- Chapter 9 -
Outside The Bounds Of Time
The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark
"Why don't we give them a few more moments?" James looked at the despair on the faces of the three monarchs that was fading slowly down into a forming depression. They were going to need some more exposure to the hope that he was offering. Hope and hard work were better in every circumstance to him than despair and paralysis were in any circumstance. With continued exposure their thoughts would bend as they lent an ear to what he had to say. It was always an ability that he was judicious in his use of, but never one that he shied away from using. He had the ability to steer people towards a better path and used it when he felt it was appropriate. Now it was appropriate.
Frey was still holding tight to his hand, looking distraught and somewhat confused. Odin and Frigga still looked shell-shocked but were trying to muster the will to move on. A keen sense of pity pervaded Sean's thoughts. They had been subjected to such hate and torment for so long a time that it warped them. What they were doing, as James liked to say, was 'straightening them out'. There was a particular pain that came with this, one that he couldn't remove from the emmika. A little grimace crossed his face that all he could do was support and guide them through this. Extending his seidr, Sean ran it gently over Frey's skin again.
The old scar on Odin's left hand, running down from between his middle and ring fingers almost to his wrist, ached for a few heartbeats. It was the ultimate sign of his distress. It burned in his despair before he unwound his seidr instinctively to array a Regenerative Weave which released into his hand. His seidr twisted back into his core as the burning subsided. Shaking his head lightly, Odin tried to rouse himself from his despair. He grasped the hope that he was being offered and used it to steel himself again. While he was still wholly of the opinion that he was unworthy of such hope, it was too easy to take it and keep it for himself. A bright future, is this part of it? Did Edward know what hope James is capable of offering? Is this part of the hope Edward is offering? He did say that all would be well. Many questions swirled around in his head. They were much better than the uncompromising memories that had so recently been in his thoughts. "No, there's still more that needs to be dealt with. I will ...deal," this voice faltered, "with this more this evening."
"We will together." Frigga corrected her husband quietly.
Hope led the way through Frey's tangled thoughts. Drinking, fighting, and wailing no longer seemed like desirable options. Apologizing to Loki, disposing of the house, and then seeing his grandchildren were what he truly wanted. Sean was going to be with him for all of those things and more. The younger man was more than enough comfort for him. "We all will." Frey's voice was quiet and filled with the despair that the memories caused him. There was something else that was making headway in his thoughts. The hope that he could feel James holding out to him seemed both attractive and sacrilegious at the same time. For the sake of his own wellbeing, he was tempted to accept that hope. Even with the hope he knew that the indignity, the outrage, the horror of what Loki, Anthony, and Jay endured was going to leave him scarred. Just one more scar. Suddenly Frey wondered if Loki herself would want him to have the hope he was being offered. Sean's words came back to him then, "Of course, I knew. I've known this entire time, sir. You will as well, you just need to be patient. What you're looking for is at the very end. It's among the last of what you'll be shown because it's an end you haven't seen. Patience is the only way anyone will get there, the only way you'll know because," (Sean looked to King Frey), "your niece," (then Sean looked to King Odin), "your daughter won't tell you on her own. She doesn't want to hurt you." Loki doesn't want to hurt us. She did so much, all of it so that we wouldn't be hurt. She hid everything so that I wouldn't be hurt. She let Frigga and Odin believe that she died so that they could grieve and find peace to move on. She came back to Thor to watch over him after letting him grieve and move on. Loki wants us to be happy. Little tears filled his eyes for him to wipe at. In his heart Frey didn't feel worthy of such overpowering hope. He took it anyway, for Loki's sake. There was still entrenched doubt in Odin's seidr. It was clear that his Elder Brother was less willing to take the hope that he was being offered. Frey understood it, even agreed with it to a certain extent. He too felt unworthy. Unfurling his seidr he formed the Learning Spell and gathered his memories of what he was just thinking about into it as well as his own hope for the future. Reaching over, he touched Odin's arm and released the spell into him.
The runes lit up and moved across the elder King's skin to sink into his eyes. Odin immediately understood what Frey was telling him; that the hope was truly for him as well and that Loki would want him to have it. It was an inexorable train of logic with accompanying evidence that he had no argument against. All of his arguments to himself about not taking or deserving the hope as it was offered crumbled one by one. The two thoughts, "Loki doesn't want to hurt us," and, "Loki wants us to be happy," destroyed the whole body of his arguments. It left only his own feeling of being unworthy for him to struggle with. It was his initial opinion that the feeling wasn't going to go anywhere for a long time, but then Frey's earlier entreaty for them to go on a journey of healing together played in his mind. Frey showed me his own thoughts to further that journey. I don't know if I can do this. Frigga's happiness over his decision to pursue healing came back to him then. If felt like his own mind was trying to tell him to take the hope, to move forward peacefully while his heart was telling him to wallow in despair. It was a dizzying contrast that plagued him for only a few moments. Odin drew in a breath and exhaled a heavy sigh. If this is what Loki would want, then this is what I'll do. He, ...she deserves my best efforts. A quick seidr flare to Frey let him express his frustration and acquiescing, Thank you, brother. I understand and will try. The next thing he did was to unwind his own seidr, array the Learning Spell and gather his memories of what Frey gave to him and his own thoughts on the matter. It was released into Frigga's arm and was shining in her eyes in just a moment.
A small smile touched Frey's lips. It heartened him to know that Odin was truly trying to heal with him. It was awkward for both of them to begin but was needed and well-worth it. He squeezed Sean's hand once then let him go then sat up and wiped his eyes dry.
More hope flowed through Frigga's thoughts as she watched Odin's thoughts of the very obvious hope that was on offer for them. Like him, she didn't believe herself worthy of such hope but didn't hesitate to grasp it anyway. It was a lifeline for her in the middle of an ocean of nightmares. That Odin was willing to grasp that line instead of drowning himself stubbornly pleased her greatly. That Frey was willing to see to Odin's healing even though he needed it himself pleased her even more. They would all heal together.
The change in the emotion in Odin's seidr was easily heard by James. It was a sudden change that he appreciated, particularly since it seemed to be Frey who helped it along. They were working together to come through this event, and he was pleased to see it. Not being isolated with their memories would be essential to them recovering after this. It was something else that he could support them in. Them recovering and becoming better people was something else that would help Anthony, which would help his other brothers. It would help his family as a whole.
With a soft smile on his face, James spoke. "Are you ready to return to the tour now?"
Taking a deep breath, Frey tried to smile, tried to make himself look like he was unaffected. He just couldn't. The memories were too grim, too fresh for him to appear unaffected, and there was still more to deal with. Steeling himself for it only helped so much, but it was enough. "Yes, I'm ready." Turning to Frigga and Odin he asked. "Brother? Sister?"
Over to Frey, then over to Frigga and finally at James, Odin's gaze traveled. "Yes, I'm ready to return." The grim look on his face matched the dark look on Frey's face. His own beautiful wife wore a hardened look. None of them were truly ready to move on from what they just survived. Yesterday's issues were unresolved though. Odin wanted to take more time to deal with each issue as it arose. They were moving so fast now that he almost felt like he couldn't keep up. A little shake of his head cleared those thoughts out. There'd never been a time when he'd fallen behind. Today wasn't going to be the day that he did.
'Determined' was the best look that Frigga could mold her face into. It lifted her mood that her two favorite men were seeing to one another instead of bickering. There was too much wrong for her to smile and blithely move on. She accepted the hope she was offered, now there was still more work to accomplish. "If everyone else is ready, then I am as well."
Glancing over to Sean with a sedate look on his face, James signaled his readiness as well, then lessened the strength of his song so that it was still able to be heard but wasn't loud anymore.
The decrease in the volume of James' song was heard clearly by Sean. The hope he was singing out was a quiet noise in the background now. It was a white noise whisper in the symphony of life. He didn't mind since it was still able to be heard. Frey, Odin, and Frigga still needed that hope. They probably would for a while. "Since everyone is ready let me move us back into time." He commanded the sjel-seidr flowing through his seidr core to transport them back within the bounds of time, back to the other half of the second that they left from. The world around them began to move again, the guardsmen, Director Fury, and Jay all breathed to life again.
23May2023 – Late Morning
The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark
The book was interesting but couldn't hold Jay's attention when his uncle and grandparents turned a dusky rose pink for exactly one second then returned to normal. He wouldn't say that they were normal anymore though. They looked dismal and disturbed. He wanted to go to them and give them hugs. A hug always made him feel better, but he was a little embarrassed now. His face was starting to burn again. They had seen everything he'd done and been involved in. They knew now. It wasn't as if Jay would undo them seeing it even if he could. The digital boy just wanted to stop being embarrassed over the things he was involved in. As with his wanting to spend time with his family without his parents doing dangerous things, he wondered if that was asking too much. Whether or not it was still held uncertainty for him. When he went to start a deliberation to remove the embarrassment, he halted. He could feel the full weight of the number of deliberations that his uncle had placed. Paradoxically they were getting heavier while making his mind feel lighter at the same time. He didn't think it was a good idea to place another deliberation since he might get bogged down in them. He was going to have to deal with the embarrassment on his own. So he hopped off of the barstool he was on, gripped his book with his seidr and dismissed his interdimensional pocket then walked quietly over to them. He smiled up at the guardsmen around his grandparents and uncle before moving carefully past them towards Odin. It was his eldest grandfather who looked the worst of the lot of them.
The young boy with them passed Hirdmen Vilulf with light little steps. The hirdmen didn't mind the boy passing him since the lad seemed to be Lord Odin's grandson. While he hadn't heard of the birth of a new Prince of Asgard, he absolutely wasn't going to question that the boy was of Royal Issuance.
Standing quickly, Frigga turned towards her drengr. "Hirdmen, report."
Coming to the position of attention after bowing, with one arm straight at his side and the other bent over his chest the hirdmen spoke. "My formadr; you, Lord Frey, and Lord Odin and their guests didn't move from where you are. Each of you glowed with pink seidr for just a moment then stopped glowing. After that you asked for my report."
A distant look passed over Frigga's face, "So little time," before the determined look returned. "Thank you, Hirdmen Vilulf. We return to our duties now."
"Yes, my formadr."
"Do you still want to go to the hidden rooms, or somewhere else?" James wouldn't be surprised if they wanted some distance from the wicked tools in the hidden rooms. They were blunt reminders of the memories that they just survived, of what Loki, Anthony, and Jay survived.
A cold sensation of fear washed over Odin, like he was going to go into battle. It was quashed less than a heartbeat later. He wasn't going to tolerate fear in his thoughts now, so he stood next to his wife, and Frey stood next to him. As he was going to answer a little hand tugged on his own. When he looked down he saw Jay holding his hand. Bright green eyes laced with a delightful silver were looking up at him, worried. A hesitant smile sat on the boy's face.
"Afi Odin," Jay looked over to his other grandfather while holding onto his grandfather's hand, "Afi Frey," then he to his grandmother, "Amma Frigga, are you ok?"
"I'm well." It was all Frigga could spare verbally for the boy. She unraveled her seidr to flare it to her grandson, Worry not, young one. I and your grandfathers will be well. It only took a moment of consideration before she flared her seidr again, You've done well in this. Continue to do well. I'm proud of your efforts, and of you.
Protectiveness surged through Frey again. Jay had every right to be furious with them for what their actions caused and cost the boy personally, yet there he was worried for them. The boy was such a sweet child, but he wasn't a pushover. When push came to shove Jay defended his family, even if it cost him severe anxiety and deep distress. There was a tempered steel in the boy's character that Frey had to acknowledge. Though it nearly drove him to tears over what his own actions drove members of his family to, he wasn't going to deny the bravery with which Jay faced down those things. "You needn't worry about me, my boy. I'll be fine." It wasn't the most convincing lie, nor was it the most stalwart truth. It inhabited the unhappy middle ground of being both true and untrue at the same time.
Fathomless emotion swept over Odin that that he scooped up his young grandson and gave him a hug before pulling back to look the lad in the eyes. Pride, and an honest love shone in the elder King's eyes. Having seen as much as he did he'd come to know his grandson better than he should have. It wasn't just what Jay was that amazed him, it was who he was and what he chose to do that amazed Odin as well. "James showed me what you did during the Dark Days." He began softly. "I am so proud of you. You did so well. Your loyalty, your compassion, and your bravery helped to save Loki."
The digital boy could agree that he was loyal, he knew he was to a fault. He tried to be compassionate in his dealings with people, even if they were mean or dismissive towards him, but bravery? He didn't know about that. His memories of the Dark Days were filled with overwhelming fear and anxiety that almost stopped him from doing what needed to be done. Then there was what he'd actually done. It came closer to cruelty than bravery. "But father and I…" Jay protested.
"When all else failed, you provided a new path forward to save Loki. The medicines you found were that path." Odin spoke firmly and gently and the same time. It was a quiet voice he used. "Your parents have great cause to be proud of you," his voice falter around the lump in his throat, "As do I." Odin hugged Jay again, just to emphasize that he was proud of the boy.
Stepping over closer, Frey ran a gentle hand over Jay's back. He could understand his grandson protesting, what he and Anthony did and were subjected to during the Dark Days was horrific. However bad things got, the boy never backed away from the course they had set. Jay and Anthony stayed that course until they'd conquered an illness which should have been unconquerable. Void Sickness strengthened by an Infinity Gem several times was a raging beast of an illness, but they were never cowed by it. More than that was the fact that Jay tempered Anthony's wild impulses. Despite wanting to do things faster, he still slowed Anthony down to safeguard Loki. It created a situation where Anthony's fires burned brilliantly, not catastrophically. "My brother is right, Jay. You did so very well. I'm proud of what you did, and I'm grateful that you helped to save Loki."
Brother?! Prince Loki?! The boy must be the Royal Issuance of Prince Loki. Hirdmen Vilulf understood then. The boy was Prince Loki's son, and indeed the grandson of Lord Odin. It also made sense that the boy would call Lord Frey 'Afi' as well. He'd personally seen how Prince Loki was almost like a son to Lord Frey. None of that was unsettling to him. What disturbed him was that his Lord called Lord Odin 'brother'. That would mean that a true and lasting peace had been reached between the Royal Houses of Vanaheim and Asgard. Truly, it was disturbing because of what the Royal House of Asgard did to the Royal House of Vanaheim. As with many other things he saw that day, this was not going to pull the hirdmen from his duty, so he uncrated his seidr from his seidr core and flared it to the members of his drengr, minus the formadr, to remind them, Keep your bearing.
It pleased James that Odin and Frey were taking the better route towards viewing the incidents of the Dark Days. While it wasn't much of a claim, they still had the right to be angry with Jay over what was done to Loki to save the male Asgardian's life. They weren't claiming anything against the boy and were proud of him for what efforts he made. A small feeling of shame passed through his thoughts. These weren't the people who he expected to find when he went to the hellicarrier. These were the people that he needed to help his family, and he was starting out their relationship with pain and suffering. It was a pain that they wanted; to know what was done fully, to hear the thoughts of those it was happening to and to feel their emotions and physical pain. That didn't erase the small feeling of shame that he hadn't been able to find a way around all of this. Anthony just left him too few choices again, and Loki didn't help either. There was no good path to giving the three monarchs the information that they needed without doing as he'd done. The hardest part was over, now came the second hardest part; dealing with the implements that made what was done possible.
Lying his head down on his grandfather's shoulder, Jay apologized. "I'm sorry that I hurt you." His little hands held onto his grandfather's shirt. He was very sorry that his new grandparents had to experience these memories. Truthfully, Jay didn't want the memories himself, and didn't like that they were inflicted on anyone else.
He placed his free hand on the back of his grandson's head. Odin held the boy close. "It's not your fault. My own actions brought me to this pain. They brought you to this pain, and I am deeply sorry for that. No child should ever experience what you did."
Pulling back, Jay looked his grandfather in the eyes and put a little hand on Odin's chest. "You shouldn't either. No one should have to feel that pain," shaking his head, "It isn't right. Pain doesn't make a good life or a bright future." The digital boy hoped that his grandparents weren't so traumatized by this that they couldn't move past the pain and anxiety.
Waves of disbelief battered Odin's thoughts. Edward wanted to reassure him that all would be well. Jay wanted to reassure him that he didn't have to limp into the future in stunning pain. They both wanted to bring him into the future whole and well. Hope, it seemed, traveled with both of his grandsons. So many other people had offered Odin hope that day that trying to refuse it felt petty and petulant. Despite not knowing if he truly deserved it, he wasn't going to refuse Edward, Jay, Loki, Frigga, Frey, and James. Each of them offered him hope, and he was ready to take it and move forward. "You are such a sweet child, so like your mother." Taking a deep breath, the elder King exhaled his fears and doubts. They would return, he suspected, but that would be later. "This is a grim house, I'm lucky to be in such good company as this."
A toothy little grin streaked across Jay's face before it faded to a more neutral expression. "There's a scary thing in the hidden rooms. The chair and all its apparatus are there in boxes."
"The medicines from China are there as well?" Odin did and didn't want to see the chair. It was an implement of torture, an object of healing. His feelings on it were decidedly mixed.
Shaking his head, Jay spoke again. "Yes, just the last regimen that we had mother on. A few bottles of each one. The rest were thrown into the incinerator."
Odin nodded then spoke. "Then let's go and see what's there." The gift yesterday from Sean of all the medicines used on Loki seemed so much more valuable now that he had a second confirmation that Stark hadn't kept as much of the medicines as they needed.
Since Odin still looked unsettled Jay wondered if he could stay with his grandfather to cheer him up. Intellectually he knew that he was forming fast attachments to people who were essentially strangers, but he didn't care. They were nice to him and treated him with respect and care. The fact that he was going to be growing up around them only made it easier to come to like and care for them. Jay looked at the floor, then back to Odin and asked a question. "Can I stay tall for a while? We can be tall together."
A genuine laugh found its way out of Odin's mouth at what was Jay's obvious attempt to cheer him up. "I would like that very much."
It struck Frey, as he watched Jay with Odin, that Jay was much like Edward. Both of them made decisions based on the information at hand but lead with the passion in their hearts. Each took care of their family and the people around them. They were good boys. He was proud to call Jay his grandson. In another not-so-strange-anymore twist, Frey was proud of Odin as well. The Odin he was seeing this day wasn't one that he'd ever seen before. This was a kind, compassionate, responsible man who he wished he had the chance to meet and get to know hundreds of years ago. Suddenly Frey's thoughts turned in what became the strangest of thoughts, Father and mother would like this man. That strangest thought became even stranger when he realized that it was another layer of the tragedy of his parents dying; they never got to know Odin nor him know them. Lord Borr deprived them of so much more than he had previously realized. Unfurling his seidr swiftly and without hesitation, he flared it discreetly to his beloved sister, Father and mother would have loved to get to know Odin like this.
While her face remained the same, gaze sweeping back and forth over the area she was in, bittersweet joy sung through Frigga's thoughts. She'd wished for years that her husband could meet her parents. They would have done so well for Odin; her father was a healer after all and her mother was quite wise. In her dreams, she could always see Odin and her parents getting to know one another. Those were only ever dreams though. Now her brother was getting to know the man behind the mask, her beloved. A vague tinge of guilt filtered through her thoughts that she hadn't introduced her beloved and brother earlier, but both were so stubborn. Neither would have agreed to a meeting. At least, that's what she'd believed. This flare from her brother made her question how right she was. Again, Frigga wondered what their lives might have been like had Lord Borr not ruined things. A little smile touched her lips. She pulled her thoughts back to the guard duty she was enacting. This was no place for dreams.
Looking from Frey, Odin looked to Director Fury then to Frey again. "To the hidden rooms?"
"I'm along for the ride. I'll go anywhere." Director Fury didn't know what happened when they glowed with a pink light, but the three monarchs seemed different now. Sean and James were as calm as ever though. Thinking back to yesterday he was glad that the three of them weren't losing control of themselves again. It wasn't fun to be involved in those explosions of power and he was glad to not have to endure that again. The Director was hopeful that they could get through the rest of the house without another of those explosions.
"Yes, to the hidden rooms." Frey was eager to see what terrible treasure there was in those rooms.
"This way then," James motioned to the stairs down to the grey concrete hallway which kept Anthony's workshop, the medical lab, and the hidden rooms. The living room of the mansion was done in warm brows with golden accents. The hallway that they headed down brown stone steps into was a cold grey concrete. After what they'd seen they knew it reeked of secrets now. James wasn't going to hide the secrets anymore. He was tired of there being so many secrets. Anthony didn't need to live in the dark. It was dangerous for his younger brother, and everyone around him, to live in the dark. There was no accountability there. James noticed them looking at the clear glass door to the workshop as they were coming up on it. Roiling hatred tried to overcome his thoughts before he was able to push it back into the place in his thoughts that he kept for it. Like so many other houses, that place held nothing but suffering for his younger brother. He needed to keep it for the archives, but wanted it destroyed with almost every fiber of his being.
Near the workshop door, on the other side of the hall, was a blank wall. It needed to be handled like the bulwarks in the upper part of the house. Unfolding his seidr, James sunk it into the wall to trigger the opening mechanism for the door to the hidden rooms. Once it sank backwards into the room and slid to the side he used his seidr to gently detach it from its rails. The concrete over the top of the metal door was unscrewed from its place and set to lean against the opposite wall. The metal door floated on his seidr. Next he sliced up the concrete wall on that side of the hallway, detaching the concrete from the metal underneath as he went. The entire front of the hidden rooms was exposed for what it was, a facade. The metal wall was detached from the rest of the walls and then sliced up into manageable pieces. As he worked, he explained. "Anthony needed a way to hide things from Loki, to keep from distressing her needlessly, so he decided to turn this into a storeroom with a hidden door. As time went on and Loki grew healthier he needed better ways to hide things. A simple door wasn't going to handle it anymore. When he found out how enchantments work that was what he started using." From his unfolded seidr James mounted a wide Conjuration Spell and a wide Learning Spell which he gathered his memories into. The spells combined when released to form several small booklets on the metal and its enchantments and some tape. The booklets were taped to the side of the door and wall pieces that weren't coated with concrete dust. All of the pieces went up and out the front door to sit with the bulwarks and other gifts. Turning to Director Fury, he explained. "That metal has a powerful enchantment on it to contain passive, radiant, and directed energy. On one side it makes the energy source invisible by cleanly blocking the flow of energy from both sides. On the other side it provides near complete protection by blocking directed energy blasts or large amounts of radiation energy. The protection it offers can be overcome with enough energy, but the enchantments only starts to break down at energy levels equal to the surface of the sun. This is a passive enchantment which only activates when in proximity to an energy source. The booklets on them have a full write-up of the enchantment since it piggybacks on the vibranium that the metal is alloyed with."
"Thank you. We can really use that." Yet again Director Fury wondered why SHIELD was receiving such immense gifts, what they had done to earn them, why it was happening. At this point he felt obligated to do whatever James asked of him, since he couldn't let go of these upgrades. SHIELD needed these things desperately; he didn't have much of a choice but to pay the price for them.
Turning to Frigga, James spoke. "This enchantment is more than likely what your men found, Formadr Frigga, when they looked over the house."
Turning back to her men, Frigga looked to the huskarl who reported to her earlier. "Huskarl Kron, was this the area you found the suspicious shielding in?"
Huskarl Kron came to the position of attention as he faced his formadr. "Yes, my formadr, it is. There were two other places as well. A wall in the room across the hallway and a wall in the room at the end of this hallway."
"Thank you, huskarl," Frigga turned back to James as her huskarl went back to his duties, "Are there other places in the house where this shielding is beside these three places? What are they shielding?"
"Yes. The wall in the workshop is hiding the entrance to the drone armory, which is itself shielded by the same enchantment. The wall in the medical lab is hiding the Chitauri soldiers. The drone armory is the only other place that's shielded in the house." While James was coming to like how Frigga was protecting Odin, and he equally liked that Odin wasn't putting up a fight about it. In James's opinion, it was a wise decision on Odin's part to allow her to go about her duties unimpeded. He just wished that his younger brothers would do the same thing. They weren't a bother to him but still did ridiculous things so that they could be 'independent', and 'not a burden' to him.
Being reminded of the enemy soldiers that were near her grandchildren brought a small frown to her face, but Frigga was able to wipe it away quickly. They were going to handle those soldiers that day, she wasn't leaving this house until they had. "Are the Chitauri soldiers properly contained until we can deal with them?"
"They're secured in their docking frameworks, and I personally put a safeguard on each of them to prevent them from being able to get out."
"What manner of safeguard is it?"
"It's an enchantment that I applied to the base of their skulls. Should they begin to wake the enchantment will sever their spines at the base of their skulls and will keep the spine separate from the brain even if the coalesced machine solution attempts to heal them. They can think violent thoughts all they want, but they won't be able to move to do anything about it. The docking framework will alert Anthony and I that the soldiers are active after that." From his still unfolded seidr James mounted a Learning Spell. He drew his memories of the Spine Shock Enchantment into it, then formed it into a shining pearl of light in his hand which he held out to Frigga. "This is the enchantment I use on them."
Quickly, Frigga reached out to touch the pearl in James' hand. As soon as she touched it garnet runes streaked up her arm, over her shoulder to climb up her neck and across her face. They sunk into her eyes, quickly lighting her light blue eyes with garnet seidr. A second later the light faded away. In that mere second she came to understand the details of the enchantment being used to contain the Chitauri. She appreciated that James was willing to give her the enchantment so easily. It was a wicked enchantment that would be illegal in the Elder Realms since it intentionally and grievously harmed a defenseless person. In this instance Frigga didn't mind it. They were appropriately contained. That was what she needed to know. "Thank you, James. I appreciate your efforts to contain them. I assume they'll be dealt with later?"
Stowing his seidr back, he answered. "I was going to destroy them when we went to tour the medical lab. Anthony doesn't need them anymore and they're disgusting in any way that they're looked at. They're part of what's making him sick, so I'd like them gone." James did feel a certain sort of pity for these individuals, since he understood what manner of slaves they were. He didn't have the power to truly free them from their slavery, from Thanos' grip. Giving them a swift, painless death was the most he could accomplish. I'd free them if I could. He'd put his fires to that any day.
"This is acceptable to us. Thank you." Knowing that the Chitauri soldiers were well-contained helped Frigga to go back to her duty to defend Odin in the moment. As they were well-constrained, Odin was well-defended by their containment.
Nodding to the guardian Queen, James smiled. "You're most welcome." Then he turned back towards the revealed rooms, motioning to things as he spoke. "These two rooms contain the last of the medicine that Anthony used on Loki before he switched over to the experimental drugs from China, then the last of the Chinese drugs." There were several large wooden crates around the room that had sparse titles painted on their sides, like 'Small Parts', 'Wiring', and 'Panels'. None of them were very descriptive of the contents. "The crates have the disassembled chair in them, as well the hybrid soler cell/star sail that he used in the sessions." Finally, he motioned to the other exposed room. "That's just a prototype rose quartz generator. It doesn't have anything that the base generator doesn't have. It's spare parts basically." His unfurled seidr extended to grip the prototype and dismiss it to his interdimensional pocket. It was more than just spare parts, but they didn't need to know that right then.
The younger King's gaze was searching over the contents of the revealed rooms, they were fewer than he thought they would be. He'd thought that he would want to see the medicines most, but now that it had come to it, he didn't. What Frey truly wanted to see, and destroy, was the chair. It tormented Loki while healing him. It drove the disease back while scarring his nephew. He still didn't blame Anthony for creating this vile thing, not when he used it to save Loki's life. "Is it possible for us to see the chair fully assembled?"
Once again, Odin was of a mixed opinion. He didn't want to see the chair, while he wanted to destroy the chair with his bare hands. Seeing it fully assembled was the second best option. The first best option was to see it in use, even though he didn't want that either. "Yes, that would be good if it's possible."
This was a request that James thought he should have expected, yet wholly hadn't. He had expected them to withdraw back from the chair and anything to do with it since they'd lived through the memories of the sessions. They knew what the chair was used for. As he looked at the two Kings, seeing subtle but interested glances from Frigga, he saw more steel in their character than he expected Kings to have. These truly were battle-hardened warriors, and they weren't going to back away from this. Out of respect for the warriors before him James came up with an alternate suggestion. "I can unbury the power connections in the workshop, reassemble the chair and then demonstrate its use, so that you can see a session from the outside. How does that sound?"
Though Frey hadn't thought he would get to see the chair activated, he wasn't opposed to the idea either. It would give him a better understanding of the chair in use. The best option to him would be seeing it active while Anthony was using it on Loki. Had he been there he could have provided pain relief and healing while Anthony battled the Void Sickness. The absolute best to him would be Loki never having been afflicted with Void Sickness. He knew that was one wish he wasn't getting. "That sounds like what we need to gain a better understanding."
What James was offering them was the first best option that Odin was still unsure if he truly wanted to see. Jay shifted in his arms then. The boy was looking away from the crates, one hand playing with the edge of his vest. Hesitation was written across his face. "Jay, do you need to go back to the living room?"
"No! I want to stay here. I was just," his gaze traveled to the crates and a haunted look crossed his young face, "...remembering." His gaze drifted back down. Jay let the words tumble out of his mouth as they tumbled around in his mind. "There were so few smiles during the Dark Days. No matter what I did to make them smile, none of it worked. They were both just screaming in pain, and I couldn't stop it." Jay's voice dropped to a whisper. His little hands gripped his grandfather's vest. "No matter what I did the screaming and crying didn't stop. Only the chair and the drugs could make it stop." Hot tears filled his eyes nearly to the point of overflowing, so he wiped quickly at his eyes. The uncomfortable lump in his throat tried to choke him.
The troubled look on Jay's face disturbed Director Fury. It was post-traumatic stress disorder in a child. Jay was an invaluable asset that he needed to be whole and well. The kid needed help, but SHIELD didn't dabble in child psychiatric counseling. He had to hope that James could get the kid settled.
For a hot moment Hirdmen Vilulf wondered what this boy had been subjected to and how the boy's guard could have failed that badly. He wondered if he even had a guard since it didn't sound like he did. The whole thing was strange and caused him to clear him mind as rapidly as he could so that he could return coldly to his duty.
Unravelling her seidr quickly, Frigga flared it to her grandson while surveying the area, You did well during the Dark Days, it wasn't your fault.
Having seen through Jay's eyes already showed Frey that his grandson was traumatized over the Dark Days. Seeing the pain on the boy's face with his own eyes hurt him deeply. Only counseling and support were going to heal these wounds. This wasn't something he could heal with a Soul Forge. Instead of direct healing Frey unfurled his seidr and formed a Calm Heart Spell which he released into his grandson's chest before furling his seidr back into his core.
Aiming his soul song of stillness at his nephew, James strengthened it again while keeping the notes of hope in the song. The boy needed a professional counselor and needed to start seeing that counselor soon.
Putting his hand on the back of Jay's head, Odin pulled him in for another hug. "You did so well. You tried so hard. I'm so proud of you."
"Frey, you said that you know several healers who work with children. Do any of them do mental health work?" James wondered if the counseling techniques the Elder Realms used would be better than on Earth, then thought that they must be.
"I know several, but I think that Mistress Heill Hjertehelbredelse would the best candidate since she taught me counseling and she works with people of all ages," looking over to Odin, "She's moved to Asgard though." Frey was pleased that James was willing to publicly come to him for aid. James didn't seem to hesitate to either ask for aid or receive it. The humility behind those actions continued to please Frey. It made him feel that his family was safe with James.
"I will invite her to the palace and discuss this with her. James, Frey can you both attend so that we can work through this? Jay needs counseling sooner rather than later." Odin had no problem at all in bringing this woman to the palace if she could help his grandson work through these traumas.
"I'll make time for this if I have to." Frey stroked his hand up and down Jay's back. "It will be alright. We'll take care of this."
"Just let me know the date, time, and place, and I'll be there." James liked how rapidly both the Kings were willing to lend their assistance. It was respectable in his opinion.
"Thank you both." To Odin, Jay looked slightly embarrassed to need this aid. Running his hand over the back of Jay's head, he spoke softly. "There's no cause to be upset over needing this aid."
Curling up against his grandfather's chest, Jay could feel his face turning red again. "I don't want to be a burden to anyone." His voice was a whisper again.
"Jay, I'll say to you the same thing that I've said many times before to others. If you had a broken arm you wouldn't think you were a burden by going to the hospital to be seen by a doctor. Mental health is even more important than physical health. You, in your mind, decide what to do with your body. You decide whether you take your body to a doctor for a health problem or not. Your mind is important. You are important. You aren't a burden. Not to me, not to anyone else." A little bit of irritation entered James's tone when he heard the word 'burden' come out of his nephew's mouth. He'd heard it enough out of his younger brothers' mouths.
"James is correct. You should tend to your mind as you tend to your body. It isn't burdensome, it's just what needs to be done to maintain your health." Odin wished he had these kinds of talks with Loki. He hadn't and couldn't change that now. He could help his grandson though. Unwinding his seidr he arrayed a Calm Heart Spell and released it into Jay's skull.
There was a hint of irritation in James' voice that Frey could hear, but none on his face for Jay. You aren't a burden, was said with the most amount of venom. Something you've said many times before, something you've heard many times before. How often have you heard it before, from Anthony perhaps? Have you grown tired of hearing it? Frey could only wonder at the source of James' irritation, since it wasn't with Jay.
"Perhaps for this demonstration if would be best for you to go sit on the settee and wait for us." While he didn't want to set his grandson down, Odin didn't want to have Jay harmed even more.
Sitting up straight, the digital boy protested. "No! I want to stay here. I can help with the demonstration. I'm the one who ran half of the sessions. I can help." His voice was silenced by a long yawn which came with a sudden itch in his eyes. Jay rubbed his eyes then, to be rid of the itching.
"So can I, Jay. I think your grandfather is right. Your memories showed him everything that you can show him. You don't need to be a part of this section of the tour," he motioned down the hallway, "so why don't you wait for us by the medical lab? We'll come there next." Unfolding his seidr again, James mounted a wide Conjuration Spell which he released with a snap to sling the spell down the hallway. A small, plush, warm bed appeared out of his seidr, with a little table by it. A glass of cool water sat on the table. A black shade sat on the wall, folded up and ready to be pulled down to shade the bed from the bright overhead lights. "There, now you can have a short nap while we work through this."
"I don't need a nap." Jay's voice sounded a little whiny even to his own ears. Having a snack was as welcome as this was. At least a snack tasted good. Naps didn't taste good. He didn't want to waste his time with the long process of trying to sleep, then sleeping, then undergo the jarring event of waking up.
"Do you have trouble taking naps?" That wouldn't surprise James. If the boy needed song marbles to help him sleep then he probably had trouble sleeping.
How does he always see?! Surprise blew his eyes wide then while embarrassment burned up his face. Once again, Jay wished he could hide in a wall. He didn't think that a wall would be as obvious as his face clearly was. He fidgeted with the edge of his grandfather's vest as he mumbled out an answer. "No, everything is fine."
A short, sharp sigh came from James. His soul song of stillness aimed at his nephew again. "Little Hawk," he began by way of warning, "was that an incorrect statement?"
"Yes, and I would like to retract it." It was Jay's turn to sign when he looked up to his Uncle Rhodey. "I don't sleep normally. I can't even do that right."
"Sleep is a biological function. Falling asleep is a skill that you still need to learn," James held up a hand when the boy went to protest, "You weren't helped by having physical ailments which I believe may have prevented you from getting to sleep properly. Your grandfathers were able to heal that unfortunate injury, so I'd like for you to try to nap. Give your body a chance to rest."
Worry filtered into Odin's thoughts. He'd already seen the report from James, which was clearly taken from Jay himself, that detailed how little the boy was sleeping. Naps were important for children, for their growth and development. "Jay, if you don't get enough sleep you can eventually destabilize your seidr core. Sleep is very important to a mage, particularly a growing one." That same worry caused him to look down the hallway towards the little bed that James had conjured. It looked like the right place for the boy.
This was a sprinkling of the endless ocean of love that Sean had seen in the elder King when he viewed Odin the day before. The curse kept him restrained, penned that ocean in then frosted it over. It was unpenned and moving again. As with the coming of the Ashen Hawk, and the Lord of Tides, there was no stopping it now. Inevitability had taken over. Having seen the moving of the curse seidr and how Odin fought against Lord Borr controlling his life, Sean wondered then if the breaking of the curse had become inevitable too. Yesterday he would have said that it was by no means inevitable. Today was a different day, with a different Odin. If this Odin managed to stay in the lives of his loved ones then the curse was living on borrowed time. It made the younger man smile to see.
Only a mild irritation crossed Jay's thoughts. "How many things are important to a mage?" It seemed like there were several.
This was a fair question to Odin. "Many things, but the four most important are proper diet, proper sleep, proper health of the mind and exercise of the body."
"Without those most basic things any mage could destabilize or corrupt their own core." Frey interjected because he felt his grandson needed to understand what self-neglect would get the boy.
"There are so many things…" Jay's voice trailed off.
"Mages enjoy the use of a power which few others have, but that power must be stewarded carefully." His grandson looked a little discouraged, though Odin hoped the young lad would understand that there was an urgent need to take care of himself.
Jay's gaze snapped back to Odin's. "So it's transactional! I give my seidr core those things and I get to use it?"
Odin was honestly not prepared for a viewpoint that was so divorced from reality yet correct from a certain point of view. Frey, however, was prepared. It was clear to him that Jay still wasn't thinking of his body as himself. "You give yourself these things," he stressed to Jay, "and you have a healthy seidr core and a longer life."
Hesitation pulled the digital boy's gaze down again. "I'm not very good at sleeping, but I'll try." Steadying himself, he summoned his box of marbles from his interdimensional pocket. It appeared in front of him in a spout of silver fire. He pulled out the 'The Valkyrie' marble then impelled his seidr from his core to grip the box and dismiss it back to his interdimensional pocket before his seidr called back to his core. Jay gripped the marble tight in his little fist. It's soaring tune began. "I'm ready."
It was cute in a way how Jay was steeling himself as though he was going to battle. It was less cute how the boy had such entrenched problems with sleeping despite being so young. Odin wanted to take the time to read a story to him, but he didn't have the time right then. Disappointment vaguely tinged his thoughts. It was time to deal with the chair right now, so he set the disappointment aside. By dealing with the chair and the house Odin was beginning to earn the right be in the children's lives, to spend time reading stories to them. "Let's get you into bed." After that he turned and walked towards the little bed.
Frey wanted to give Jay a little hug before the boy laid down for a nap, but he thought better of it. He thought it might be nice for Odin to have this time alone with Jay, since it was going to be so short. What was coming was going to be hard on both of them. Giving this to Odin would help things along. Besides, he had better access to the children, and wasn't missing out by not getting a hug from Jay now. He could have one later.
The little bed was plush and comfortable, and sized just for Jay. Odin could even feel a light heat coming from the bed when he bent over and pulled back the covers. It pleased him to know that Jay would be comfortable napping while they went to deal with this grisly business.
"Oh, this is warm. That's nice." Jay sat on the edge of the bed and kicked his feet for a moment before his grandfather knelt down in front of him and gripped his right heel.
"Let's get these off." Odin pulled gently at the black, loose , leather boots, then set them by the foot of the bed. The socks his grandson were wearing were strange, tight, and coming only up to his ankles. They were of Midgardian design. They looked mass produced instead of hand tailored like a noble's clothing should be. It was one more matter to handle when he was allowed to have more time with the children. They deserved to have the best he had to offer, and it might be fun to take the children to the tailor. It was time that he could hopefully spend with Loki as well, maybe even with Stark. The thought brought a smile to his face as Odin looked up to see Jay. His grandson was smiling at him, holding out his arms for a hug. One hug later, and a kiss on the head, Odin pulled the covers up as Jay laid down. "Now I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind."
Jay did as he was instructed, closing his eyes, and trying to silence the perpetual sound of computing in his mind. Between the song marble, the warmth and comfort of his bed, and his body's own need to sleep, it didn't take much for Jay to drift off to sleep.
Her grandson was absolutely adorable to Frigga. Even though he protested having a nap he still went to sleep quickly. She liked the fact that he was willing to accept new information despite having strong opinions. He wasn't ridiculously stubborn.
The next set of Odin's instructions weren't needed when he saw that Jay was breathing evenly and deeply. The lad's eyes were even moving like he had started dreaming. A short chuckle found its way out of Odin's mouth. He reached up to pull the shade down from the wall to cover the bed. Jay murmured and rolled over, pulling the blanket tighter around him. Since Jay was tucked in and napping, Odin stood and returned to the rest of the group to speak with James. "He fell asleep very quickly."
"I think there was a dissonance between his mind and body that was keeping them from connecting properly. Now that the issue has been resolved I think some of the more basic things will be easier for him. I think he'll still need sensory training, but this shouldn't be as much of a problem." James smiled as he spoke. Odin was behaving like the grandfather that he needed to be. This was the grandfather that James wanted to introduce to his younger brother while he was working him through the negative emotions. That Odin was behaving even more favorably towards Jay after living through the memories of the sessions, which Jay was intimately involved in, spoke highly to James.
"Yes, he seems to have a problem handling embarrassment." In Odin's view it was something many young people had a problem with.
What James wanted to say was, "He's part of the Stark bloodline, they all do," what came out of his mouth was, "I think he gets it from his father." Taking a deep breath let his set himself for what they were about to do.
"Anthony doesn't handle embarrassment well either?" Frey wondered if that was one of the reasons why James was trying to spare Anthony the embarrassment of all of this. He didn't think he'd seen Anthony overly embarrassed at any point in time. His nephew-by-law didn't seem like a man to be embarrassed over much.
A tiny grimace crossed James' face which he thought was probably visible to everyone who was looking. "Very little embarrasses Anthony, but because of that he doesn't handle it well when it does happen. If it isn't dealt with quickly then it always leads to poor decisions. It becomes detrimental to his wellbeing and the wellbeing of anyone around him as he makes those poor decisions."
"So having an embarrassing reminder isn't a good idea." Director Fury could understand and accept everything that James said. It made a weird sort of sense to him and explained why he'd never seen Stark embarrassed over anything, no matter the bad decision at hand. "He covers his embarrassment well, doesn't he?"
"Yes, and yes." Another deep breath helped James to settle himself more. What they were asking him to do was probably going to end up harming them as well; not as much as the memories, but it coming right after the memories wasn't going to help their mental health. There was only so much stalling that they could do, and he felt that it was right about over, so he motioned to the workshop door. "If everyone can make their way into the workshop, I can demonstrate the chair's usage for you."
Tension coiled tightly in Frey's thoughts. He wasn't sure how James was going to demonstrate it without Loki in it, but he was eager to see it nonetheless. Likewise, Odin was keen to see the chair. A strange unnamed emotion slithered through the elder King's thoughts as he walked through the workshop door. It only took him a heartbeat's time to determine that it was anxiety. Standing in the workshop was making him anxious. This is the same anxiety that Loki felt when he, when she, came into the workshop. His gaze traveled to where he knew the chair should be and saw Frey looking as well. There was anxiety to match his own in Frey's seidr whispers.
Strange oozing shadows seeped from the walls in the workshop. They weren't like the shadows that could be stepped into to camouflage one's position or move quickly. This looked much more like corruption, it smelled like it too. The onerous stench plucked at Sean's gag reflex. Were he a less disciplined man he would have vomited as soon as the workshop door opened. The whole thing was starting to give him a headache. All he could be thankful for was that he was the only person affected here.
Something was wrong. Frey wasn't certain what, but he knew that Sean was having a problem. Looking over showed him that the young man was swallowing thickly and wrinkling his nose like he was trying not to gag. Stepping closer, he unfurled his seidr and flare it to Sean, asking him, Do you smell something?
Sean angled out his seidr to flare it in return, This whole room stinks like corruption, like the room itself is corrupting. I think there must have been some left over from Lord Stark nearly corrupting. It's giving me a headache.
Quick as he could Frey formed an Easy Breathing Weave, which he applied invisibly to Sean's face over his nose and mouth. He set the weave to expire in several hours. Flaring his seidr again, he asked, Is that better?
Yes, much better, thank you. Sean went from flaring his seidr to thank his lover to gently running over his lover's skin as a 'thank you'. A little smirk touched his lips as he extended his sarammr to swiftly grip Frey's hips then let them go and withdrew it.
There was a small smirk on Sean's lips, and more invisible hands on his hips. Smiling, Frey knew that the evening was going to be good even if the day was grim.
Looking around as discreetly as he could, the Director wondered how much was mechanical and how much was magical. After that he wondered if there were any safety features in the workshop. The files he was shown yesterday made it seem like there were few to none, so he asked about it. "Does Stark keep any safety features in here? The kind that would keep him from blowing himself up?"
Another small but obvious grimace crossed James' face as he answered. "Not as many as he needs, but he keeps ripping out what I put in. He claims it's inconvenient." He moved over to where the connections for the chair were. His younger brother had buried them under a foot of concrete. Unfolding his seidr, he extended it down to the floor to grip the tight fitting capping block that was wedged into place over the power connections. A twelve inch cubed block came up slowly. Its sides grated against the walls of the hole it sat in leaving concrete dust drifting down to the floor. James set the block aside where it would be out of the way. Next he reached out into the hallway, across and over to the revealed rooms with his seidr, gripping the boxes with his seidr. They came to him carried on his seidr. Each box that passed through the doorway to the workshop came directly to him, unpacked its contents into a growing cloud of parts then went off to sit next to the wall. Once James had all the parts, he assembled them quickly. Every part was placed exactly where it had been originally before he connected the power lines to it and bolted the whole thing to the floor, and the solar cell to the celling. James infused the solar cell with enough of his seidr for it to be fully charged. It glowed blue with power and hummed. A set of gloves sat quietly on the arm rest of the chair. A small refrigerator sat at the head of the chair. A meter tall, thin tank with 'Fuel' written across it in black letters and a long cord leading to a handheld drill with a tray of bits sat off to the side of the tank. Another smaller box of supplies sat off to the side. A pole for IVs sat at the head of the chair. The final box that he opened held a small refrigerator unit that was still running. It was filled with various sizes of syringes. All the boxes finished unpacking and the parts were finished being assembled. The last thing he did was to summon the body that he needed from his interdimensional pocket. It appeared wrapped in bundling paper that he immediately unwrapped with his seidr and set it off by the crates.
"James, what is that?" It was a little disturbing when a person-like body was summoned from an interdimensional pocket right in front of him. It was similar enough to a real body to be visually disturbing while containing no signs of life in it at all.
"Is that a forensics mannequin? I've never seen one so real." Director Fury was curious as to why James would have something like that.
There was an implied question in Director Fury's statement that James felt like answering. It was fine if they knew this. "I confiscated it and several others like it from Anthony when I found that he had them." The mannequin was the anatomically correct representation of a naked man, six foot four inches in height with dark brown hair, closed eyes, and lightly tanned skin which vaguely resembled Anthony and Jay. It was set on the center of the chair. The chair itself looked like a broader dentist's chair with two wide arm rests at the side.
"What would he need with something that realistic," the answer hit the Director quickly from what he'd already seen, "He was testing the Gorgon Spell or his other weapons?"
Another grimace. "Yes." From his unfolded seidr James mounted a Counterfeit Heart Spell, drew as much of his seidr into it as he thought Loki had when he was unwell with Void Sickness. He released it into the mannequin's chest to create a simulated, calculated, timed seidr core which would react as a seidr core might under basic circumstances. This was as much realism as he thought they could handle. "He needed people to test them on," turning he could see the alarm on the King's faces at what he'd just done, "and seidr cores to work with. Neither of those were available, so what he needed was built, partly by him, partly by another." James almost couldn't believe who built them for Anthony after his younger brother came up with the Gorgon Spell. "The mannequin is able to handle the same stresses as an Elder Realm dweller, and with the Counterfeit Heart Spell in place it provides a basic seidr core to work with. It has bones, blood, organs, an artificial nervous system, the whole thing. It just has to be turned on," he turned to the mannequin and pressed down on the end of its breastbone and turned the button under the skin to the right, "like this." The end of the bone lit up and the heart started beating fake blood through its artificial veins. It drew in a breath and started breathing. Turning the power button to the right activated the enchantments on the mannequin that truly made the mannequin look life-like and would regenerate any damage done to it quickly.
"James, is that a, a false seidr core?" Odin was quite alarmed that there existed such a thing as that. It felt alive too, which disturbed him even more.
"Yes. Anthony didn't want to hurt real people, so he used fake ones." That wasn't really true, but they didn't know his younger brother well enough for James to tell the truth without judgment incoming. Closer to the truth would have been explaining that Anthony didn't want to disappoint his brothers, so he used these instead.
"This ...thing functions like a person?" Frey wanted to be skeptical of it, but he knew how much his nephew-by-law was capable of now.
"Enough like a person to be useful for testing weapons against. It should do for this demonstration." James turned and retrieved the control gloves from the arm rest of the chair then turned back to them. "These are the control gloves. I don't need them since I can brute-force it for this demonstration. With an Enchantment of Sizes one of you should be able to wear them, to watch what's happening inside of the body. The holoscreens are large enough when projected from the gloves that everyone should be able to see."
Without any hesitation, Odin spoke. "Frey is the Heal Meister; he should wear them."
"I have no problem with that." So long as Director Fury got to see what was on the little holoscreens then he didn't care. What he cared about was seeing if he could get this thing for SHIELD. Beyond them needing to understand what happened and how, they needed some of the tech that this thing held. If it could restrain an Asgardian during electrocution induced seizures then they could use it for restraining some of the stronger enemies they faced. The Director needed it but wasn't sure that he could get it. Besides being technologically advanced, it was also extremely personal. Loki had suffered and bled in this thing. He was honest enough with himself to wonder why the two Kings hadn't destroyed it yet. Their restraint was appreciated.
From his unfolded seidr James mounted an Enchantment of Sizes which he applied to the gloves. They looked like simple leather gloves, but had holographic technology incorporated into them. He didn't ask them if they wanted this to be more realistic. They'd probably say something about it being as realistic as possible, which would harm then in the long run. Instead, he handed the gloves to Frey and extended more of his seidr out in front of him to condense down into a white marblesque construct that resembled no one. He set the programing for it in his mind and then applied that programing to the construct through his seidr. It was complete. "Construct, awaken."
"I am one, drawn from you." The construct answered its maker.
"Do you understand your task?" James already knew that it did since he hadn't had a single construct fail him yet. However, this was the routine Loki taught to him, so he still stuck to it.
"I am to re-enact one of the sessions. When will I begin?"
"When I say the phrase, 'It's time to begin', you will begin a phase and pause at the end of the phase until you hear the phrase again. Do you understand?"
"I understand."
More hesitation crossed James' thoughts as he faced the monarchs. He strengthened his soul song of stillness to aid them. "You understand that what I'm about to show you is graphic in nature, and potentially offensive to the sensibilities?" He made eye contact with each of them as he spoke.
Frey's answer was simple and straightforward. "There is no backing away from this now." He slid the gloves on, they resized to fit his hands and he secured them in place.
More anxiety clouded Odin's thoughts at being near this thing. He quashed it again as he had before. "I'm not offended by what I see, only by my own actions that caused this."
"None of this offends me. If I might be honest," James nodded his approval, "It only saddens me." Sean noticed the appreciative look in James' eyes.
"SHIELD needs to understand what happened, and this is a large part of it." Director Fury liked that James was going person by person and gaining consent instead of just dumping them into things. It was better than yesterday.
"Formadr Frigga, may I assume you speak for the soldiers under your command, and if so, do you give your consent for your men to be near this?" James wanted everyone's consent for what he was about to show them.
"My men and I aren't going anywhere."
"Yes, ma'am." The more James saw of Frigga's determination to protect Odin the more respect he held for her. Turning, he faced the others again. "Does anyone have any questions before we begin this?"
"Just one." Director Fury answered quickly. "Did the information that you put on my memory cube have names of the companies he used to obtain his drugs?"
Putting a moment's thought to it James decided that, "The information is there, but it might not be clear. If you'll get out your cube I can put a file on it with all of the companies, contacts, routes, and meeting places."
"Thank you." Again, the Director pulled his memory cube out of his pocket and held it up for James to touch.
Since his seidr was still unfolded James was able to easily mount the Learning Spell, then drew his memories into it. When it was done he reached over to touch the memory cube with a single finger. "Shanghai and Tehran are probably going to be your primary targets, though Wenzhou has some interesting people in it," withdrawing his finger, "and you'll also probably want to keep a closer eye on the lab in Shanghai. Their work is undoubtedly brilliant, but their ethics are murky."
"I'll keep that in mind." The memory cube went back into the Director's pocket. The companies, contacts, routes, and meeting places. Damn that was easy! What does he consider 'murky', can't be the same things as me. I'll have a team on it tomorrow to find out.
"Does anyone else have any questions?" No one did so James looked to the construct. "It's time to begin."
Silently the construct moved around to the box of supplies that was sitting off to the side. As that was happening James sunk his seidr into the chair and all of its parts, so that he could run them. "Setting up Phase I. This is the restraints phase." His voice was quiet in the stillness of the room. The chair flattened down into a bed then raised up to around the waist of the construct. The armrests flattened out. A rounded piece of metal unfolded from the end of each armrest with five grooves in it. Heavy metal panels under the bottom of the armrests slid out vertically before standing up horizontally. There were two panels near the beginning of the arm rest, another two around the middle and a final pair was near the end at the rounded piece. Thick straps were attached to one of the panels and the one across from it had a locking mechanism on the top. There was padding on these straps.
At the same time as the armrests were unfolding there were sections opening up in the bed of the chair. Heavy metal panels with heavier straps and locking mechanisms rose up around the mannequins ankles, calves then its thighs. There was no padding on these straps. Next came panels on either side of its hips and finally its ribs. The panels on either side of the mannequin's hips and ribs had a little button on the top of them as well as the heavy straps and locking mechanisms. Two more thick metal panels slid out vertically from under the headrest before they rose up horizontally. These panels also had a little buttons, and something different. On the panel on the right side of the headrest had two padded struts attached on its top and bottom by thick hinges while the left panel on the side of the headrest had two heavyset locking mechanisms on its top and bottom. The glowing solar cell attached to the ceiling expanded outwards so that there were rectangular panels above the mannequin's arms, legs, and body. Small wires unspooled from the panels. Each wire had a needle attached to it that was sharp enough to cut through bone. They dangled from the solar cell like a macabre windchime. A small, metal table like something that might be found in an emergency room unfolded from the right side of the strong rectangular base of the chair.
The construct moved down to the mannequin's feet and buckled the heavy straps across its ankles. Then it buckled the straps over the mannequin's calves, then thighs. The strap at the hips came next. When the strap was locked in place, the construct depressed the buttons on the tops of the hip panels. A frothy, bubbly foam secreted from the metal panels. It dried quickly into fluffy little balls that acted as cushioning for the panels. The construct did the same thing for the panels on either side of the mannequin's ribs; strap then cushioning. The headrest came next in the process, so the construct affixed one padded strut across the mannequin's forehead, locking it into place. The other padded strut went across the mannequin's chin and was locked into place. Finally, the construct went to the mannequin's right arm and locked the straps into place near the shoulder then near the elbow. It fit the mannequin's hand into the grooves in the rounded piece at the end before doing up the strap at the wrist. The mannequin's left arm was the last place to be strapped down and made ready for the session. Each arm rest was moved out and locked into place at a ninety degree angle from the body.
The mannequin was fully strapped down so the construct went back to the box of supplies. Out of the wooden box it pulled a roll of the super adhesive tape, a catheter, a bag of IV fluids, two small black rubbery cubes, and a bundle of syringes filled with green liquid. All of it went onto the little table. "This is the end of 'Phase I'." James' voice was still quiet as the construct paused to await the key phrase again.