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)

7. Chapter 7

- Chapter 7 -

23May2023 – Late Morning

The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark

"I'm going to have Jay deploy the outside house defenses, since he was the one meant to deploy them." There was a quiet nervousness in deploying these defenses in Jay's seidr that James could hear. He strengthened his soul song of stillness again and knelt down in front of the boy. "Can you do this?"

Looking around at the outside of the house only showed him a house modeled after a medieval castle with the pine trees to go with it. A deeper look showed him all the weaponry that he helped to create. Now that it'd come to him having to show people what he was involved in, to see it exposed and even used to a degree, he found himself balking at it. His gaze drifted down. A little surprised gasp came when he suddenly felt himself picked up and calm.

The soul song of stillness was focused on the boy to give his nephew the peace of mind that he needed to show his grandfathers what they needed to know. Picking the boy up let the song flow over the boy with ease. It was the support that Jay needed to come face to face with what he was a part of. James held him to one side, with the boy sitting on his left hip, then asked him the same question again. "Can you do this?"

With how well supported Jay was he felt like he could do anything. "Yes, I can. Just the outside defenses?" He reached out with his mind to connect with the house and all of its systems, taking complete control of them.

"Yes, just the outside for now, but don't worry about the roof troops, I'll explain them when we get down to the drone armory." James unfolded his seidr and used it to create a simple floor under everyone there without shaping it into a real spell or weave. Turning towards Frigga and the guardsmen he spoke. "Lady, gentlemen, I'm going to be raising us all up by a few feet so that we can see the area clearly. I'm not doing anything else."

Hirdmen Vilulf looked to the floor under them then to his formadr who nodded affirmatively once. The hirdmen looked back to their guide and nodded. "Thank you for informing us, sir." He liked the respect this man showed towards them and their duty. Nobles didn't always show that kind of respect, even when they were asking to be protected.

James raised the floor up evenly and smoothly by 14 feet so that they could see the whole area. They were high enough to see the ominous looking ion cannon that was coming out of the roof and swiveling around to face out towards the front, past the courtyard. In the courtyard outside of the front entrance to the house seven large rocks dropped down into the ground then slid back to reveal large holes beneath them. Out of those holes rose seven of the twenty foot tall guardians they saw at the testing grounds. These looked even nastier, with series of offset blunt, raised rectangles on the legs and long sharpened spikes on the battering rams for arms. Small razor sharp lines coated the heavy body. The head of each guardian was shaped like a human skull, painted solid black with a solid white front coating over the red eyes, nose and top of the mouth. Along the brick fence the stone posts slid down into the ground, then back up again with small turrets on them. The entire fence began to glow as the base of the turrets began to pattern out the Jaivardhan Weave overtop of the bricks, making them nearly invulnerable. Without the Sun Shield Weave the people there could finally feel the arc reactors.

Surprise blew Odin's eyes wide as they were yesterday when he discovered Stark's Great Works. The machine bases under the small fence turrets were pushing at his seidr core, chaffing incessantly. There also felt like they were casting magics. He could feel the spell as it was arrayed. Frey too could feel the spell being formed from the arc reactor and looked in alarm to Odin. Frigga took a step back and closer to Odin, unraveled her seidr to spin into a Teleportation Spell and prepared to teleport him away. The Royal Guardsmen each took a step closer to Odin as they felt the unnatural hum of the arc reactor. Only Frey was comfortable with it the feel of the arc reactor, despite not being comfortable with it casting magics. "Worry not, brother. This is the feel of the arc reactor. Extend your seidr core out a little and the feeling eases."

So this is the arc reactor. Frigga could understand how Loki came to accept this unnatural feeling. There was a weird support in the push against her seidr core that told her if she let it in it wouldn't hurt her. That still wasn't what she was there for, so she extended her seidr core out and surveyed the new area calmly.

Unwinding his seidr, Odin flared it to Frey to ask, Does Stark use the arc reactor to cast magics, as Loki did? Is James casting this magic? Extending his seidr core a little outward did help the chaffing feeling to ease, so he kept it extended.

Quickly his seidr unfurled as Frey extended his own seidr core and went to flare it to Odin, Anthony must use them to cast magics, he isn't here, and I don't feel James or Jay doing anything with them.

Odin kept his seidr flared so that he and Frey could speak, Do you think we could ask about it?

While they were speaking Frey's seidr remained flared as well, James did say that he welcomes questions. He's been very forthcoming so far. I'm going to ask about it. "Are there arc reactors in those turrets or the fence posts?"

"They're in the fence beneath the turrets. They power the turrets and the fence protection." They were feeling the auto-cast system as it was automatically patterning out the Jaivardhan Weave, but he wasn't going to explain it to them there and then again in the drone armory. "What you're feeling is perfectly normal for this. I'll explain and demonstrate it in the drone armory. What you need to know for now is that the fence is covered in the Jaivardhan Weave, so are almost all of the turrets' bodies."

Odin and Frey both nodded, glad that they were going to get an explanation of what they couldn't quite believe, the casting of magics without a mage. "Thank you for that." Frey wanted to have the explanation now but was willing to wait since he knew it would be forthcoming. He knew Odin felt the same on that.

"Are the roof troops the ones that would come out of the mansion, like at the testing grounds?" Director Fury looked around at the roof, then the mansion.

"Yes, they're the shock troops meant to meet the Asgardians head-on." Pointing over to the roof, James spoke. "They're under that section of the roof, that one there. Those type of drones are in the drone armory. They're the ones that I'll be explaining." Next he pointed to the seven guardians and explained further. "These are single use guardians. They're meant to kill half a platoon of Asgardian soldiers before allowing itself to be downed. Once down the other guardians can explode their power core for quick kills if their mission isn't going well. They're basically shrapnel bombs if used correctly." Another very serious look crossed his face. These would be gotten rid of as well. James looked to Jay and asked him what was in his mind. "I know Anthony put a factory reset in these guardians. Can you factory reset them for me, Jay?"

His mind was extended out into the house still, so Jay extended it a little farther into the guardians to reset their operating system back to their pre-scenario programming. The reset took hold quickly so that he asked. "Scenario programming has been wiped. What should I do with them now?"

"They still have their standard offensive suite? They'll still be effective on the battlefield?" James wanted to make sure before he dealt with them.

"Yes, Uncle Rhodey. They have their offensive suite programing and their efficacy in battle hasn't decreased. It's broadened now that they aren't focused on the scenarios."

This was what he expected, but he liked having confirmation from his Little Hawk. From his unfolded seidr James mounted several Conjuration Spells, then released them all at once. He branded a number, one through seven, across each of the guardians' chests. After that he unsealed the chest plate of the guardians and removed the arc reactor power core. One of the Conjuration Spells released to create seven large vibranium ion rechargeable battery cores that he used to replace the arc reactor cores before using another Conjuration Spell to alter the chest plate to have a covered slot to plug in a recharging cable. Then he resealed the guardians. Next he conjured a box that had a number on it matching the number of the guardian it appeared in front of. Into the box went a coiled twenty foot long vibranium-copper alloy recharging cable, a thick instruction booklet, and a tablet computer that would give control of the guardian to a human operator. Next, another Conjuration Spell created a lid that sealed tight to the top of the box. His last Conjuration Spell changed the spikes and razors to match the raised rectangular armor on the legs. It brought them in line with the laws that SHIELD followed. "Have the guardians take the boxes, then line them up in the driveway, and compact them down while holding the boxes." James voice was quiet as he spoke to his nephew.

Watching more of the rechargeable battery cores, cables and booklets caused hope to spring up in Director Fury's chest. When the razors and spikes were removed to make them legally compliant that hope picked up a notch. Those were heavy assets. They could be of tremendous use to SHIELD in larger battles, and bunker busting to name a few. He wanted those guardians.

Doing everything his uncle asked of him was easy for Jay. It left the seven guardians compacted down in the driveway, waiting. "What should I do now?"

"Just leave them be," James looked over to Director Fury and spoke, "They're made of alloys of adamantium, vibranium, and titanium, are enchanted for durability and repair, have rechargeable batteries, and are hardened against EMPs. I assume your people can pick them up, and we'll still discuss the details later."

"I'll make sure that they're safely picked up. Thank you for them. They'll be very useful to SHIELD." He pulled out his phone, logged in to the secure SHIELD app, and shot off a quick text to the local SHIELD facility in Los Angeles. They could have a team out there to get the guardians in about an hour. Director Fury wanted to see these guardians in action, just not against SHIELD. He also wanted to know why James was just blithely giving away Stark's assets. That was as important to him as having the assets. He said there was a reason. What reason, besides pissing Stark off?

An amused smile stayed on James' lips for a minute before his gaze fell on the cannon and the smaller turrets, then his smile turned down. "Formadr, hirdmen, I'm going to dispose of the turrets now. Nothing dangerous will come near Lord Odin." Extending more of his unfolded seidr he mounted several Disc of Exhilarant Light Spells and contained them in his own seidr so that no one was harmed by them. They released to form discs of plasma at each turret and the ion cannon. The discs heated up instantly to solar temperatures. The turrets and cannon exploded into mist that was burned to less than ash. In less than a few seconds the advanced weapons were melted down into their component atoms. Nothing was left of them.

"You didn't want to recycle those as well?" The Director was sorry to see the guns go, SHIELD could have used them as well.

Looking back to Director Fury, he spoke. "The guardians," James motioned towards them, "while programmed with several scenarios, were made for general defense of the house. There's no problem in recycling these. The drones from the testing grounds are the same thing, except that they were made to test any scenario. They're also fine to recycle. The turrets and the ion cannon were made solely to kill Asgardians. Think about that." James paused for a moment. "Asgardians are his wife's people, the people she defends. The turrets and cannon are a reminder of his poisonous anger. When he comes back to his right mind I don't want there to be any ugly reminders to embarrass him. He doesn't handle embarrassment well."

In an instant, Frey unfurled his seidr and flared it to Odin to say, He would even spare Anthony the embarrassment of this. He wasn't surprised when his Elder Brother flared his seidr to respond silently, I'm glad of it. Being so bluntly reminded of what sickness drove you to do is crushing. Frey wondered at that statement. Wondered if it was Thor and Loki that he was commenting on, but that didn't quite feel right. It being a comment on Frigga, and what he had to do to keep her, seemed more likely. He wondered if there was something else more than those things, something that he didn't know about. He hoped not. What he already knew about was horrible enough. If there was anything more then it would be crushing.

"Alright, I can accept it. Would it be possible to discuss similar weapons for the helicarrier fleet and SHIELD facilities? Not these exact ones, but something of comparable firepower?" Director Fury could completely understand not wanting a reminder of past actions. Yesterday he might have said that a reminder for Stark was warranted, but today was a different day. Today he understood what an asset Stark could be to SHIELD. Like SHIELD needed Loki to be healthy, the Director wanted Stark whole as well.

"So you'd like an upgrade to the fleet and to better secure your facilities?" When Director Fury nodded and said, "Yeah.," James also nodded. "We can discuss those upgrades. I make no guarantees on the ion canon, but I think Anthony may be amenable to the smaller turrets for defense."

"You don't think he'd go for the cannon?"

"I'm not sure. He's in an unstable mindset. He might not want to give you that, then again, he might want to give you something better. I just don't know." James was honest in making his point without being so honest that anyone could tell that there was something deeper that was wrong with his younger brother.

"If he chooses to help secure SHIELD then he's making this planet safer for his family. We both want the same thing, to defend this world." Director Fury made what he hoped would be a good point, because the real point for him was getting Stark on board with working with SHIELD.

"That's an excellent point, which I will bring up to him." It was already an argument when James intended to use to persuade his brother with, one of many. Unfortunately for James, Director Fury had some skeletons in his closet that made it difficult to argue on SHIELD's behalf.

There was still hesitation in James and Director Fury thought he knew what it was. He figured it out the day before, but still needed confirmation of it, so he looked to Jay. "You found the utilization plans for Loki, didn't you? Stark knows about them."

"When I was looking for assets for father, like the Galileo's Center ship, I found Project Tahiti, and the furtherance of it. I told him that night." Jay looked down, unable to keep meeting Director Fury's gaze. Like a sneak-thief he'd been caught. It was embarrassing now.

"He found the Project Tahiti plans disconcerting and objectionable." It was a polite way of putting what James' younger brother thought of Project Tahiti, but there was no reason for him to discard his manners.

"I don't disagree with him." The response from Director Fury was quick and honest.

"What plans?" Odin was curious to know what plans a Midgardian Black Hand might have had for Loki.

When he turned to face the two Kings, he kept his face and his voice calm. "Corpse utilization. Dissecting an alien body to see if they have a heightened immune system, or an increased healing factor, or an exploitable biological mineral; anything we can copy to give us an edge in battle." Director's Fury's tone and explanation were blunt and honest as he rarely was. However, the Director was an intelligent enough man to realize when honesty was his best course of action.

A frown wrinkled Odin's face. It was distasteful to think that they would have torn Loki's body apart instead of giving him a proper funeral. "That's dishonorable."

A bitter smirk touched the Director's lips. "It must be nice to be able to afford 'honor'." A sour look crossed the two monarchs' faces. "I don't have that luxury. I have a planet to defend with a quarter of the budget that I need; with a third of the facilities that I need; with a third of the people that I need; with only half of the people I have able to meet the educational standards that I need them to; with equipment that hasn't been significantly upgraded or modernized since Stark's father died decades ago; with politicians who sit in their cozy, safe offices and think they know better than us, making decisions about what our priorities should be. Every death of one of our people we feel, because we have to try to replace them, train and fund their replacement, get them situated and out on missions only to lose them as well because I can't get my people the gear they need." He took a deep breath. "It must be nice to be able to afford 'honor', because you think that Thanos was the first invasion from some interplanetary motherfucker who thought this planet was weak, who thought we'd just roll over and die so they could do whatever they wanted." Putting his hands on his hips. "It must be nice to not have to make the choice between doing the 'honorable' thing and saving people's lives, because in the choice between my 'honor' and even a single person's life, my 'honor' means nothing."

Before either King could speak James asked an important question. "You use distasteful options because you have to, so if you had better options would you still use them?"

Turning back to James, Director Fury shook his head. "You know better than that. We don't use unconventional means because we enjoy it, we do it because it saves lives. That's the important thing, to save as many lives as we can." A more than bitter sigh gusted out of his lips. "Ordinary people can't protect themselves,. They can't even protect themselves against each other. How can we ask them to protect themselves against someone like Thanos? How are we supposed to protect them? We can't win through conventional combat. Unconventional is our best option. It's almost our only option."

Having worked for SHIELD, Sean understood the Director's argument keenly. It was planetary defense on a shoe-string budget. Despite the problems that SHIELD faced Director Fury continued to press on, making the most of his assets and pushing back villain after villain. The Director was personally pulling the organization forward. It was impressive to Sean. In a strange way, it was also expected now when it hadn't been before. He was watching his grandfather's vigmagr (brother-in-arms). Growing up he hadn't even believed that 'Nicky, the ghost wolf', last member of the Wolf Pack, existed. Until he saw and then met James he didn't believe that there was anyone outside of the Satska Soledras clan who could meet the clan's standards. Now he knew two men who could meet those standards. Is this why you chose him to join the Wolf Pack, grandfather? Because he's only rough around the edges, but still a good man?

There wasn't even the desire to claim that he was above such disgusting things. It was Frey who knew better on that. He knew what things he'd done to secure the freedom and safety of his people. He could hear Loki again, in the meeting room at SHIELD, describing what he himself had done, "Frey was just a boy when he saw a nithingr ravage his lands and butcher his family. He's no fool, Jay. He learned his lessons well. If there were villains who could do that, then obviously, he needed a scarier nithingr to keep the other villains out of his lands. Who could he ask to do this thing? Who could he ask to give up their honor, their integrity, their self-esteem, if he himself was unwilling to do so?" After that he could hear Sean describing the man before him, the Director of SHIELD, "'Hope won't defend ya, boy. Only your own hands'll do that.' This belief is why he's one of the most successful Directors of SHIELD …Despite not trusting people, he still likes them …he intends to save every life that he can, no matter the cost to himself." Frey couldn't disagree. With the circumstances that SHIELD seemed to be working under they needed to use unconventional means. They needed better means. He wondered just how safe his grandchildren were on Midgard without a robust Black Hand Service and at least one fleet defending the realm.

Few enough places to work, few enough resources, people, and equipment, yet they continue to struggle forward. In light of that, it seemed almost sensible that they would do something awful in the mad scramble to save lives and push back the peril bearing down on them. It couldn't be allowed to continue. Midgard had to be protected, not just because it was the Great Gate, but because his grandchildren lived there. Odin wanted them to be safe. The memory of Sean's words came back to him then. Hope won't defend you, only your own hands will. The free people of Midgard wanted to defend themselves. Looking over to Frey, he could see that his Little Brother came to the same conclusion that he had. Midgard's Black Hand Service was in desperate need of reinforcement.

"Of course, I'd use better options if I had them because they're better!" Director Fury was always frustrated when he thought about the state of his organization. Under his watch it was better than it ever had been, but it was still so far from where it needed to be.

No lies or darkness entered Director Fury's voice for James to hear. I was hoping you'd say that. "If you can provably get rid of the corpse utilization plans, I can supply SHIELD with a simple elixir which prompts accelerated healing with minimal scarring. I can even set up a mass production facility for you, but the corpse utilization plans have to go and not come back."

That stopped Director Fury for a moment. "Are you serious?"

"Very. If you'll extend us some trust, then we can extend you some trust." It took but a moment to summon two crystalline vials, with glass stoppers, from his interdimensional pocket. "This one contains," James held up the off-white vial, "'The Simple Healing Elixir'. It prompts accelerated healing for everything from a scraped knee to a bullet wound, and if mixed into ointment it works wonders on arthritis." James knew that would help a man of the Director's age. "If this works out well enough, and SHIELD doesn't fall back on old habits, then I can supply a small but steady flow of this," he held up a buttery yellow vial, "which is a 'Morgan's Regeneration'. It's basically a Regenerative Weave in a bottle. It will heal a major bullet wounds, a compound fracture, any major wound by restoring the body. You'd need a healing spell to get better than this." James handed them over to Director Fury. "Between a quarter of the vial to the entire vial is the dosage. Test them out, see what you think. When we discuss the details on other things we can discuss those as well."

Taking the two small vials, Director Fury could see the future of SHIELD suddenly. It was magically enhanced, more ethical, and best of all more effective. All the future was asking was for the past to be settled fairly. It was such a small request, but one that the Director would normally balk at. Those past methods, despicable as they were, kept them ahead of their opponents. No longer. Magic can be our future. I just have to be careful about handling Stark. Looking back up showed him hope though. It wasn't Stark who was offering this, it was James Rhodes. The man before him was the second most trustworthy and ethical man he knew, behind Coulson but that was only because he recruited Coulson and not James. Director Fury wished, as he had several times before, that he'd recruited both of them. When James told him that SHIELD could have these things, he believed it. He met James' gaze head-on and spoke. "If you're willing to supply a replacement for the old means, then we're willing to give up the old means."

The plan for 'utilization' of Loki's corpse was utterly disgusting to Frigga. It initially caused an itch in her hand to strike Director Fury. The itch receded when he laid out why he was doing what he was. It was understandable to her that he would try to get as much out of that day as he could, since he had so little to begin with and a whole realm to defend with that little amount. It was also understandable why Stark was so displeased with SHIELD while James was more understanding and giving. She too wouldn't look kindly on an organization that wanted to tear apart her husband's body to use the bits and pieces. However, as Queen of Asgard, and someone familiar with the Black Hand Services, she couldn't disagree with Director Fury. Lives had to be safeguarded. In that moment she agreed with the Director. Hope could guide a person. Hope could enliven a person. Hope could inspire a person. Hope could never defend them though. For that they had to trust in their own hands and work for it.

The bottle with the regenerative weave in it glowed in a strange light that only Sean could see. It was the light of seidr, but he couldn't tell what that seidr was from. Wherever it was from was powerful. He focused his vision on the light and was greeted by a repugnant black ooze that smeared across his vision. He got the feeling that he could peer behind it if he wanted to, but that he truly didn't want to, so he stopped focusing on it.

"Good, I think you'll be happy with the potions. I know Anthony will be happy with the plans being gone." For a moment James thought that Director Fury might reject his offer, the Director was obviously mulling it over. He was glad that good sense prevailed over paranoia. It didn't always.

As Odin looked to his side he saw Frey was as interested in the potion as he was, so he decided to try his luck in asking questions. "Most elixirs have more specific aims. That doesn't sound specific. Might I ask where you came across such an interesting elixir?"

"My friend Morgan makes them. It's just a little something he puts together." James was proud of his younger brother for the potions he created. Despite only having the books on the basics and intermediary topics of alchemy, just what Loki had given to James, Morgan still strove to find new and unique ways of doing things. His sonic compression mixing technique was fascinating.

Instantly suspicion flooded the Director's thoughts. He wanted to know who Morgan was, since Stark was only supposed to be a 'friend' of James. This was someone new, someone whose name he'd never heard before. Like him not knowing about Stark's and James' relationship, him not knowing about this new person needed to be remedied.

It pleased Frey that Odin asked about the potion as he was wondering about asking . "It truly works to prompt whole body regeneration? It isn't limited to a single part of the body, or a single area?"

"Yes. I've tested it myself," mainly for safety's sake, "and found it to be very effective." His flesh allowed him to test the potions Morgan made. The hardness over his bones but under his flesh kept James safe while he was doing it. "Oh, and don't worry about breaking the vials, the glass is hardened, and the stoppers are secure."

"Do you know what the elixir is made of?" The prospect of a whole body regenerative elixir was fascinating to Frey. It had the prospect to greatly aid his people, particularly miners and soldiers.

"Mint, apple, a shiny stone or two, some odds and ends." James gave a small shrug. "I let Morgan discuss his creations."

"Would you be willing to introduce us to Morgan?" Odin wanted to discuss the potion with its creator. How he achieved the effect of the elixir was what the elder King wanted to know. There were several alchemical ingredients, like mint and apple, which had the potential to promote copious amounts of healing. That potential hadn't been unlocked yet. Odin didn't think it had anyway.

"Give me some time and I'll see what I can do. Morgan is a little shy about meeting new people, but I think I can get him to come around." James knew he could, but introducing them to Morgan, Arno and Herb needed to be done carefully.

"Do you have more of it to spare that we could study?" Meeting the creator was a wise idea, but Frey wanted some of it for himself. He wanted to see how the elixir was linking the bodily systems to prompt overall healing when other elixirs and potions only effected specific things. There were elixirs and potions for organs, glands, connective tissue, cartilage, joints, nerves, and any other part of the body. There were none for the whole body though. Frey wanted to know how this was achieved.

Summoning four more buttery yellow glass vials, James handed them over one to Frey and two to Odin, and one to Sean. "I always keep several in my interdimensional pocket, just to be prepared for any circumstance."

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that." Sean took the vial and gripped it with his seidr, as Odin and Frey did, and dismissed it to his interdimensional pocket. It was something else he was going to take home to Eidesh.

Right then James noticed the time on his watch. It was time for Jay to have something to eat, so he summoned a small parcel from his interdimensional pocket. The runed paper unfolded to reveal a small apple that had been cored and stuffed with peanut butter and caramel chips. It was a snack that the children loved having, so he kept several of them. Just as Jay's stomach was grumbling noticeably he handed over the apple, "Here. You should have a snack, Jay," then folded up the paper and dismissed it back to his interdimensional pocket.

Quickly, Frey unfurled his seidr to flare it to Odin and ask, How is he storing food in his interdimensional pocket?

I didn't think it was possible, Odin unwound his seidr to flare it to Frey. "James, did you just summon food from your interdimensional pocket? What manner of paper is that?"

The mention of an interdimensional pocket only heightened Director Fury's desire for Loki to unlock him, that way he could both use the immense tools that magic users had but could also unlock his people so that his agents could use them.

Looking down at the apple, Jay did and didn't want to eat it. His body was hungry again, but it felt like he'd just eaten. He didn't want to eat again, but as he continued to look over the juicy looking apple, thick and crunchy peanut butter and what he estimated by the smell to be caramel chips, he did want to eat what was in front of him.

The hesitation on his nephew's face caught James' attention, but he still had other questions to answer. "Yes. I keep a full range of snacks, meals, drinks, and ingredients in my interdimensional pocket. It's very convenient for when the children are hungry. I can summon snacks faster than I can create them or find them." Summoning the bundling paper that the apple was in, he held it up and explained. "This is bundling paper. It's a little something that I whipped up so that I could keep food on-hand for the children, which I recommend. They're frequently hungry."

That was one sentiment that Frey would never disagree with. His grandchildren were ravenous eaters. Having snacks for them, and possibly small candies for adventuring, would be very convenient. "Would you mind teaching us how to create this paper?"

Four fresh pieces of bundling paper were summoned. Then he unfolded his seidr to mount four Conjuration Spells and four Learning Spells. He drew his memories of the Bundling Runes into the Learning Spells. The spells released to create four, small, light-green, leather bound books that were thick for their width. Each book contained the instructions, beginning to end, on how to create the Bundling Runes, what materials could have the runes on them, and how to recycle the runed materials; everything that anyone who wanted to learn the runes would need to know. It was part discussion, part instructions, but he didn't think they'd mind the discussion on the principles underlying the Bundling Runes, since they could be useful in other ways. With the books created he folded up each piece of bundling paper and tucked it in the books like bookmarks and handed two of them over to Odin and one to Frey, then the last one to Sean. He hoped they would take his advice and at least keep snacks on-hand for the children. Since the books were done he stowed his seidr back into his core.

"Thank you for this." Odin wasn't expecting two small books so suddenly but wasn't entirely surprised either. James had been very generous this day, as with the elixirs. His curiosity overtook him then. As he touched the book with the desire to learn its contents, he saw Frey do the same. Each of their Learning Spells activated so that they absorbed the information into their minds. They were expecting something very useful. They weren't expecting a brilliant treatise on how the principles of seidr interacted with the principles of the interdimensional pocket, and how those principles could be used to create a stasis with no decay in or out of the interdimensional pocket. This small book elegantly redefined their views of reality and how the layers of it interacted. More importantly it redefined and refined their view of James himself. He was a far more intelligent man then they had understood. When the seidr stopped flashing in their eyes Odin stared down at the book, unwound his seidr and flared it to Frey, It defies and refines reality. This is a Great Work.

Yes, it is, small but mighty, Frey unfurled his seidr to flare it in return.

Stark's Elder Brother is as brilliant as he is, Odin was again surprised and not. Like James being able to handle Stark's power, James being able to handle Stark's wild intelligence with an intelligence that was calm and reliable seemed sensible.

Yes, he is, and he's willing to deal honestly with us. Frey was grateful again that Anthony's Elder Brother was so honorable. "You should learn this quickly, Sean."

Wanting to know was enough for Sean's Learning Spell to activate and pull the knowledge from the book under his fingers. After listening to Frey and Odin's silent conversation he had a strong curiosity over what could be in the little book. What he learned from the book surprised him. Where it came from didn't. He'd already seen how James handled Lord Stark. It was intelligent, compassionate, and strict. He also didn't disagree with Odin and Frey. This was a Great Work. This knowledge needed to go to his clan. The Satska Soledras could use it to eliminate waste and better their businesses, which would better the clan. He extended his seidr to grip the book and dismiss it to his interdimensional pocket. "That's impressive."

"Snacks on demand help me manage the children in an orderly fashion, so I created something to let me do that." They looked impressed with what James gave them. He knew it could have some impressive uses beyond what he used it for. Instantaneous snacks for his nieces and nephews made his life easier, so that's what he used it for.

"Formadr Frigga, you should learn this as well." Odin rankled at calling his wife 'formadr', she was so much more. However, he respected her far too much to not recognize what she was doing for him. At that moment she was still his Royal Guard Formadr and had to be treated as such.

Reaching back, Frigga touched the book while wanting to learn. It activated the Learning Spell for her, streaking flaxen runes up her arm the throat towards her eyes, opening her eyes to the brilliance in the book. "That will be most useful." Her voice was quiet as she spoke, her gaze returning to surveying the area. Unraveling her seidr discreetly, she flared it to Odin to whisper, This should be recognized as a Great Work.

When we return to Vanaheim and have a moment, we'll have to sit down with James and discuss it with him, I'll hold your book and elixir for you, Odin flared his seidr to respond to his wife's comment. Dismissing the books to his interdimensional pocket, Odin knew that he and Frigga were going to have to study the paper and elixir together when they had time.

The hesitant look was still across Jay's face, so James turned to him. "Jay, you need to eat your apple."

"I just ate, I don't want to eat again." Jay was complaining and he knew it. His uncle only used the best ingredients, so what he was holding was not only nutritious but good tasting. It was appetizing to his body but not to his mind.

"You ate several hours ago. Your stomach is grumbling, I can hear it. You need to eat again." His nephew had trouble eating, but that wasn't going to stop James from feeding the boy.

"All I do is eat all day." His stomach grumbled loudly then, giving him the disconcerting feeling of being hollow in his middle. He rubbed a hand over his middle, but the sensation didn't abate. Only eating was going to make the sensation stop. That didn't mean he wanted to eat though. He wanted to spend his time doing other things instead of eating. A little bit of irritation crept across his thoughts. Eat, eat, eat. I'm tired of it!

The hesitant look altered just enough for James to see the dissatisfaction with eating that was in Jay's thoughts. He doesn't know what he's doing, but he should. He asked him the first question of talking his nephew through this. "Jay, are you aware that in order to live your body produces white seidr?"

"Yes. Mother told me that."

"Did she tell you how that happens? Did you ask?" James suspected that his nephew was operating under bad information because he hadn't asked the right questions. As much as Jay liked to think of himself as beyond this phase of his life, he was still just a child.

"By being alive," Jay wondered if he was going to end up being wrong about something since his uncle was clearly explaining things.

"So the body has to be alive to produce the white seidr causing the body to be alive? That's a tautology, Little Hawk, one we'll come back to." James reached over and tapped his nephew on the nose while lowering the floor of seidr back down to the ground. "How many calories do you think you need in a day? Now take a bite, please."

The shift in topic caught Jay off guard, so he answered slowly. "Ideally, 2100." Then he took a bite of the little apple and peanut butter. The combination of juicy and crunchy went surprisingly well in his mouth.

"That's an outdated number. A more accurate number would be in the range of 3200-4000 a day. Can you guess why you need so many? What's your body doing with the calories? And take another bite." James knew the boy would be able to see his point, which would hopefully lessen the bad behavior.

Jay took another bite, chewed, and swallowed before he answered. "It's because my body is so different, it needs more calories to function."

A kind smile touched James' lips. "No. Your siblings need the same number of calories as you do. They're doing the same thing with their calories. You all have a common denominator. What could it be?"

Jay almost kept his mouth shut on that matter, as his father had asked him to do previously, but decided to rephrase things in a less telling fashion. "It's because dad's a firehawk." Join the club, he could hear his father saying.

"No, it's something else. Can you think of something that all of you have? Take another bite."

Jay took a bite and crunched on the apple and peanut butter, enjoying the occasional caramel chip. It's not age, or gender, hair color, eye color, seidr color …Seidr! "We all have seidr cores." He preemptively took another bite.

"Yes. Back to the other question; what is your body doing with those calories?" James could see the boy thinking. It was lovely.

"Living?" Jay wasn't sure what the right answer was. "Living! Producing white seidr?!" He took down the last of his small apple with peanut butter and caramel chips. A subtle feeling of satisfaction spread through the boy's body which wiped away the irritation in his thoughts.

"Yes. Now let's recap; your body produces white seidr because it's alive to produce white seidr," still a tautology, "But the white seidr comes from taking in calories from food, and you have an increased need for food because you have a seidr core. So, Little Hawk, what do you think your body is doing with the white seidr?"

"Filling my seidr core." Jay knew that he had to be right. "That's why I should eat more."

Tapping his nephew on the nose again, James let a serious look take over his face. "That's not all. Let us be very clear about what your behavior is temping," he tapped the center of the boy's chest next, "because it's temping you."

Looking down at his uncle's hand, he spoke. "I don't understand."

"Your seidr core is going to fill, no matter if there's enough white seidr in the body to fill it or not. If there isn't enough through the regular process then the seidr core just rips white seidr from wherever in the body that it can find it, like your internal organs. The process can only be called 'autocannibalism'." James gave Jay a very serious look then. "So, you can eat regular meals and snacks, or you can eat yourself. What's it going to be?"

The thought of eating himself was repugnant to Jay. As much as he didn't like to constantly eat, he still liked it better than the alternative. "I'll eat. I will! I don't want to eat me. That's gross!"

"Now I want you to think back to how you felt when you were hungry, before you ate the apple, and compare it to now." This was the exclamation point on James' lesson to his nephew.

The feeling of being fed up, of being irritated was gone. In its place was a feeling of calm contentment. Best of all, the hollow feeling in his middle was gone. "I feel better."

James corrected his nephew quickly. "You feel better when you aren't eating yourself." His point was made, so he summoned a small package from his interdimensional pocket and handed it to Jay.

The digital boy unwrapped the package and found a single chocolate cookie with mint chips in it. The smell alone caused a feeling of joy to spread through him. "Thank you!" A nibble was taken and sucked on to prolong the flavor.

The older man set his nephew down to munch on his cookie, taking the bundling paper from the boy and dismissing it back to his interdimensional pocket. He walked up to the front door, unlocked it, and then called the lead bodyguard over. "Formadr Frigga, would your men like to go in first?"

The formadr stepped forward. "Yes, thank you." Without looking back, Frigga called out. "Huskarli Ohlson, Sigmond. Huskarli Nyhus, Kron. Work in teams and clear the way." She motioned for the remaining huskarli and the hirdmen to take up modified positions around Odin as they waited.

"Jay, can you turn the lights on in the house, so they can see what they're doing?" James made his request as the men were entering the house so that they would hear it and not be startled when the lights came on.

"They're all on now." Looking through the house's interior server he noticed that several places were off-limits to him. Only his uncle could unlock those doors now.

The two teams went into the house and began ensuring that the house was safe for him to be in. Every minute that ticked by seemed to be an abnormally long time to Odin. Each one was more humiliating than the last. He should have done this for himself. A deep breath helped him to calm himself. A little smile touched his face when Frey flared his seidr to whisper to him, You're doing the right thing. Normally he wouldn't even acknowledge the flare, let along answer it honestly. Today was a new normal, so he flared his seidr to whisper in return. This is mortifying.

I understand, you want to do this for yourself. You're capable, brother, but this is for the best, Frey sought to gently reassure Odin, who he noticed was growing more agitated with the situation. It was an agitation that he understood. He too didn't like having a guard.

Just then the two teams of guardsmen returned from inside the house. Three of guardsmen returned to their place in the formation around the elder Lord while Huskarl Kron went to his formadr and bowed before standing straight, one arm straight at his side holding his weapon while his other arm was bent across his chest with his fist over his heart, this was the position of attention. "My formadr, there's no one in the house, but there are several places in the house that are suspicious. The walls felt shielded in a way we haven't seen before, we almost didn't see it, it's hidden so well. We felt about and found under the floor and behind the walls are filled with strange machines and more of the drones. The drones in the house seem different somehow. They pulled at our seidr, but we couldn't determine how."

"I see. Thank you, Huskarl Kron." Frigga turned to James then to ask him about the house. "There is no one else in the house, hiding?"

Switching his song immediately to the soul song of perception. It immediately gave him the location of everyone and then a raft information about all of the people on the property before he switched his song back to what it had been. "No. There's no one else in the house." James answered her swiftly and politely.

"Are the machines in the house dangerous to Lord Odin, or us?"

"No, I've disabled them. Even if you attacked them they still wouldn't respond." Motioning to the house, James spoke again. "Behind the walls and underneath the floors will be part of the tour. I plan on explaining the defenses on the interior of the house. Even then, the weapons will be disabled. It'll be safe enough for Jay to be there." Frigga's seriousness in protecting Odin impressed James. It was the same seriousness that he used to protect his family.

The sight of the large turrets that came up in the house when James came back to this house for the first time in years, the turrets in the recording shown in the SHIELD meeting room, was frightful. They were fierce looking weapons. "Very well, then. If you would lead," she motioned to the house," we will follow.

"Stay with me Little Hawk." James spoke quietly with Jay and went along to the inside of the house.

Jay was still munching slowly on his cookie, so he had to swallow quickly to answer. "Yes, Uncle Rhodey."

With his nephew in tow, James came into the foyer of the house and waited for everyone to come in after him. He closed the door behind the last of the huskarl that made it inside and turned to face then. "I'm going to pull up the floor for a few minutes. Don't be worried, this is perfectly safe." Unfolding his seidr, he extended it both under his guests and down into the stone floor. It wrapped translucent garnet ribbons around the stone blocks, which then hefted the heavy stone blocks up into the air to hold them against the ceiling. His seidr floor held him and his guests aloft even as the stones of the foyer flew up to rest against the ceiling.

The removal of the stone blocks revealed a series of land mines, now disabled, under much of the stone. They spread out like a river of death lurking in the dark. Beneath other stones were chambers which held a drone in its recharging and respawning cradle, a vest-like metal harness that had several large arc reactors attached to it which interfaced magically and mechanically with the drone. There were several of these drones, each one armed with an arc reactor powered rifle. These weren't like the drones in the testing grounds, these were much more dangerous. Away from the drones were the heavy bulkheads which blocked off the front door; blocked off the stairs in the living room, going down to the rooms that were set into the cliff looking over the ocean; blocked off the stone stairs going down to Anthony's section of the mansion; blocked off the hallway in the back which held the bedrooms for the family that used to live there, two parents and nine children. Next to the bulkhead that blocked off the bedrooms were two heavy turrets that were kept in vertical tubes for storage. They were powerful enough to blow holes in SHIELD mobile covers and knock back Asgardian shielding. Along the floor of the hallway leading to the bedrooms were more landmines. Each one was a shaped charge capable of turning the stone block above it into burning shrapnel, just like the mines in the living room. The entire house was meant to shred invaders and crush invasions. It was all to give Anthony enough time to gather his wife and children and evacuate them if there was an attack.

Pointing down to the mines, James explained. "The small charges are shaped and enchanted to direct their force very specifically, to turn the stone blocks into shrapnel. They'll probably make good bunker busters or breaching charges for heavy doors. I'm going to set to 'standby', for ease of travel." He unfolded more of his seidr and mounted several Conjuration Spells. His unfolded seidr extended out to grip each mine in the house, no matter where they were, and disconnect them from where they were mounted under the floor. They flew up into the living room, carried by his seidr, where he re-enabled their explosive capabilities and set them into 'standby' setting. The Conjuration Spells released to cover the mines with metal cases that had mounting brackets on the sides and arming features on the back. After they were covered another Conjuration Spell created instruction manuals that was going to go on top of the mines, then metal crates with appropriate labels and warnings. The explosives were neatly packed into the crates with the manuals, which were then sealed up. "Excuse me please." James opened the doors to the front of the house as everyone moved out of the way to make a hole for the crates. "Thank you all." Then he used his seidr to move the crates out to sit next to the seven guardians. He looked over to Director Fury then and spoke. "These were meant for general defense of the house, and to kill any SHIELD strike force that breached the house. You can have them."

"Thank you for those also." It distressed the Director to know that he would have sent in a large strike force to apprehend Loki and they all would have been lost. Even the hellicarriers he sent to handle this matter would have been downed. Stark spent years engineering this slaughter, and again Director Fury felt lucky that he'd been stopped.

"These turrets were also made to kill a SHIELD strike force, so you can have them. They're like the MK-38 but are upgraded and enchanted against taking damage and with a longer range and harder punch. They can take standard 25 mm chain ammo, but the ammo they come with is enchanted," James said to Director Fury, "I expect these to be used wisely as well." His unfolded seidr gripped the two heavy turrets, disconnected them from their mounting points and lifted them up. Four Conjuration Spells released to create two thick instruction manuals and two large crates which each turret and manual went into. These crates sealed as well and then went outside to sit next to the other crates and guardians. Next he brought up the enchanted ammo for the heavy turrets, including the ammo stores sitting under the storage tubes. Tens of thousands of enchanted 25 mm rounds came up to float in front of James. So he mounted another set of Conjuration Spells. The first released to create labeled crates with appropriate warnings and lids for the ammo, which the ammo then went into. The next Conjuration Spell created a short instruction manual that went into one of the crates. The crates went out to sit next to the crates carrying the heavy turrets. A frown touched James' face as he looked at the weapons that he was pulling out of his younger brother's home. "You shouldn't have these near your kids."

James' voice was a mere whisper, but it was still heard and agreed with. This was a battlefield waiting to happen. None of his guests wanted to walk over it. They certainly didn't want Loki and Stark, and the children walking over it.

He's disarming this place. Good. Hirdmen Vilulf approved of the house being disarmed. It looked more like another slaughter waiting to happen, like the testing grounds.

More of Stark's weapons. Why is he doing this? What else can I get out of this for SHIELD? The Director suspected that this was going to have strings attached to it. There was no way he was getting this much of this level of technology and weapons for free. He wondered what the strings were going to be, how bad they were going to be. There was very little that he was unwilling to do to keep what he'd been given. SHIELD needed these resources. "Thank you for those. They'll be put to good use." How much is it going to cost us?

Outside The Bounds Of Time

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

The austere white ceiling was as bleak as Anthony's thoughts. His eyes were open enough to see the ceiling, but empty enough to still see nothing. The thick tears in his eyes blurred everything. Gooey black rot oozed in beads from his skin, trickling down to stain the sheets he was laying on. He'd thrown the blanket aside hours ago. It laid crumpled on the floor. Maybe it was hours, maybe it was years. He could never tell. His older brother told him that there was no time in this room, that it gave them all the time they needed. No time and all time. It was the paradox that he existed in. Unfortunately, the room like his mind, was mostly empty. So he stared up at the ceiling, not seeing it.

A fuchsia flash near the sealed door to the room announced James' entrance into the room. Lady Sjofn stood by his side. The shadow of himself leaving with Lady Sjofn at the exact second that he arrived played before him.

A disapproving frown touched her lips when she saw the monstrous black rot still oozing from Stark's pale skin. "Are you certain that he is not corrupting?"

"No, he's not corrupting. He's sweating it out. It's like a fever that has to break. He'll be fine once it's broken." James rushed over to the bed to pick up the blanket. Before he sat on the bed with Anthony he used his soul song of stillness to swirl in a vortex around his brother's head. He moved the vortex down over his brother's body, cleaning him and the bed of the black rot. The black rot froze into murky crystals as they were cleansed from the semi-conscious man then thrown noisily onto the floor. Unfolding his seidr let James reached out and round up all of the crystals. His seidr ignited around the crystals, bursting into silver and golden edged garnet flames. The flames soaked through the crystal to burn away the murk and rot. What was left when he extinguished his flames were spikey, opalescent, little, white and silver stones that glimmered and glowed lightly. Only the pressure of the flames was restraining them. When those flames were gone small shockwaves of power came from the stones as the immense power within them spread out into the room, James gripped them with his seidr tightly and dismissed them to his interdimensional pocket. The soul song was always able to blast off the black rot. Now he could even purify the black rot with fire. His father was the one who figured out how to swirl their songs to create the vortex. He always paired it with a soul song of blessings once he was done cleaning one of his brothers. They always needed healing after a cleansing.

Tossing the blanket over Anthony, he straightened it out before sitting down next to his younger brother and checking his temperature. With his the back of his hand on Anthony's forehead, James was able to feel how warm his younger brother was. Good, he needs to be warm right now. "I have good news. The tour of the house is going well. I'm disarming the house, and it's cleaning out nicely. I know you don't want to hear it, but Odin is being very friendly, not mean at all." He set his hand on his younger brother's shoulder and squeezed. "Jay is being very helpful. I have him taking care of his restitution. It's going well. I'm going to get him straightened out like I'll get you straightened out. You should see him, I think you'll be surprised, or maybe not. I'm also taking care of a third of your restitution today. We'll have to work to get the other two-thirds done. It's all infrastructure projects. We'll be working in Vanaheim and Asgard. I have the permits to let us work there. I got those today."

James pulled the blanket up to Anthony's chin. More black rot was beading up on his forehead. Little tears leaked out of his unseeing eyes. A not insubstantial amount of injurious emotion coursed through James to see his younger brother hurting without being able to do much about it. All he could do was what he was doing, keeping Anthony cleansed of the black rot and slowly healing him. James' voice dropped low as he hurt. "Don't worry, kid. We've made it through this before. We'll make it through this again."

This didn't look like a fever to Lady Sjofn. This looked like a person who was infected by a monster or someone whose seidr core was corrupting. The strangest thing, which let her move past those two things, was that he hadn't turned into a monster yet and his seidr core felt intact and uncorrupted. It was the black rot which concerned her for it was corrupted seidr. Somehow this firehawk was oozing corrupted seidr without being corrupted. Somehow that corrupted seidr was being purified with only a concerning fire. Lady Sjofn didn't feel like this should be normal, but at the same time she couldn't say that it was abnormal either. So very little was known of firehawks. Most of that knowledge seemed to be in the hands of James Rhodes. He used it wisely, compassionately, and safely so that she could agree with him. The firehawk would make it through this hardship and come out healthy again.

23May2023 – Late Morning

The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark

Next, James gripped the drones and their recharging and respawning cradles and dismissed them to his interdimensional pocket. The full surface under the floor was cleaned out and safe again so he took the stone blocks that he was keeping on the ceiling and put them back into place on the floor. They fit together flawlessly to conceal that there was ever anything under them.

The three monarchs noticed just how smoothly the stone blocks fit together. It made the walls and ceilings suspect. When their tour guide used his seidr to cut a section of the ceiling out and bring it down, they could see the heavy metal underneath it. It matched the metal mounting points under the floor. That furthered their suspicions about this place. When James seemingly gripped a section of wall with his seidr and cut it away from the rest of the wall, it confirmed their suspicions. There was heavy metal behind the walls as well. They were standing in a box. This is a killing field, thought Frey as he thought about how the ricochets from the heavy turrets would have been lethal. Simple gratitude filtered into Frigga's thoughts that the house was more disarmed now. Odin was about to ask James about the room when Director Fury spoke up.

"Heavy metal panels close over the windows?" The Director pointed to the bank of windows looking out to the ocean.

"Yes. They lock into place to disallow penetration by conventional weapons, and even low level energy weapons." It was a quick and concise answer that didn't make James any happier about standing in the wreckage of his younger brother's anger. This was such a 'Stark' place to be, he couldn't stand it, and wasn't going to. "In fact, let's fix that as well," he turned to Jay and spoke, "Can you lock the house down for me?"

"Locking it down now." Through the house systems that Jay was still accessing he engaged the house lockdown. A series of dull thumps sounded throughout the house as the heavy metal panels slid out of their hiding places and into place around the house's vulnerable spots. The bulkheads slid out of their hiding places to fit into place over the doorways. A few moments later they were standing in a room where only the artificial illumination of the ceiling light fixtures chased back the dark. "The house is locked down."

"Come over to the other side of me, Jay." Gently guiding his nephew brought the boy to a safer position. "Let's fix this." James unfolded more of his seidr to grip each heavy metal panels secured around the house. He disassembled them from their mechanisms and stacked them outside of the house next to the turrets' crates. The next thing that went out was the bulkheads, after he got them loose, removed the front doors to the house, and cut a hole in the wall above the door frame with his unfolded seidr to fit their height. Those bulkheads were stacked next to the metal paneling. Another Conjuration Spell mounted in his seidr and released to create a booklet on how to melt down the metal and work with it which was taped to the largest piece of paneling. It was all scrap now. Only when the house had been stripped of its armor did James turn to Director Fury and speak. "All of the panels and bulkheads are made of a vibranium-titanium alloy. It's quite rare. The metal itself is also enchanted with Runes of Shield and Restoration which will add extra protection against damage. I have them stacked up next to the crates out front and guardians. There's no need for them to go with the house. I'm sure that SHIELD can turn them into something useful."

The Director looked out the front door at the growing amount of weapons, munitions, and now materials that was being given to SHIELD. Any one of those things would have been an impressive gift. This was trending into fairy god-mother territory in terms of wish fulfilment. He looked to James then back to the scrap, then to James again, then back to the turrets and guardians, and wondered. How much is this going to cost us? What can I make out of the scrap? A plethora of ideas came to his mind, from facility defense to personnel carriers and everything in between. He knew he was going to assign a utilization committee to analyze SHIELD's needs and make recommendations on what would be the best use of what they had. It all had to be examined to determine appropriate utilization. There has to be a cost to us.

A patient smile crossed James' face. He understood what the Director was thinking and understood that it was a legitimate concern for a man in the Director's position. "As I said, I do have a reason for what I'm doing, a very good one. It's not something I'm willing to discuss until we're done here. Don't worry though. What I've offered is yours to take if you want it."

"And you will tell me why when we're done here. I'm not ungrateful, please don't misunderstand, but I don't like loose ends." The Director didn't want to come across as ungrateful, as that might dissuade James from giving other gifts. He had to know if he was walking into a deal with the devil though.

Aiming his soul song of stillness towards the Director, James went to reassure the Director of SHIELD. "Absolutely. You'll even receive a tablet with an itemized list of what was given and as well as assurances and instructions for anything that was accepted but will have to be dealt with later, like the maintenance details or the solar cell-star sails."

With how disbelieving Director Fury was, Frigga wondered just how dire SHIELD's circumstances were. His had the attitude of a man who was unaccustomed to having any assistance or shelter. It made her wonder how safe Midgard was for her family to live there. Perhaps Asgard should step in and give them assistance.

This is very generous of James. Sean had seen firsthand how tightly resources were controlled in SHIELD. Everything was strictly stored, purposefully spent, always closely monitored, and even reclaimed and reused if possible. The rules for requisitioning anything were extensive and followed meticulously. These gifts were not only going to save SHIELD a sizeable chunk of their budget but would help to save lives on missions. It made him happy to know that James was helping to safeguard the lives of the people he had worked with.

He wants something, I know he does. What could he want? "Ok, I can accept that. Thank you for the metals, we can use them." Nothing from that day or any of the other interaction shed any light on what a moral and ethical man like Colonel James Rhodes might want.

"Since the house is mostly disarmed, why don't we continue the tour." Motioning towards the interior of the house James moved inwards, with Jay trailing behind him. "This is the living room, with Loki's instruments. Over there is the kitchen. Moving back this way are the children's bedrooms, at the far end is Loki and Anthony's bedroom."

The room was the one where Loki 'unlocked' Stark in a massive release of power. That wasn't what drew his attention though. There was the instrument that Odin watched Loki play in one of the recordings. It looked like a bentsong, large, long, and flat with a slightly curved black body. It only had one set of keys on it, and some peddles down near the floor with a bench to sit on as it was played. I miss you, father, Loki's words drifted across his thoughts. I miss you as well, my child. It gave him real hope that James was correct, that Loki still missed them, still cared about them. He knew that he would never stop caring about either of his children. If you would care about them, then you must discipline them. This is no good place for discipline, the beast within him whispered grimly to him. A spike of anger jammed into Odin's thoughts. More of Loki's words came to him as she sang for him, about him. I am a lion. I want to be free, his child sang about him. It was true in that moment, he did want to be free; free of the beast, free of Lord Borr. You've been so wonderfully silent today, Lord Borr. Stay that way until I can be free of you. Shut your mouth, corpse, his anger hissed viciously towards the cursed beast invading his mind. Why don't we stay silent together, my son, the beast roared in return. It sank its sharpened claws into the muscle of his heartstring, contracting them enough to pull on the delicate muscle. Gasping and stumbling, Odin's knees hit the floor hard as he grasped at his chest then fell over onto his side. He curled around the pain deluging him. At the moment that he thought his heartstring was going to rupture it stopped, all of it just stopped. A bout of good luck in his opinion. Remember your place, boy, the beast said bluntly before the curse withdrew back into his heartstring. The aftershocks of pain began to lessen immediately.

There was a strange signal that caught Jay's attention. He couldn't immediately tell where it was coming from. It was like someone whispering into static, unintelligible. He would have disregarded it, but it suddenly sounded like a devil roaring over a staticky radio: Why don't we stay silent together, my son! It was coming from his grandfather. He turned in time to see a seidr that didn't belong to his grandfather leaking out of his grandfather's heartstring. It seized the muscle and pulled. "Afi Odin!" Jay grabbed at his Uncle Rhodey's hand in alarm.

Frey was on the verge of pointing out the small play castle that he had gifted their grandchildren with, to ask Odin if he wanted to gift the children with another play structure when his grandson cried out and then his brother gasped and dropped to the floor. Dropping to his knees beside his Elder Brother, Frey unfurled his seidr to form into a Healing Spell, lighting his runework, then he covered Odin with it.

Despite wanting to go to her husband as she heard him fall she drew her sword and scanned the room around him rapidly, feeling with her unraveled seidr. There were no assailants that she could find and the guardsmens' spears should have kept their charge safe from anyone in the shadows attacking. There shouldn't have been any attackers. Frigga dropped down to one knee beside him. "Form a shield around the Lord!" She barked out her command quickly and the drengr responded almost a before she finished speaking. They turned their backs on the Lord, closed in a step, summoned their shields which attached to their gauntlets, and they held their spears out. They were ready to skewer any who approached.

When the curse activated Sean could see it like sickly yellow steam hissing out of Odin's slightly swollen heartstring, so he focused on it. At first he saw the black dragon with a feline face and a red mane, but as he continued to focus on it the feline face peeled away to reveal Lord Borr's face. The look of malevolent glee on the dead Lord's face as his own son shook in a pain that the dead Lord himself was causing, was disturbing to see. Frey doing what he could to relieve the pain pleased the young man to see. "It's Borr's curse." The young seidmadr spoke quietly to the Lady of Asgard. She had her sword drawn, so he didn't want to approach her haphazardly. Worry tinged the armed woman's seidr then, she didn't know what she could do to help Odin. There was a little hesitation in him when he decided to offer her a better picture of what was happening. Of any of them he felt that she was most well equipped to handle it. He angled his seidr out to flare it to Frigga, Do you want what I see? He wasn't surprised when she flared her seidr instantly in return, Yes. Sean bent a Learning Spell out of his angled out seidr, he drew his memories of what he saw into his spell. The spell was ready, so he reached forward and lightly touched Frigga on her shoulder to release the spell into her. Runes in his deep violet seidr traced up her neck, across her face and into her eyes, which flashed violet with his seidr briefly. A wild burst of anger streaked through the warrior Queen's seidr as her hand tightened around her sword. Sean took a step back from her, almost bumping into a guardsman. While he didn't believe that she'd lose control, he also didn't want to give her a reason to after what he'd already given her.

That piece of trash, nithingr, bastard! Frigga would have taken Lord Borr's head off if she'd been able to. The bastard was nesting in her beloved's heartstring. There was very little that she could do directly. That didn't mean that she was powerless though. Now that she'd seen her enemy she could understand better what needed to happen. Sean's words yesterday were her guide. I strongly believe that if you make strides to be your own man, not the one your father wants you to be, that the knot will come untied. She understood now why Odin was being so accommodating for what she'd done that day. He was trying to be his own man. She vowed to support him in that no matter what she had to do. Her family was going to be free of Lord Borr, she was going to make sure of it.

The instant Odin fell James' soul song changed to the soul song of blessings which he aimed strongly at Odin. Weapons came into play, so James scooped up his nephew and stepped away from the formation. He'd offer his strength if it became necessary, but it didn't look like it would. It looked like Frey had things in hand.

Through his spell Frey could see the sickening light of the Mad King Borr's seidr shining out of the elder Lord's spasming heartstring. It was blunt proof to him that he and Frigga weren't the only ones who suffered under Mad King Borr's rage. I thought he, I thought… Up until yesterday he never once thought that Lord Borr had gone after Odin as well. Now he couldn't stop seeing the proof of it. Before it could violently upend his view of what had happened that day so long ago, the day his parents died, he cast the shock from his thoughts and carefully examined the spasming muscle. He didn't get a chance to do anything though before the spasming stopped and the light of the Mad King's seidr faded. His Elder Brother stopped his shaking and relaxed back onto the cold floor, breathing heavily. He formed a Spell of Failing Pain and released it into Odin's chest as close to his heartstring as he could. It shocked him again when the light of the Mad King's seidr flared up to push at his spell. The pushing prolonged the pain that Odin was going to be in, but Frey was still hesitant to try to rid his Elder Brother of it. He could feel the unusual strength of the Mad King's seidr. Ironically, he needed Odin's aid while he was working the Soul Forge to get rid of this seidr. In order to feel comfortable withdrawing his Healing Spell Frey adjusted the elder Lord's pulse, slowed his rapid breathing, brought his blood pressure down, and cleaned the stress hormones from his blood. Without anything else to do he withdrew his Healing Spell. Odin was struggling to sit up, managed to make it to sitting up, leaning on the floor with one arm braced against the floor to hold him up.

The fear of watching Odin fall to the ground began to subside as she felt Frey's Healing Spell and saw her husband stop shaking and clutching at his chest. He sat up and Frigga was pleased with her brother's efforts. "Thank you, Lord Frey."

"You're very welcome, Formadr Frigga." Frey wondered again if there was anything else that Lord Borr had done to Odin that he didn't know about. It seemed likely that there was. It was a wholly strange feeling in his mind that he was worried for what might have befallen the man who was now his Elder Brother, while it wasn't strange at all to him that he was displeased over Lord Borr still existing even in part. A smile touched his face when Frigga formed a Regenerative Weave and released it into Odin's body. It would help his Elder Brother to feel better. He didn't know what Frigga was doing when he felt her form two Learning Spells and reach over to touch him and then Odin. His eyes colored over with his sister's seidr as his nightmares came to life in his mind. This was Sean's point of view, it had to be. Frey could see the dragon in Odin's chest that was mentioned in the SHIELD meeting room. When its feline face peeled away to reveal the object of his nightmares he almost summoned his twin daggers, Angr (grief) and Reidi (wrath), to attack Lord Borr. He wanted to take Lord Borr's head, his heart, his liver, his blood because the younger King knew that he couldn't get back what Lord Borr had taken from him. The anger of seeing Lord Borr again slowly lessened as the image faded from him mind with the fading of his sister's seidr. When it had faded away his eyes cleared, showing him something else he wasn't prepared for.

The feeling of his wife's seidr running through him was a glorious relief, until she reached over to transfer something to him with the Learning Spell and he knew why she gave him a Regenerative Weave. Odin's eyes clouded with her beautiful flaxen seidr, and he saw the miniature dragon with a feline face sitting in his chest, inside of his heartstring. It was Lord Borr, it was always Lord Borr. Terror streaked through his thoughts as the memories of the room in Asgard where his father 'disciplined' him came flooding back into his mind like a marauding tidal wave. A moment later he felt another Regenerative Weave hit him solidly in the chest. This one was from Frey. One of his hands was filled then with his wife's hand, and he squeezed so as to not let go.

How bad was the abuse?! The look on Odin's face was one that was worn by victims of abuse. Frey knew it from his training as a healer and his time spent working to calm Loki over the past several years. It wasn't something that he ever expected to see on Odin's face. Now that he'd seen it he couldn't unsee it. Flaring his unfurled seidr to Frigga, he asked, Did you know about this?!

Frigga's seidr flare to her brother was quiet, filled with anger and sorrow, Yes, I knew something happened. I don't know what happened because he doesn't want anyone to know that anything happened. This too was something that needed to change. Her beloved and her brother were both sick from what happened by Lord Borr's hand. They both needed counseling to see them through it. It was time to heal, time to live, time to leave Lord Borr behind. Frigga looked to the future and couldn't see it this time. Odin was becoming someone new, and yet staying as her beloved. Frey was also becoming something new and whole. She suspected that they were each becoming who they should be. She knew that she would stand by their sides through this time and beyond, but she couldn't see where it would lead to. Despite not knowing where their future would lead she believed that it would be bright. If they're healing then it can't help but be bright.

Placing his hand gently on Odin's shoulder, he spoke. "Borr attacked you." It was a flat statement of truth spoken in a low voice between them. Frey didn't feel like beating around the bush, he wanted to know what was going on fully.

"Yes," Odin's voice was equally low as he again decided on honesty, "I told him to shut his mouth. He told me to remember my place." They were particularly bitter words now, he said them to Loki. They came out of his mouth coldly to his son, said in anger as Loki tried to warn him of Thanos' return to the Nine Realms. It was a shame that wasn't going to end any time soon.

"Does he do this often?" The younger King worried that Odin would be terribly injured before the curse in his heartstring could be undone.

Hesitation silenced Odin before he decided not to hide from the man who was his Little Brother. Their oath entailed the honesty of family, and he was going to uphold his end of it. "Frequently. I used to think it was the violence of my own emotions, that if I deadened them then I could put the beast to sleep. After yesterday, there's no going back to sleep." He went to move into a position where he could stand. This embarrassing display needed to end.

A nice fire and some ale was what Frey wanted to think over what was just said. It explained so much, like why he'd always thought that Odin had no emotions. He contained the curse. He was protecting Frigga, Thor, and Loki from Borr! He didn't have the time to take an hour or two to think about it. As Odin went to stand Frey got to his feet faster and offered his hand to his Elder Brother. He was relieved when Odin took it with a smile and stood. He patted his Elder Brother on the shoulder. "We will find a way to break this curse, brother." Frigga stood with them, nodding in agreement.

Best to continue with the change, so he took a breath and spoke, "Thank you, brother, for the Regenerative Weave, and you as well Formadr Frigga. I think I needed it." A dull ache spread through his chest which brought a frown to his face. It felt like there was bruising forming in his chest. Frigga and Frey's Regenerative Weaves swept the last of the pain away. The bruising would fade with it. As he looked up he noticed Sean staring at his chest.

Sean looked towards Odin's seidr core when he heard the strange, metallic, nails on a chalkboard, screeching noise that came directly from the elder King's heartstring. The curse seeped like hot steam from the swollen muscle but there was noticeably less of it. Upon examining the curse, he saw what made the noise and smiled broadly to see it. Sean pulled his focus back to see the three monarchs looking at him,

"Sean?" Frey asked the young man for an explanation. Worry filled his thoughts at what the young man might have seen.

The young Satska Soledras looked Odin in the eye and spoke. "You challenged Lord Borr, you accepted healing immediately, you thanked those who healed you, and chose to speak honestly instead of hiding what was done. For these changes the knot of Lord Borr's curse has loosened. I could hear the screeching noise as the seidr shifted. His influence on you is lessened. Unfortunately, the seidr loosening left bruising on your heartstring near your heart."

Putting a hand over his chest, Odin's voice dwindled away to nearly nothing. "Truly?" Am I already one step closer to being rid of Borr? There was no answer from the beast. It was silent in the wake of this wonderful stroke of luck. Warmth bloomed in his chest again and he felt the glorious sensation of his beautiful wife's seidr running through him, wiping away the pain he felt. His Little Brother's seidr was next to feel as was Frey's hand on his shoulder.

Out of Frey's unfurled seidr he formed a Healing Spell. It released when he placed a hand on Odin's shoulder, covering his Elder Brother in his spell. He formed the Transmutation Spell and released it to create timed control points along the nerves running from Odin's heartstring to his brain. The sensation was transmuted to numbness as Frey went to examine Odin's heartstring. Another Regenerative Weave formed in his seidr and released to be carefully applied to the delicate muscle this time. Spasming started while he formed another smaller Transformation Spell. It released to alter the chemical impulses causing the muscle to spasm. It ended those spasms immediately. The sickly yellow light of the Mad King's seidr glared in Frey's gaze as it oozed from Odin's heartstring. Without stopping to think about it the younger King formed another Transmutation Spell and used it to transmute the seidr leaking out of the muscle, slapping the seidr sharply and forcing it to withdraw back into the muscle where he couldn't reach it without it harming the muscle. It was a bit of good luck, in Frey's opinion, that let him get away with that. For just a moment an inscription lit up on Odin's heartstring. It read grimly. "All of this is your fault. You let them sunder me into this madness. You let them destroy my works. My organ. My engine. My mind. You stole them from me. You are a thief in the dark, my wayward son. You can chase your Light, but nothingness is what I leave you. Claim it on the day that you are my son no more," The first two words, 'All of' were fading away like they were being burned off. It was leaving bruising in its wake, and anger in his own mind. His Regenerative Weave was handling the bruising quickly. There wasn't much else he could do, so he adjusted the control points to continue working until they faded away in an hour. Once again he withdrew his Healing Spell from Odin. "I left control points in place to deal with the pain. They'll fade over the next hour," looking over to Sean he spoke, "I saw the inscription. It's the curse, isn't it? The first two words faded away."

Focusing on Odin's heartstring again, Sean saw the faded words. He pulled back his focus and explained. "The loosening of the curse broke the knot of it. The words are still scarring the muscle, but Lord Borr's seidr no longer lights them. There's less of his seidr in the curse now."

The news was joyful to Frigga even though she couldn't act on that joy at that moment. She flared her seidr to her husband to run it over his skin gently, letting him feel her love for him. You're doing well, keep fighting him, her seidr whispered to Odin. "Drengr, the attack is over. Reform around the Lord." She sheathed her sword, turned back around, and fell into her place in front of Odin. She couldn't attack Lord Borr directly, which irritated her to no end. This was proof to her that Odin could and was fighting him, that he would be free of Lord Borr someday. As frightening as it was watching him be knocked to the floor, this was still hopeful.

The members of the drengr reformed silently around the Lord they were protecting. Their shields were dismissed back to their interdimensional pockets. Nothing showed on their faces even though they were covered by their helmets. Hirdmen Vilulf was still slightly disturbed by what he heard. He knew well of the Mad King Borr despite not being born when it happened. His uncle who raised him told tales of it, like many people. The savagery of the Mad King was a deciding factor in why he joined the Vanaheimr Armies of the Land and sought a transfer to the Royal Guard. Making sure that something like that never happened again was a priority to him. Having such a fine and excellent King as Lord Frey only made it easier to want to do his best every minute of every day. His own Lord inspired him to go above and beyond, which was why he trusted his Lord implicitly. If his Lord asked him to protect someone who wasn't an enemy but wasn't a friend of Vanaheim then he would do so even at the cost of his life. He almost wondered though. The stories of what took place in the Royal Palace at the hands of the Mad King Borr made it sound like Lord Odin helped to carve up the former Lord and Lady, Lord Njord and Lady Nerthus, into tiny bits by keeping then-Prince Frey and Princess Frigga in chains. Did the Mad King attack Lord Odin too, curse him to suffer after the deed was done…? Hirdmen Vilulf caught himself wondering and chastised himself for straying even that much from his duty. It wasn't his place to wonder, his loyalty to his Lord wouldn't let him do so. He and his drengr were there to do the bidding of Lord Frey. There was no need to wonder about that.

"Afi Odin, are you ok?" Jay's small voice was uncertain in the quiet of the house. His eyes were wide with fear after watching his grandfather be attacked from within. Everything looked ok, better even than before the attack, but he still worried. He wanted to use his speed to get to his grandfather but didn't. It would have exposed him and his siblings. That would definitely anger his father, which he didn't want. While he knew that Sean had to have seen what happened, he was certain that he was the only other person who saw it happen. He held onto his uncle and hoped that his grandparent would be alright. He'd only just gotten grandparents and quite liked having them. He didn't feel like losing one of them now.

The emergency is over for now. James stopped directing his soul song of blessing at Odin and started playing a generalized soul song of stillness again. Everyone still needed more calm than they had.

The fear in Jay's young voice activated something in Odin that he hadn't felt in a long time; the desire to protect the little life in his company. He felt it powerfully when his children were young, but it had faded over time as his boys had grown into young men and become capable of taking care of themselves. Now he felt it again. A quick smile crossed his face as he sought to reassure his grandson that the ordeal was over and that he was fine. He wanted to take the event from the beginning to end and make it not have happened in front of his grandson. It struck him then that Jay's voice was what he heard at the beginning of the event, as it happened. Walking over, he kept his reassuring smile in place. The Frigga and the guardsmen moved with him. "Did you know what was happening?"

Nodding slowly, Jay reached out and touched his grandfather's chest. "It attacked you here," he pulled his hand back and looked his grandfather in the eyes, "I intercepted its signal, then I saw it pull on your heartstring." Since he was himself in the body he was in, and not Jarvis in a wall, he decided to be honest. His voice shrank away as he looked back up to Odin. "It was scary." His seidr was impelled from his seidr core to be written into both a Learning Spell and a Wavering Visions Weave. Holding his small hand up he combined them to create a small movie of what he heard and saw of the attack. He had been looking back towards the bedrooms when he heard the thundering shout. That shout played quietly from the small movie before Jay's gaze turned to Odin and he scanned the foreign seidr as it attacked his grandfather.

The voice that came from the small recording stopped the three monarchs in their tracks. Jay was showing them how he heard Lord Borr's voice. It was a voice that they hadn't heard in thousands of years; a voice that they would have been happy to never hear again. For the first several heartbeats fear tinged Odin's thoughts and he remembered that voice and what the owner of it did to him. Guilt tinged his thoughts next because the owner of that voice did worse to Odin's beautiful wife and Little Brother, and he thought of himself first. Anger flooded his thoughts next that he was still afraid of this old beast when he was a grown man now. A look of grim determination passed over his face before it was erased by a pleasant smile. He wasn't going to demonstrate fear to his grandson, and certainly not for Lord Borr. You can rot, old beast. I will be free of you, he thought towards the now silent beast. Just trying to speak to it made him feel like it's power over him was indeed lessened. It was weakened and pushed back. There was even less to be afraid of now.

The look on Frigga's, Odin's, and Frey's faces when they heard the voice was enough for James to reach over to place his hand over his nephew's hand, disassembling out his nephew's spells with a quick flare of his own seidr. "That's enough, Jay."

Pulling his hand back as his seidr called back to his core, Jay hoped that he hadn't made things worse. All three of his grandparents looked grim and upset. When Odin smiled at him he smiled back, still hoping that he hadn't done wrong again.

Jay still looked uncertain, and that had to be dealt with before anything else. Odin reached over and was pleased that James handed him the boy without protest. He set his grandson of his hip and carried him as he once carried his own children. "Thank you for showing us that, Jay. You did the right thing in bringing it to us. It clarified things. I appreciate that."

Jay gave his grandfather a tight hug before looking at him and then the floor and them him. His gaze locked with Odin's gaze. "I'm tall now." A wide smile crossed his face.

The look on Jay's face was precious. A laugh of relief tumbled out of Odin's mouth, and he hugged his grandson. "Yes, you are." Looking to James he spoke. "We're ready to move on."