Revamped!


Chapter 66: A Hidden Relic Part Four

Location Classified - 16:18 PM

Emily and James eventually found the team's quinjet from their little plane. Nobody questioned their mode of transportation or what happened down there. The team immediately returned to SHIELD while Emily and James returned to Stark Towers to call it a day. The others had to face Agent Tapper and the debriefing.

Agent Tapper: The 0-8-4 was of Asgardian origin, correct?

"Yes," Xavier replies.

Agent Tapper: Did Miss. Stark and Agent Pym say what the object was?

"They did not. They said it could've been a crown."

Agent Tapper looks at them in disbelief.

Agent Tapper: Do they not know what the 0-8-4 is?

"It got destroyed in an unexpected underwater avalanche before they could get to it," Angela tells them. "They both had to get out for their survival and almost didn't make it."

Agent Tapper: But this 0-8-4 -

"They could've died but I guess that doesn't matter to you now, does it?" Merida yells, interrupting her superior.

Agent Tapper: Agent Barton!

Merida rolls her eyes at his reprimanding. Agent Tapper takes a sharp breath as they stare down at her and Merida narrows her eyes back. Daniel clears his throat so the Council could focus on him instead of her.

"The CIA, FBI, and NASA are expecting reports from you," Daniel tells them, "and the media's expecting a response for the sudden earthquake."

Agent Tapper: We'll provide those. As for now, you are all dismissed.

-o-

Stark Towers - 17:44 PM

At Stark Towers, Emily and James sit on opposite ends of the kitchen island, eating a store-bought pie straight from its tin with two forks which they also doused with ice cream, whipped cream, and sprinkles. At the sound of the elevator's chime, they look and see their friends arriving from SHIELD.

"So," James says with a chipper tone in his voice, "how did the debriefing go?"

"Agent Tapper is pissed and called us failures," Daniel says.

"Oh, so the norm."

"Have you two been thinking while we were gone or just eating?" Angela asks them, narrowing her eyes at their sugar-induced pie they're eating.

"Eating away the pain," Emily replies with a purposeful mouthful of pie. "I have to build a new suit so I need a sugar-induced energy rush."

"Or a sugar-induced coma."

That doesn't stop Emily from taking another giant spoonful of pie and shoving it right into her mouth. She obnoxiously and purposely chews it loudly with her mouth open. Angela just hands her a napkin to wipe the excess that ends up all over Emily's face.

"We don't have Apollo's Asgardian phone number," James tells them. "And I'm not sure how to make a smoke signal to them or if he could interpret one."

"We have to give back the crown somehow," Xavier says. "Emily can't hide it forever and we can't get in shit for lying on oath again, especially since we just got back from lying on oath."

The others look at Emily to see where she hid the crown and she cocks an eyebrow to her refrigerator. As a team, they all decided to lie to the Council about finding the 0-8-4 since they mutually agreed on returning it to Asgard where it so rightfully belongs. They know that when SHIELD kept the Tesseract, it brought a whole lot of danger and chaos to Earth which almost ended it. They don't know anything about that crown but it doesn't look good.

"I can't keep it in there forever," Emily says. "We need to think of something."

Merida looks at Xavier and points a spoon at him. "Can't you get your girlfriend to pick it up?"

Xavier tenses as he hears those words. Merida's mouth slightly opens as she drops the spoon on the kitchen island.

"Sorry," Merida quickly says, "I kind of forgot you two broke up after grad."

Xavier nods, forgiving her. "I kind of forget as well. Seven years of silence from them really made an impact on - anyways, back to the crown."

Nobody bothers to question where Xavier was going with that ramble since it was likely a ramble on bottled-up feelings towards his ex-girlfriend. Early on, he was an internal mess but that's subsided into passive-aggressive internal damnation.

"If it's something important," Daniel starts, "someone will notice it's missing and someone will come to get it, hopefully, someone who won't kill us for it."

That's all they can really hope for.

-o-

A Week Later - Somewhere in Manhattan - 22:06 PM

When he's a few feet away, he glances up at them and they're startled by his eyes, a blue so deep and piercing that it penetrates whatever courage they thought they had. That's when they realize that his eyes aren't threatening, they're sad. They aren't sure how they know this, but they're suddenly certain that it's true. Underneath his sadness, they see an unexpected nervousness, caution, wariness - all so deep that it scares them.

It's all in his eyes, which are so much older than when they last saw Thor. It's only been seven years but it looked like a century passed.

"You have the crown?" Thor asks them. It sounded more like a statement since he knows that they have the crown.

"Yes," Xavier says.

On a dark night in a New York alleyway, Xavier passes a raggedy sac to Thor with the rest of his friends all standing behind him. Thor opens the sack to take out the crown and examines it in his hands. His expression is distraught as he looks at the relic but at the same time, he's sorrowful. He recognizes but doesn't want to.

"The Serpent Crown…" Thor mumbles bitterly. They can only guess that's the name of the mysterious crown. It's fitting since the crown is made up of snakes.

"Are you okay?" Angela asks him.

Thor looks at the six of them and forces a small smile. "The years have been more than kind to you lot."

He didn't answer the question but nobody felt the need to point it out. They knew Thor did that purposely and they thought it would be best not to ask why.

"I thank you all for going to extreme lengths in getting this crown," Thor tells them.

Before he turns to leave, they look at each other, unsure of whether to ask him the question that's been burning in their minds for the past seven years. This is the first time they have seen or heard from their Asgardian friends since they left for Asgard.

"Thor," Daniel calls, "if you don't mind our asking but how are Apollo and Britney doing?"

Thor is silent when he faces them. That's when they realize that they should've just kept quiet but now that the question has been asked, they stand on eggshells waiting for a response.

"I'm not sure," Thor responds. "They've left Asgard a while ago."

Thor turns around and they all watch as he returns to Asgard at the call of the Bifrost. Once he's gone, everyone looks at each other unsure of how to interpret Thor's answer and scared to understand it. If Apollo and Britney aren't in Asgard, and haven't been for a while, where did they go?


[Well, that's a great introduction to Apollo and Britney]. [2020: Yeah, all that's an understatement].