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)

10. Chapter 10

- Chapter 10 -

23May2023 – Late Morning

The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark

"Is the purpose of the first phase just to strap Loki into this thing? The padded restraints?" It looked less comfortable up close than it had in the file Director Fury saw yesterday. It was also easier to see the padding put into the restraints than it was yesterday.

"Yes. Anthony tried to put in as much cushioning as he could, but it had to be weighed against failure rates, debris production, and safety. Loki's safety is primary in his mind." The entire chair and the sessions it was a part of brought on a calamitous rage in James. Though it was quite in his mind, it was still seething. Anthony and Loki had waited so long for each other, and then this happened. When he found the one responsible, found Thanos, he was going to let that rage loose. No one and nothing was going to stop him then.

"Do you mind if I take a closer look?"

"Certainly, just don't touch the needles hanging down. They'll go right through your finger."

Walking in a slow circle around the chair and the life-like body strapped into it, the Director could see Loki. It was harder to look at then, knowing that this was actually used on a person. On missions in his past, he'd dropped grenades on similar looking chairs as he was infiltrating enemy facilities and rescuing prisoners.

Quiet despair came over Odin and he wondered if this was a wise idea after all. The memories made what happened all too clear for him. Seeing a demonstration probably wasn't necessary. It wasn't really the demonstration he was seeing anyway. He didn't see a lifeless mannequin in the chair, he saw his youngest son who had withered away to nothing from the sickness. This was, and would remain, his fault for the rest of eternity. It was a pain unending that he caused this to happen to his own son. Stark blamed himself but that wasn't right. Part of his mind went automatically to rejecting any sort of healing for this, but Frey's arguments came back to him. Loki probably wouldn't want him to hold onto this pain. After a fashion that just made it worse. That Loki had moved to give him peace after this was horrendous in Odin's view. He did this to someone who would forgive him, so he couldn't forgive himself now. How am I to move on from this? How did Loki?

When Director Fury finished his circle he asked his next question. "Dr. Banner was right, wasn't he? These were sessions of chemotherapy?"

"Yes, that's correct. The Elder Realms call it Void Sickness, but we call it cancer. Loki had a Ewing's sarcoma, an extremely aggressive one," seeing the light questioning on the Director's face, James said, "E-W-I-N-G- sarcoma."

"Very aggressive since it was strengthened by an Infinity Gem." The Director continued to look at the set up. "Do you mind if I do a few laps as you work? The analysts like multiple angles."

A little smile touched James' face. "That's fine, just mind the needles."

"Absolutely." The Director liked very much that James was perfectly fine with him gathering information. There was a purpose to it, and he was eager to find out what it was.

On one hand, Frey didn't like the interruption that Director Fury was providing. On the other hand, he did like how the Black Hand was picking things apart to get confirmation of things. It helped him to be less distracted by seeing Loki in the chair again. He could see his nephew, hear his cries of pain, and feel the fear the boy experienced. It was a crushing experience to see Loki's memories alongside Anthony's and Jay's because he knew that he was responsible for what they had to survive. Taking a deep breath helped Frey to settle and remind himself that Loki didn't want him to keep this pain close. He was still committed to doing as she wanted him to not only because he owed her for this, but because he recognized that it was the best thing for him. Loki always wanted what was best for her family.

"Does anyone else have any questions?" No one else did, their gazes were glued to the chair, so he aimed his soul song of stillness towards the monarchs. "It's time to begin," James spoke to the construct before speaking to his guests, "Now we move on to 'Phase II', which is the preparation phase." Using his unfolded seir James cut two short strips of the super adhesive tape. It applied easily enough to the mannequin's face, one strip over each eye to hold them shut. The construct placed the cubes into the mannequin's mouth, between the top and bottom back molars. It pressed them down to make sure that they were secured in place and that the mannequin couldn't close its mouth. Out of the refrigerator unit the construct pulled a large syringe filled with a slippery silver liquid which was set on the side table.

Does anyone have questions, yes I have several. Huskarl Kron was the newest member of the Royal Guard. Like the other members of his drengr he was loyal to the crown of Vanaheim, with ironclad loyalty to Lord Frey. Because of this loyalty he tried not to let himself wonder how Prince Loki had survived Void Sickness and what this torture chamber had to do with it. It was difficult to do, to not wonder at what he was seeing. None of this made sense to him so he set it all aside to continue with a duty assigned to him by Lord Frey.

"Is that nimp?" The Director circled back around to the head of the chair.

"Yes, the Nano Internal Medical Probe. It was used in every session." This was another thing that James was enraged over. What it took to make this thing was monstrous and involved his younger brother.

"And it's made of Chitauri nanomachines?"

"Yes."

"What is the difference between the nimp and the coalesced machine solution?" That was a question that the Director needed an answer to.

"The coalesced machine solution is programed to and is capable of creating and maintaining an army of Chitauri by crafting them out of any available living or recently living hosts. It also facilitates and maintains the Chitauri hive-mind and uses the Chitauri soldiers as hosts to replicate itself to create more Chitauri. It can also be given direct commands to accomplish certain tasks so long as it has the information needed for the task. Control of it is passive but can be active. It isn't purpose-built, it's extremely broad. The nimp, on the other hand, is purpose-built and limited in scope. Its sole function is to act as a medical probe, device, and worker inside of the body, one which is controlled actively instead of passively and doesn't create a hive-mind automatically." This was something that James was looking forward to getting rid of, he even knew how he wanted it done. The nimp was incredibly useful, but it could also be replaced with seidr instead. It wouldn't be so dangerous or disgusting then.

"It runs off of seidr?"

"Anthony modified it. It can run off of seidr, the arc reactor which is like seidr but isn't quite the same, and off of a standard electrical grid."

"Which is how he got it into the power grids." Tumultuous anger and relief played through Director Fury's mind. He was angry to know that his world was so endangered and relieved that it was going to be taken care of.

Frey was glad again that he hadn't touched the coalesced machine solution yesterday, glad that Sean stopped him. He didn't want to be a Chitauri as he was happy to be himself.

More anxiety filtered into Odin's thoughts. Midgard was covered in Thanos' foul blood, in the coalesced machine solution. It needed to be remedied quickly. The realm had to be protected.

As James and Director Fury chatted the construct went about getting the catheter set up, the IV bag attached, and the nimp injected through the catheter. Extending his unfolded seidr, James made contact with the nimp, commanding it to line up along the right and left collarbones in three places then to produce a glow that could be seen through the skin.

As the nimp was injected into the mannequin Frey looked down to see the gloves had activated. Each was producing a pale blue holoscreen. The right holoscreen told him how the nimp was waiting to calibrate. That holoscreen also had a countdown on it that hadn't started, as well as five output bars that were marked in fifths by percentage. Each one was at zero percent.

With them lit, the construct picked up two syringes of green pain medicine from the bundle of the side table. It injected the liquid into the small glowing dots on the collarbones. Each glowing dot got a third of a syringe injected into it.

"That's the pain medicine made from the polypodium caedes fern?" The Director still wanted to know how it was slipped past them. He hoped that was in the information that James gave him but was more glad that Sean gave him samples of everything. A little grimace crossed his face. Those samples were sitting unattended in his office where he was working when this began.

"It's one of the three pain medications that were made from the fern. There was an injectable liquid, a pill form for oral use, and an anti-nausea oral syrup medicine that was specially made for the damage done to Loki's throat during the sessions." Pity tinged the rage in James' mind. Loki, whether his brother-in-law or his sister-in-law, should never have had to go through this. It was another of the reasons why he was going to hunt Thanos when Anthony went to. More than likely all of his brothers would go with them. They would go together to hunt this monster. It was time for things to get violent, so James chose to speak up. "Things are about to get graphic." He made certain that his soul song of stillness was as strong as it could be, with the persistent undertones of hope. The construct picked up the drill from the fuel tank. It selected a medium sized drill bit and attached it to the drill. James glanced over to the two Kings to find that their attention glued to the scene before them while Director Fury was still doing laps around the chair and the construct.

The gloves' left holoscreen showed the inside of the mannequin from the nanomachines' perspective. It was divided up into six segments along the collarbones. Frey paid even closer attention to the holoscreen when he saw an up close view of the nanomachines. They were each the size of a blood cell, metal, oval in body with two legs on both long sides of the body. The slender legs had a joint attaching them to the body and another two joints. The four legs ended in tiny spikes that helped them move around quickly. At each of the rounded ends were two more legs. These legs were pulled up and out of the way. At the end of them were six tiny appendages that moved like fingers. On the underside of the oval was an opening rimmed in spikes. On the topside of the nanomachines was a shimmering, hexagonal sliver of pink crystal through which the traces of a circuit board underneath it could be seen.

The view from the control gloves holoscreen was interesting to Director Fury so he wandered over to get a closer look. This had a closer view of the nanomachines than they had yesterday. They were moving precisely to their destination. The Director wanted them off of his planet. Even the toned down nimp was still ridiculously dangerous. Since Jay could hack into the coalesced machine solution he was of the certain opinion that the Chitauri could hack into the nimp. Both of them needed to be off of his planet, not in the power grids.

As they watched, the construct leaned over the mannequin, revved the drill, then set about drilling a hole down into the mannequin's right collarbone. It drilled the hole over one of the three lit up dots at the end of the collarbone. The bone was breached with a sickening crunch. When that hole was done it moved on the second lit up dot in the middle of the bone, another crunch resounded. The four other lit up spots received the same treatment; a drilled hole and a miserable crunch. Little streaks of fake blood trickled away from the drill sites. The construct was done drilling the holes, so it returned to the supply box to pull out several large syringes of a dark tan and a pearlescent cream colored liquids. Two dark tan syringes were injected into the collarbones, one into each bone. The leads came next, with the construct grabbing one of the needles which lined up with the mannequin's upper body. It screwed the needle into place to seal the bone again. There were five more holes, and so five more needles screwed into place in the bone. Throughout the entire process the mannequin remained silent. There was no screams, wails, or stuttering grunts of pain. It was capable of those things if sensory input from its artificial nervous system reached the appropriate levels, but James hadn't turned on that feature when he activated it. Seeing the fake blood was probably going to be enough for most of the people there.

The anxiety in Odin's mind spiked when he saw little trickles of a crimson liquid begin to leak from the holes in the torn flesh. He could hear Loki's grunts and sobs as he was drilled into. At the same time he could also hear Stark's desperate mental chorus of 'I can do this', and thoughts of what might happen if he didn't do it. What added an extra basting of anxiety was him remembering Jay's own mental dialog, I'm sorry Loki, I don't want to do this, Maybe I can make it right someday. It wasn't even the boy's fault and he wanted to make it right. Odin banished the anxiety from his mind again with a near physical heave. This isn't Loki, just remember that and don't lose sight of why you're here.

Despair plucked at the edges of Frey's mind. The younger King watched the little machines make way for the metal of the drill bit, glowing a pale phosphorescent blue the entire time. It was an unyielding machine solution to what healers currently couldn't produce. There was no dignity in it, no respect or privacy. As wealthy as Anthony was, during the Dark Days he couldn't afford those things. Time robbed him of the ability to give those things to Loki, so Loki went without. The only, and cold, comfort that there was for him was that he and Odin were going to make a better cure. It would be one that could afford the dignity of the patient, with respect and privacy for them as well.

Anxiety was loud in Odin's seidr whispers while distress was loudest in Frey's seidr whispers. Sean was listening to how distressed Frey was and didn't blame him. This was a distressing display. As discreetly as he could he angled out his seidr from his core and extended it towards Frey to run gently over the skin of the upset monarch's chest. It was a gentle stroking that helped to ease the tension out of the younger King. He could feel how it helped Frey to feel that he was there. Sean was glad that he could help because he knew things were very close to getting much worse.

Since the construct was done screwing the six needles into place it reached for a syringe of painkiller and then a needle from above. The constrict worked quickly with machine precision to inject a series of places all over the mannequin's body, arms, and legs. Each injection point had a needle driven into the spot so that the mannequin was connected to the solar cell above it. All of the needles were touching bones. It was easy to reach the mannequin's hips and legs since it was naked. It only took a few minutes to have the strapped down mannequin fully connected to the solar cell, but more trickles of fake blood were running down the skin of the mannequin, onto the chair, and down its sides.

The wavering of the realistic fake seidr core in the mannequin flickered as the needles were being driven into it, just like a real person's core would. It disturbed Frigga because it gave her the distressing sensation that there was a person strapped down. She could see Loki there but chose not to look for a minute. The Asgardian Queen reasoned that she needed to continue to scan the environment around Odin since there were still Chitauri soldiers in the house. She was more honest than that though. She knew that she couldn't abide the thought that her child had to suffer through this just to live for a few more despair-filled years. There was no way that she could ease the pain her child went through. It was forever beyond her reach and having a reminder of that right in front of her face felt like a twisting knife in Frigga's heart.

The construct paused in its work again, so James spoke. "This is the end of Phase II Does anyone have any questions?"

"Is that real blood?" The Director really didn't like how real the blood made the mannequin look. It looked to him like he should be helping to undo those straps and get that person out of there, then call 911 for them.

"No, it's not. It's a substance which simulates blood and how blood acts for the purposes of testing. However, it's completely artificial." James glanced over again to see that the three monarchs were disturbed by this part of the demonstration. Sean still looked calm, but the young man seemed very well-disciplined.

Director Fury had another question, so he took advantage of the break to ask it. "Why doesn't Stark use the pain medicine on Loki now?"

"Unfortunately, Loki needed help to get into the rose tank. Anthony used a tremendous amount of it to ...train, Loki to sleep when she gets into the tank. It worked, she sleeps in the rose tank now, but in doing so the medicine lost its effect. All three of the medicines that were developed from the fern are now useless for her." James understood why Anthony did what he did, but that didn't mean he excused or accepted it. Doing that to Loki without his then her consent was an abysmal decision driven by desperation-induced madness.

"Do you think they would work on anyone else?" The drugs Stark had created interested Director Fury greatly.

"They'll work on anyone who hasn't developed a tolerance to them."

"Are they addictive?" This sounded like an amazing discovery that could benefit humanity greatly.

"No, not at all," James shook his head, "The only problem with them is that they aren't good over a long term because of the tolerance problem. It might not be a problem for humans, I don't know. It was a problem for Loki, I know that."

"Interesting." The samples of those medicines were going to go to SHIELD research and development to see if they could create a new pain reliever for humans to use, something without the problems that opioids had. "Thank you for the information."

"You're welcome. Does anyone have any more questions?" James wasn't surprised that the monarchs had no questions. It wasn't a mannequin that they were seeing. That was the problem facing them. Since they didn't respond he moved on. "It's time to begin." James spoke to the construct then to his guests. "Now we begin 'Phase III', which is the medication phase. This is the most violent phase of the process. Be warned." Just to be certain that they could make it through this James focused his soul song of stillness through himself, making it as strong as it could be, then aimed it at the monarchs.

Without the emotion that Anthony had during this phase, the construct moved to pick up one of the large syringes which was filled with the pearlescent cream colored liquid. It silently connected the syringe to the catheter and depressed the plunger. The mannequin was silent no longer though. Though it didn't cry out it still shook and seized, shaking the whole chair in the process. The straps drew tight, and the chair groaned quietly under the weight of containing those seizures.

As soon as the first syringe's contents were injected, the countdown on the right holoscreen of the control gloves began to count down. Frey looked away from the mannequin, from Loki's proxy, to the little holoscreen to see what it was telling him. This was the timer that Jay kept during the sessions. He could see how the nanomachines had gone to work as well in the left holoscreen. They were consuming parts of the mannequin's too-realistic-looking cells and sending out a vibration to the other nanomachines around it. This was genetic calibration. Frey caught himself before he wondered again what kind of mannequin this was. Director Fury was right in this, it was very realistic looking, worryingly so to Frey.

This seemed extremely wrong to Huskarl Ohlson. Even if it was a mannequin, it was a little too realistic. Its blood was spattering onto the floor in its shaking seizures. It was even more disturbing when he wondered if Prince Loki was subjected to this torture, and what it might have had to do with Void Sickness. The whole thing was unsettling, so he paid it no mind and went back to his duty happily instead of watching this horror unfold. His duty as a Royal Guardsman was always calming to him. He didn't think it would ever change.

Another syringe of pearlescent cream colored liquid was injected by the construct when the timer ran down. Little tears misted over Frey's eyes as the mannequin battered itself against the restraints then went still after the second syringe was injected. The construct stepped back then. On the holoscreen he could see the liquid flooding through its veins to soak over the bones as another countdown began, ticked down and ended. As Anthony spoke in his mind, so Frey whispered along with him. "I'm sorry."

"The solar cell will be activating. Please do not attempt to approach the chair while it's active as you could be shocked by a high voltage charge." James activated the solar cell through his seidr that was sunk into the whole set-up. Lightning streaked down the wires into the needles then the body of the mannequin from there. The mannequin thrashed about in its restraints, seizing again in the high electrical current. Bloody, burning mist steamed up from around the needles. The smell of burning flesh and hair filled the workshop. The output bars on the right holoscreen of the control gloves ran down to 0%. As soon as it began, it felt like it ended. The first hit had passed. Glancing over towards the Kings he could see how Frey had tears in his eyes and Odin had a hand over his own chest. Each of them were trying to keep a distraught look off of their faces, with varying levels of success.

It was in this moment that Sean was grateful to James for dampening the memories of this event so that when they relived the memories it wasn't as bad as this. The memories from Lady Audhumbla were also dampened in a way. He was grateful that they hadn't yet truly lived through this event. He used his extended seidr to continue stroking at Frey's scarred skin to try to ease the distress he felt at this. When he looked over he saw James looking over at him. Their gazes met and he could hear a seidr flare from James, I'm sorry about this. He flared his seidr in return, This isn't your fault. Thank you for being so willing to accommodate their desire to know more. It was a quick response that came. I just hope I haven't permanently harmed them, came the reply before James looked back to the mannequin. For an emmiki, he's a good man, thought Sean as his attention turned back to the mannequin as well. He noticed then that blood was seeping from the mannequin's mouth, dribbling down the sides.

Another short countdown began on the right holoscreen from the moment the lighting stopped shooting down the wires to shock Loki, or the mannequin. Frey was having a hard time not seeing Loki, and an even harder time not going over and pulling Loki out of there. It's not Loki. It's not Loki. It's not Loki. At the end of the countdown the wires lit up with power and the mannequin seized again. The chair groaned under the stress bearing down on it. No more blood came from the burned wounds in the mannequin's flesh. They were seared closed. The crackling hum of the electricity streaking down the wires was the only noise in the workshop.

Looking away from the mannequin who looked uncomfortably like his youngest son, Odin looked over to see the nanomachines crawling up and down the collarbones of the mannequin. They were inspecting it for something. Cracks perhaps? He wasn't sure of that but was sure that they were a welcome reprieve from watching the chair and the life-like mannequin.

The second hit ended, and another countdown began on the right holoscreen. The wires steamed with heat in between them being lit up with enough power to electrocute an Elder Realms dweller, like Loki. When the countdown ended the wires lit up again. A gush of blood came from the mannequin's mouth while the crackling hum intensified. When the hum reached its peak the unnaturally loud snapping noise of the mannequin's collarbones both shattering together resounded throughout the workshop. James stopped the power flowing down the wires. The third hit was done. Tendrils of steam were curling upwards from the needles.

Frey went from watching the nanomachines crawl over the collarbones to flinching as little as he could when the bones exploded from the inside out. The nanomachines formed chains faster than he could see to catch the pieces and hold them in place. Other nanomachines hunted down any tainted tissue. There was none so they had little to do. Without diseased tissue to bath in the cytotoxic antineoplastics the nanomachines took the blasted bone pieces and put them back where they belonged, forming a cast around the bones which looked to be regenerating quickly. No scarring formed over the bones, yet Frey could still see it there, the scarring that Loki had before he and Odin removed it. Only a minute later the bones in the mannequin were regenerated. The nanomachines left the bones then to filter through the skin and pool on the mannequin's chest, over its breastbone. The construct stepped forward to hold its finger in the little pool and absorbed the nanomachines into it. The holoscreens shut down.

The false seidr core was quivering in pain. Frigga could hear just a whisper of pain in the mannequin's seidr whispers. She took a discreet breath and looked elsewhere despite still being able to hear that pain. She hoped that James would withdraw the false seidr core soon, so it could stop reminding her of her son's pain.

A deep, sinking feeling spread through Odin's chest that he put his hand over. It was strange to him. Living through Loki's firsthand memories, and Stark's firsthand memories were a different type of pain to this. This was a cold and reasonably quiet. It brought a sort of helpless pain that he felt when he watched a session yesterday in the SHIELD meeting room. He wasn't a part of this like he was in the memories. He felt powerless to help Loki through it. This was what Jay went through, he realized. When he looked again he realized that this wasn't Loki, even though he thought it might have been.

Watching the nanomachines work up close was fascinating for Director Fury. He was glad that he stopped doing laps to get a viewpoint from right behind the holoscreens. They also made what he saw the day before more useful. When he saw on the holoscreen as it was projected up onto the large screen in the conference room was just a smear of colors. It made more sense now. The red was the interior of the body while the brown and cream were the drugs, the off-white pieces were the bone shards, the strands of grey had to be the nanomachines, and he thought that the black he saw in the picture was Loki's cancerous tissue that the nanomachines were handling. It all made sense. This would have made him smile if there wasn't a bloody body still strapped into the chair.

He stopped focusing his soul song of stillness through himself since the violent phase was done. Through the construct, James undid the straps, removed the needles, shutdown and withdrew the false seidr core, then shutdown and removed the mannequin. The construct held the mannequin in a bridal hold off to the side of the chair. In his unfolded seidr he mounted a Restoration Spell which he used to clean and finish repairing the mannequin, then he cleaned the floor and the chair. Now that everything was clean James unbolted the chair from the floor and disassembled it fully. The pieces were placed in the boxes in a more orderly fashion than they had been placed in there the first time. Before the last box closed he wrote in his mind an instruction manual. A Conjuration Spell mounted in his unfolded seidr. The spell released just above the last box to create an instruction manual that he had written. The manual went into the box and the lid closed and was secured. It would be ready to go if they ever needed it again. The bundling paper went back around the mannequin to seal it away. Turning back to his guests he asked. "Does anyone have any questions?"

Frey and Odin were still looking away, they were slow to answer. Director Fury had questions now though. "What kind of mannequin is that? It isn't a forensics mannequin; those don't bleed and have seizures."

Looking to the bundling paper wrapped mannequin, James hesitated. "They were made as a custom order for Anthony. He provided the parts and constructs to build the lab they were grown in. An advanced version of the cloning process through 3D printing was used with DNA donated by Anthony to be used as a template. They're printed around a computer in a brain shaped case with an artificial nervous system, and...," James hesitated again, "they were Jay's first major project on his own."

"The boy made those?! The little boy in the hallway!" Director Fury lamented quickly that he wouldn't be able to recruit Jay for the entirety of his life. SHIELD could use that kind of talent. Combined with his unique talents Jay would make an asset for SHIELD that the Director would be ecstatic to have. The boy could do more than the few jobs that he had in mind for him. The Director wondered how much more the boy could do.

Another small grimace crossed James' face. This wasn't the kind of thing that his nephew's talents should have been used for. The Kings were paying attention again, and Sean had moved his constant attention to James. He motioned to where the chair used to be. "Not entirely by himself. Loki posited that it would be possible as she and Jay were chatting one day. She laid out what would be needed, including the neural interface that she had come up with, the same one she used when she crafted Jay's body. It's why these mannequins can accommodate a false seidr core. When Anthony needed enhanced mannequins to conduct his testing on, Jay put the idea into practice." A frustrated sigh left his lips. James wished he'd acted sooner; this wouldn't have happened if he had. "Though Loki posited the idea she forbade Jay from telling his father what they were doing. When Anthony needed better test mannequins, Jay put the idea forward as his own and was forbidden from telling his mother what they were doing. They left him no real way to ask either of them for help, so he worked it out on his own. By the time he was done he'd created fifteen of them. He shouldn't have been doing this."

"These things were made from Anthony's lifecode?" It disturbed Frey that Jay borrowed his father's lifecode to make these soulless things. "What will you do with them now?"

At least one of them is going to the archives in their crypt. "I haven't really decided what I want to do with them. I'll probably dispose of them in some way." Reaching out with his seidr James gripped the bundling paper wrapped body and dismissed it back to his interdimensional pocket. He stowed his seidr back into his core then. "Their ultimate disposition will be respectful and take into consideration their origin."

"I see. This is well." Frey was pleased weirdly that the mannequins would be treated with respect. It was distressing that these things even came into being. He agreed with James then, Jay shouldn't have been involved with this project.

Odin was of the opinion that if Loki and Anthony had both known all of what was going on, then they wouldn't have allowed this to happen. Jay had been involved in many things he ought not to have been. Odin hoped that the mannequins might be destroyed, he couldn't see a reason to keep them.

Disposing of the mannequins was something that Director Fury could accept since they were made from Stark. He wanted to know the process used to make them though. That wasn't all he wanted, so he took a breath and hoped it would work out for him and SHIELD. "Would it be possible for SHIELD to have an explanation of the process used to make the mannequins. It sounds like an asset that the R&D department could use before human trials."

More hesitation tinged James' thoughts. Before he made his decision, he clarified. "It's not a clean process yet. Your people might have to refine it some. You understand that?"

"If it's far enough along to produce mannequins of that quality then it shouldn't be hard to knock the rough edges off." A child had designed it, so Director Fury wasn't surprised if there were some rough edges. It was fine though. He had some of the most brilliant adults at his disposal. They would figure it out.

"And you understand that it requires someone's DNA to make them? That the DNA used is able to be extracted from the mannequin?"

"They'll have extra security then. I have no problem being careful with assets of that quality." Some of their researchers with more exotic DNA wouldn't be good candidates for this, which was fine as well. They could find someone to use as a base template for these things. Director Fury was also willing to take his time to find the right person for these. There was another something he wanted to see if they could be used for, maybe replacing his agents on particularly dangerous assignments at the right time so that they didn't lose the agent, or perhaps even subterfuge operations. There were many possibilities for a life-like mannequin. He wanted to explore them. It was another upgrade that SHIELD needed that James looked ready to provide.

There was a keen light in the Director's eye that James didn't miss. There was more than human trials in store for the mannequins, he knew it. It might work out for the best though, so he plunged ahead, and hoped. "Get out your memory cube, please." The Director quickly pulled it out of his pocket to hold up for him. Unfolding his seidr he mounted a Learning Spell which released into the cube to impart a full understanding of the process as well as notes from Jay and his own thoughts on the matter. When the transfer stopped, he unfolded more of his seidr to create another Learning Spell which he transferred the enchantments that the mannequins would need into it. "Don't worry Formadr Frigga, there's no harm from this." From his interdimensional pocket he summoned a Jorthsteinn; a spiky, opalescent, white and silver stone about the size of a golf ball. It shimmered, gleamed, and slightly glowed in the light. A small shockwave traveled from the stone in a gale of white seidr. An aura of power emanated from it. James held it in his hands, switched his soul song to the soul song of blessings and twisted the song around the stone like a vortex to smooth the stone down into a perfect sphere. Stone dust poured off of it from where it was ground down. It touched his skin and sank into him immediately. The stone was ready to be used. He switched back to the soul song of stillness with hope as an undertone. Then he released the Learning Spell into the stone. It flashed bright white then calmed down again. The runes for the enchantments were burned into the surface of the stone next, so it was time to hand it over. "This has the enchantments that the mannequins need for their best functioning. Touch the stone to the mannequin's chest and the enchantments will transfer over. The skin will glow white. When the glowing stops the enchantments are applied. This stone has enough seidr for several thousand mannequins. I can get you another one when it runs out." James held out the stone to Director Fury who took it and placed it and the memory cube in his pocket.

"Thank you for that." Director Fury liked that he had a way to pursue the mannequins and a way to enchant them so that they would be more useable. Before he could ask anther question King Frey came up next to him to hand back the control gloves. James stored them in a box while the King asked his own question.

"What was that stone?" The power coming from the stone in the Director's pocket was still able to be felt. Whatever James had handed over, it was powerful, probably unique, and now in the hands of a mortal. Frey wanted one for himself to study it, as did Odin. When the small gale of white seidr flowed from the stone Odin wanted to know what it was. The power in that stone was rare indeed. The elder King flared his seidr to his Little Brother as he came up on his other side, Thousands of uses for multiple enchantments, from such a small stone that he poured no seidr into. What manner of stone might it be?

One that I want to know more about, came Frey's quickly flared response.

A smile touched James' face. "My friend Morgan gives them to me. He makes them and calls them Jorthsteinn." Being honest, James wished he would stop making them. The only reason he allowed it was because it bettered people's lives.

Jorthsteinn, world stone? That just heightened Odin's desire to meet this person. They could maybe teach him how to make them. "Morgan, your alchemist friend? Do you know what he makes them from?" A shiny stone or two. That was a very shiny stone.

James was very careful with his next words. Everything needed to sound ordinary, like there was nothing out of place. "I normally let Morgan speak to his own creations, but I know this involves purifying seidr." He would understand the process Morgan used better if his younger brother could articulate it better to him. Morgan was lucky enough to be able to articulate anything at all, so he didn't get angry at him for it. It was still frustrating, and more frustrating because he'd found his own process to make them, but it still wasn't what Morgan used.

It's not unique? Is this the shiny stone he mentioned? Now Frey knew that he had to have one to study. Purified seidr. White seidr? But it can't be white seidr, it's too powerful for that. Is he corrupting his own seidr to then purify it? That would be unreasonably dangerous. If not his, then whose? I need to know how he's doing this.

Morgan again? Is he another 'brother'? He can't be someone James works with. Who is Morgan? Director Fury was very interested in the magical stone in his pocket, but he was more interested in the man who made the stone. That man was another asset that the Director wanted.

Odin and Frey seemed particularly interested in the Jorthsteinn, so James summoned four more from his interdimensional pocket. A larger shockwave came from the four of them being summoned at once. It pushed gently at the people in the room. He smoothed them down with the soul song of blessings, absorbing the snowy dust from the stones as it fell on him then switched back to his soul song of stillness. Morgan wouldn't care if he gave the stones away, it was why he had so many of them. Morgan wanted to make sure he had them if he needed them. None of them had a fortune in the Elder Realms yet, so this gave them something to barter with. As the stones were smoothing down James unfolded his seidr to mount a Conjuration Spell and a Learning Spell. They released next to the stones to create four small booklets that held most of his work with the Jorthsteinn. His seidr stowed back into his core. His notes of where the stones came from where absent from the booklet. Those notes would expose his brothers then. He wasn't ready to do that yet. He was only willing to hand out the stones.

"Here's one for you," James handed a stone and booklet to Frey, "and two for you," another smile touched his lips when he handed over two stones and booklets for Odin and Frigga. "Sean, I have one for you as well." This would hopefully distract them from Morgan and focus them on the stone itself.

"Thank you, James." Frey was pleased that Sean hadn't been excluded from receiving a Jorthsteinn. It was a small gesture that received his respect. He immediately touched the booklet and wanted to know. The runes flowed up his arm towards his eyes to teach him what the booklet had to offer. He was amazed by the gift in his hand. It was a Royal gift for all the grandeur it held. He could use flakes shaved off of this to enhance his potions or even raise the amount of power his potions brought to bear. More and better alchemy could be explored with this stone. It still didn't tell him where the stones came from though. He still needed to meet and speak with Morgan. Since he wasn't going to that day and he didn't have his alchemy set there to beginning studying the stone, he gripped it and the booklet with his seidr and dismissed both of them to his interdimensional pocket.

A surprised smile touched Odin's lips at the obvious gift for Frigga, one of several. It earned the elder King's respect that his wife wasn't forgotten. No, James saw to her as well. He flared his seidr discreetly to his wife, I'll save yours for you. Odin held the booklet and wanted to know what was in it. His runes went streaking up his arm at the same time as Frey had wanted to know. Again, he was surprised at what he'd been given so freely. The weight of the gift far outweighed the actual stone and booklet themselves. Guilt tinged his thoughts for taking and giving nothing in return, but he didn't think that James wanted anything in return for it. He was struck again by how good of a man James was, to give such gifts as these and to expect nothing for them. "Thank you for this." Odin gripped the stone, which felt warm to his seidr, and the booklet and dismissed both of them to his interdimensional pocket.

"Thank you. You didn't have to do that for me." Sean took the stone, and it burned in his hand so much that he had to flare his sarammr out to lift it up so that it didn't burn his hand. He gripped it with his seidr and dismissed it to his interdimensional pocket. Holding the booklet let him want to know what was within it. Knowledge filled runes streaked up his arm towards his eyes, towards his mind. What he found was a series of probative experiments, recorded results, musings, trial and error and brilliant observations. It was odd though. The beginning was so abrupt that there seemed to be a missing beginning, at least that's what it felt like to the young man. Sean wondered what it was that didn't make the cut for what was in the booklet. It didn't seem like James to hide something embarrassing. He was more a man to own up to his mistakes, fix them, and move on. Even without the beginning what he held in his hand could be of great use to his clan. It was something he could bring home to Eidesh when he was explaining and apologizing.

What do I have in my pocket? This was another gift that the Kings seemed impressed with. More importantly to him was that Sean McCorrmick found it impressive. If a McCorrmick found it impressive then it was worth sitting up and paying attention to. It made Director Fury curious, and suspicious.

Thank you, beloved, Frigga flared her seidr to her husband. She appreciated the warning for the shockwaves that came from the stones. James respected her position as formadr without question. He even made things easier on her by asking if she was comfortable with things and giving warnings. That made it easier to protect Odin. She respected James for his efforts.

"Does anyone have any other questions?" James knew that once they had the chance to think about what he'd shown them and go over what he'd given them that they'd have many questions for him. More questions about specific things was welcome. If they got bogged down in the petty details than he could keep them distracted from the broader issues that he was dealing with still, namely his younger brothers. The more distracted, the better.

"Actually, I do." A little hesitation entered Director Fury's thoughts. He didn't want to push his luck, but he needed to ask. "What are you going to do with the chair? If you're just going to destroy it, I'd like to ask for it to go to SHIELD, for the audit of Loki's care. It would help us understand what happened to Loki, how Loki survived this, and what she needs now."

The Director made a good point, but they still needed the chair. There was perhaps another solution that would accommodate them both. "We still need the chair in case Loki comes out of remission. Her developing cancer again without the means to treat it being on-hand could be catastrophic, but there might be another way. If you want I can make you a duplicate to the original which will function in exactly the same way as the original."

"That would be fine. We want to study her treatment, not stand in the way of it." The Director was so close to getting a hold of a large part of Loki's treatment and didn't want to stop until he had it.

"What do you mean, 'out of remission'?" Frey didn't understand what James meant by that. The All-Speak Spell translated 'remission' as 'temporary recovery'. That couldn't be right though. He had, with Odin's aid, repaired the damage to Loki's lifecode. Void Sickness shouldn't be an option anymore.

A grim look came over James. "One of the reasons why there hasn't been a cure for cancer so far because the disease will succumb to treatment and leave the patient temporarily. If there's even a single cell of the cancer left then a recurrence can happen. Thus far, patients aren't cured, they're just in remission until a recurrence happens. For a Ewing's sarcoma 30-40% of patients have a recurrence, normally between 2-10 years from the end of treatment. Loki has been in remission for about seven years now. We're still keeping a very close eye on her. We don't want the cancer sneaking back up on her and us not knowing about it. As I said, a delay in treatment could be catastrophic."

"That's why we're so close to several cures for cancer. We're developing medicines and treatments which purge the body of all the cancerous cells," Director Fury liked knowing the recurrence rates and Loki's length of remission, it helped SHIELD to understand better, "We just need to finish up the long term studies."

A wonderful sense of relief hit Frey smack in the face. "Last night Odin and I went over every cell in Loki's body. We transmuted the cells which contained Void Sickness to regular, untainted cells. There isn't a single cell left of the Void Sickness in Loki."

"Yes, Loki is well again." Saying it out loud helped Odin to feel better about what he just saw. Loki wouldn't have to undergo that ever again. That process would live in nightmares, nowhere else.

"You were able to completely remove the cancerous cells?" James didn't know that, he hoped it was true.

James had a hopeful look on his face that was nice for Frey to see. "We were. Loki is free of the Void Sickness."

A sigh of relief gusted out of James mouth, and he smiled widely. "That's excellent news. I'm so relieved. I know Anthony will be too." Looking back to Director Fury, he spoke. "I have one condition for your taking custody of the chair. Loki cannot know that the chair still exists. She thinks that Anthony got rid of it, packed it up and sent it off to a scrap yard. She takes peace of mind from thinking that it can't hurt her again because it doesn't exist anymore."

"She has PTSD from this, doesn't she?" James nodded at Director Fury, and he nodded back. He would have been more surprised if Loki didn't have PTSD. "It's not a problem. Keeping secrets is what SHIELD does. I have no desire to remind her of this. Our counseling services are open to her as well if she's willing."

"I'll talk to her about it. She needs to talk to someone about the things that have happened instead of just ignoring it all." James unfolded his seidr and extended it out to pick up the boxes.

"Can you color the boxes dark grey and label them in yellow letters, 'D-O-S-1-dash-0-0-1'? It'll ensure that they go right to my office without anyone else opening them." Director Fury offered his helpful advice with gladness in his heart. Not only would this help SHIELD understand and assist Loki, but it would bring new technologies for SHIELD.

"Can do." More uncertainty edged James' thoughts. He hadn't been this open without people outside of the family circle since he was in college. It was unsettling for him to be this open now. His unfolded and extended seidr gripped the boxes while mounting a Conjuration Spell. The spell released to color and label the boxes appropriately, Then he moved them up through the house to sit outside with the rest of the boxes.

James' relief was as honest as Director Fury's desire to not harm Loki. The old Black Hand was moving away from viewing Loki as an enemy and towards viewing Loki as a friend. That was good. It pleased Frey to see it happen.

That James was so relieved to know Loki was finally free of the Void Sickness pleased Odin to see. It spoke to how much he actually cared for Loki as a person, not just as Stark's wife.

The only thing that neither Frey nor Odin liked was that they wouldn't be able to destroy the chair like they wanted to. Each of them wanted to violently tear the machine apart to destroy it with their bare hands. Frigga was the only one of the three monarchs that felt that this was a better end for the machine. This way would assist SHIELD to assist Loki, which it had become clear was the Director's intent. Loki could use the friendship of a Black Hand in her opinion. Someone who could provide a layer of protection from the shadows would be good for her child.

He extended his seidr out to his construct and lit it on fire. The flame burned hot enough to destroy the nimp within it. Its ashes fell to the floor as the fire quickly died down, so he stowed his seidr back in his core. This horrible affair was done, so it was time to move on to the next one. James motioned to the door and spoke. "What do all of you want to do with the medicines? Or do you even want them? They aren't all useable anymore, Anthony didn't store them properly."

"That's a shame," a light coating of frustration coated Director Fury's thoughts, "but I think we'll be fine," he motioned to the young man in the room, "Sean was kind enough to provide us with samples of all the drugs used; both in the sessions and before them."

A curious smile found its way into James' expression. "Did you get everything?"

"I gave them every drug which Jay determined could have an effect on Prince Loki, the medicines that were used by Lord Stark, the medicines made out of the polypodium caedes fern that Dr. Banner discovered, etoposide, Mal-A, Mal-B, the treatment plan with revisions and dosages, the medical records including internal views from the nimp, a calendar to match dates to, information on cancer, a GPS to locate the ferns, and write ups and addresses of various oncology clinics worldwide. Prince Edward showed me what manner of gift I could put together for them and gave his permission for that gift to be made and delivered, so I did." Sean rattled off the list of things he provided to the Lords and Director yesterday.

Respect widened James' eyes. "That's a very broad gift," he paused thoughtfully for a moment," and it will help lead to cures for cancer." He sighed softly, still not happy with how this happened. "I'll bring that up to Loki when I'm discussing this with her, that Edward believes that this will help save lives. He's rarely wrong in what he sees in situations." It wasn't what Edward saw that bothered James, it was the boy's execution of solutions that troubled the colonel. Shaking his head lightly, he looked to Frey and Odin. "Do either of you want the drugs?"

Frey looked to Odin who looked to Frey and Frey spoke first. "We could split them just to see what's left over?"

Nodding affirmatively once, Odin spoke. "Yes, that sounds fair."

"Alright, let me get them for you." Unfolding his seidr, James extended it to pull the few bottles of medicine left in the hidden rooms to himself and divide them evenly. He mounted a conjuration spell and released it to create two small boxes for the scant number of bottles that there were. The bottles went into the boxes which went over to Frey and Odin. Each of them took a box from him, then dismissed it to their interdimensional pockets. James stowed his seidr back into his core, and the hidden rooms were all taken care of then. "Do you want to go to the medical lab, where the rose tank is? Or would you like to go to the drone armory where the entrance to the cave is?"

"The medical lab." Both Frey and Odin spoke at the same time and speed. Then they looked at one another and chuckled. It was a small silly thing to laugh over but Odin was going to take anything he could get to keep his mind out of the despair he felt at what he caused his son to endure. Likewise, Frey felt silly but was going to take the laughter anyway since he too needed it to lighten his dark thoughts.

"I'll go anywhere." Director Fury was as eager to see the rose tank, or rose quartz generator, as he was the drone armory. Either held valuable information that he wanted, and probably more technology or resources to be had.

Motioning them out the door, James pointed them in the right direction. "The medical lab is just down the hall, past where Jay is napping." As he waited for everyone to walk out the door, he noticed the world come to a halt around him. Lady Sjofn stepped out of the currents of time before him.

A heartbeat after Sean felt a twinge in the pearl of seidr gifted to him by his Lady. It warned him that another Norn was near. When he looked back into the workshop he only saw James coming towards the door. There was no one else there.

Outside The Bounds Of Time

Vanaheim Royal Palace Guest Chambers

"Anthony, I'll be at my desk over here if you need me. Anthony? Are you listening to me?" Deep discomfort spiraled through James. Anthony was having a hard time focusing on what he was saying again. His younger brother hadn't finished sweating out the sickness brought on by powerful negative emotions. Little drops of rancid black rot were still beading up in places on his skin. Truthfully, the younger man still needed to be in bed resting, but he refused to stay in bed. When Lady Sjofn informed him that his younger brother was out of bed and wandering aimlessly around the room, he took a second to come and see what was happening. Anthony was looking for something to do, since he couldn't find Loki. That's when he set up a forge and started his brother working on some of the projects that they needed to get done. It was harmless enough work to focus his younger brother on. Since Anthony was forging components for small power relays he decided to get some paperwork done and give some thought to the restitution that he owed to the people who he accidentally helped Skuld to harm, as well as a few other things like the 'Lights Out Protocol'. That also needed to be disposed of and he had the time to do it. "Anthony?"

Hammer strike, hammer strike, hammer strike, fold, fold, fold, fold, hammer strike, quench. A chorus of simple actions repeated loudly in Anthony's head. He kept making the same thing and wasn't certain how many times he'd made it. The task seemed without a beginning or end. A sudden "Anthony? Are you listening to me? Anthony?" broke through the chorus. The voice was familiar but all he could hear was the rhythm of the hammer punctuating the metal singing in his hands. He grunted rudely at the familiar voice. He was busy making, making, whatever he was making. He didn't know and it didn't matter.

23May2023 – Early Afternoon

The Malibu California Mansion Of Anthony Edward Stark

At the mention of Jay, Odin went out the door and headed towards his grandson. He was eager to see his happy little face. The boy was already sitting up in bed and stretching before rubbing at his eyes. The shade over the bed was up and the glass of water was empty. A wide smile touched the older man's face as he approached his grandson and knelt down next to the little bed to help the boy with his boots.

Nervousness crept into the edges of Jay's mind when he saw his grandfather coming down the hall. Pulling the blankets back, he twisted his body so that his legs were over the edge of the bed. Now that he was awake he couldn't get back to sleep so easily. His internal chronometer told him he was napping for not even an hour. He didn't want to have to try to go back to sleep again. "I took a nap, Afi Odin. I don't have to take a longer one, do I?"

A gentle smile crossed Odin's face. The boy behaved so much like the child that he was. He preferred this behavior to his grandson acting like a servant or an 'AI companion'. The boy should have the freedom to be a boy in Odin's opinion. "Oh no. You did very well to take a nap. You don't need another today. Let's get your boots, we're moving on." He reached over to pick up the small set of boots and helped Jay get them on. His smile widened when Jay held out his arms to be picked up again.

"Can we be tall again?" Jay found that he liked being up high, and he liked being carried, even though it made him dependent. A hug is better than a wall, the digital boy decided then.

As much as Odin wanted to take comfort in spending time with his grandson, he acknowledged that there was someone else who might want a hug. "Go and give your Afi Frey a hug, I think he needs one. Then we can be tall together."

"Ok!" Hopping off the bed, Jay ran down the hall towards his other grandfather with a large smile on his face. The more he thought about it the more he decided that he really liked hugs. They were wonderful and warm and made him feel loved like he rarely did in his life before having a body.

Just before Jay ran straight into his legs, with a cheeky little grin on his face, Frey scooped up his grandson and gave him a tight hug, then set the boy on his hip. "Did you have a good nap?" Odin was coming down the hall towards them, so Frey flared his seidr to his Elder Brother, Thank you, brother. A smile and a flare saying, I thought you could use it, came quickly.

"I dreamed!" It was amazing to Jay that a nap could produce a dream, especially one so vivid.

"What did you dream?" Dreaming was a good sign to Frey as it meant that the boy was resting deeply. A smile spread across his lips at the happy look on Jay's face. He seems to be doing better with a body that fits him.

It began with a wide smile, "I was riding a winged horse across the sky! The clouds were clear, and the breeze smelled like roses," then came the confused look, "Then I looked down and saw that the forests were made of giant pink pickles with silver breadsticks for branches. That was a little odd. I'm not even hungry." That he was even able to dream in such a short period of time pleased Jay. He'd done well and he knew it. The fact that he had a strange dream didn't bother him since he was able to dream at all. His song marble seemed like less of a necessity and more of a nicety now. Despite that, he wasn't giving the marbles up.

"That's quite the dream you had." A little but honest chuckle left Frey's mouth. As he paid attention to Jay he could hear Odin chuckling as well.

Coming out of the workshop James saw that Jay was interacting well with his grandparents very well. He needed the boy's help end something however, so he walked over. Jay was just going from Frey to Odin when he spoke. "Jay, there's something I need you to do."

"What are we doing next?" Jay assumed that they were going to do the medical lab next, since that was where he and his father went after a session.

"Nimp was used in the mock session and was disposed of. I'd like to dispose of the nimp here in the house," James smiled reassuringly at Jay, "but I'd like you to reach out to it. It's time to deal with the 'Lights Out Protocol'."

"I can recall it all for incineration, but it'll take months for it to get back here. We're looking at a thirty percent loss rate once it starts crossing the ocean floor."

James gave his nephew a serious look. "We're leaving it in place." His nephew's eyes grew wide, and he looked like he was about to protest. "We're going to do a global network purge, and you're going to purify everything at the same time. We'll deal with all of it in one sitting. We're going to burn it all." Filthy shit.

A crafty grin spread swiftly across Jay's face. He knew exactly what a global network purge would do, and what the aftermath would be. "You want to repair and reinforce the power grids quickly."

Recall it from the power grids?! The coalesced machine solution! More hope tinged Director Fury's thoughts as he hoped that he understood what they were talking about and hoped that they could do it.

Nodding once, James replied. "I'd say that's the least we could do, considering the threat we posed."

"Appropriate restitution?" His Uncle Rhodey nodded again. Jay could agree with that idea. He even liked it. There was just one problem. "I don't know if I have enough seidr to do it all at once."

"I do. I'll lend you mine. We'll do this together. Is that alright with you?" It brought a wider smile to James face that Jay was eager to get this done. The coalesced machine solution had to be handled. The Lights Out Protocols needed to be destroyed.

"Where do you want to begin?" Jay pointed to the workshop, "We can go to the workshop. Afi Odin and Afi Frey can poke around the medical lab with Sean and the Director while we enact the purge and purify."

"No. We're going to do it here, in front of them. We're not upholding a harmful farce that doesn't even serve a purpose anymore."

"The security protocols serve a purpose! They keep us safe, away from harm, and healthy! Father makes very persuasive arguments for the security protocols, even if they are uncomfortable." Jay's gaze drifted down as uncomfortable sensation filled his chest. It was hard to argue on his father's behalf on this since it was so uncomfortable to be locked down. "Uncomfortable safety is preferable to a comfortable lack of safety, that's ..what father always says."

A stern look came over James. "He will never use that against you or your siblings again. If he does you are to let me know. If I have to remove you from his care until he gets his head on straight then I will."

While Frey appreciated that James was talking Jay into sharing more with them he wanted to know what Anthony had done to the children. He couldn't imagine it was something bad. Anthony loved his children too much for that. "What has Anthony done?"

Taking a breath, James explained. "Anthony can take direct, physical control of the children without touching them. It's an inborn ability, not a spell. He uses it to lock down the children to make them appear as normal children. He's afraid that someone will try to run off with them if what they are is made public. However, it's like putting them in shoes that are too small. It's restrictive, uncomfortable, and harmful." A sigh came from James' mouth as she shook his head lightly. "Loki made what seemed like persuasive arguments for not telling you. Since I hadn't met you and couldn't get to Vanaheim at that time, I couldn't argue against them. Now that I have met you I don't think those arguments have weight," looking between Frey and Odin, he spoke, "Both of you should know the truth about the children. I don't believe either of you will neglect the children if you know."

It was good that the Director knew that Stark could control his children. It didn't sound like a good thing to have happen though. It worried him, since he needed to recruit Jay. Besides that, it worried him that he was being allowed to see this. It had to be intentional. James wouldn't do this on accident. It was a statement. Director Fury wondered what kind.

"Loki didn't want me to know?" That stung and Frey wasn't going to deny it.

"Too many questions, always too many questions. Mother says that you would ask too many questions because you would see too much, so we can't be sensible." The bitterness in Jay's young voice was loud for the adults to hear. "I know she loves us; she wants us to be safe, it's why she agreed to the security protocols, but it's silly how often she says that." Jay looked up at his Afi Frey. "She's trying so hard to do what Amma Audhumbla told her to do, but it's all tangled up."

"I'll be aiding her to complete that edict. There's no need for her to hide so much. I'll have to explain that to her." Frey's voice was soft and kept a reassuring tone for his grandson. It still stung to have a reminder that Loki had been conspiring against him, when they had always agreed that they conspire together not against one another. He wanted assurances from her that they were going back to that arrangement.

"We'll both be explaining that to Loki. Lady Audhumbla has given both of us tasks to oversee," Odin caught his grandson's gaze, "Whatever you need we can provide, you just need to tell us what it is. You don't need to hide."

"Does undermining your grandparents so that they can't provide you and your siblings with the safety you need make you or your siblings safer? Does it make your grandparents, or your parents, your other uncle safer? You know the answer Little Hawk." James gave Jay a hard but sympathetic look. "Your father is not always right. He doesn't always trust when he should, and all too often he goes and does things on his own when he should ask for help. There's nothing to be gained by being untrusting here. So let's extend some trust to your grandparents and take care of a problem we have at the same time. Doesn't that sound better than being untrusting and afraid?'

Giving it some thought was faster than Jay meant for it to be. There was something, a temptation, that he was being offered. "It would be nice to not have to hide from everyone… maybe we could even go to a park, be in the sun light and be ourselves. That sounds nice."

"And all it will cost you is a little trust and being what you are. Let the fear go, Jay. Leave the security protocols behind. Come into the light. It's warm here." James smiled at his nephew whose resolve was crumbling.

Nodding twice, Jay answered his uncle. "Ok," his voice wavered with nervousness that was solidified into determination, "Let's do it!"

"Let me make the spike for you. Then we'll begin." First, James used his seidr to cut a hole in the hallway ceiling and extended that hole up through the roof. Second, he turned towards the empty section of hallway and unfolded his seidr. Most of it shot down his arm to marshal in his hand. Third, James mounted a Communications Spike Weave. Lastly, he snapped towards the empty bit of hallway, releasing the weave, which took the majority of his seidr with it into the spike. A thick spike that was tall enough to fit way up through the hole in the ceiling formed. As it formed, thin advanced communications equipment formed within it.

Jay noticed that there was something odd about this communications spike. It seemed loose to him. It didn't surprise him when his uncle condensed the seidr in the spike to two-thirds its original size. It did surprise him when his uncle condensed it a second time down to half its size. The second condensing gave the spike, which was still through the ceiling, a diamond-like appearance. Jay worried though at how much of his Uncle Rhodey's seidr was in this spike. "Are you ok, Uncle Rhodey?"

His seidr was already starting to regenerate speedily. Calm reassurance made its way into James' voice as he spoke to Jay. "I'm strong enough to handle this and what's coming, Jay. You don't need to worry about me." He motioned to the spike. "Come put your hand on it and open an Ascending Circle of Strength on your shoulder for me. Can you do that?"

When his Afi Frey set him down Jay went over to the spike and set a hand on it. "Theoretically, yes. Mother taught me how, but I've only done it once." Closing his eyes, he concentrated on what he was doing.

"I'm sure you'll do just fine." If pressed, James would have said that he was calm but eager to be rid of the coalesced machine solution, both from the house and the planet. It, and the nimp made from it, were filthy shit in his opinion. He wanted them nowhere near his family. They'd been there for too long. It was time for them to go. Good riddance to the worst rubbish.

His seidr impelled from his core to write into an unpracticed Ascending Circle of Strength that opened up on Jay's shoulder, visible through his tee-shirt. It was harder to create and hold in place than he remembered it being. Before he could ask to try again he could feel his uncle gently prodding at his circle with his seidr. His Uncle Rhodey was cleaning up the edges of the circle and holding it in a single location.

Unfolding his seidr from his core to mount a Descending Circle of Strength, it formed perfectly under James' hand. He placed his hand over Jay's shoulder and aligned the circles immaculately so that he could lend his strength to his nephew. As his seidr and strength poured through the boy in front of him the lad's skin began to shimmer silver, with little sparks popping up here and there. James switched his song to the soul song of blessings, focusing it through himself and aiming it at his nephew. His smile transformed into a little smirk when he heard his nephew gasp at the lucky strength in his hands and whisper, "I can do this!"

Sudden overwhelming strength and good luck surged through Jay, blowing his eyes wide and causing him to gasp. The bones of his little wings, three wavering silver Lines of Power wafting off of each side of his back, came up suddenly. He could do this, and he knew it. His eyes glowed pale phosphorescent white-blue with his soul. He stretched out his mind to touch at the communications spike. It too was marvelously strong. When he mixed the first two strengths with his electronic warfare suite he felt empowered to deal with the flood of coalesced machine solution that was washing over the world. Jay's soul moved through the communications spike, and he decided to borrow SHIELD's satellites, to show them what he was doing. If he wasn't supposed to hide anymore then he truly wasn't going to hide. A liberated joy came over him. It felt so good to have his wings out that he didn't notice when his feet left the floor by a little bit. It was fine since his uncle's firm hand was holding him steady.

"Wings!" Frey's whisper perfectly encapsulated his, Odin's, and Frigga's stunned mindset. These were the bones of the wings of a firehawk. Anthony wasn't the only firehawk. Frigga disliked that Loki was using Lady Audhumbla's edict to behave poorly. It was a mentally unbalanced attitude that she hoped her husband and brother could heal someday. Frey wanted to say that there were more now, but he knew that the children had always been what they were. It displeased him that they were so uncomfortable when they came to visit him. What he thought were growing pains from a Midgardian's naturally accelerated growth rate was a mask uncomfortably forced on them. That displeased him most of all. Odin couldn't be displeased though. His grandson was brilliantly beautiful with his small wings extended out so that the Lines of Power making them were shifting in the air around them like silver ribbons. He marveled at the mighty beauty before him.

Through the spike and out into the wild air waves Jay traveled. He made contact with every last nanomachine on their network and began to purge them. Through his contact he forced the nanomachine in SHIELD's phones into the position of the components that they were masquerading as before he purged them then purified the phones. After that he went to SHIELD's hellicarrier fleet and did the same thing, forcing the nanomachines into stable positions that became permanent in the purge and purification. Jay moved on then, the rest of the hellicarrier repairs would happen later. Whole cities were purged at a time after that. As the nanomachines were kicked off of the network maintaining them they began to self-destruct, melting down and fusing to the wires of the power grid they were hiding in. Every place that Jay liberated from the threat of the coalesced machine solution was purified in his silver fires so that whole cities sparkled in the midday sun or the midnight dark. Any who were near the wires when they were purified were themselves purified. For just a few happy moments most of the world was filled with the pure youthful joy that Jay felt for finally being able to free his wings. Even the most hardened misanthropes smiled as his joy uplifted them.

One city at a time Jay went carefully, gaining speed as he worked until he could find no more of his father's coalesced machine solution loose in the world. He checked the world over to see if there were any hiding, and even found nanomachines in the Chitauri ship in Wakanda. They were joyfully purged and purified from their network after he slipped into that ship through the communications array. The Wakandans too felt his joy. With the coalesced machine solution melted down and purified he turned his attention back to the house where his body was floating, first releasing SHIELD's satellites. There were tanks, tubes, tummies, and a telephone of coalesced machine solution to be dealt with, and three of those things he could get to. The coalesced machine solution in the stomachs of the Chitauri would be dealt with by someone else, probably his uncle. Silver fire exploded from Jay's skin as his soul came back to his body. The fires went chasing down the hall to the medical lab to purge and purify the nanomachines there as well. As with all the other nanomachines that he had kicked off the network to their doom, he purged these from the network as well. They too self-destructed, burning and purifying in his silver fires.

The last of Jay's silver fires swirled around Director Fury and lifted the phone out of his pocket. It floated up in front of him. "I still need the data on that!" The Director tried to grab at the phone but couldn't get a good hold on it through the fire. He didn't mind his booby-trap of a phone being disarmed, but he really did need the data from yesterday. He hadn't had a chance to download it yet.

Out of the unleashed strength flowing through Jay, he wrote it into a Conjuration Spell. He gently dismantled the phone and released the spell to replace the parts his father had tainted with the coalesced machine solution. He maintained the data on the phone while cleaning it, purging, and purifying the nanomachines, then put the phone back together and returned it to its owner.

When the Director's phone floated up and out of his pocket Frey suddenly remembered that he and Odin each had a tainted phone as well. He summoned his from his interdimensional pocket and held it up. "Brother, we should be rid of ours as well."

"Yes, of course." Odin didn't mind being rid of the dangerous device in his interdimensional pocket. Knowing what he knew now he was grateful to be rid of the foul device. He quickly summoned the tainted phone from his interdimensional pocket, held it up in his hand. "Jay, your Afi Frey and I each have a coalesced machine solution tainted device that we don't need."

The silver fires darted out to grasp both of the tainted phones. The nanomachines were purged and purified, the devices were incinerated swiftly. There wasn't even ash left behind. "It is done."

Jay flapped his wings once. It was a small flap, but it was enough to send him up and out of his uncle's grip. He floated around in a tight circle with a huge smile on his face. He curled into a ball then threw his arms and legs out, yelling loudly. "Yeah!" More silver fire exploded from his skin to fill the hall with a fiery joy that only burned the darkness in the walls instead of any of the people there. Without his Uncle Rhodey's power running through his own seidr, lighting his flames went faster than he wanted. Dizziness clubbed him in the head, calling his seidr back to his core and sending him down to the floor. A second before he unceremoniously met the floor he was scooped up out of the air.

A tolerant smile adorned James' face as he gently prodded his nephew's Ascending Circle of Strength with his own seidr until it disappeared and the seidr returned to the boy's core. Jay's core was mostly emptied now but was regenerating quickly enough for it to not be a concern. James broke down his Descending Circle of Strength and stowed the seidr back in his core, which was also low on seidr and refilling. Both Odin and Frey came quickly to him when he caught Jay as the boy fell out of the air and folded his wings in. Without making a fuss over it, he handed the boy to Odin and watched as Frey used a Healing Spell on him.

Through his Healing Spell Frey was able to check on his grandson. The boy was fine, his seidr core was low, that was all. Withdrawing his spell, he broke it down and furled his seidr back into his core. He ran a hand over the back of his grandson's head. "You need to be more careful, Jay." His grandson was panting lightly and lying against Odin's chest. It was hard to be too upset with the boy since he could still feel the aftereffects of the boy's unleashed joy. The memory of Jay's wings flashed in his mind again and he ran his hand over his grandson's head again. "You are no ordinary boy."

"You aren't just the son of a firehawk. You are a firehawk. Are your siblings firehawks? They must be, mustn't they?" Odin supported Jay as his grandson recovered himself. It was frightful to see him fall to the floor. Gratitude filled his thoughts that James was fast enough to catch the boy before his little head struck the hard concrete.

Sitting up and leaning back some, Jay looked up to his Afi Odin. "Yes. We're all ...born this way. Father is scared that if people know what we are then they might try to take us and use us for their own ends, so he tried to make us look like ordinary kids. I don't mind being normal, but it hurts to have our wings cramped up."

Harmony with James' opinion reached Odin's mind. This needed to stop. He looked over to speak with James. "Frey and I can handle this together. We can provide the children with a guard wherever they go. Are you going to try to convince Stark to stop this practice?"

"Anthony has two choices in this matter. He can stop doing this or the children will come to live with me until he stops doing this. There's nothing stopping me from taking custody of the children from him. I'm their guardian ad litem." James didn't want to take Anthony's children away from him, especially since Loki was pregnant again, but that didn't mean he wouldn't. Anthony's safety, Loki's safety, the children's safety were all important to him. He wasn't going to compromise any of them for the others. They were all going to be safe under his watch.

You're their guardian ad litem? Why?! That has to come with the court case. I haven't heard of any court case involving Stark and James. Is it like a will? That only activates when someone dies. Stark's not dead. What is going on here? Director Fury grew more suspicious at the circumstances. If you're his kids' guardian, then what are you to Stark? It was still a question that he had no good answer to, but at least he had one answer; what kind of statement James was making. It was one of benevolent power, of a wild and free friend that Earth could have. Unlike the mystery of James' relationship to Stark, this didn't displease him. If James Rhodes was offering his trust and friendship, and demonstrating what those could lead to, then the Director was all for it.

Both Frey and Odin accepted what James had to say at its face value. James was the Elder Brother and had the right to take custody of the children if he felt it was needed. Like him confiscating Anthony's belongings, it was an extreme solution, but appropriate in this circumstance. Odin breathed a sigh of relief. He too wanted his grandchildren to be safe and understood Stark's fear that people would come after the children, but harming the children to accomplish that safety wasn't a good solution. A relieved and worried expression came over Frey as the emotions vied for supremacy in his mind. He was relieved that James disapproved of the practice since he'd met them and found them capable. Worry couldn't be stopped so easily from invading his thoughts. Anthony would be flamingly angry if anyone tried to take the children from him, at least Frey thought he would. He had to admit that if anyone could do it, James was probably the only one. "Will Anthony be well with you having the children?"

"It won't be the first time I've pulled the children into my home. When he and Loki argue I normally keep the children while I try to talk them through it. Children shouldn't see their parents argue like that. It's not good for them." James shrugged slightly. "He occasionally complains to me about it, but he doesn't argue."

Arguments are spontaneous, transferring custody of children takes time. How are you doing this?! Director Fury wondered how different society was in the Elder Realms when the two Kings accepted this sort of intrusive family relations. When he saw Sean looking vaguely confused he felt vindicated in thinking this was weird.

He has fast custody of Lord Stark's children. Does he have custody of Lord Stark? The Lord would have to be disabled mentally for that to apply, wouldn't it? Sean couldn't think of Midgardian law that could allow for what he was seeing, and he didn't think that James was lying. He shook his head. Wondering at James' and Lord Stark's family dynamics wasn't what he was there for. He didn't think it was anyway.

"You've taken the children and he truly was well with the decision?" Frey knew he was right to think that James was the only one who could do it.

"He knows that I won't do it without just cause," James smiled at Jay who was looking better, "Sometimes everyone needs some space to calm down."

In that moment Jay came to understand why they went over to their uncle's house so often, and that he didn't mind. He liked going over to his uncle's house even though he'd only gone three times so far. Looking back to his uncle, Jay smiled widely, still proud of himself. "I did it, Uncle Rhodey! I'm so happy!"

"You did. What you did here has safeguarded billions of lives. They might not know, but I do. I'm proud of you, Jay." That the boy even included SHIELD in his work, which would help them to make the world a safer place, made him very proud. James turned to Director Fury, to explain the boy's actions. "Anthony's coalesced machine solution runs on a network. It has to in order to function. The way he programed it gives it extreme protection for the network against being hacked into, but, if you can disconnect the nanomachines from the network they're programmed to self-destruct. This is to ensure that there are no rogue nanomachines out there. When they self-destruct they melt down into a five hundred nanometer thin vibranium alloy coating to whatever they're on."

"Are you saying that the power grids are coated in vibranium now?" More hope came over Director Fury.

"The power grids, the inside of SHIELD's phones, I even felt him purge and purify the hellicarrier fleet. That will still need repair, which we will accomplish. The thin coating will repair flagging power grids and reinforce the rest of them without significantly increasing their size or weight. It'll also make it harder for people to cut the wiring to steal it." Having the coalesced machine solution mostly dealt with made James happy. The coalesced machine solution was a slaughter that his younger brother wouldn't be responsible for.

Joy was still roaming around in Jay's mind, causing him to chime in. "All the cities are clear, I even destroyed the nanomachines in Wakanda, the extra in the house, and in your phone. I kept the data on your phone too! The only coalesced machine solution left is in the Chitauri and the whale in the basement," a wide smile spread across the boy's face, "There's almost none left on Earth."

The mention of the whale reminded several of the adults there that the cave beneath the ocean waves still needed to be handled. Director Fury was one of those adults. He still needed to see that 'whale' but was truly grateful that the rest of the nanomachines were dealt with. "There's none left?"

"None of ours, and none of the ones in Wakanda. Those are the only ones I could find." It didn't distress him that there were ones in Wakanda that he hadn't known about. He triggered their self-destruct too. It was easy.

Placing his hands on his hips, Director Fury whistled softly. "Damn," he looked back up to Jay with a smile on his own face, "Your uncle is right. You just made billions of people's lives much safer. Thank you for that." Relief washed over the old spy and for a few moments he let himself just enjoy it. The data on his phone was usable, his people weren't in danger from the coalesced machine solution, and the power grids were bolstered. There were rarely such victories that were so easy, so quick, and with no casualties. This was an unqualified win in his mind.