile High Club."

Hera chuckled at that, but it was a sad little thing.

"What's wrong, Lil Blue?" Tony cajoled, his voice soft and low.

"It just…It sounds too much like what he said once before, that he would slaughter them all." Hera admitted, looking down at her plate. "He doesn't know, doesn't understand, but he'll try anyway; and all to assuage his own pride. I've given him every clue I can, but I know he won't see them for what they are."

"Not your fault." Salazar countered, his voice sharp.

Like before with Tony, Hera could sense truth here. Salazar outright believed it was not her fault, but he sounded…stilted in a way, like he wasn't used to offering comfort. Hera realized that's what this was. He'd stopped Thor not because he thought slaughtering people was wrong necessarily, but because the situation truly didn't call for that kind of thing, and because he knew she would not have wanted that. It was a step, however small, that he'd thought of someone's feelings and wishes other than his own.

"I need the reminder sometimes." She admitted, giving him a slight nod. It made him sit up a little straighter for some odd reason. "Now, my part of the story technically starts just after we arrived on Jötunheimr. The ground opened up beneath me, and…"

Hera told of the panic she'd felt, the desperate attempt to find purchase as she fell, and the way the air seemed to cushion her till she could stand upright at the end of it all. She told them how different Laufey seemed, how they'd hesitated to do anything that might have startled or overwhelmed her. She'd told them how things were much different than what Loki had known. She told them about the temple, the Casket of Ancient Winters, the war; all of it. There'd not been a lie one she'd found, and Hera was confident enough that she'd looked with everything she had; there'd been nothing, and that changes things.

She told them of just getting to know Laufey and Fárbauti, telling them of her life, and they telling her of theirs. Tony and Salazar were known to them now, accepted as kin even, as easily as they welcomed Hera herself into their family. Salazar looked at her in shock, knowing that she had portrayed him as the madman he'd been before having become as he was now, and they'd still accepted him into their family; because she'd asked. Tony too was in a similar state, not knowing how to handle the fact that people who had never met him had accepted him into their family based solely on Hera's word alone.

"Hera, that's…" Tony floundered, before clearing his throat and trying again. "Prince Tony doesn't sound too bad, I suppose."

"What about Prince Antony?" Hera suggested. She knew how much he hated being called Anthony, but the removal of a single letter made the name sound like something other, and hoped it would at least amuse him.

"Sounds fancy."

"I think Prince Salazar sounds better." Salazar commented, giving a nervous and slight grin when Tony looked over to him, and then the three of them are laughing.

"What are you planning?" Tony asked, once the laughter dies down. Hera would be offended if it weren't also true. "I know that look."

"Have I explained the All-father's vault to you?" Hera inquired, instead of answering directly. "I think I might have mentioned it once, but I don't think I ever really elaborated on it. That's where the Casket of Ancient Winters is. He keeps all his most important treasures – fake and real trophies alike – in there. It is protected by a powerful and nearly indestructible automaton known as 'the Destroyer' that is linked to the innate magic of Ásgarðr. The automaton only listens to the king as its master, and the king has some measure of control over it's actions, enough that they can see through its eyes to direct it if need be. Only the king can enter the vault and leave with an item it had contained."

Tony's face went through several expressions before settling on dawning realization. "You think it will recognize you."

"He was king, however briefly." She confirmed. "I'm hoping it picks up on that."

"Hera, are you sure? That's-"

"How are you planning to outsmart it?" Salazar cuts in. Both turn their attention to him. "Hoping it will recognize you is a gamble, and not one I can see you solely relying on. So, how are you planning on outsmarting it?"

"Hopefully by creating a semi-functional replica to swap with the original." Hera answered, causing their eyes to widen at the admission. "It'll need to work well enough that it will still freeze people, but not so well that it will keep the BiFröst frozen open for too long when Loki tries to destroy Jötunheimr."

"That…That might actually work." Tony stated, after thinking it over. "You're sure it won't alert the automaton?"

"It will probably still 'wake up' as it were, but I know I'm gambling with whether or not it will actively try to kill me when I try and leave after making the switch. It might just only alert Oðin, simply because the shift in awareness." Hera replied, as she thought about it, before smiling in amusement. "That's more of a benefit, really."

"Why?" Salazar inquired, looking morbidly curious.

"I have faith that one day Thor will be a great king," Hera insisted, before her grin turned into something wickedly mischievous. "but I kind of want to see the look on Oðin's face when I tell him it won't be his son that makes it to the throne first. He hasn't met me yet. I think it'll make a hell of a first impression. Don't you?"

Matt waited nervously with his father in the small private room Mr. Stark had requested of the restaurant. At least the man seemed to understand that large displays of wealth made them both uncomfortable, and tried to dial it back when around them. Hera had explained once that it was a kind of shield for him, a way to deflect the people who didn't really care about him, something Matt found himself understanding now that he had people interacting with him who knew he had money. It wasn't a nice feeling to realize there were people that only wanted to befriend him because of something he only had due to an accident. His father had learned early on to listen to Matt's 'feelings' – their code word for what Matt could do – when it came to people they associated with, because the man now knew Matt could tell when people were lying to him.

This visit felt like it would be different. Hera had sent word ahead that they wouldn't get to spend much time together this summer, that she'd be required to do training for her upcoming job and whatnot, as well as a myriad of other things. Being friends with Hera had opened his life to possibilities that he hadn't even been aware existed before, and it was one of those things he wanted to talk with her about as soon as he could, but he hadn't wanted to put it in a letter. This felt like it needed to be one of those in person conversations. His father hadn't been sure of it at first, it being out of his realm of understanding, but he'd also known that this would be a great opportunity for Matt if he chose to continue.

"Hera?" Matt called out, upon finally 'seeing' her.

She was…different than she'd been last time. He still saw her blue skin, the horns, and her red eyes. Now though, it was followed by hair that looked like fire in a way. Wisps of green and gold strands wafted off of her in a lazy air; He could see her 'normal' pale skin if he squinted, but she'd never demanded it of him. Her very presence felt…more solid in a way that he couldn't quite describe. The boy beside her was blue but not, perhaps just much lighter, with lines on his skin and red eyes like hers; no horns though. Matt hadn't been expecting either of those things, and looked from one to the other in confusion.

"Matt, this is Salazar." She stated, introducing the boy, and now he understood. She'd spoken about him in her letters. "Salazar, this is my friend Matt."

"She's mentioned you." Matt offered, holding out his hand. "How're you adjusting to everything so far?"

"As well as can be expected, I suppose." Salazar admitted, reaching out to shake his hand briefly. "Hera has mentioned you as well. Should we step aside for a moment while you two visit? You look like you want to have a private conversation."

"Am I being that obvious about it?" Matt asked, slightly embarrassed.

"No. Sal's just good at reading people, Kid, like me." Mr. Stark put in. "Don't worry. We'll just have fun bugging your father for a bit."

He quickly guided Salazar towards his father, and he and Hera were left relatively alone.

"What's wrong?" Hera wondered, the worry clear in her voice.

"I'll get to that in a minute." Matt insisted, then gestured to her. "What's with the wispy stuff? When did that happen?"

Hera paused, looking at him in shock, before shrugging it off with bemusement. "Figures you'd see that too. It's been pretty recent. I sort of…took on the mantle Magic demanded of me."

Matt just sighed, before admitting. "I don't know what that means, Hera."

"Er…You remember joking about me being a heathen god?" She asked, with a bit of a wry smile. Matt nodded. "About that…It…er…might be a bit more accurate now…"

Matt's brain stalls, full stop.

"I sort of…called upon Magic to judge a person for me, and the price was that I take up the mantle." Hera explained, as she began to ramble a bit. The way she says magic – like it's a person – makes him think that might not be too far from the truth; she'd explain it if he asked, he knows.

"You mean…"

"I've taken over every domain he possessed." Hera nodded, looking more than a little uncomfortable. Under her breath, she added. "Might have added a couple more too."

"Really?" Matt asked, his eyes wide. "Hera, that's awesome!"

She just snorted, though something about her posture seems to relax at that. "Figures. So, what's up? Salazar's right. You're worried about something."

Matt huffed in laughter, before handing her a letter with a wax seal on it. "What do you make of this?"

"They offered you a spot?" Hera realized, taking the letter and looking at it. "I know they offer it for Hunters, but I wasn't sure you would qualify, so I didn't want to say anything."

"This is just the first letter. In the later ones, they said you spoke for me." Matt explained. "They know what my situation is, that I can't just swan off to some boarding school and leave my dad all alone. They've offered to send information packets, have tutors come over, the works. It's…Is it really worth all this trouble?"

"It is." Hera confirmed, handing the letter back to him. "It'll help you better navigate the world you can see, if you know what's in it. I probably went about this in the wrong order; going to them first, and all. I asked for them to consider you, because of your ability to see magic after what happened with the might be my fault that you can see magic like you can anyway. I sort of…Your dad doesn't know, but…When I found you, I tried to take the injury into myself – (Matt's quick intake of air alerts her to how alarmed this makes him, because she didn't even know him then) – It's what worked the last time! I thought it would be enough, but…The acid was already eating away at the layers of your eyes, and I acted without thinking! It lessened the injury, but didn't take it away. Between that and you taking the Oculus potion…"

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Matt asked, keeping his voice low as he thought this over. She mumbled something that sounded like 'I didn't want you to be mad at me', and he signed. "Hera, you'd barely just met me. Why would you have taken a risk like that?"

"I…You needed help, and I wanted to try; knew I could somehow. Why would I not want to try if I knew I could?" Hera tried to explained, wringing her fingers a bit. "My self preservation instincts might be a bit lacking, so the hesitation at risk is kind of minimal at best."

Matt couldn't help but snort at that.

"Well, at least you're aware." He continued, after a moment. "I can understand you keeping it to yourself at first. Dad wouldn't have understood immediately. You really should have told me sooner, but I get it."

She nodded, apologetic. "I don't know for certain that's the cause, but it's the best explanation I have. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner."

"We're good." He insisted, because it was true, before waving the letter again. "Now, you're sure this is a good idea?"

"Yeah, I think it is." Hera nodded, relief evident in her voice. "It will help you navigate the magical side of things better, like Sticks is helping you on this side of things. How's he doing, by the way? Still being a bitch about the headbutt?"

It only takes a second before the two are giggling once more.

When Obadiah heard the news that Tony had adopted yet another child, he'd gone straight to the Board of Governors. This madness could not continue. Tony was changing, and it wasn't in any way that benefited Obadiah in the least. He'd become more conscientious of late, more cautious about the consequences of his actions, less like the partying playboy Obadiah had been able to distract with booze and pretty people. Tony was looking into the inner workings of Stark Industries in a way he hadn't been interested in before.

Personally, Obadiah blamed the Potter girl. She'd been a thorn in his side since Tony'd first brought her to the United States. Before he'd started his side deals, he'd been practically begging Tony to take on more responsibility within the company. When that didn't happen, Obadiah started doing what he really wanted, and now that Potter girl had gone and ruined it all. Now, there was another child. Another one!

It didn't help that Tony has taken to avoiding him, even before this most recent adoption; something else he blamed on the Potter girl. He had to admit that she really did look like a younger version of Tony. He could see bits of Howard if he looked closely enough. It didn't matter that she was of Howard's blood, only that she was a problem in his path of being able to control Tony as he liked. What made it worse was that she truly had Tony's best interests in mind, and it only served to anger him more; as it reminded him that he'd given that up a long time ago.

"Damn it, Tony!" He shouted, as he stormed into the Malibu mansion. "You can't avoid me forever! What the hell are you think!…ing."

He can not be seeing this. He's interrupted lunch, he knows, but for the life of him Obadiah can't seem to wrap his mind around what his eyes are seeing. Tony and the Potter girl are sitting with a third person, the newly adopted child, and they all look far too similar for it to be coincidence. It's just…The boy looks far too familiar for his mind not to play tricks on him, and he feels slightly off kilter about the whole thing. For the life of him, Obadiah can't seem to find his footing now, and he can't help himself.

"…Howard?"

"You must be Tony's godfather." The boy noted with what sounded like disapproval in his voice, observing him closely. "I can't say I expected the yelling."

Potter snorted, and muttered under her breath. "You should have."

"You did try to tell me." The boy acquiesced, with a nod to her; which served to pull Obadiah out of the shocked stupor he'd been in.

"And just who the hell are you?" He demanded outright.

"Salazar Gaunt." The boy replied, leveling a rather unimpressed glare at his person.

"And where'd they find you?" Obadiah demanded in challenge. He wasn't about to believe that Howard had 'helped' another family.

"In an orphanage." Gaunt shot back, completely deadpan. "Are you going to ask about my parentage next?"

"It would certainly clear things up." Obadiah snapped, ignoring both Tony and the Potter girl's gobsmacked faces. "You can't be…but you look just like him."

"Whoever he was, my father abandoned my mother, and she died giving birth to me in the orphanage I grew up in." Gaunt practically hissed, now outright glaring at him. "I only know what my name is because of a piece of paper. There anything else you want to dig into?"

"I've already gone to the board, Tony." Obadiah stated, shaking his head. "You can't keep doing things like this, and expect them to be okay with it."

"You're acting like I murdered someone." Tony countered with a scowl.

"What are you really afraid of?" Gaunt inquired, a predatory glint in his eyes as he looked at him. Something in his tone made the other two still, even as Obadiah felt pinned to where he was. "You don't have anything to hide, do you?"

The moment Gaunt asked, Obadiah knew the boy had knowledge he shouldn't have. Tony wasn't quite looking at him, and neither was the Potter girl, but Gaunt looked at him like a predator that smelled blood. If Tony didn't know, he would soon, and Obadiah knew he couldn't allow that. Howard had left strict instructions as to what to do if Tony ever worked out that magic had always should have been a part of his life. Granted, Howard might have also had words about what was to be done with his company, but Obadiah didn't really care about that at the moment. He was more concerned with what Tony would do once he realized the truth.

Tony was like Howard in more ways than he'd care to admit. There was a part of Tony that was always angry, just like Howard had been; the only difference was that Tony channeled his into more constructive avenues than his father had. That could change, and Obadiah knew it. If Tony worked out that he had helped Howard hide Tony's magic, he might be disappointed, yes. However, if Tony worked out that he'd known about the Potter girl's existence…then he would be angry, but that wasn't what worried him.

Magic, Obadiah knew, could do a lot. The weapons implications alone were worth pursuing, no matter what Howard had wanted to believe. The Potter' girl's blood sample hadn't carried anything unusual in it that he could test; he'd gotten it via the DNA test. He hoped that if he could somehow subdue her, he could access her magic somehow, but the ever expanding amount of variables were proving that to be unlikely; not that he'd given up. It was that knowledge he saw in Gaunt's eyes, that he knew what he was thinking, that worried him; because it forced him to acknowledge the one thing he never thought he'd have to deal with. If Tony ever worked out that Obadiah planned to hurt someone he cared about, he'd kill him.

There was one place Tony thought they should go before they made their way to meet with the Addams'. Hera just wasn't expecting it to be Xavier's School for the Gifted. The school itself was beautiful, Hera could admit, looking more like a sprawling manse than a school. Given that she was used to school looking like a castle, she didn't feel she had a right to judge. There were children of various ages walking around, talking amongst themselves as they walked to class; some were even showcasing their abilities, which Salazar looked more than curious about.

"Tony, please tell me this isn't what I think it is." She sighed, even as she continued to walk with him and Salazar into the building.

"It's not; at least, not exactly." Tony insisted; a truth, she could tell. "He'd offered to show us around if we ever stopped by, and I thought we could use the chance to evaluate him without his knowledge. I should have told you ahead of time, but I didn't think. You know how I get when I think I've had a good idea. I'm not as bad as I used to be, but still. Personal growth."

"I did the same with Matt, sending off that letter to ask that school if they would consider him, without thinking about whether or not that was something he might be interested in. I mean, he was, but that's not the point." Hera nodded in understanding, before realizing what Tony's goal was. "You think…You think he'd be a good therapist?" Do you remember what happened last time?"

"You yourself said that a non magical therapist wouldn't be a good idea, and that the magical ones might be too tempted to break their oaths once they're in the know." Salazar reminded her, cutting in before Tony could, unbothered by her glare in his direction. "I don't see what the issue is."

"He's the mutant version of Dumbledore." Hera hissed the declaration just under her breath, causing Salazar to pause.

"I know it's not ideal, but he can look into your mind the way a magical can, and he's separate from that world." Tony reasoned. "You don't have to say yes. This is just a preliminary visit to see if he'd be a good fit. If it turns out to be a no, we'll just keep looking. Also, I figured he wouldn't be too keen to try any funny business, considering what happened to him last time he went snooping where he wasn't wanted."

Hera cracked a slight smile at that.

AN: I know this chapter reads as a bit of a rush, or it feels that way to me; sorry about that. This is just a note to let you guys know I'll be taking a bit of a break so that I can write up more chapters and be able to post regularly again. If you have comments, questions, or ideas, I'll always try to read and respond if I can. Thanks for being awesome! ^_^