Work Text
Steve Rogers
Captain America felt the world spinning, he had woken up to find the world had moved on without him. So many decades in the ice and he woke up a stranger in his own country, and with hard truths that he did not want to accept. He was pulled off the unfamiliar streets by a one-eyed man and led into a diner and had him sit in a private corner booth. The man ordered a strawberry milkshake and Steve ordered a cherry pie and coffee, more or less to seem normal. Once the waitress was gone the man looked at Steve. “My name is Nick Fury. My people were the ones that found you.” Steve nodded and looked at the table. With a sigh Fury asked a personal question, “what do you know about your father?” “He died before I was born, due to mustard gas,” Steve answered not sure where this was going. The question came out of nowhere and made Steve nervous. Fury nodded and reached into his pocket and pulled out a phone, not that Steve knew what it was. He played with it for a few seconds then turned the screen over to him, it was a picture of his shield, or the backside of it. “Do you know the scribble?” Fury handed Steve the phone to see the writing. Looking at it closely Steve knew it to be Irish, something that his mother made sure to teach him. “This shield has been inherited to the son of Nuada.” He looked at Fury and shrugged as if to say, that’s all I got. “Interesting,” he answered then took his phone back. He mumbled something to himself and placed it on the table. Steve was getting annoyed with this series of questions, Fury acted as if there was more that Steve should know. “What’s going on?” “This might be hard for someone like you," Fury answered looking straight at him, "raised in a belief that there is only one true god and to find out that all those pantheons of old are real that must be a real shock.” “What?” Fury looked at him in confusion, “oh you don’t know. I thought they had told you during the war. What with giving you the shield.” “I’m confused.” Fury gave a grin that made Steve nervous, however the waitress had arrived with their food, so Fury was quiet for a moment. Finally once they were totally alone Fury spoke again. “They exist, these gods. I mean like Zeus, Thor, gods like that. Much like in the stories they would come to Earth and produce children. Some children live their lives normally never even knowing. Others, though, like us are called scions, those gifted by our parent.” “Say I believe you. Why didn’t my mother tell me? Why was I a skinny kid until the serum?” Fury laughed at his questions. “You’re kidding me? Most of us don’t know until we’re adults. Something usually happens to make them realize that we are worth their attention. I didn’t know until I was in my twenties and worked for the government.” Fury took in a deep breath and looked out of window, “my mother didn’t know my father. She was a single mother and my grandparents helped raised me.” Both were quiet as Steve ate his pie in thought. This man was so sure of himself, that all of this was so true. It made no sense to Steve. If this was all true, did his mom ever know? If she did, why did she not say anything? Finally Steve finished his pie and took a sip of his coffee. “I’m going to need some evidence.” Nick Fury smiled, “well then come with me. I’ve got things to show you.”
Donald Blake
Jane Foster handed Dr. Donald Blake a note reminding him that she was leaving early to catch a plane. “You could say something Jane.” “Oh, I know,” she said as she sat back down behind her desk, “knowing you though.” Don chuckled and asked about any patients. “Well, he’s not one, but there is a guy in B. He says he knows you.” The man in room B was a tall, thin man with black hair that hung at the base of his neck. He looked nervous and tired, and his clothes looked like he had just picked them off the floor. “Loren?” “Hey Don,” the man replied and gave a smile. “Are you okay Loren? You look like hell.” “Oh, I’m okay. I’ve just been a bundle of nerves since last night.” Loren hopped off the examination table and reached into his pocket. He pulled a coin out, “two years clean.” Don grinned and approached the Loren. “That’s great, this is great Loren.” Loren nodded, grinning like a kid, and dropped the coin into Don’s hand, which caused Don to look at his friend confused. Was Loren giving him his coin or was he just allowed to look at it. “I talked to my dad. He’s agreed to let me go him and work at his business.” “You’re going back to California?” “Better late than never.” Don nodded, “did you tell your sponsor?” “Yeah, when I got the coin,” he took in a deep breath, “he’s gonna tell the DAA, and he’ll send me info on groups over there.” Loren hugged Don suddenly almost knocking Don's walking sticking away from the man and told him that he’ll call for updates. “You better,” Don said hugging him back. “It’s going to be mighty lonely in New York without you.” “Oh please, we haven’t hit the town since college.” After dealing with the “House” jokes due to his leg for the rest the day, Don was relieved to be home. However, as he wandered into the kitchen, he stopped dead and groaned at his table. A raven was perched on top of one of the chairs, and around his neck was Thor’s Hammer, the symbol of Don’s father.
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Tony Stark
It was a forge hammer that sent Tony into a fit. “No,” he yelled facing away from the coffee table that presented the hammer. “No old man! I’m way to busy, and I’m not in the mood.” The hammer shook on the glass coffee table. “Especially on that table.” “Just answer your father,” Pepper argued as she came up from behind. He spun around growled, “why?” His chest glowed brighter as the arc reactor reacted. “Tony, you remember the last time you held off on talking to him for so long?” “I lost half of the Malibu house?” Pepper gave him an annoyed look until he picked up the hammer and threw it in the air a few times, mostly to wait until Pepper to leave. Getting the hint, she dropped off her paperwork and quickly left the penthouse. Once he was alone, he used all his arm strength and threw it at the farthest wall. The hammer struck the wall and flames grew from the hammer. The flames crawled along the walls, ceiling and floors as if they were eating the penthouse revealing uneven rock underneath. The new room was dark with only a three fire pits lighting the area, and the place was cluttered with forging tool and stations, reminding Tony of his own lab. At one of the fire pits was a tall, well-built man covered in soot and sweat that was heating the metal of a sword. The man called Tony over never taking his eyes off his work. With a sigh the billionaire genius made his wat over and took a seat at the nearest stool. “How do you fare son,” the man asked, picking up a hammer and striking the metal. Tony shrugged and watched the hammer alter the metal. The man sighed at Tony being quiet. They remained quiet until one of the blacksmith’s helpers a cyclops entered the room. The man called him over and gave his work over to the helper. His stood up straight and stretched the kinks out. “Come with me Anthony, we shall wine while I explain.” Without looking he limped out of the room. Tony rolled his eyes but took his time to follow. “Can you make sure he eats,” the cyclops asked as Tony went by, “Aphrodite has been here recently, doing what she does best with him.” “Ah,” was all Tony said, then nodded and quickly followed his father.
Bruce Banner
“Have you ever heard of SHIELD,” the red-haired woman asked making herself comfortable in his only chair. Bruce had no idea how this woman found him in the middle of nowhere India, but at the mention of SHIELD he can give a good guess. He could also guess that because of SHIELD she was able to slip into the village and into his small home without anyone knowing. He certainly didn’t, he was out on a medical visit. Still he shivered at the name. “So, you have.” “Not in the best light,” he answered flatly. The red head nodded, “with your family, I don’t doubt it. I’m here though to talk to you about the possibility of working for SHIELD. To her confusion, Bruce began to laugh. “Dr. Banner? “Me? SHIELD? The only way they want me is in a box.” He turned his back on her as if this was the end of the conversation. “We need your expertise.” He turned back to her, not believing what he was hearing. “Radiation?” “No. We know about your family, and what you were taught. You’re the only one who can tell us what we actually need.” “You need Banner?” “As our primary. The Hulk is secondary.” Bruce nodded, because of course they still needed the big guy. The woman stood up and approached Bruce. “How should we proceed Dr. Banner?”
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The man introduced himself to Steve as Clint Barton, then asked him point blank who his parent was. Steve blinked at him in confusion, not sure how to answer him, or if it was even a good idea to ask such a question in the open. Even if they were at a dock, at ten at night, alone waiting to pick up two men.Clint shrugged once he realized that Steve was not going to answer and looked at the dock that they were at. “My dad is Hermes.” “You’re very open about it.” Clint shrugged again, “some of us grew up knowing. I was taken away and raised by a family of followers.” Clint flopped onto the nearest crate and began to look at his nails, “by the by. How long are we supposed to be wait?” “As long as it takes for our two pick-ups to arrive,” Steve told him as he leaned against the light pole they were under. Clint rolled his eyes but pulled out a coin and began to roll it between his fingers. An Audi R8 pulled up only a few minutes later and two men climbed out of the car. The passenger headed to the trunk and began to pull out a few bags. The driver looked at his phone and played with his keys for a bit before the other man joined him on the driver side of the car. They began to talk, the driver getting annoyed. “Happy, I have my suit.” “You know I worry Tony.” “I know Happy, but not in front of the straights.” “Please Stark,” Clint yelled at the man with a grin, “the only straight one here is tall and blond here. As far I know.” “Barton you ass,” Tony yelled then turned his attention back to Happy. After what seems like a few minutes, Tony gave Happy his keys and watched for the man to drive away. Once gone Tony shrugged a backpack on and picked up a duffle bag and a briefcase. With a last check he approached the two men. “I’d figured that Fury would send you.” “We are the only ones that seem to get along.” Clint gestured to Steve and introduced him to Tony. “And Steve, this is Tony Stark of Stark Industries.” “Howard’s kid?” Tony and Steve shook hands, “That’s the man my mom married. If your Steve Rogers, then you must be Captain America.” Steve nodded, “you know me?” “All thanks to Howard,” Tony said with a bit of a bitter note. Clint sneered at the two of them, “we get it Tony, you hate the old man’s guts.” “This is quite comfy,” a blonde man spoke limping from a car. “Oh finally,” Clint yelled at the new man that limped up, “you must be Dr. Blake.” “Yeah that’s me.” With a sigh of relief Clint stood up and went to shake the man’s hand. He led Don over to the others and introduced them to him. “Never thought Stark would be one of us.” “Please,” Clint spoke shaking his head, “with a brain like his, where else could he have gotten it from?” A cough from Steve warned Clint that he should focus. “Okay, since we are all here, let’s get going. The carrier awaits.” What about my car,” Don ask pointing at the street, “I’m not leaving my car out here. Lord knows what’ll happen to it.” “SHIELD owns the dock. We can pull it into one of the buildings.” With a sigh, Don handed over his keys to Clint, “it’s the red Toyota.” The four men were quickly shoved off the helicopter once it reached the carrier. It quickly left as a jet came into view. Clint led the others, shoving Tony in front of him to the awaiting Fury and two other agents. “I didn’t expect you to come Stark.” “Couldn’t turn down something like this… whatever this is. Plus, once I heard Clint was involved, I couldn’t say no.” “He’s making you more arrows,” the male agent asked as he played with his phone. “He always does Coulson,” Clint said with a grin, “that’s why I like him.” “Is that all you like me for?” “Would you two take it somewhere else,” Fury asked with an annoyed tone. Tony raised his hands and focused on the landing jet. The engine stopped, and the back opened, with Bruce and Natasha walking out. Both Tony and Don grinned at the sight of Bruce Banner. “Easy boys,” Coulson called to them like a father, “you don’t want to scare him.” Tony ignored him and approached Bruce. “Dr. Banner?” Tony held his hand to Bruce, “Tony Stark. It’s an honor to meet you. I’ve been reading your work, and I would live to talk science with you later.” Bruce stared at Tony for a few seconds before he shook hands with him. “Mr. Stark.” Tony’s grin grew wider and shook his hand harder. Then he threw his arm around Bruce’s shoulder and led him to the group. As he passed Natasha Tony gave her a hello, then asked if her visit to the ranch was fruitful. “Careful Tony, I might throw you over the edge,” she warned him. Tony shrugged as he continued to walk back to the group.
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It had been barely a day since he landed in Los Angeles and almost two since he talked to Don. The man’s nerves were on end, mostly in fear. He played with his necklace, running the runic pendant up and down the chain. His cellphone buzzed with a text message, which made him jump. He quickly picked it up and opened the message. Are you coming in? Or are you going to hide in the hotel room? Loren sighed and rubbed his eyes with his free hand, he dreaded his brother texting him. I’m coming. I just need a rest. He stood up from the hotel and slipped on his jacket. He opened his phone again and texted his brother, letting him know that he was on his way. Finally! Fen is in the lobby of your hotel. “Of course, he is,” he muttered to himself as he tucked his phone into his jacket pocket. He quickly checked his pockets to make sure that he had everything. Then he realized that he was purposely taking his time. With a sigh he braced himself to meet his brother. He found Fen sitting uncomfortably in a lobby chair surrounded by children. Fen looked like the type of person that parents would not trust to be around their kids. Fen, like the rest of the family was tall. Loren was the shortest a 6 foot 2, and his brother had a few inches over him. Fen though was a body builder, with his broad chest and muscular body. Jor, the other brother described him as the most Asgardian looking of them all. Something that Fen despised, and their father had to remind them to not even mention them. Fen’s grey hair was tied up in a tail and his yellow eyes were source of interest to a few kids, and the youngest pulling on his beard and mustache to see if it was real. Loren chuckled at the silliness of the giant man, surrounded by children and in a chair too small for him. His brother’s ear twitched, and he began to look for Loren. Once he got his brother’s attention he quickly made his way to save his brother from the mob of children. “How long have you been here?” “Long enough to discover that she,” he answered pointing to a little girl that was watching him, “likes wolves.” “Oh she does,” Loren questioned with a smile. After a quiet moment Fen told the children that he had to go, which caused some of them to groan. “Back your parents. I got to get back to mine.” Fen slowly stood up and stretched. “Ready,” Loren asked, “or do you need a few moments?” Fen gave him the look of death, “no I’m ready. The chair hurts and everyone’s smells are giving me a headache.” “Where are we heading?” “Where do you think?” Loren nodded and allowed his brother to lead him to his jeep. “Still work there?” “Where else would I work?” Fen Pulled his Jeep into a parking lot behind a nondescript two story commercial building. Without waiting Loren jumped out of the Jeep and made his way to the back door. “Can’t wait Loren?” “I just want to get this over with.” “You honestly think dad will want you back home just to give you hell?” Loren sneered as Fen pulled out his keys to unlock the door. “With dad? It could go either way.” Fen just shrugged and unlocked the door allowing Loren in. Loren rushed in, only to bump into his other brother. While Fen was a body builder, his other brother, Jor, was thin, thin enough that sometimes Loren felt fat around him. Jor’s red hair was slicked back, and he was wearing his usual buttoned shirt, dark blue vest and dark blue slacks. The pale man looked Loren over then finally spoke. “You look better Loren.” “So, I’ve been told Jor.” Jor chuckled and told him that their father was upstairs. “I would suggest you do so soon. We’re opening up in an hour.” Loren pursed his lips and looked over at the staircase, not sure about heading upstairs. “Do I have to drag you,” Fen asked slipping off his leather jacket. Loren shook his head, and after taking in a deep breath, made his way upstairs. Loren was told that most of his father’s children barely made it past childhood, they were either like his brothers, “monsters,” or they were like him, human. Either way the Aesir seemed to destroy them out of spite, or for fun, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was his father watched many of his children die by the hands of those he had once thought of friends. As such when his cult offered a woman to bear him a child, he took it upon himself to raise and protect Loren. He never let Loren forget how lucky they were that life gave them this, and Loren was always grateful to his father, even if he never showed it. Loren knocked on the door then entered the office, which was small with a desk and a computer with an office chair, a wooden table chair and a few file cabinets. His father was sitting in the chair looking at something on the monitor. As opposed to Jor, father allowed his short red hair to curl, which made him look much younger than Jor, though as opposed to Jor, father had a slight hint of a beard and mustache. “Sir?” His father turned his gaze away from the screen and looked right at him. It was quiet for a bit then he smiled, “Loren.” Before Loren could even open his mouth to say something, his father had gotten up and approached Loren, then quickly grabbed him into a hug. Loren held his breath in shock as his father held him for a good while. Finally, he let go and looked at his son. “Look at you, all cleaned up.” He gestured for Loren to follow him to his desk. Once they were at the desk and Loren had sat down in the wooden chair, his father opened a file cabinet and pull out a large box. The box was made of dark wood and on the top was decorated with a golden tree engraved. He placed it on the table and looked at Loren. Loren’s eyes went wide as he recognized the box. With a smile his father spoke, “go on. You deserve them back.” Loren leaned over and grabbed the box, then placed it in his lap. With a deep breath he opened it and gave a smile. His bracers were just as he remembered them, the leather was still dark with a tree on each one, with a snake below the tree on the left and a wolf below the tree on the right bracer. He picked up the left one and slipped it on. He flexed his hand to enjoy the feeling of the bracer. Once he was happy, he quickly picked up the right one and slipped it on. Loren began to laugh as he felt his powers come back, he wondered why he went to drugs when this was a rush. “Glorious.” “Miss it?” Loren nodded at his father’s question and began to fidget with the strings to tighten the bracers. “I had forgotten the feeling.” His father nodded thoughtfully and continued to watch his youngest as if it was Christmas day. “Loren,” his father finally said after a few minutes. Loren looked up at his father, “yes sir?” “We need to talk about your new job.”
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Coffee, as far as Tony was concerned, was the drink of the gods. Before they even began the meeting, the genius had gone through three cups and had poured out his fourth complaining how small the cup was. “Just sit your ass down,” Clint whined. “I’m standing right here,” Tony pointed out, “You can start.” “If you wish Stark,” Fury answered in a mocking tone.” His faced the rest of the group and began the briefing. “SHIELD for those who don’t know, was created to track and handle threats aimed at Earth, both mundane and not. As such we have a registry of Scions.” “Why?” Nick turned to Steve, the one who asked the question. Steve had an upset look on his face. Tony snickered on the question, “ah that. With that they can keep track of us. You know if case we act up.” “Or,” Fury spoke interrupting Tony, “their parent is one of the more questionable ones.” Don looked annoyed and said that they know about this and if Fury could please get on with this. Fury took in a deep breath, “we’ve gotten a report of a disappearing Scion.” He tapped on the table and a screen rose up from it. It turned on and after a few touches Loren’s ID picture appeared, and Don’s eyes grew wide. “Meet Loren Olson of Los Angeles California. Like a few here, he was raised knowing of his father. At some point he lost his relic.” Apart from Steve, the others began to shift uncomfortably. Steve noticed but didn’t say anything, he could ask later. “How did you lose him,” Bruce asked rubbing his head. “He stopped going to his anonymous group meetings and has blocked himself from our views,” Fury replied, “we had an agent in the group and one day he left and told no one.” Don shifted in his seat, he had known Loren since his first year of college, how did he not realize this of Loren? Why did Loren not say anything? Don reasoned that to be fair, he didn’t say anything when his dad visited. “So,” Tony asked distracting the others, “he’s a regular human. I doubt he had taken the jump to god hood yet.” Fury gave an annoyed sigh and shook his head, “I don’t need to remind you that just because he lacks his power doesn’t make him not dangerous.” “Especially when daddy is Loki,” Clint noted as he played with the clicker pin. Tony scowled and looked back to the coffee maker. “Are we talking about Ragnarok,” Bruce questioned. “It’s possible with Loki.” “Excuse me,” Steve asked slightly raising his hand, “what is Ragnarok?” “The end of it all,” Don answered, “according to the Aesir.” “And as such we need him found and we need to make sure that the end of the world does not happen. So, our bosses picked you all to handle this situation.” The room was quiet for a moment before Tony slammed the empty coffee decanter down. “This is fun and all,” he said with an annoyed look on his face, “but where do we start? I can guess SHIELD has looked at everywhere here and have found no information. That did work, so what are we supposed to do, who would know?” Fury grinned and turned his head to Don who had more interest in his hands than Fury. “Dr. Blake.” Don swiveled in his chair, doing his best to not look at anyone, “I may know where he could be.” Steve found himself in the mess hall with only Tony to talk to. Clint and Natasha had gone into their rooms to pack. Bruce had disappeared into a room alone, claiming that he needed to meditate, and Don had just disappeared into the carrier to be alone. Tony had sat at a table by himself after making a call for using his own transportation to wherever they needed to go, stating that a SHIELD jet would make them a big target or scare away Loren. Steve sat across from him and began to poke at the chicken that he was given. “Mr. Stark.” “Ugh,” Tony replied making a face and looked at Steve, “call me Tony. Mr. Stark is just too formal.” “Then call me Steve.” The other man smiled and nodded and placed his phone down. Steve took in a deep breath, “we need a plan.” “Do we? What is there to plan? We can’t do much right now. We go to where Dr. Blake tells us to go. Once we are there we either hit a dead end or a sliver of hope and we go from there.” “Sounds like you’re not taking it seriously.” “Oh, I’m taking it seriously,” he replied and unbuttoned his shirt, where there was a slight blue glow under his undershirt. With a sigh Tony lifted his undershirt to a blue glowing, circular, metal thing embedded in his chest. Steve took in air through his teeth. “This keeps shrapnel from entering my heart. This was my father’s gift to me. He gets upset he can remove it.” “You’ll die.” Tony nodded and lowered his undershirt, “I may not act like it Steve, but I’m serious. It’s just how I deal with all this.” “All of this sounds horrible.” “It is,” Tony agreed buttoning up his shirt and looking at his phone that had lit up, “when you grow up knowing all of this and raised with SHIELD education, you get used to some horrors.” Tony picked up his phone and played with it, apologizing saying that it was for work. “Can’t get away from it.” “How did Howard take it?” “Oh, he knew,” Tony answered with a look of disgust, “he planned it. Hephaestus was his patron god and so to get into his good graces, allowed his god to have a one night with my mother.” Steve wondered about his own mother once Tony went quiet and worked on his phone. Did she even know who his father was, and was she a follower of his, and was a surface Catholic? Did the man he was told was his father did the same thing that Howard Stark did. Did Nuada pretend to be a human and actually loved Steve’s mother? This conflicted Steve, these gods were supposed to be the ‘good guys,’ but these questions of his and Tony’s story made his stomach hurt at the thought of gods doing such things. Tony seemed to have noticed the upset look on his face. “You okay there?” “My parent is the god of justice, but he allows the use of people like that.” Tony shrugged, “ah. If it makes you feel better he may not have been the one to do the deed.” “Pardon?” Tony smiled and leaned back into his chair, “I’m assuming it’s over what you think your parent did.” Tony shrugged, “just because someone did the deed doesn’t make them a parent. Take Clint, he calls Hermes his parent, but Artemis is his birthparent.” “But why did Hermes take Clint?” “Well one, Artemis is not a big fan of men, so her gifts go to her daughters. Hermes must have seen something in Clint that he liked. He’s had his gift as long as I’ve known him.” While that somewhat eased Steve, it was still the fact that some god did this and it was a norm to the point that people would not only question it but encourage it. “Just don’t let Clint know what I told you,” Tony said and looked at the phone again. Steve nodded and began to eat the chicken, only to stop eating, these dark thoughts made him not hungry. “The jet should be here in twenty minutes. I told them Los Angeles since I got a place in Malibu.” Tony looked over at Steve, “I’m not going to say I understand what you are going through. However, I have had those thoughts. There is not much that we can do.” “Are you sure about that?”
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Once they were in the air the group made their way to the aft of the plane where two couches were in a separated section. Tony sat himself at one of the ends of one and made Bruce sit next to him, with Steve at the other end. Natasha and Clint sat on either end of the other couch, forcing Don to sit in the middle. The flight attendant took their drink orders as they made themselves comfortable. They talked about the plane until the attendant had delivered their drinks, once he left the area Tony looked at Don who was looking at his soda can. “So?” Don looked up and took in a deep breath. “So, his father or whoever he calls his father owns a club called Elysium.” “Do we have an address,” Natasha asked. Don shrugged and told her that he had never been to L.A., so Loren never gave him an address. Tony chuckled, “it’s near Palms and Overland? Or at least Overland is near it.” Tony sipped his whiskey then continued, “it’s a niche club.” “How niche,” Bruce asked not sure how to take it. Tony gave a rather evil smile, “submissive and dominant niche.” Bruce groaned, and Clint erupted into laughter. “What is he talking about,” Steve asked wondering what was causing the reaction. Natasha ended up explaining what BDSM was with Tony using personal experience to help, not by much though. “Wait you’re a sub?” “Why not Clint,” Natasha asked for Tony. Clint couldn’t think of a reply, so he ended up focusing on his beer. Steve looked at Tony then shrugged, “we called it something else.” Tony raised his glass in appreciation to Steve then asked Don how he knew Loren. Bruce rolled her eyes and looked at Tony as if to say, ‘are you serious?’ Steve immediately said that Don didn’t have to answer. “Look, we need to know if this is going to be a problem.” “That doesn’t mean we poke him with a stick.” “Of course, Captain,” Tony replied, giving a mock salute, “I’ll just poke Bruce then.” “Tony,” Natasha warned then she turned to Bruce, “sorry about him. He misbehaves when he’s bored.” “Which is often,” Clint noted. Tony scowled, but quickly grinned at Clint. “I do have a proposition.” “Tony no.” “Tony yes,” he replied to Natasha, then he turned to Don, “a story for a story. Tell us how you meet Loren, and I’ll tell you how I meet Clint.” Clint shook his head at the same time Natasha noted that she wondered the same thing. Clint gave her glare and called her a traitor. “You first Dr.” “I mean it’s not all that thrilling, we were roommates at college since our freshman year. He went toward psychology. We ended renting apartments the rest of our time getting our bachelors.” Tony sighed and took a sip, “really now?” Don shrugged, “he didn’t say much about his dad, except that he was unhappy about Loren’s choice of degree. He did talk about his brothers though.” With a roll of his eyes Tony gave an annoyed sigh, “my turn I guess.”
May 29th 1978
It would be unfair, but for Tony joining Howard at SHIELD headquarters was a regular occurrence. Still to the boy, it was horrible. As far as he knew he was the only kid, and he spent his whole time there being trained, tested for something, then trained again. Tony knew he was being trained for something, but the only answers he got were about how it was for his real father. Howard had him at SHIELD, on Tony’s birthday, to train. If there was supposed to be training though it hadn’t happened yet. Howard had placed him in a training room and the eight-year-old had been sitting on the floor for the last few hours, bored out of his mind. Sound from the vents above finally gave the boy something to focus on. It was a person, he guessed listening to the loudness and unevenness of the sound. Tony decided that needed a weapon in case it was an attacker and looking around he remembered that he was in an empty room. They didn’t trust him with anything, not even a peashooter. Suddenly the noise in the vent stopped, which made Tony pause. The person in the vent shuffled a bit then began to work on the grate that opened to the room. Trying not to panic he searched his pockets of his school jacket to find something and found his necktie. He wrapped the tie around his knuckles and gave it a tug. Finally, the grate popped opened and a small person jumped out landing on its feet. It was a boy, which caused Tony to stop fidgeting with his tie briefly. He was thinner and smaller than Tony… and was looking right at Tony. The boy tilted his head in confusion. “Are you… going to attack me?” “Uh,” Tony replied and unraveled his tie from his hands, then quickly stuffed it in this jacket pocket. “Yes?” The boy laughed and approached Tony. “Oh good, I was getting bored.” The boy looked around the room, “I waited until Phil left. You know who Phil is right?” Tony shook his head. “So once Phil left,” the boy said not missing a beat and ignoring Tony, “I popped opened the vents and just crawled.” The boy then took in a deep breath, then to Tony’s surprise, began to talk a lot and about a mile a minute. The boy talked about whatever was on his mind. When the boy finally stopped, Tony felt like his eyes had gone cross and he felt like he needed to sit down. “Clint,” the boy said which made Tony look at the kid in confusion. “What?” “My name is Clint.” “I’m Tony.” In the span of another hour Tony learned that Clint’s dad was a god, though he could not remember which one at the time. He had guardians that take care of him for his father, and that he had taken an interest and was being trained in the bow and arrow. When asked about himself Tony said that he lived with his mother and her husband, and his father is one of the Greek gods. He then admitted that he was not interested in training, but in building. Excited, Clint asked if Tony could make him some special arrows. Before Tony could reply the door flew open and a boy a few years older rushed in out of breath. The new boy looked at the open grate then at Clint. “What the hell Clint!” “Phil,” Clint yelled, then stood up and rushed to Phil. He collided with Phil and hugged him, and the older boy gave him a sigh of relief. He reached up and ruffled the boy’s blondish hair. “I step out for three minutes to talk to mom and you-” “This is Tony,” Clint interrupted and pointed at Tony. Tony slowly stood and gave a small wave. “He says he’s gonna make me arrows.” Phil gave Tony an annoyed look, which Tony replied with a confused look and a shrug. Phil sighed and ruffled Clint’s hair again, “well it’s good to see that you made a friend here. Mom would be proud. Unless she jumps you for leaving the room.” Phil looked at Tony, who had sat back on the ground. “We’ll see you around.” “Yeah,” Tony said and watched Phil take Clint by the hand and lead him out of the room, and Tony could hear Phil talk to someone. The door opened, and two men entered in SHIELD outfits. “Anthony Stark?”
Gulfstream
“I got yelled for that,” Clint said, placing his empty lunch plate onto the table next to him. “I’m not shocked,” Natasha replied, handing Clint her own plate. Bruce scoped up the last of his lasagna and asked Tony when they will land. “Not too long,” Tony replied taking his time finishing his lasagna, “we should be landing in a half an hour. We’ll head over to my home in Malibu and sit there a bit. The club opens at 6. We can see what I got in the house for some of us to blend in.” “We are on official business,” Steve reminded him. Tony gave a rather devilish grin, “oh Steve, you don’t even understand. I’m sure your Captain America works fine, with a collar.” Bruce chocked in his last bite and looked over at Tony, “you might as well give him a harness.” “Bruce? I’m quite shocked,” Tony replied, “that you even know about a harness.” “One does stupid things for curiosity sake.” “You two,” Don noted as he stood up to use the restroom, “are bizarre men.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The Elysium was a two-story plain building, with no sign of announcing what was there. “Word of mouth,” was all Tony said on the matter, and adjusted his black suit jacket. After a round of discussion at Tony’s home, Natasha, Clint and Steve just slipped on their uniforms, and the others just wore black suits with leather accessories. As much as Tony argued those that had weapons ended up bringing their weapons. Which caused Tony to announce that this will cause so much trouble. Tony wished everyone luck and left to group to approach the entrance. Tony grinned at the same tall, burly Fen standing at the entrance, and Fen for his part gave an amused grin. “Tony Stark,” Fen greeted, “thought you grew up when daddy died.” “Which dad?” “Really?” Tony nodded looking a bit upset, “sadly yes.” He pointed at the approaching group, “we are here to talk to your old man. Just something to make SHIELD happy you know.” Fen frowned as Natasha and Clint came up from behind Tony. “Well look at that,” Clint noted at Natasha, “a smelly dog.” Tony growled at Clint telling him to shut up, reminding him that a fight would not look good. Fen chuckled and told Tony that he will talk to his father. With that Fen entered the building leaving the group and letting the two SHIELD agents start an argument with Tony over Fen. The agents arguing that Fen should have been taken down, with Tony snapping back that this was Loki’s business and he was not going to call the wrath of a god for attacking one of his kids. “We are just here on a check-up,” he told them as if this argument was over. Natasha scoffed and led Clint away to cool off. Steve in his lessons to learn all about this new world he found himself in, was able to figure out that Fen was a monster. Monsters were the creations of dark beings and gods who wish for nothing but chaos and destruction. It was the job of a scion to destroy such monsters, to keep the world safe, which causes the monsters trying to kill any child of a god. It was a chess game gone bad. So why was Tony on such friendly terms with this one much less defending the monster? Bruce came up from behind and noticed Steve’s confused look. “Some monsters don’t want to do what SHIELD says they did.” Steve looked at him and Bruce gave him a soft smile, “sometimes they are the best family a lonely boy could have.” “You?” Bruce nodded and began to move with Steve once Don caught up. “Would you believe that?” “I’m not sure what to believe right now.” “Think for yourself,” Don said, “as much as we work with SHIELD, I don’t trust them to flush a toilet the right way.” Bruce laughed. A few minutes later Fen stepped out and looked at the group. “Boss has room for only three people.” “Good,” Natasha said and looked at her group, “Clint, Steve you’re with me. You three can hang down here.” “Sorry милая,” Fen spoke with a grin, and pointed at Tony, Bruce and Steve, “they can come upstairs. You three can wander the club. Just no trouble.” Loki stood up as soon as the three men entered the room. Much to Steve’s shock the god was in a three-piece suit, not in armor or in whatever gods wore. Loki laughed as he held out his hand to Steve. “I’m not what you were expecting?” “No sir,” Steve said after a few seconds of nothing, “I haven’t seen a god since I woke up.” “You may have,” Loki answered as Steve shook his hand, “we tend to hide. Most don’t stay long on Earth, they do their job and then head back.” “And what’s your job?” “I just like Earth,” Loki answered, “it’s an everchanging world. Most home of the gods are static and boring.” He let go of Steve’s hand and turned to Tony, “Tony.” “I know,” Tony said, “I’m supposed to be an adult now.” “What’s an adult?” Tony and Loki gave a laugh and Loki gave his attention to Bruce. Bruce took a deep breath and spoke, “Afi.” “Dótturson.” Bruce gave a small laugh and embraced Loki, a stiff uncertain hug. This made Tony and Steve give each other looks of confusion. “Why do I have a feeling that this family has more scions than Loren,” Tony wondered out loud to himself. “Does it matter,” Steve asked. Tony just shrugged, “it doesn’t bother me. It might bother SHIELD, by hey, they kind of deserve it.” “Which is why it’s a shame that you refused my gift,” Loki said finally letting Bruce go. Bruce hung back against the door, and Loki made his way to his desk chair. “You are so unlike the others. It is nice though that Captain America has not fully fallen for SHIELD’s propaganda.” “I’m still trying to figure this out.” “That’s not a bad thing Captain. I approve of free thinking.” With a grunt he sat in his chair and made himself comfortable. “So, what does SHIELD need from me?” “Just a check-up on your kid,” Tony announced, “he disappeared a week ago, and SHIELD being SHIELD, thinks that you’re trying to start Ragnarok.” Loki tilted his head at that thought and looked at Steve. “Captain, do you know what Ragnarok is?” Steve nodded, “SHIELD said it was the destruction of it all.” With a cool look on his face Loki leaned into his chair. “It depends on who you ask when it comes to this dream, prophecy, what ever it is. A few of us disagree, we see it as the death of the old gods and the birth of new ones, and the cycle begins again.” “They fear their own death,” Steve said deep in thought, “they just want to scare people so much that they are willing to give the gods what they wanted?” “That’s my view point,” Tony said with a hint of disgust. Loki laughed, “exactly. I don’t wish to die, yet. Loren though is in San Diego right now, collecting a personal item that had recently been discovered.” “Personal,” Bruce asked, “that could be anything. You left Asgard with only Fen and Sigyn.” “Yes,” Loki answered, his voice almost a whisper. “Loki?” “It’s nothing Stark. Sigyn is fine, she’s taking a vacation to see her kid.” Loki sighed then smiled, “but I fear Loren may be in over his head. He has not called me.” “Would you like us to help,” Steve asked, not really sure if they were even allowed to do that. Tony nodded and looked over at Loki, “it’s a win-win, we make SHIELD and you happy by checking on your kid.” Loki smiled and agreed, “let me give you where he is supposed to-” A loud screech came from outside, shattering the windows of the office.