These Things We've Gained: Eternal Love, Building Hope, Just Honesty

by Tales of Suspense

In the aftermath of "These Things We've Lost" people strugggle to create a new normal. (Slice of Life)

6. Chapter 6

- Chapter 6 -

23May2023 – Early Morning

Vanaheim Royal Palace Sitting Room

A Royal Guard was needed to travel with them, since they were ready to go with a portal opened. Frey summoned his personal terminal from his interdimensional pocket again and summoned his Royal Guard to him. The terminal was dismissed back into his interdimensional pocket then. A moment later eleven swirls of teleportation fire brought the Royal Guardsmen into the room with them, there were more waiting outside the door. Each guardsman was bedecked in a combination of silver and white leather and chainmail armor with pristine white cloaks wrapped around their shoulders and stretching down to the floor. A few small pouches sat on the armor near their waists towards the back. Their left gauntlets was heavy plate armor around the forearm and chainmail on the hand. A thin metal shield attached to the gauntlet. They kept their shields in their interdimensional pockets until needed. Metal and leather helmets covered their heads, obscuring their faces while allowing them an open crossbar over the eyes, to see out of the helmet, with another open bar splitting the front of the helmet by covering their noses and the center of their mouths. On the sides of every helmet were large, stylized wings. In their right hands were spears with a heavy, runed silver ball covering the bottom end with a long white shaft stretching up to about six feet. At the end of the shaft was a runed silver band wrapped around the top of shaft and bottom of the head. Several embroidered white ribbons hung down from one side of the band. The head of the spear was footlong, four-sides, pyramidal, sharpened spike bearing several runes and inscriptions. The buttons on the shaft to control the energy bolts this weapon was capable of firing were deftly hidden on the middle of the shaft unless the individual knew where to find them.

The invisible runes that were strengthening and enchanting the armor were perfectly visible to Sean. He admired the clean cut runes and the security that they offered. There was no way to regain a lost limb outside of transmutation, and the protection these pieces of armor offered them against losing a limb was impressive. It turned the guardsmen into living shields around their charge.

The Formadr of the Royal Guard, who wore an evening sky blue rank insignia badge on the center of the forehead of his helmet, went immediately to his King, removed his helmet to hold in one arm, bowed, and spoke. "My Lord summoned us; how may we assist you?" The man underneath the helmet was middle-aged, had sandy blond hair and average features. His violet eyes took in everything around him without hurry or worry.

"Formadr Aland, I have a special task for the Royal Guard. Ten guardsmen will accompany myself and Lord Odin today," he looked to his beloved sister and smiled before looking back to Formadr Aland, "They will be captained by your Princess, Lady Frigga. They won't be guarding me. They'll be guarding Lord Odin. I want you to lead a full complement of guardsmen to watch over my nephew, Prince Thor. He's up in the second floor guest quarters on the southern side of the east wing and is not allowed to leave the palace."

The Formadr of the Royal Guard bowed to his Lord then. "So it will be done, my Lord." Formadr Aland turned to his Princess then to speak respectfully. "Is my Princess still in possession of Snaelda Asni, or does she need one of the guardsmen's weapons?"

"You remember Snaelda Asni, Formadr Aland?" Frigga liked that he remembered her long sword and its name. She liked Formadr Aland and had since he took up his watch of her brother. The old Formadr of the Royal Guard was killed by the Mad King Borr when he attacked the palace. This formadr was who her brother chose to replace him. He was extremely loyal and capable; she had no problem entrusting her son to him.

The tiniest smirk touched Formadr Aland's lips. "A wise man will always remember his Princess' tools and abilities."

A tiny smirk touched Frigga's lips at the good formadr's words. "Very wise indeed." She summoned Snaelda Asni from her interdimensional pocket along with her sheath and sword belt. Her long sword went into its sheath, then the belt it was buckled around her waist. "I am well armed, Formadr Aland."

"So you are, my Princess." The formadr looked to the guardsmen standing in the room with them. "Royal Guardsmen," Formadr Aland's voice was strong as he issued his orders, "You will take up a defensive position around Lord Odin and keep him from all harm. If there is anything else that's needed then Princess Frigga as formadr will adjust your orders. Now go with honor and bring security to the crown of Vanaheim." With that he turned to his Lord to speak. "Have I your leave to begin a watch over your nephew, my Lord?"

"Yes, Formadr Aland." Frey smiled at his formadr.

The Formadr of the Royal Guard bowed again to his Lord, put on his helmet, and then took his leave to lead the Royal Guardsmen in the hallway to find the Asgardian Prince and form a defensive line around him. The formadr could understand guarding the Asgardian Prince since he was the son of their Princess. Guarding Lord Odin made no sense to the formadr. The Lord of Asgard wasn't an enemy to Vanaheim anymore, but he wasn't a friend either. None of that concern was going to affect how him or his men carried out their duties. His ironclad loyalty to his Lord made it an idle curiosity.

Nine of the Royal Guardsmen took up positions in a circle around the Asgardian Lord. The tenth stepped forward towards the Lord they were protecting. "Lord Odin, my name is Keld Vilulf, I am the hirdmen (sergeant) of this drengr (squad) and will be responsible for your protection after my formadr. I'm going to have to ask you to please wait until we've secured an area before entering it, please don't leave without us, and please do as I ask when I ask you to do or don't do something. We have no intention of being overbearing, sir, but we will consider your safety before we consider anything else. Do you have any questions for me or for my formadr," he nodded towards Frigga as he spoke, "that you want addressed immediately?"

As one of the most powerful Battle Mages in the Elder Realms, a man who had cut swathes through many a battlefield and whose mere presence on the battlefield caused his enemies to shrink back in fear, this was humiliating. Odin wanted to tell that guard that he didn't need them, that he was capable of defending himself, that he was too skilled to have a guard; all the excuses he gave himself for having no guard of his own. Instead of those he chose to be sensible, even if it was mortifying. "No, Hirdman Vilulf. I have no questions. Your Lord trusts you. This is more than good enough for me."

"Thank you, sir," Hirdmen Vilulf glanced to the open portal and the man stabilizing it before looking back to the Lord he was protecting, "Are you meaning to go through the portal or is someone coming through to you, sir?"

"We'll be going through the portal, Hirdmen. I'll need two huskarli to accompany me through the portal to secure the area first." Frigga answered before Odin could. He was taking this very well so far; despite the embarrassment he was feeling over it that she could feel through their imprinting. It hadn't turned to irritation yet, which she was glad for. She unraveled her seidr quickly, spinning it into a Conjuration Spell. The spell released over her to change her dress into a multitoned, half sleeved, form fitting, blue silk shirt with an attached, short, ruffled at the edge skirt in the back. A deep blue leather vest wrapped itself around her torso. Deep blue leather bracers covered her wrists and forearms. The skirt of her dress transformed into matching deep blue leather pants while her slippers changed into cream colored, knee high leather boots. Several leather ties pulled her hair back into a ponytail with ties down the tail part to keep it orderly. Snaelda Asni was still buckled about her waist. It only took a minute, and she was ready to go.

Hirdmen Vilulf spoke clearly and confidently as he pointed to each guardsmen and called their names. "Huskarl (lower enlisted) Leifson, Huskarl Ellingboe, Huskarl Nyhus, Huskarl Hartvigsen, Huskarl Kron, Huskarl Bielke, Huskarl Ohlson, Huskarl Sigmond, Huskarl Tryggsen. Huskarli Leifson and Ellingboe, go with our formadr, secure the area." He addressed his formadr directly then. "We move with you, my formadr."

"Thank you, Hirdmen Vilulf. Huskarli, with me." Frigga took the lead and strode confidently through the portal with the two huskarli behind her.

23May2023 – Morning

An Out Of The Way Square Mile In Death Valley National Park Salt Flats

The guardsmen kept a tight but respectful distance around Odin as he stood on the platform in front of the bare bones of a mansion which lay camouflaged on the salt flats. They kept a constant energy radiating from their spears which prevented anyone from stepping into or out of the shadows near their charge. Those same spears were held at the ready to skewer any who tried to bring harm to Lord Odin. Their formadr, the Lady Frigga, stood resolutely in front of Odin, surveying the land before her.

"These are the Death Valley testing grounds. Anthony uses this location for testing the large tools and weapons he creates." Motioning to the surrounding lands that were burnt by more than just the naked sun, he explained. "These lands have magical camouflage combined with an automated electronic warfare suite to dissuade 'visitors' from coming to this place." Director Fury was looking all over already.

We're in Death Valley? Director Fury's curiosity got a hold of him, and he pulled out his phone, checking the GPS app and noting the coordinates in a note pad on his phone. The phone went back into his pocket then.

Even in these dried out lands the mortal's steps are light. Frigga observed both the land around her, and those people around her. Director Fury's steps were as light as any Shadowmaster would be. It was respectable in her eyes.

"Death Valley?" Frey didn't like the sound of that. He couldn't deny though that the land looked like death, all burnt, and ash covered. There were mountains in the distance that looked as barren as the land he was standing on.

"This land is the hottest place on Midgard, and one of the driest places on the planet. It's so hot that it's almost completely uninhabitable. The people who named it almost died in Death Valley, a long time ago. Anthony uses it because the salt flats were easy for him to build on and there's very little chance of people stumbling into what he's doing. It's also reasonably close to the mansion in Malibu."

"I see." Frey could understand the usefulness of the area, but the name still bothered him.

Unfolding his seidr, James used it to reach down into the ground to trigger the control panel. A thin steel cylinder rose up from the ground in front of him to a height of six feet. Orange chains of runes were inscribed up and down it, coming to and from a small seidr crystal communications spike at the top of the pole. James went to use it and the runes lit up, projecting a three foot by two foot holographic control panel. A request to input the correct login flashed across the screen in bold letters. James pulled out his keys from his jeans pocket.

"Do you want me to hack into it, Uncle Rhodey? It should only take a few minutes." Jay offered to unlock the control panel since he knew that his uncle didn't have the access required.

For just a moment James looked over at his nephew with a small smirk on his face "Why?" His attention went back to what he was doing then. Unhooking the slender, old-fashioned, three pronged key from the keyring, James placed his left index finger the 'O' in the word 'login'. It scanned his fingerprint and accepted it. A small aperture opened in the screen in the middle of the 'O'. He inserted the old-fashioned looking key into the slot, waited for its circuitry to light up as it interfaced with the screen and then turned it. That one turn unlocked the entire testing grounds computer system and servers. James unfolded his seidr and grasped the key, holding it in place while he put his other keys back into his pocket.

"It's completely unlocked," Jay muttered as he looked at the screen and could feel it ready to be used without having been logged into, "but how?" He looked to his uncle, looking for an explanation. "This was one of father and I's best security systems. We had a multipoint authentication system. A login, an authentication code token, a personal identification number, multiple biometric readers, a limited number of authentication attempts and the system could only be accessed at rotating times!" He pointed to the key. "How do you have that? Did dad give it to you?"

"No, he didn't. I placed it because he was trying to hide too much. I couldn't trust him to give me accurate information concerning his projects here and how to access them, so I just hacked the system and reprogrammed it to give myself a way in, in case I needed to shut his weapons down if he decided to use them against Earth. It wasn't hard." James began bringing up the 'sundown' battle scenario so that he could demonstrate it. It brought a small, displeased look to his face. It was an 'end of the world' scenario.

"You hacked our security system?" The boy could hardly believe it. His and his father's security systems were the best on Earth and in the Elder Realms. That anyone besides him or his father could hack them seemed impossible to Jay, but the key that was still in the holographic screen was a straightforward reminder that it had happened. For a moment he was tempted to believe that his father might have unlocked the system for this to happen, but he knew very well that his father wouldn't willingly give away control of his projects. The 'godkiller' platforms were proof enough of that. "How?"

An amused expression crossed James' face again as he looked down at his nephew. "I understand how your father programs."

"You'd have to understand both his fundamentals and his peculiar habits for that to be useful." There was something else here that Jay hadn't seen before.

"Who do you think taught your father how to program?"

Surprise blew Jay's eyes wide. "I thought that, that it was Howard."

Amusement turned to something more serious then. "Howard taught him many things. Programming wasn't one of them." He tapped Jay twice on the forehead with his right pointer finger. "You already know what I can program. Does this really surprise you?"

"I didn't know…" The feeling of being foolish at the same time as being loved struck the boy again. His uncle was right. He did know what his uncle was capable of programming.

James ruffled the boy's hair and then spoke. "Like I said, Jay, I've always been there." He went back to setting up the scenario that Anthony and Jay considered optimal.

The three monarchs listened to the short exchange between James and Jay and began to understand more of the relationship between James and Anthony. James was far more involved and capable than they'd known yesterday, although he was just as caring as they'd seen in the recordings. Frigga wasn't surprised by this development. It seemed like James' teachings were the foundation of much of what Stark did. Again, James is the foundation which Stark relies on; she calmly assessed the conversation. Frey wondered what else James might have taught Anthony. Previously it seemed like Howard Stark taught Anthony how to do what he did. At that moment it seemed like Howard only taught him certain things, that James was responsible for much of the rest of it. How much? What else?, he wondered. Frey noticed Sean nodding at what James was saying, as though it was to be expected. That made him wonder even more. As before with James sparing Asgard an attack, this seemed immensely honorable to Odin. Breaking into a security system wasn't honorable but breaking into that same system to prevent Stark from using what great weapons he possessed against innocent targets was overwhelmingly honorably. Stark's Elder Brother continued to demonstrate to Odin what great quality he had as a man. How many people has his honor saved?

The entire short exchange was recorded by Director Fury to be added to the examination of Stark and James' relationship. James' being able to impose his will on Stark to a ridiculous degree was suspicious. It implied a relationship the likes of which SHIELD hadn't seen thus far. What SHIELD knew of was a pale echo of what was actually there. The Director wanted to know what else there was, and why they were hiding it. You can take his projects and property away from him, you have his house, you're directing the care of his children and wife, and even dealing peacefully with his enemies, they act like friends now. Is that because of you? What do you have on him that Stark'll allow this? Being Stark's best friend wouldn't allow for all that. I'm not sure being his 'brother' would either.

"If you don't want me to hack the system, then what do you want me to do?" Jay wondered at that.

"I want you to reach out as far as you can and keep the skies clear over the four square miles around us. Commandeer any vehicle that comes near this place and turn it around or stall it out safely, so it won't go any further. After that I want you to find the monitoring bodies and make sure that they can't see what we're doing here. Please exclude SHIELD from that. Do you need another Communications Spike for this?"

"Yes. I won't be able to reach that far without it."

His seidr unfolded from his core to mount into a Communications Spike Weave. James released the weave to form a thick, tall, garnet spike placed next to the control panel. As the spike formed, thin yet advanced communications equipment formed in the spike. It was more than powerful enough to let Jay handle any paltry Earth equipment. "Here you go."

"Thank you, Uncle Rhodey." For a moment he thought he might have been in trouble when his uncle kneeled down in front of him with a serious look on his face.

"I understand that this is one of 'Jarvis'' abilities to you, but this isn't Jarvis doing this. It's you, Jay." He put his hand on his nephew's shoulder. "You aren't less of a person for exercising your talents, and if at any point this makes you uncomfortable then you will let me know. Do you understand?"

Nodding and swallowing around the sudden lump in his throat, Jay replied. "I understand." A feeling of being personally cared for washed over the digital boy. It made him want to do his very best in keeping the skies clear above the testing grounds.

Placing a light kiss on top of the boy's head, James smiled. "Good. Keep the skies clear, all the way up."

Her gaze didn't leave the burnt lands surrounding her, but Frigga did listen to when James asked for her grandson's assistance and took purposeful steps to ensure the boy was comfortable with what he was doing. She liked that he didn't want to traumatize Jay while getting his assistance.

Jay extended himself outside of his body and found something strange happened. He found that he didn't actually want to leave his body. It was so comfortable and form fitting now that he truly enjoyed being in it. Suddenly his body felt better than any wall ever had. His emotions weren't less overwhelming, Jay just felt more able to handle them. With the spike open and ready to use he finished extending himself into it. Sparks of silver fire gleamed over the surface of his skin and the spike. His mind expanded out towards the open skies to find a few small personal aircraft flying over the nine thousand square miles of the Death Valley salt flats. Farther up there were several satellites that he moved to safer positions in their orbital paths. They would be moved back to their proper places when they were done here. "The skies are clear, Uncle Rhodey. I'll continue to monitor them. I'm moving to blind any monitoring bodies now, excluding SHIELD." Jay moved to intercept and blind the monitoring stations of organizations like NASA, NORAD, NOAA, astronomical observatories, AIM, HYDRA, and many others. One by one their capabilities to see what was happening in Death Valley were shut off or diverted to other things.

"Can we ask questions during this tour?" Director Fury felt lucky enough to have these memory cube and contact lens. It felt like he was pushing his luck to ask for more, but that was part of his job as Director of SHIELD. There were always more questions to be asked, always more answers to be found. Utilization always came after those answers.

That the Director had taken this long to begin asking questions surprised James just a little. "You can ask questions, I welcome them, but I need you to understand that I might not have an answer, or I might not have an answer that I can give you."

"That's fair," Director Fury motioned to the garnet spike, "What sort of communication equipment is that?"

"It's a Communications Spike Weave." A little smile touched James' lips. "I created it so that Anthony wouldn't have an excuse to not call me. It's a simple weave which incorporates communications equipment and uses seidr as an amplifier to boost the signal. It can be used as a relay or a terminal as part of a pre-existing communications system or can operate independently."

"How powerful are they?" They sounded very powerful to the Director, which sounded useful.

"It varies depending on how much seidr is used, how tightly the seidr used to make it is packed, and if you chose to add amplifying seidr diamonds. I could make one small enough to be used in a standard radio. Or I could make one as powerful as I can, combine it with a few others of a similar power level and could contact Asgard from Earth." James smiled and shrugged slightly. "It really depends on how you make the spike."

"Are they temporary?" The Director had already seen how things made of seidr could be unmade back into seidr.

Shaking his head, James replied. "Things made with seidr remain malleable for up to six months after they're made. The seidr can be reclaimed from them for free during the hardening period. After six months they can't be broken down so easily because they're hardened, and you lose seidr in the transformation. They're basically permanent after that."

"And they're useable while hardening?" Director Fury looked to Jay again, who was still shimmering in silver sparks. "Is the communication secure?"

"It's definitely useable while it's hardening. I've only used it to cut through security systems to plug into already existing communications networks," James considered it for a moment, "but I suppose security protocols could be encoded into the seidr as it's being created. That wouldn't be hard."

"Do they plug into current tech, or are they," the Director motioned to the spike, "stand alone pieces?"

"The ones I make normally are stand alone, but they could easily be fit with the means to plug into any technology."

Reliable, secure, and extensive communications was a quality of life upgrade that SHIELD needed. Even if he could only get a few of them, they would still improve the chances of success for any type of operation. "Interesting." Director Fury noted to himself that he was going to talk to James about them when he had a chance. That wasn't for right now though. Right now was for seeing what Stark had done.

A knowing smile touched James' face. Both he and the Director knew that he was going to be asked about the spikes. The good colonel didn't mind, either being asked about them or providing SHIELD with them. It was restitution that Anthony needed to make to SHIELD. Even though he would be the one making the spikes, it would still count towards his brother's restitution. Most of Anthony's restitution for SHIELD would pass through his hands, but it was a debt that he didn't mind paying. His younger brother was going to be working closely with SHIELD for a long time, so this needed to be handled with grace and humility instead of by Anthony.

"Everyone has been blinded who might be monitoring this location, vehicles headed in this direction have been halted, and several satellites have been moved out of the way temporarily." Jay announced quietly. He was careful to keep the flow of himself steady so as to not expose himself. His father would definitely be angry about that.

Putting his hand on his nephew's shoulder, James spoke. "Thank you, Jay. I'd like you to keep the skies clear until I tell you otherwise. Remember, if it becomes uncomfortable you need to let me know. Ok?"

"Ok." Through the spike Jay could see the open testing grounds system. It was another thing that he had a hand in creating that he was so ashamed of now. There were so many weapons in this place. Weapons like the drones coming up to act as the 'Asgardians' in this combat scenario.

A less-than-pleased smiled touched his face as James looked at the button to begin the 'sundown' scenario. A groaning rumbling went through the land they were standing on. He motioned to the control panel and then to the open land before the bones of a mansion behind them and spoke. "These testing grounds were used to perfect Anthony's ultimate defense, the sundown protocols. What I'm about to show you is extremely dangerous, but you won't need to worry. We'll be perfectly safe behind a sun shield." Summoning one of his casting gloves, he slipped it onto his right hand and unfolded his seidr to shoot down his arm and into the glove. A quarter of his seidr unfolded to flow through the glove. The glove had a base of tightly fitting, comfortable, grey suede. Runes of his own making were burned into the leather to direct the seidr down towards the palm of the glove. The runes that burned up the fingers swirled the seidr around and directed it back down to the palm of the glove. The five large knuckles of the glove were covered in shards of garnet seidr diamond that were worked into the leather with hair-sized strands of a vibranium alloy woven in around them. The palm of the glove was covered in a quarter inch thick, garnet seidr diamond that was sculpted to the palm of James' hand. The burnt runes traveling up the glove continued up the seidr diamond as engraved runes filled with the same vibranium alloy that the hair-thin strands were made of. They went to the center of the diamond. Each rune directed and amplified the seidr flowing through the glove towards the final rune in the center of the diamond. The final rune, encircled by fine woven strands of vibranium alloy, collected the seidr being focused through it to amplify it to be astronomically more powerful than it was naturally. "Formadr Frigga, I'll be casting the sun shield now. It will make a noise." Mounting the Sun Shield Weave, James snapped at a place in front of them to release the weave. A booming sound like distant thunder came from the snap. The sun shield deployed as a solid garnet sphere surrounding the people with him. Just a second later the solid color of the sun shield faded away to nothing as James shifted the barrier to allow them to see through it. The barrier would shield them from everything, including the arc reactors.

While Frigga was grateful to have had the warning she still didn't feel prepared for the snap. At the booming from James' snap she calmly held up one hand and instantly had her seidr unraveled and a Rune of Shield spun and put into place in front of her, ready to deflect any harm headed towards Odin. Sun shield? What is that?! As she saw that there was no danger to Odin she broke down the Rune of Shield, raveling the seidr back into her core.

Surprise widened Frey's and Odin's eyes, and they glanced quickly over to each other before looking back to their tour guide. It caused Frey to unfurl his seidr to extend it to his Elder Brother and ask quickly, It didn't look like the Jaivardhan Weave. What is a sun shield? Odin didn't have an answer to Frey's questions, not when he was wondering the same thing himself. So he unwound his seidr and flared it in return, I'd like to know that as well. He was looking over the interesting glove that James summoned, the one with runes that he didn't recognize and seidr diamonds, when James snapped again. This snap didn't open a portal though. This snap created the most solid physical barrier that he and Odin had ever come across. Frey wondered if the barrier came from the glove and where James might have acquired the glove.

The booming snap and sudden dense barrier caused Sean to focus his gaze on James to see what just happened. Unfortunately for the young seidmadr he wasn't able to see anything, instead of the everything that he could normally see when he focused on someone. Carmine and orange flames blocked his view. A firehawk can block my view? How did Lord Stark do that? Sean wondered if it had something to do with James' runework. The runework itself, while invisible to the naked eye to most people unless lit, was perfectly visible to Sean. The good colonel had a standard runework, with the chains running from the heart of his runework in straight orderly rows over his neck, upper torso, arms, over the outside of his hips and down his legs from the tops of his thighs. Space for three runes sat in each of the chain links for when he learned a complete magical discipline or unique spell, which was also very standard. Even the anchors on the backs of his hands and the tops of his feet looked standard. They were like the Kings' runeworks. However, the whole thing looked dusted in smoldering ash, with the runes looking ill-seated in the chains' links. It left the skin under the chains looking stony and cold, like a living statue. The calming tune coming from James' white seidr accompanied that stony look very well. Sean wondered if maybe the smoldering ashes dusting over the runework were what was blocking his view. He had no idea how to clean them off, or if they could even be cleaned off of the runework. Whatever Lord Stark did to James, it was strange and impressive at the same time. The truly odd thing though was that when he stopped focusing on James he noticed that James had looked over to him. A strange look was on his face, like he felt something odd.

"Do you have any questions?" James could feel the probing gaze of the young man near him. It couldn't make it through the invisible flames that he was wrapped in. His secrets were still safe.

Before Sean or either King could speak Director Fury asked what was on everyone's mind. "Was that the Jaivardhan barrier?"

Looking over showed James that the combatants were rising out of the ground. The scenario was progressing along smoothly, so he turned back to the Director. "No," motioning to around them, "this is a Sun Shield Weave. The sun shield is a different type of barrier than the Jaivardhan Weave."

"What's the difference?" Director Fury was hoping to see the Jaivardhan Weave in action since the Kings seemed impressed with it.

"It's primary difference is the method of construction. The Jaivardhan Weave is constructed of raw seidr directly from the core, while the Sun Shield Weave is constructed," James held up his hand, "by focusing the seidr through amplifying runes into a runed seidr diamond. It's exponentially more powerful than the Jaivardhan Weave, but it's unfinished. We're still working on making it more efficient."

"Stark came up with this new barrier too?" The Director asked, curious as ever.

"Anthony posited the theory that it might be possible to create a barrier capable of deflecting nuclear fire by balancing the energy output of the barrier with the energy output of the nuclear device, each energy acting equal and opposite to the other and thus creating a null zone between them. He and I have been working at it on and off again for a few months." He motioned to the barrier again with his gloved hand. "The barrier is completely stable now; you don't need to worry. We're continuing to work on it just to make it more efficient. As it stands now, very few people could actually use the barrier. It just takes too much seidr." The barrier was a trap that James laid for his younger brother. When Anthony put forth the theory, James offered to help him work on it. Anthony couldn't resist and agreed to the help. He ended up showing his older brother several other projects that he was hiding at the testing grounds and in his workshop. His younger brother was never very good at hiding things from him.

"You plan on mass producing this?" That actively interested Director Fury. Having protection against nuclear strikes was also something that he wanted for SHIELD.

A little chuckle came from James. "Truthfully, we haven't thought about it. We always make things to be broadly usable unless we have a specific purpose."

Nodding a few times, Director Fury spoke. "Interesting." This was something else he was going to try to acquire for SHIELD, for their facilities. He knew that James knew he was going to make a play for it. That much was obvious in the other man's eyes and knowing smile.

James didn't mind either being asked about the sun shields or providing them to SHIELD, and even the US military. Once again this could count towards Anthony's restitution to SHIELD. This was also something else that he felt could do some very serious good if applied properly. Suddenly a siren sounded from the mansion behind them. Its long slow tone wailed loudly in the emptiness of the salt flats. He looked out towards the 'Asgardian' combatants, drones that projected out the appearance of the Asgardian military. All of them were armed with Asgardian weapons and armor, all properly runed and enchanted. Then James looked back towards the bare bones of a mansion. Drone armors were beginning to march out of the mansion. All of the Iron Legion were armed with the with the M2 armaments set, with arc reactor powered weapons and Jaivardhan Weave shields projected out from the drones' left arms. Panels in the salt flats slid open around the mansion. Columns with turrets on them rose up out of the ground. Between each column a light blue Jaivardhan Weave shield was raised. Another, bigger column rose up out of the mansion with an ion cannon on top of it. Another Jaivardhan Weave was bent into a sphere around it. The back side of the mansion had a hologram projected over it so that it looked like a cliff over the ocean. The front side of the property had a hologram projected over it to make it appear like the Malibu mansion. The siren grew faster for thirty seconds as the troops got into place, then it stopped. "Sundown scenario is beginning, please get to safety immediately," a pleasant female voice rang out in place of the blaring siren.

"Are those Asgardian armaments?" Odin was disconcerted by the accurate look of the forces in front of them.

A calming smile touched James' face as he strengthened his soul song of stillness. "Loki gave Anthony a single set of Asgardian gear, trying to teach him about the military in the Elder Realms. She didn't realize what she was actually teaching him about. He reproduced the 'Asgardian' side's drones from that. He uses them to make the simulations more accurately representative of the forces involved."

"Ah, I see." Odin could see, since it was right in front of him, that Stark was indeed aiming his anger at Asgard. Seeing this put the near attack on Asgard that morning in the proper perspective. Stark was indeed planning to act on his anger with Odin and Asgard for what happened to Loki. Looking over the assembled forces, he wondered how much of a slaughter this was going to be. He was more grateful then that James stepped in to stop this from happening.

The 'Asgardian' forces marched in three orderly formations towards the wall while the Iron Legion armors took up positions along the inside of the wall. The leader drone of the faux-Asgardian forces came forward and demanded that Loki be turned over to be returned to Asgard. The leader drone was summarily shot in the head by one of the drone armors manning the wall. This began a protracted battle where the faux-Asgardians fell back into cover behind their shields and fired on the Iron Legion, attempting to move up as they could. The drone armors returned fire to the 'Asgardians' in a very specific way.

It was Frey and Frigga who noticed it first, followed swiftly by Odin and then Director Fury. The Iron Legon wasn't fighting to their full capability, it was obvious when they were standing in amongst the drone armors. Every few minutes they would kill another 'Asgardian' soldier. It was a constant rate, which showed off the fact that they could move faster but weren't. They were moving slowly and allowing themselves to be hit. The Iron Legion was even allowing the faux-Asgardians to continue pressing their attack. When enough of the 'Asgardians' had been killed a shuttle arrived, ostensibly from a ship in orbit, to drop off more troops to continue pressing the attack. The ion cannon took several shots at the ship. Despite several apparent close calls, it missed every shot. Director Fury didn't like seeing that, the cannon missed intentionally. It was suspicious. The kill rate for these fresh faux-Asgardians was slightly lower than the first set of combatants. It made Odin uneasy because this looked sinister to him. When these fresh 'Asgardians' were allowed to get closer to the wall around the mansion, Frey raised an eyebrow. He looked at the trashed bodies of both the Iron Legion, lying in the courtyard, and the 'Asgardians' who were lying in a slow trail up to the wall. Frigga could see it clearly, the 'Asgardians' were being drawn in slowly and patiently.

Again, when enough of the faux-Asgardians had fallen in battle another shuttle full of them was called down. This time the ion cannon fired on the shuttle and hit its mark expertly, destroying the shuttle entirely and killing everyone on board. A few minutes later another shuttle full of 'Asgardian' soldiers arrived and the cannon missed this one again. It gave the impression of good luck on the faux-Asgardians' side that Odin disliked. Several long moments passed as they watched the third shuttle worth of Asgardians be dealt with. The Iron Legion was down to half of their starting numbers, with each one downed being obviously calculated. Frey could see the calculation that went into this assault as he stood behind the wall and observed the Iron Legion where the 'Asgardians' couldn't see them. Director Fury looked at both sides of this fight and wondered how much longer it was going to be.

A fourth shuttle was brought down and fired on, only to be grazed towards the engines. It gave the impression again of the Iron Legion being a worse fighting force than they were. As soon as these fresh 'Asgardians' hit the field of battle a rumbling started in the mansion, like the quaking of giant footsteps. Out of the front of the mansion came a giant guardian that stepped over the wall to wade into the faux-Asgardians immediately. It was twenty feet tall with a heavy frame and thick as a tree trunk limbs. Lasers focused and fired from its eyes as it swung its arms around like battering rams. It was hard for Odin to watch this fight. These drones were fighting with a courage that simulated the Asgardian spirit. They fought in teams and protected their team members, just like a real Asgardian fighting force. These drones acted like men he had commanded. They were being cut down with ease. Over half of the faux-Asgardian forces were felled in the clash before they managed to get the guardian down. At the end, the 'Asgardians' stood victorious while the guardian was a smoldering pile of slag and destroyed parts. The elder King could tell that it did exactly what it was meant to do; it cut down the 'Asgardian' forces so that more would be called down. His gaze went to the skies then as he saw what was happening. The ship in orbit, one that he would have sent, was being emptied voluntarily. He could even see how the ship's commander would believe that it was all to handle a cantankerous but inferior enemy who could be overcome with just a few more men, an enemy that was no true threat.

The ion cannon began firing up at the ship in orbit as the last of the 'Asgardians' tangled with the Iron Legion. The ship returned fire but couldn't get through the Jaivardhan Weave from orbit. The cannon continued to harass the ship unabated. A few moments later a hologram of one of Asgard's capitol ships came down from orbit to hover over the mansion at the back. It fired on the ion cannon and was allowed to strike it through the Jaivardhan Weave, to seemingly disable it. The ion cannon spun down for a long moment before it spun up again, turned rapidly to the 'Asgardian' ship, and fired several point blank shots through the ship, knocking it cleanly out of the sky and into the ocean. The flaming wreckage of the ship was struck then from the sky as a burning bean of condensed light cut through the metal like warm butter. A second beam swept over the battlefield to erase the remaining 'Asgardian' soldiers. It hurt Odin to see them obliterated so coldly. Even though they were drones he could still see the faces of men he went to war with. It was offensive to see them burnt to blackened lumps, ashes in the wind. The trap was sprung, there was no denying it. Odin was looking at the slaughter that he expected.

Agitated worry tinged all of Frigga's thoughts. Two of her most beloved people were too near to this extreme weapon. She wanted them gone from this place, away to somewhere safer. So far the sun shield had done as James said it would and defended them from Stark's sky burners. Despite that, she still didn't want to have them so close to such calculated danger. Stark is too good at making these weapons. His anger is too great. We must have peace with him.

When the orbital weaponry targeted and struck a position near him, Director Fury flinched back, and he wasn't going to deny that. He also wasn't going to deny that this was what he was waiting for. It was cold and efficient; like all of Stark's weapons it did its job a little too well. He could even see what it was doing, cloaking the murders in simple bad luck, making the 'Asgardians' comfortable enough to continue sending people down despite the losses. As the Director thought about what he'd just seen he admitted to himself that this was among the most cold-blooded murder plots he'd ever seen. The point of it wasn't even to kill the men he was plotting to murder. The point of it was to lure the ship into range of the cannon, and even that was cloaked in the camouflage of simple bad luck, with the cannon missing several of its shots and all. Director Fury wondered where this cold-blooded mindset came from. He didn't believe that Howard taught it to Stark. He wanted to say that Howard wasn't that kind of person, but what he saw yesterday made him question that belief. Either way, from Howard or someone else, he still wanted to know. As he was wondering he noticed that the Iron Legion had fallen back to the courtyard. A hologram projection was coming from the mansion. Stark was leading Loki and the children out to a portal that had just opened from a stone. He was telling her that she didn't need to be afraid, that no one was going to follow them. No one will follow because you were gonna burn my world? The thought still made Director Fury angry. It made him angrier to know that he wasn't the one who had the power to stop it. The hologram of Loki and the children went through the portal after Stark told her that he was going to meet her 'there', that there were some people he had to get first. Teleportation fire flared up around Stark as the portal closed and the Iron Legion fired on the stone that had opened it. The stone melted into the ground. A few minutes later Stark's ship rose from the ocean floor as it took off to get whoever those lucky few were. The Director wondered who was on the short list of humans who would have survived the burning. It might not help him at all, but he still wanted to know, since he already knew that he wasn't on that list.

The Vanaheimr Royal Guard didn't like what they were seeing. While several of them wouldn't have minded the Asgardians dying, they could see how this could have been them. The soldiers in this brutal example were faceless, nameless, could have been anyone. It was as offensive to them as it was to the Lord they were protecting to see those soldiers disposed of so callously. For just a moment they all felt a pity for Asgard that it had made an enemy who could do that. For just a moment they were wary of creating the same enemy since it was obvious that this example was underpinned by an anger that could be turned anywhere, to anyone.

"Time to bring the sun down," Frey heard James speak quietly, almost to himself. It didn't bode well in the younger King's opinion. A moment later the younger King knew he was right. More beams of condensed light burned the land around the bare bones of the mansion. They hit precisely with premeditated intent, missing the mansion but taking out the land and ocean around it. A hologram of a beam of condensed light struck the mansion at the last, destroying it as well. When the mansion was destroyed and the land it sat upon gutted the beams moved on. The holographic representation of the planet was projected out of the control panel next. Frey watched as the chains of satellites surrounding Midgard began to fire on the planet itself, beginning at the top and burning their way down to the bottom. What he was watching was the precipitating event to the end of a realm. Fire in the sky, ash on the wind, the sun brought down over Midgard. The thought was almost palpable in Frey's mind. Sun downed, sundown, on Midgard…? It was a familiar thought for some reason. Frey prodded at his mind a little more, trying to remember where he heard that recently. His eyes went a little wide as he remembered. It was several days ago when Loki was injured by the skaerevefer glass. That day the younger King was asking Anthony of what Loki told him about a particular spell. He prodded at Anthony to tell him more. All he got was a few short words in Anthony's undisciplined seidr. Damn Odin, sundown on Asgard, hate secrets, was all Frey could hear from Anthony's burning seidr. He realized then that he was warned of the event that morning in those short words. He hadn't known enough though to understand what massive warning he was given though. It hardened Frey's resolve to pay better attention to Anthony's seidr whispers. Who knew what secrets could be pried from them?

In the midst of such solid beams of light, there was an abstract sort of horror that these weapons were ever pointed at her family. Frigga couldn't understand the anger it took to do these things, but as a hologram of Loki and Stark left the mansion with fear on their faces, she could understand the desperation. This was the same sort of desperate fear that drove Odin to change the Nine Realms in secret. This too was an atrocious secret, and the deaths of so many. As the fire rained down from the sky she could see the death that would have visited Midgard and Asgard. There was no death now. Thanks to James there was only the representation of it, which was horrifying enough. She was more grateful then that James had control of these weapons. After his disposal of the 'godkiller' weapons just a short while ago she felt much better about him having these things than her son-by-law. From the 'godkillers' to this, Stark was absolute in his wrath. He was not mentally balanced right then, and Frigga couldn't say when the last time he was mentally balanced. Stark had been under such potent stress for such a long time that it had warped him. Divesting him of these weapons, in her opinion, was one of the first steps to bringing him back to mental balance and good health.

At first Sean wasn't certain what to think about this display. He questioned why James would allow this to continue to the point where the skies needed to be cleared. The key in the control panel spoke well enough to James' power over this situation. There was something else that he wasn't seeing, something he didn't know that allowed this to happen. He wondered at it greatly since it disturbed him. The disconcerting feeling of helplessness progressed through him because his clan was being targeted as well, was strong enough that he angled out his seidr discreetly, flared it out to Frey, then ran it gently over his lover's skin for a minute or so before withdrawing it and angling it back into his core. Even though he knew that Eidesh and Eideshan, the clan father and mother, would protect the clan, this was still immensely worrying. Only when the hologram of Earth was a lifeless smoldering wreck did the display stop. James dismissed the hologram of Earth and turned to face them.

"This is the 'sundown scenario'. If Loki and the children were to be threatened, then this was what Anthony was planning on happening. It all followed Asgardian battle principles and culture, as taught to him by Loki." A less than pleased expression touched James' face. That it had come to this distressed him greatly. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to stop things like his mother and father were. Without them there he had to implement different solutions, ones which allowed far more risk than he was comfortable with. He strengthened his soul song of stillness again when he saw the disapproving looks on the faces of the people with him. It didn't offend him that they were offended by this display. What his younger brother would have set in motion was offensive. That couldn't be refuted.

"Do you mind if I ask a question?" Sean had one that was very important in his mind, one that he hoped the emmiki could give him.

"Please do." James knew that there were several questions that they could ask about what he showed them. There were questions that honestly needed to be asked and answered. He was honest enough to know that it was truly Anthony that needed to answer these questions, except that he wasn't able to. So James had to answer them for his younger brother. This too was part of his job.

"I don't mean to be impudent, I certainly don't mean to be offensive, but I'm curious to know why you let it get to this point, when you clearly could have stopped it. Why didn't you?"

"No, you're not offensive. It's a good question," James motioned to the key I the control panel that was still being held in place by his seidr, "and it has a simple answer. Anthony is extremely reactive. If I had clamped down on him as hard as I could then he would have run from me. Anything or anyone in his path would have been trampled without a first or second thought and he would have set up something like this in a place where I wouldn't know about it, wouldn't have access to it." He motioned to the key again, and then the mansion. "I offered to help Anthony with these things so I could oversee them, and more specifically so that I could have access to this site and be able to place the key that I did. It netted me seven other projects that he was hiding. I shut down all of those because their level of destruction was ridiculous. If I oversee things then I can talk him out of some things and focus him onto other, less destructive things." A little shrug followed the statement. "It's a choice between hard control or soft influence. It all incurs risk, but one way lets me see what he's doing."

"Because a firehawk is a cosmic wild card. You can't control him, but you can steer him." Sean's own explanation came back to him then. It explained why James was doing things the way he was doing them. Then he wondered if this sort of distasteful choice was just part of directing a firehawk. He strongly suspected that it was. He also suspected that it was James' sense of honor that was guiding Lord Stark and defending others from the firehawk Lord.

"James, you said that Stark is leaving this technology behind. What are you going to do with this site and its assets?" Director Fury was keenly interested in that, in perhaps a recycling program of sorts. SHIELD had always been one of the top recyclers on the planet.

"I'm going to catalogue everything, then dissolve is all down and create a replacement veneer for the salt flat in this area. Nothing lives or grows here so I'm only worried about how it appears. I plan to make sure that it looks like what it did when Anthony first found this place."

"That seems wasteful." The Director couldn't help but observe the wastefulness of the idea.

"It is, but Anthony isn't getting this site back. He created this to engineer the end of the world. This 'toy' is going away, one way or another. It's making him sick to keep it." I refuse to allow him to continue falling away from the righteous path with this thing. James hoped that he could get Anthony back to the righteous path to spiritual purity that his other younger brothers were walking, one that Anthony walked before meeting Loki. She changed things, but not necessarily for the worse. It was everything around Loki that knocked Anthony soundly from the path and into darkness. Those things were beginning to be remedied, which pleased James to no end. Now he had to deal with Anthony's darkness before he could get his younger brother back to where he belonged.

The Anthony that Frey knew was a gentle, careful, and peaceful man who loved his wife and children greatly. Despite what he'd seen he still believed that the man he knew wasn't wholly as mask. If this engineered slaughter was making Anthony sick then it couldn't all be a mask. He remembered the screaming rage they witnessed just that morning. Thinking back on it, it sounded pained. "How is he after last night?"

James wished that he had a better answer, but he didn't. "He's healthier physically than yesterday, thank you again for that, but he's angry, distressed, and honestly ...he's scared. He knew how things were going to happen. Everything is up in the air now and he doesn't know where things are going to land. The uncertainty is upsetting him."

The uncertainty is upsetting. Frey mulled that over for a moment. Yesterday he was shown how Loki was lying to Anthony and how he hated not only that Loki was lying to him but hated the lies themselves. They disrupted his daily routine. Lies would certainly add uncertainty to his daily routine. Frey added the information to what he knew about Anthony. Is it because he's a King of Machines? Is he a Temporal King, like Sean described? Loki did say he'd 'claimed dominion' over several things. He heard Loki's voice again, explaining what Anthony claimed as his own. Organic, inorganic, and the place between them; mortal men, mages, and seidr itself; knowledge, determination, and the certainty that comes with them. That struck Frey instantly. Certainty, he claimed dominion over that. That must be why the lies and this current situation are so distressing. It's uncertain. Frey didn't ask what he could do to make the situation better for Anthony since he already knew the answer. Creating peace between Asgard and Vanaheim, between himself and Odin, healing everyone in the family who needed it, making the bright future Edward wanted. These things were bound to create certainty and stability for Anthony. His nephew-by-law would be happier with those things. He agreed then with James. This place was filled with uncertainty and death, it suddenly reeked of anxious worry to him. It needed to go. "There's much uncertainty currently. Our work will bring about certainty."

"It will be a future without fear." Odin added resolutely. A brighter future than the past its built upon. It distressed him to know that he was so very right about his son-by-law careening out of control and burning terror as fuel to get by. The fear of a firehawk could burn a whole realm. Beyond the fact that his child and son-by-law deserved to live without fear, as a Lord of the Elder Realms he was obligated to defend Midgard.

Frigga's gaze swiveled back and forth from left to right over the burnt lands around her. She kept her silence as those around her discussed the situation since she was there as a guard formadr, not as Queen. I was right to think this place is driven by desperation, the thought was powerful in her mind. Unraveling her seidr, she flared it to Odin, This place reeks of desperate fear. You're right, we must make the future one without fear.

"I'm looking forward to seeing that." James smiled. All of his younger brothers had an uncomfortable relationship with fear. He was strong enough with his soul songs to crush their fear, but not soothing enough to keep it away for long. Yet again he needed his parents for that, but they were gone. He liked Odin's sentiment though, a future without fear. It was something he'd been working towards for decades. Now he had more help, powerful help in fact. Turning to his nephew, he rescinded his orders. "Jay, I'd like you to move the satellites back into place, allow for flights over this location again, and stop blinding the monitoring organizations. Thank you for doing this for me, Jay."

"You're welcome." The satellites went back into place easily enough, there weren't any flights overhead currently and Jay stopped blinding the agencies that were monitoring things like this. That was when he noticed. "SHIELD is aware of this location. The quinjets with a forensics team, a removal team, and security is on its way. What should I do?" In the SHIELD system the flights were labeled 'site forensics and audit', 'removal team – large assets', and 'site security'.

"Leave them. I'm going to lockdown this site. They won't be able to hurt themselves or anyone else." James wasn't surprised that they scrambled teams to find out what was happening there, orbital weaponry was involved. If SHIELD is already coming then I should start cataloguing, so they don't get in the way. Unfolding more of his seidr he quickly programmed a construct in his mind then focused the seidr through his glove and snapped the construct into being. A white stone version of himself began to take shape next to him, with his seidr drawing into it like winds drawing into a hurricane. When the drawing was done a complete construct stood beside him, awaiting its orders.

"Construct, awaken."

"I am one, drawn from you."

"You will catalogue this entire site, then you will securely access a cellular network to email me your report, then you will dissipate. You will not dissipate until you can confirm receipt of your report. Do you understand?" James spoke to the new construct.

"Yes. I will catalogue this site, which you have defined for me. I will send you a report on what I've catalogued through a secure connection, and confirm its receipt, and then I will dissipate." It spoke back to James.

"Excellent." James broke down the sun shield back into seidr and stowed the seidr back in his core. "Go about your duties." The polished stone construct turned and headed into the mansion to begin the cataloguing.

The Director noticed that it was five minutes 'til eleven in the morning. Why are they sending a forensics team? A site forensics team is what I'd send out first, with security too, but I know what's out here. And a removal team? What do they think they're going to remove? Who sent them? It's good that they were sent, no matter who sent them. After a discreet breath, Director Fury spoke. "Would you mind if I had this site audited while you're cataloguing things, before it's destroyed."

An idea sprang into James' thoughts, Considering it for a moment he rolled the pros and cons around in his thoughts before he spoke. This would make good restitution too, so he looked to the Director. "Remember what I said about trust." Turning then he unfolded much more of his seidr, extended it into the mansion and down into the armory running under their feet to grasp the many times many drones there and pulled all of them up. Drones came up from the bare bones of the mansion and from where the 'Asgardians' came from. James extended his seidr down his right arm and into the glove which again amplified his abilities. Grasping each of the nearly eleven thousand drones he unsealed and removed the chest plates and at the same time he undid the side panel of their guns. Then he removed the small arc reactor power cores in the drones and their guns. Those arc reactors were dismissed to his interdimensional pocket. In his unfolded seidr he mounted a Conjuration Spell. It released to create vibranium ion rechargeable battery power cores that he replaced the arc reactor power cores with. James sealed up the guns. He mounted another Conjuration Spell and released it to create a port on the drones' sides to plug in a charging cable, and a small one on the underside of the gun. Then he closed up the chest plate and resealed the drones. After that he replaced the left arms of the drones, swapping out the Jaivardhan Weave with an arm that had a retractable, durable, light weight shield. The spare arms were gripped in his seidr and dismissed to his interdimensional pocket. Finally, he mounted another Conjuration Spell and released it to create both a fifteen foot long charging cable made of a vibranium-copper alloy and coated in graphene-stranded silicone, and an instruction manual for each one. The cable had two heads, one for the drones and a smaller one for the guns, and a third one to plug into a large standard American outlet. The cords coiled up and came to rest around the neck of each drone while the instruction manual was wedged under an arm. Next James factory reset the 'Asgardian' drones, stripping them of their Asgardian façade. Mounting another broad Conjuration Spell, James released it to change the Asgardian armaments into the matching M2 armaments that the other drones were equipped with, as well as charging cables and instruction manuals. Since all of the drones and their guns were ready he mounted a Conjuration Spell to handle their transportation. It released to create large, lockable, shipping containers with racks inside them. He folded the drones down to their compact form and placed them in the racks in the shipping containers. After all of the drones were stashed in the shipping containers James closed the doors and locked them. The keys to the containers came flying to his left hand. The last Conjuration Spell he mounted and released created a keyring that all of the shipping container keys fit onto. With the keys in his hand, he stowed his seidr back into his core and turned to Director Fury.

As he held out the keys to Director Fury, he strengthened his soul song of stillness to add emphasis to the seriousness of what he was doing. He aimed it strongly at the Director, so that it would plant his words into the Director's mind. Those words would be present subconsciously when the Director thought about the drones. "I expect that these will be handled in a discreet fashion, and with the greatest care possible. These are dangerous tools and shouldn't be viewed as toys. Do you understand?"

The keys in front of him drew Director Fury's eyes like a candy store drew a kid's eyes. There were too many operations that drones like this could improve the chances of success on that he couldn't immediately think of them all. Despite how badly he wanted the drones he was forced to acknowledge that this was a gift of trust and had to be handled with caution. Meeting the good colonel's serious gaze with one of his own he spoke. "I understand. They won't be abused. They will be used to make Earth safer."

James handed over the heavy key ring, and stopped targeting Director Fury with his soul song. "Thank you, Director Fury, I appreciate that." This was the first major restitution for Anthony with SHIELD. Motioning to the shipping containers he explained. "Each key is labeled with the number of the container it goes to. Each drone has a vibranium ion rechargeable battery core with between thirty and fifty seven hours of battery life, depending on what the drone is doing during that time. They all have fifteen foot vibranium-copper alloy charging cables and an instruction booklet that covers both the drones and their armaments set. We can discuss warranties, replacement parts, and other details once Anthony is feeling better. For the moment, you can pick them up when you're team is auditing the site. I'd like a copy of the audit report, if you don't mind."

"Hopefully he'll recover well," nodding Director Fury continued, "I can get you a copy of the audit report as soon as it's done." The Director didn't know why James needed a copy of the audit report when he was cataloguing the site himself, but with what SHIELD was just given he was willing to make it accessible. Hopefully it was going to somehow help Stark recover. He needed Stark to recover soon, needed him to recover and come back on top of his game. Stark was an asset that SHIELD could afford to be patient and wait for. He put the keys in one of his many pockets.

"Thank you, Director."

"James, will Anthony be well with this?" Frey didn't want Anthony to be any more incensed than he already was.

"He doesn't get a say in it. I seized all of his assets; they all belong to me now. He'll get back what I give him, things like his books, and sentimental items, some of his tools, his cars. Everything else," James motioned back to the bones of the mansion then over to the shipping containers and finally towards the sky and the rings of satellites encircling the earth, "belongs to me to dispose of as I see fit. As I've said, he isn't getting these weapons back. He's going to forfeit all of them. After I've completely disarmed him then he'll learn to live without the weapons again. It'll be a nice, quiet life, one that doesn't involve having artillery near my nieces and nephews."

If James was indeed Anthony's Elder Brother, as he almost certainly was, the eldest son in the Royal House of Midgard, then he did have the right to take all of his Little Brother's property and revert it all back to the possession of the Noble House. It was an extreme solution, particularly since Anthony was the Lord, but this was an extreme situation, and Frey couldn't disagree that Anthony needed to be disarmed for the good of the Elder Realms and Midgard. He glanced over to see Odin nodding slowly, understanding the same thing that he did. "A hard solution, but necessary."

That James was actively moving to disarm his Little Brother, who had weapons pointed at trillions, greatly pleased Frigga. Her gaze skimmed over the burnt land again. It was ominous, leading her to think that if Stark's anger had progressed unchecked there wouldn't have even been burnt land left of Asgard.

Asset seizure takes weeks, if not months to work through the courts! How the hell did you manage it overnight? You didn't get a warrant! There was something extremely odd going on that Director Fury couldn't see all of. It was just another reminder that SHIELD didn't know enough about James and Stark's relationship. I'll have to handle the investigation myself. I will find out what's going on.

It was more than obvious that Director Fury was going to try to investigate him. His instincts told him to steer the Director away from his family, which was what he decided to stick with for the moment; hiding was often safer than not. It wasn't what Loki wanted though, which meant that it wasn't what Anthony wanted. Loki wanted Anthony to be King of Midgard, so that was what Anthony wanted now. There was no hiding in being a Lord. Having SHIELD on their side, fully briefed and understanding, would make that happen faster. There were children involved now, so he had to give it more than thorough thought. What he needed was to talk to Herb about it. Morgan and Arno needed to be consulted also. A solid family meeting is what we need. When to make it happen was the problem.

When looking at it through the lens of Royal politics it was easy for Sean to understand how Frey and Odin could easily accept what James just said. It was Director Fury's quiet response that he thought was most appropriate though. How James managed to seize Lord Stark's property so quickly and under what terms was very suspicious to him, so he focused on James to try again. Nothing but a swirl of carmine and orange flames was revealed, his vision was still blocked. The odd thing was that when he stopped focusing he saw James look over at him again.

"Do you have any questions?" James asked the young man again after his probing gaze faded.

"Is this the only scenario he ran, or were there others?" Sean had to wonder if James somehow knew when he was focusing on him. It was something he needed to test to be certain. Sean wasn't really certain what to make of someone who knew he was observing them.

That wasn't what you wanted to ask. It couldn't be. "There were hundreds of different scenarios. This one was the one with the highest chance of overall success when operating within the Asgardian military practices and culture. Obviously, this was also one of the most violent scenarios." James didn't mind this being the question that Sean asked. He was curious about what the young man actually wanted to ask, what he wanted to know. It was probably something to do with the asset seizure if the timing of him looking over James was any indication.

"What event prompted all of this? Or was there a single event?" Sean couldn't see the answers through focusing on James, so regular questions would have to do. I wish I could see you like I see everyone else.

"It was the Dark Days, and their years' worth of paranoia. Anthony felt that he was lucky enough to not be caught during those days but that every streak of luck had to end. This is him trying to make his own luck. After that, Anthony's fear that Asgard would send a military force to retrieve Loki, and that the children would be injured in the ensuing melee played a large part. Loki's poor health made even simple falls into major ordeals. He didn't feel that he could risk talking to the Asgardians, …and he was too angry to talk. So all of this happened."

Odin spoke up then with his own question. "Are the sky burners made from Asgardian ship cannons?"

Nodding at that, James answered. "Yes. The original cannon designs were inefficient, oversized, and underpowered. When he fixed those things he ended up with the orbital weaponry that you saw earlier."

"And the wing appendages on them, are those star sails?" the elder King wanted to know more about the devices Stark used to burn the land and sky.

"Yes, and no. They were star sails originally. Anthony increased their efficiency by several hundred percent. What he's using are a weaponized version of the star sails." James had no problem giving away the star sails as well if they asked for them. He could see the good they could do in clean energy.

This knowledge would have been useful earlier when James was offering restitution. Odin acknowledged that he might have changed a few things on the list to include the star sails and the smaller cannons. He also acknowledged that the restitution was aimed at the peoples of Asgard and improving their lives, not solely at its military. He wasn't going to ask for a change in what was offered since he'd already accepted it, that would be rude. Some other way was going to have to be found to acquire that great good for his people. Finally, Odin acknowledged that James was being very giving with many great gifts, so it might not be so difficult to get these things. Perhaps we could exchange something for them.

This was exactly what Frey thought the sky burners were. He marveled at Anthony so radically improving the star sails so as to weaponize them. He didn't want them for weapons though. Improving his ships and his fleets overall was his goal. That thought led him to wondering if James would be amenable to Frey bartering for them or simply buying them. When they had a quiet moment to discuss details then he was going to ask after them, since he didn't want to be rude.

Flaring her seidr out to Odin to advise him about getting the upgraded star sails was unnecessary in her opinion. Frigga knew that he was already giving it thought. With something so fine available, he had little choice but to give it thought. Asgard needed this, like it needed so many other things.

"The little wings on the satellites are like solar cells?" Director Fury was very interested in that. Climate change was one of the largest security issues facing humanity. Under his leadership SHIELD had become one of the biggest forces for ecofriendly material usage, earth friendly policies, and clean energy. Them switching to bamboo paper products saved millions of trees just that year alone. The Director was never surprised at how well ecofriendly solutions fit in with the logistics of what SHIELD did. These solar cells could fit in equally well.

"As I said, yes and no. They're meant to do the same thing as solar cells but do it radically better than anything else on Earth." James knew where this was probably going. SHIELD was going green as hard as they could, and it was all coming from Director Fury. The promise of clean solar energy was something that the Director couldn't pass up.

"How much are they per unit? Are they able to function with Earth's existing power grid? Are they installed easily? What kind of maintenance do they need? Are the materials used to make them green?" The Director had so many questions.

A slightly amused smile crept onto James' face. This too would be excellent restitution for SHIELD from Anthony. "The components are conjured fully assembled so you'd be paying for the time to make them then however much you pay your installers. They do work with Earth's power grid, very well in fact. Because of how they work with American power grids they're as easy to use and use as regular solar cells. The maintenance is specific but simple, and since the materials are all conjured the entire process is green." Unfolding his seidr James mounted both the Learning Spell and a Conjuration Spell. His memories were drawn into the Learning Spell then the two spells were released together to create an informational booklet with pictures and diagrams on the star sails that Anthony invented. James handed over the booklet to Director Fury. "As with the drones, we can discuss the details once Anthony is feeling better. It shouldn't be a problem to get them deployed to SHIELD. Once he's thinking clearly again I know he'll see that more good can be accomplished by sharing them where they're needed than by hoarding them." More restitution.

Holding up the booklet, Director Fury asked another question. "He really won't mind this? Or the rest of it?"

"Anthony wants to do good in the world. In his own ways he's always strived for that. Right now, he's sick with anger and fear. He has the time to heal, and he is. He'll be back to who he really is soon enough." James made sure to keep his soul song of stillness constant so that no one could notice him lying. His younger brother was more than just sick with negative emotions. There were problems that he was born with that were making a resurgence, monstrous problems. Only a select few people knew about those things though. No one he was standing with was one of those people He wondered if Odin, Frey, Sean, and Frigga might soon be among those people, maybe even Director Fury. So far he hadn't heard any darkness within any of them to make him worry. In what was always a weird twist for James, there was never any darkness to be heard in Director Fury's voice. It was why he respected the Director, because he was like James; a good man in a situation where there were too few good options, and so too few good decisions. Also like James, the Director wasn't stuck in that situation, he chose to be there, chose to do what good that he could when he could, and just make sure that as little bad happened as possible. It was why he chose to work with SHIELD, because he understood how stuck between and rock and a hard place they were. It didn't mean that he trusted them completely. They were also as desperate as he was, and desperate people did desperate things. Yet there was never any darkness in Director Fury's voice. It impressed James.

Putting the booklet in his coat pocket, he'd look at it later. Director Fury wanted to discuss something else quickly. "It looked to me like Stark has PTSD that goes back a while. SHIELD has professional counseling services which operate almost like regular psychiatric services. Our councilors have higher clearances than regular ones and are able to handle the unusual scars that people in our positions have. They understand what 'discretion' means. They also have prescribing privileges and access to medicines that are either hard to get a hold of or not available to the general public. We also have a set of counselors with special abilities themselves, who are able to handle people with special abilities. Dr. Frost might be a good fit for him, she's very talented. She's also able to gently persuade people away from the negative thoughts that come with trauma and depression. There are others as well, like Dr. Xavier, who specializes in dealing with intrusive memories. He's able to dampen the memories so that they can be dealt with without being overwhelming, he might be a good fit for Loki. We also have Dr. Lehnsherr, who pioneered the magneto-lobular realignment. It works in the brain to strengthen healthier habits while weakening more negative habits and is over 90% successful," holding his hand up as James went to speak, he continued, "You don't have to answer right now. Just understand that we have the capabilities to help deal with his problems long-term, without strings attached."

It sounds like what I need. James wondered if he was going to be forced into choosing SHIELD, since they had the people who could handle the unusual nature of his younger brother. The psychiatrists for his other two brothers already stated that they weren't going to work with Anthony. It was Anthony's belligerence that did it, it always was. "Do you happen to have a psychiatrist who has a particularly thick skin and is able to handle the nastiest of insults, innuendos and generally crass behavior?"

"Dr. Frost. She handles people who are physically violent and verbally abusive."

"Without harm to herself?" James wondered at that.

"Yes. She's very talented." The Director liked the follow-up questions. It signaled interest. If James was interested then it was all the better for SHIELD because Director Fury was interested in Stark getting his head screwed on straight.

It had never helped to get Anthony's mental health settled that his younger brother viewed counselors like massive venomous snakes. One wrong move and they would bite. Anthony always felt that it was better to chase them off before they could bite. No matter how many times James explained what psychiatrists, psychologists, and counselors did, no matter how many reassurances were given, it never did any good. Anthony was a mean bastard to whoever James brought him to. His younger brother was banned from forty seven major psychiatry practices across the country, and on various watch lists at over a hundred others. In all the times he'd ever taken Anthony in to talk to someone, his younger brother always won. James would send him in the psychiatrist's office, a few minutes later the psychiatrist would throw him out of their office and refuse to see him again. Over, and over, and over, it was always the same. The older man didn't have hope that it would be different this time. He just acknowledged that there was a possibility that it could be different, unlike all the other times. Nodding then, James spoke. "Thank you, Director. I'll discuss that with Anthony when I see him later today." There were certainly cons to be considered, but the pros were equally large this time. This might be just what I need. "I'll get back to you on it soon. For the moment do you have any more questions about this site, or the scenario?" Looking around at everyone else. "Does anyone have any more questions?"

"This scenario has been halted, permanently?" Frey wanted confirmation of it before they moved on to anything else.

Going back to the control panel, James explained. "I'm bringing up the OS settings now. I put something in there for just such an occasion." He pointed to the icon which was an old fashioned horsehair scrub brush and was labeled, "The Total System Clean," then he tapped the scrub brush icon. A box popped up asking if he really meant to initiate a total system clean. When he tapped the yes box the entire system flickered a few times before the control panel faded away, then returned a moment later with a new box in front. The new box had a simple statement. 'This system is clean.' James pointed to the box's statement to show Frey, before dismissing the box. "The total system clean just scrubbed Anthony's credentials from the entire system, even the ones he thinks I don't know about. He can't login to it now. I'm the only person with credentials to login. He can try to hack in, but the total system clean also instituted a new security system that he's unfamiliar with. The satellites have active software fail-safes now." James had several back up security systems installed as well. It was still possible for Anthony to hack into the system, but he was going to have to really want it. A very serious expression crossed James' face. "I'm not giving these back either, in fact…" he brought up the program to control the satellites and, "let's just…" tuned the satellites a hundred and eighty degrees around to face the opposite direction, "fix these," then brought up the satellite protocols that would let them intercept large objects in space to keep them from hitting the planet. "There, the satellites can still function as telecom satellites, but they're also a planetary defense system against asteroids. They can stay that way until I decide what to do with them."

These past two days have to be some of the best for SHIELD during my entire tenure as Director. He was very satisfied about having even a temporary barrier between the planet and everything that kept aiming at it.

After breathing a sigh of relief, Frey smiled. "I don't believe that Anthony wanted to slaughter a whole realm. It was his anger which got the better of him. He can't act on that anger now. Good."

I'm not going to let him act on it. "Does anyone else have any questions?" When no one had any more questions he disabled the initial site security protocols, turned the key in the control panel to relock the system, then dismissed the control panel and rod projecting it. "Director Fury, the initial security is disabled, the site will have to be attacked for it to respond. It should be safe for your people. I'll leave the communications spike, so that they can play with it if they want." James' seidr unfolded, shot down his arm to mount into a Janni's Portal Weave which release from his hand when he snapped again towards an empty place slightly away from them. A strong, stable portal was opened in less than a second's time. This one went to the mansion in Malibu where just yesterday Loki and Anthony lived. No one lived there anymore.

James looked to Jay, "Stay with me, Little Hawk," then motioned to the portal, "Since no one has any more questions currently, why don't we take this to the mansion in Malibu and begin looking through the house?"