Work Text
~Timeline, World War II~ Howard Stark had been a part of Project Rebirth. The army had requested his assistance and who was he to say no to the offer of being part of a new generation of soldiers. Of super soldiers beyond what normal human beings were capable of. Superior and if it was a success his name would be on it and allow him information he otherwise wouldn’t have. Howard was an inventor and his weapons paved the way of the future of war. He intended to be the best but while he could create all the weapons he wanted, he could not ignore that a part of war was its soldiers and if he could get his hands on the key to also being the best for enhancing their country’s soldiers he would further span the fame of his name.He glanced at the one they picked for this project. Steven Grant Rogers, a tiny sickly person that had no business in the army or anywhere near the war. He looked so thin that Howard could probably kick him and the weakling would break in two. When this failed he would get the higher ups to give him what remained of the serum. He was a genius; he would make sure the serum worked. He would need to start with a better test subject.The process began and Howard didn’t expect being injected with an experimental serum would be pleasant but the screams coming from the chamber were unpleasant. Agent Carter screamed for the project to be shut down. Howard had wondered how the military ever let a woman anywhere near the soldiers or this project. She had no place here and to let her try and control if the project was shut down was proof that women couldn’t handle such things.When the project was a success and Steve stood bigger, stronger, as everything the serum had promised Howard could only stare in awe. His mind already swirling with mass producing the serum to turn the tide of war.It appeared Hydra had a similar idea of the importance of something like the super soldier serum as one of their agents opened fire and stole the remaining vial of serum. Howard ducked out of the way with the others and watched as the once sickly weak Steve ran faster than any normal human could in pursuit of the thief and the important serum. With Erskine dead the military would turn to Howard to replicate the serum.Steve failed to get the serum but he managed to deal with the thief and bring a valuable piece of Hydra technology. Unfortunately it was beyond what he’d ever seen and that just angered him. Either way he’d get to the bottom of it and discover how it was Hydra had this kind of technology at their fingertips. He refused to be outdone.He ignored Steve being taken away already knowing the military had taken blood in hopes to seek the secrets of the serum through that. Howard could easily convince someone later to slip him the blood. For now he had technology to look at. However as he worked he considered the serum and its effects. He knew of Red Skull and how he’d gotten the serum first. An incomplete version and how he had not been fit to receive the serum. The serum amplifies everything inside according to Erskine. Good becomes great and bad becomes worse. Howard had been listening to Erskine’s little speech to Steve. Wanting to stay ahead in the world he needed to spy or steal ideas from time to time. If anyone believed that wasn’t how the world worked than they were fools and had no place in the business world.So he considered that. Steve as he was now was a manmade evolution of humans. But nature allowed evolution naturally. Seeing the superior human the serum had made Steve he was curious what’s nature’s evolution of man would be. Perhaps that idea was why he kept an eye out. Steve was shown as a sign of something good as he paraded around inspiring people to help support the war. Then Peggy was coming to Howard to fly the only living super soldier into enemy territory. They were idiots but there was no telling the full extent of the serum’s capabilities without a proper test run. So why not see if the man could do what no one else could. See what the serum allowed him to earn him a title of super soldier.He decided to play a friendly face with the agent and super soldier in case he needed to get more samples to recreate the super soldier serum. It also never hurt to have friends in the right places and Steve was a friend in the right place.When Steve was claimed to likely be dead Howard waited thinking if the serum was all it was cracked up to be Steve would have survived. He almost wished he’d bet money on it when people began rushing out to see the once captured soldiers returning with Steve Rogers at their head. A single man had gone against Hydra deep in enemy territory, recused soldiers, captured a key piece in Hydra technology, and caught wind of Hydra’s future plans with barely more than a glance. The serum was all it was cracked up to be and Howard was determined to make the most of the serum once he recreated it.Steve gathered a group of soldiers and their group was called the Howling Commandos. Howard continued to befriend Steve making his uniform as well as allowing him use of the shield he made with the stolen vibranium. It was the rarest metal on earth and once the war was over Howard would take the shield back. No need to give away something of such value. Lending it was all he was doing, he just didn’t mention it to the man he was attempting to befriend.If he didn’t already have proof of the serum’s capabilities and the possibilities once he recreated it, he saw Steve and with just a few men begin destroying Hydra and turning the tide of war in their favor. The Howling Commandos mostly worked as a single unit though occasionally they worked with other groups and soldiers. Keeping an eye out as he worked to keep the Howling Commandos supplied with the weapons and gear they needed he had spied what he’d been looking for. Nature’s evolution of mankind.He casually introduced himself to seemingly random soldiers working with the legendary group and Captain America and got the name of the soldier who had so far hidden the fact he wasn’t by any means normal. James Howlett was from the Canadian military and while Howard had little favors owed in that military force money still spoke loud enough to get what he wanted. He was pleased when no one suspected what he was planning. He’d seen James heal a wound within mere seconds. Howard was already planning what he could possibly do with such an ability and the super soldier serum. Red Skull was a fool but the idea of superior men wasn’t completely wrong. Just having superior strength did not make you a perfect human. Howard Stark was not a fool or a short sighted man. He was a genius and he knew he could create the perfect human. Superior in every way. Strong, smart, and invincible.He would need to find a way to combine the serum, James’s DNA, and his own so he could include the necessary intelligence. Figuring out the secret of what gave James his healing factor was on his list to do once he wasn’t preoccupied with this war. After that he would need a woman to bear the child of superior genes but he would have to choose carefully. Only someone that could add favorable results to the experiment would do. He kept his eyes open for the possible perfect candidate.His opportunity came to find the ideal candidate and it came in the form of one Arnim Zola. Red Skull had kept the man around for a reason and there was no denying the potential for such a man after seeing his creations. Getting him alone and away from prying eyes was a bit difficult but proved worth it.“Agent Carter and I are considering recruiting some German scientists for our little organization.”Zola looked at him seemingly bored.“I am Swiss.”Howard only smirked at him.“Well maybe pretending to be German will prove useful. Our little organization might be the perfect place for a not so German scientist to rebuild Hydra.”Zola looked at him interested.“And why would one of the leading forces behind Hydra’s demise possibly want it to survive.”“I couldn’t care less about Hydra surviving or being destroyed. What I care about is getting what I want. You and Hydra seem like the group to get me what I need.”Zola looked at him as though studying him. The man was smart; Howard could at least admit that. But he was smarter and he’d get what he wanted.“What is it the great Howard Stark wants?”“To create a truly perfect human. Superior in every way. Red Skull died, believing himself worthy of power left by gods but gods cannot die. He was unworthy. Steve Rogers was a superior soldier but not perfect.”Zola now looked interested.“What do you need to make this perfect human?”“Let’s first discuss what you want. Because I know you want more than a way to rebuild Hydra.”Zola looked slightly annoyed.“You approached me Howard Stark. It seems only fair you tell me what it is you need.”He already knew he had Zola interested.“I need a woman to give birth to this world’s first perfect human being. Someone whose own genes or enhancements can contribute to this perfect human. I’m certain someone like you would have connections I need. After all I can’t imagine people in other countries aren’t attempting to create their own super soldier or that you don’t know there are other enhanced people in this world.”Zola grinned.“I believe we can work out a deal. I do have something else I want. You see to begin rebuilding Hydra we must have the perfect tool to aid our cause. I was in the middle of finding the perfect candidate when the captain interfered. Luckily my test subject survived but he is in need of some…repairs. I want your help to create a fully functioning prosthetic arm.”“Who is this candidate? It doesn’t matter to me either way I’ll get it done, I’m just curious.”“I believe you’re more than aware of Sargent Barnes.”“Hmm so he survived the fall. I’ll get the arm done; find me candidates for what I want.”They parted ways both fulfilling their part of the agreement. Bucky Barnes became the Fist of Hydra and Howard Stark was led to Zola’s connections in Russia known as the Red Room. Female assassins that were both well trained and enhanced. Howard found them to be exactly what he needed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
~Timeline: 6 years after Anthony Stark is Born~ Nickolas Fury had seen many things in his years with Shield. The child hiding out under his desk was new. He was uncertain how the kid had gotten past the agents and managed to wander into his office to hide out under his desk. Looking into the blue eyes of one Anthony Stark Fury sighed. It wasn’t the first time the kid had escaped Shield’s daycare area. However he was the only one who continually outsmarted Shield’s supposedly highly trained agents.Looking into those eyes of the boy Fury couldn’t help but notice the intelligence in those young eyes. Fury had sometimes wondered if the kid was actually Howard’s. Sure they both had black hair and were smart but there was just something off about the kid and now that he was looking at him up close it could see it more. The kid was smart. Sure the media was already portraying the kid as some kind of prodigy but it somehow seemed an understatement of the boy staring up at him studying him like one does a lesser thing. Like the kid could see right through Fury and already knew all his secrets right down to what he did in the privacy of his own home the night before. It was unnerving.“Hey kid, you want something to do?”“I already did everything there was to do here.”Fury raised a brow curious about that. There wasn’t much to do in his office though for an adult there was plenty if they were smart enough. He had a bookcase with some reading material and his computer had plenty of top secret information. Other than that there was nothing in there for a kid to do.“There was plenty to do but it didn’t keep me occupied long. I already hacked your computer, upgraded it because the security sucks, I broke into your desk to look through all the top secret documents there but those were boring and I already read them, and I read all the books in the bookcase. They weren’t interesting and I’ve read more challenging books before.”Fury would normally think the person talking like this was being an arrogant show off but the kid just looked bored while stating facts. Fury was curious and looked into what the kid said regarding his computer. The desk didn’t look like it’d been altered and the locks were still firmly in place. In response to the second glancing towards his desk drawers the kid held up his key to the locks.“I took it off of you earlier when you were yelling at those stupid agents.”Fury took the key back but he was smarter than a kid.“You made a copy of this somehow didn’t you?”He smiled.“You’re smarter than the others. I knew you’d be interesting.”He held up five copies of his key which was honestly to impressive for him to be angry with.“You’re smart kid. Bet your dad is proud of you.”The kid’s expression completely shut off within moments. He had seen agents with years of experience with espionage and trained to withstand torture incapable of shutting off their expression so quickly and easily. That trick alone had made his opinion go from impressed to worried. No kid should be able to do that.“Howard doesn’t care. He says I’m a failed experiment.”Fury opened his mouth to ask but decided against it. This was something he shouldn’t get involved in. Howard was one of the founders of Shield and he had a lot of power. If the man was involved in some kind of human experimentation and this was the result, he could just see the government trying to get their claws into it and therefore this kid.“Do you just like being under my desk?”He shrugged.“It keeps me away from the other people and you’re interesting enough.”Fury didn’t respond to that and instead returned to his work. Four hours later agents finally seemed to realize the kid was missing. That or Howard had finally decided it was time to take the kid home. He waited until the agents passed by his office looking for the kid before he looked at Anthony sleeping under his desk. He was looking at his sleeping face for only a few seconds before blue eyes snapped open and he looked at Fury.“Jarvis is here to pick me up.”The kid climbed out from under the desk and moved to leave. Fury walked with him curious if he was right. It seemed odd that Howard who worked with Shield wouldn’t take his own kid home. As it turned out the butler Jarvis was picking him up and Howard had left hours ago. Fury’s concern for the child was growing. He watched them leave half expecting the child to look back his way but he realized once he was back in his own office that the child was too smart to make that mistake.Knowing Howard was a genius and a talented weapons designer he hadn’t thought much about the kid being smart but this wasn’t normal. He thought back to the comment about being a failed experiment. What could Howard have been trying to achieve if that was true? The boy was clearly a step above the rest but he was a failure? It didn’t make sense.He had begun looking into it and the next time he saw Anthony was a few days later once again hiding under his desk. Fury looked at him and they stared at each other for a moment before the kid pushed a neatly wrapped gift towards him.“What’s this for?”“Birthday gift.”Fury raised a brow.“No one knows when my birthday is.”Anthony gave a small sly smile.“Maybe, but there’s always a way to get information if you know where to look.”Fury took the gift a little suspicious. He opened it and was surprised by the well-crafted gun within. He’d have to test it later but he had a feeling it would work better than anything Shield had currently.“Why did you make me this?” He was partly guessing the kid made it seeing how smart he was but he wasn’t entirely sure. He just needed confirmation.“See Nicky I knew you were smart. I made it because you’re pretty cool and it wouldn’t’ be good if you had less than the best equipment. So maybe this way you won’t die on a mission or something.”He nodded ignoring the nickname.“Thank you.”He went to work ignoring the kid under his desk as he had before. It was an hour before he dared try for any information.“Why did you say you’re a failed experiment?”He could be subtle and gain information but he suspected he wasn’t nearly tricky enough or smart enough to get one over on this kid. If he treated the kid as the intelligent person he was he was likely to get more than if he treated him like a child to be underestimated.“I didn’t live up to the image he had. I was supposed to be the perfect next stage of human evolution.”He wanted to ask more but the kid crawled out from under the desk and walked out to meet the agent already coming for him. Fury always had his senses listening for anyone approaching but he hadn’t heard the agent coming. Suspicions growing he walked out with the kid seeing Jarvis talking to Agent Carter as he waited for the boy. Fury was aware of Peggy Carter having been close to Howard during the war and later to Edwin Jarvis but as she smiled and moving to b at eye level with Anthony Fury suspected it was more than just being work acquaintances. The distance in recent years had suggested otherwise but maybe Fury had overlooked something. She was friendly with Jarvis but she was kind to the kid. If he had to guess they were as close as family. That left the question of why or how Peggy hadn’t yet noticed the strangeness of the child.He decided to question her later when Anthony was gone. Something certainly wasn’t right here and he intended to find out what.“Director Carter, if I could have a word with you.”Peggy looked up not expecting to see Fury in her office.“Of course, what can I help you with?”Fury remained standing on the other side of Director Carter’s desk.“It’s not a Shield matter…at least not as far as I can tell.”She frowned never having heard Fury hesitate in anything or waste time with things that weren’t important. Typically the only things important enough to bring the man into her office were Shield matters.“Alright, what do you think is important enough to bring it to me?”“It’s about Anthony Stark.”Peggy closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. It was obvious the child was important to her.“You’ve noticed.”It wasn’t a question.“He isn’t normal and he’s mentioned some things that are cause for concern.”Peggy met his gaze and Fury was surprised by the mixture of a motherly concern and professional concern within them. He had always known Peggy Carter was impressive but this only added to the list of reasons of why she was.“Anthony is far more intelligent than just a simple child prodigy. He’s also clearly trained equally or better than our agents. That’s not the only thing but I have no facts to back up what I believe made him the way he is.” Peggy said sharing in Fury’s thoughts.“He made mention of Howard considering him a failed experiment.”Peggy closed her eyes not just taking a moment to compose herself. This was someone who cared that was crushed by confirmation of a terrifying truth.“I suspected Howard of human experimentation…I just didn’t have proof.”Fury raised a brow waiting for her to continue to explain her suspicions.“The first time I looked into those boy’s eyes you know what I saw?” Peggy asked him but it was clear he wasn’t meant to answer. “I saw Steve Rogers staring back at me. He has his eyes.”Fury felt a trickle of dread roll down his spine but he hid his discomfort. The super soldier serum could be both a gift and a curse. The potential for the experimental serum that allowed a once sickly man to become a force to be reckoned with that could take on enemy forces nearly singlehandedly were limitless. However no one knew all the effects of the serum due to Rogers being gone and the serum lost shortly after Rogers received it.“Rogers is gone, do you think Howard could have found him?” Fury asked.Peggy shook her head.“No, he still looks for him but there was a vial of Steve’s blood. I thought Jarvis gave me it but it’s possible Howard kept the real vial someplace else. With it he could possibly recreate the serum.”“Or use it to add Steve Rogers’s genetic code along with the serum in it to a child.”They exchanged a look in silent understanding. If Howard had participated in human experimentation it was a big red flag for many reasons. It was something that was both unethical and illegal but it also meant that Howard wasn’t someone they wanted anywhere near Shield. But if Howard was a bad egg there were bound to be others.“We need to find out how far this goes.”Fury nodded in agreement.“Find out who we can trust and who we can’t.”Later Fury found a file in his desk. At the top of the file was the title: ‘When Manmade and Nature’s evolution meet’ He read over the file before going to Peggy’s office. He dropped it on her desk feeling unease crawl beneath his skin but he knew to remain calm. Peggy looked at the file that was a detailed report on what both could clearly see was the idea behind what Howard had done.“James Howlett? Why does that name sound familiar?”“Because he goes by Logan now and is known as the Wolverine.” Fury answered.Peggy froze looking up at Fury.“What do you think the x-gene would do mixed with the super soldier serum?”“If he inherited the gene and the serum is in his blood? I’d rather not find out. There’s also the unknown of who from the Red Room that contributed to Anthony’s creation.”Peggy gripped her desk to the point her knuckles turned white.“We need to know what to expect and find proof of what Howard’s done.”“What to expect?” Fury asked hoping for a little more clarification.“We don’t know much about mutants right now. I know a source we can talk to and hopefully find out what to expect if it turns out Anthony has the x-gene.”They left to talk to Peggy’s source a few days later. Charles Xavier was an intelligent man who had started a place for mutants to learn to control their abilities. Fury hadn’t so much as blinked at the blue furry man that worked closely with Charles.“Hello Margaret Carter, Nickolas Fury.” No one called either by their proper names and Fury had to work to keep from frowning as neither had introduced themselves to him yet.“I’m more than aware of who you are. Come, we may speak in private.”Sitting down with Charles Xavier and Hank McCoy Peggy began the discussion.“We were hoping to get a little more information regarding those that possess the x-gene. We’ve encountered a special case of a child that might possess the gene.”“Is there a reason to be concerned regarding this child in particular?” Xavier asked.“He was created for what we can tell with the purpose of being a perfect or superior human. We don’t know if he has the x-gene but the DNA of a known mutant was used along with other enhanced people.”Charles looked troubled by this.“What do you need to know about the x-gene?”“Taking a blood sample isn’t an option in this case to test for the x-gene. Is there a way to know if the gene is active?”Charles considered this.“For most mutants the gene becomes active normally during the years of puberty though there are exceptions. Stress or trauma can cause it to happen earlier. If you would allow me to meet this child I can tell you whether he is a mutant. If he is I can help him to control his abilities.”Fury and Peggy exchanged a look. It would be a risk but they were already facing a situation they knew nothing about and there was the potential for things to go very badly.“We’ll bring him here the next time he’s dropped off at Shield.”Anthony was dropped off nearly every day. Howard couldn’t be bothered with the boy it seemed. Fury didn’t even have to seek the boy out the next time he was dropped off. He escaped daycare in record time and waiting for Fury in his office.“Ready when you are.”Fury stared a moment before he fully entered the office and closed the door behind him.“How do you know we’re going someplace?”“Because I’m the one who put that file in your desk and I knew you’d go to Aunt Peggy and then find a mutant specialist.”Fury could already see the plans the higher ups might have with just how smart this kid was. They’d find a way to manipulate him and use him for their own means. The idea of that ever happening pissed him off.“Let’s go then kid.”Anthony followed behind him silently. It was only then he realized he’d underestimated his training. He knew the kid was more alert than should be possible but his movements were careful and without sound. If anyone trained to pay attention to their surroundings listened they wouldn’t even know the kid was there until they saw him.“Who trained you?” Fury asked once they were on their way to Xavier’s school.“If you want to remain alive its best you don’t know.”Fury kept his eyes on the road while Peggy who sat in the passenger seat looked back at the boy.“Anthony, you need to tell us. We can help you.”“The dead can’t help the living. If you know who trained me right now you won’t be around much longer.”“Alright.” Fury said having already seen how smart the kid was and knew he’d already planned things out well so far. There had been a reason he’d left the file in his desk and why he sought him out.Peggy looked upset but decided to go with Fury on this. The rest of the ride was silent as Fury watched the road but occasionally looked back at Anthony. The child was always somehow looking directly at him when he glanced in the rearview mirror. It was unnerving but he said nothing on the matter. Arriving at Xavier’s school he and the other two stepped out and were greeted by Charles Xavier. The man looked at Anthony and frowned just slightly.“You are Anthony Stark.”Anthony looked at the man in the wheel chair.“Charles Xavier, paralyzed when Erik Lehnsherr altered the path of a bullet which injured your spine.”Charles looked surprised.“You’re already aware you’re a mutant.”Anthony titled his head to the side like he was considering it.“Yes, but I know I’m not what I was designed to be. I noticed the abilities when my training began. I know I heal faster than I should but it’s not fast enough. Not part of my mutation but something else from the enhancements put into my design.”Charles looked equal parts intrigued and horrified as he led them inside the mansion. When Anthony looked at Hank he stared a moment.“You gained the blue fur when you attempted to work with the DNA of the mutant Raven.”Hank looked surprised.“Yes, how did you know that?”“I saw it in your profile.”That seemed to trouble a few people as Anthony turned his attention back to Charles.“Not a written profile provided by anyone else. I just see your information like a profile next to you. Detailing pieces of information randomly unless I look for something specific.”Fury knew how useful something like that could be but also how easily it could be abused. He wondered for a moment what would have happened if he hadn’t noticed the kid before. He pushed those thoughts aside knowing he couldn’t waste time on what ifs.“Do you possess any other abilities Anthony?”He shrugged which was oddly the first normal thing the kid had done so far.“I’m a genius and heal faster than normal like I said before. Apparently it’s not good enough.”Charles nodded before he looked at Fury and Peggy.“If you can convince Howard to allow it he would be welcome in my school.”Convincing Howard Stark to send his son to Xavier’s school wasn’t difficult. It seemed Howard had already been planning to send the child to a boarding school. Fury kept a close eye on the kid while trying to learn who trained the boy. No one under the age of seven should be able to do the things Anthony could. Not only that, he suspected his mutation was activated due to a trauma. Few adults could withstand the training to be on the level of Shield’s most elite agents. Anthony more than easily matched their skills and he was just a child. If anything would awaken the mutant gene it would be that.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Fury didn’t know how Tony snuck into his home or why the teen decided he wanted to be in his home after midnight. The kid no doubt snuck out of the Stark mansion. Maybe he was feeling nervous about going to MIT, Fury had grown accustom to the oddity that was Tony Stark. The kid was never predictable and he did what he wanted. Howard had long since stopped caring what his son did and Maria occasionally remembered to be a mother but her attention was always drawn elsewhere. So it left very few to even notice when the boy was doing anything. Even then Tony was very good at only allowing anyone to see what he wanted them to.“Kid it’s late, why are you here?”Fury never turned him away but he was more than happy to express how annoyed he was with random unpredictable visits. When the kid stepped out of the shadows so Fury could see him he felt honestly worried. The kid had a habit of getting sick easily. Something that had always made them wonder if the serum hadn’t passed onto Tony. From what he’d heard the serum should have prevented Tony from getting sick or having health issues. This however was something different. Tony was pale and sweating. He looked like he might actually be dying.“Hey Uncle Nick…just needed a place to stay while…this shit passes.”Fury couldn’t even ask what it was that had to pass as Tony collapsed and let out an unholy scream. He hadn’t panicked ever during his entire time with Shield. Now his heart he was almost certain would stop as fear gripped him. He was compromised and it was all this kid’s fault. He should have called someone but he couldn’t move. He held the screaming teen that was curled in the fetal position. Fury buried his face in the teen’s dark curls hoping whatever this was it would pass.He moved to look at Tony when light peaked through his windows. Sunrise and Fury had been panicked enough to not notice how long he stayed there holding the teen who had passed out at some point. He looked healthy. More than healthy. The kid had always been in fairly good shape due to the training he did but now it was more so. It was strange looking at the kid and seeing him look so similar but different. Fury wasn’t entirely certain but he was pretty sure the shrimp grew a few inches. When blue eyes opened to look at him Tony took a sharp inhale and gripped his head.“Hey kid you ok?”He shook his head never showing so much emotion before. There was pain, confusion, and something like the determined focus he had when he was working on a project. His eyes opened again and suddenly they glowed with a golden light.“Holy shit…” Tony sounded in awe.“Kid what is it? What is this?”Tony looked around as though seeing everything with new eyes. He slowly stood not yet answering Fury’s question as he walked around the house in stunned silence.“It’s like looking at the code of the universe. Everything has code, people, the air around us, and the house we’re in.” Tony looked at him and grinned. “It’s awesome.”“Ok but what the hell happened?”Tony closed his eyes and took a deep breathe before he opened them again to reveal once again blue eyes.“My profile said I was hitting puberty and the x-gene and serum in my blood were activating and interacting together.”Fury knew Tony could see information about other people as well as himself but this was new. He’d never seen that kind of information about himself. Thinking about what he’d heard from Peggy who had been there when Steve Rogers received the serum, it made sense Tony would be in pain if the serum had somehow remained dormant until now.Then Fury remembers something else he’d heard. Something Peggy had heard from Howard who had overheard it said by the original creator of the serum. He knew words could be twisted being passed from person to person but the idea that the serum amplifies everything inside was concerning. Fury couldn’t help but wonder what it was going to do with the teen who was both a genius and a mutant. Seeing the look in Tony’s eyes Fury was more than aware of the fact the kid knew his thoughts.“I’ll keep you updated on my abilities.”Fury considered stopping him from leaving but he knew if Tony wanted to leave he’d leave. There was no containing him even when he was a kid.“Do you think I should take over Stark Industries someday?” He asked stopping at the door.Tony wasn’t the type to question himself causing it to be so strange to see him do so now.“Whatever you do it’ll be the right thing kid.”He didn’t see Tony’s expression as the teen left but he knew whatever happened Fury would without a doubt back the kid on his decisions. Fourteen years old and heading to college, Fury knew he shared a silent concern with Peggy. It was an entirely different world out there and while Tony had proven to adjust as needed and was smart enough to know how to handle most situations he still worried. ~ Seventeen years old Tony Stark became an orphan and found his way once again into Fury’s home. Fury spied the bottles of alcohol littering the floor. He suspected the minor to be drunk but his speech was crystal clear and his eyes spoke of being completely sober.“Guess Howard finally got what he wanted. Heard Rogers couldn’t get drunk either.”Fury said nothing and instead sat beside the kid on the couch where he’d decided to drink away his problems.“Do you not want to have the abilities you have?”Tony didn’t look at him.“No.”“Do you want us to work on a way to remove them?”“No.” No hesitation in that answer.“Why?”Tony hesitated.“Because what’s the point of my existence otherwise? I was created to be enhanced.”Fury didn’t argue with him. Tony didn’t bother leaving for an entire week when lawyers had been hounding him about his parent’s will and Obadiah Stane had been pushing Tony to stop hiding. Fury had never liked Obadiah and thought him a man to consumed by greed to ever be trusted to remain near Tony. Add to the fact that he was Howard’s business partner and Howard had been a traitor and a snake it only made it obvious the man couldn’t be trusted. Tony when he took over the position of CEO shared this thought as he quickly removed Obadiah and proved the man had been double dealing for years even when Howard was still alive.Fury wasn’t surprised when Tony had called with the proof to have Obadiah arrested. Nor was he surprised that everyone underestimated the young CEO. Since his parents’ death he had taken on the persona of a reckless idiot who preferred to spend his days partying. Fury could see the potential for taking on the persona. No one would figure out just how dangerous he truly was and it would allow him to ensure people underestimated him.Fury had seen how ruthless Tony was with his business. Within a year he’d cut out a good portion of his staff and forced several board members to quit. Fury had looked into it and found that the staff and board members removed had held their loyalty to Stane. A few years later Tony had expanded his company’s reach as he moved to clean energy, more defensive than offensive products for the military, and began working more into the technological field than staying focused on weapons.He was doing great as CEO and he was one of the most powerful people in the world with his wealth and connections. All the power in the world though couldn’t protect him when Obadiah escaped and went after Tony as payback. Fury knew Tony had been in Afghanistan showing off his latest weapon to the military. Though he’d been moving away from weapons he hadn’t fully yet and it seemed on the way back the Humvee he had been in had been attacked. Fury knowing who and what Tony was shouldn’t have been worried but he was. When Xavier called he said Cerebro had alerted him to a new mutant in the same area as Tony had last been seen. A closer look had shown the new mutant was in fact Tony Stark. Xavier had been unable to pin down Tony’s location before he vanished and no longer able to be located by Cerebro. It wasn’t often something could block the device that allowed Charles to find mutants to help them. The fact that Tony had shown up as a new mutant had been the reason for Xavier to be worried.Tony’s mutation according to Charles was unique. Yes a mutation could grow or change but not like Tony’s had. Without knowing exactly what was running through Tony’s DNA they might never understand how his enhancements worked. Charles had warned though that it was likely Tony’s mutations could grow further in the future.Fury shared Charles’s worries but he was also afraid as someone who considered Tony family. He didn’t like having the weakness but he had been good about hiding it. Now though he struggled to hide the fact that the disappearance of Tony Stark had him worried. He suspected Coulson knew something was going on. The man wasn’t to be underestimated which was why he was one of the few of Shield agents he trusted. Before he, Peggy, and Tony worked to remove all those that had actually been Hydra he would have never risked trusting anyone within the organization. Now though he had four agents he actually trusted or at the very least respected. Coulson, Hawkeye, and Hill he trusted. Black Widow was another story though. He had respect for the widow but he wasn’t foolish enough to think complete trust in her wouldn’t end with a knife in his back.Xavier kept looking but it wasn’t until three months later that Cerebro found him. He had shown up as yet another new mutant. Rhodey, Tony’s best friend from MIT, had been looking for him and found him wandering alone in the desert. Fury waited at Tony’s home for him while sending Coulson to debrief Tony mostly for show. It helped keep people from finding the connection between him and the genius. The higher ups would be suspicious if Shield didn’t approach the genius after him and American forces had been attacked and the best weapon designer had been missing for months.When Coulson contacted him about the press conference Tony was holding Fury had already known. JARVIS always a helpful presence in Tony’s life and a slight pain in Fury’s side had already turned on the TV. He hadn’t understood the jumble of words behind Tony’s explanation of the AI but he knew the bundle of code was sentient. He didn’t mind the AI designed by Tony being sentient nor did he feel it was a threat so long as Fury never crossed his creator. He did however think that he’d overlooked just how mischievous Tony could be if the AI had inherited such a trait so strongly. He doubted he was wrong on this with how often the AI decided to hack Shield for no other reason than it was funny to see Shield scramble about trying to find out what happened. Fury was almost certain they didn’t even know about half of the times the AI had been in their systems. The times they did know about were simply for the AI’s humor.Seeing Tony declare he was going to stop making weapons entirely Fury frowned slightly. He didn’t know what had happened the three months he was gone but he knew the higher ups would want to have someone make sure Tony Stark was still a sane man. He was behind a good portion of Shield’s tech and weapons which meant the council would not be pleased with this turn of events.“Quite the announcement.”Tony looked at him not surprised to see Fury in his home. Fury looked at Tony and knew the younger man was tired. It wasn’t a tired from lack of sleep. The kid had seen too much for a civilian. Tony had never mentioned what kind of training he’d received but regardless of who or what organization trained him he still had too much heart to be left unaffected by things spies and agents saw daily.Fury remained where he was seated and waited for Tony to act or speak. He chose to move silently across the room and curl up on the couch next to Fury. Silence stretched out for a while before Fury figured Tony wasn’t going to speak.“I’m happy you returned alive.”Tony rolled over so he was looking up at him.“A terrorist group called the Ten Rings attacked the Humvee I was in. I saw soldiers killed by the weapons I created. Obadiah still had some loyal within the company that I didn’t find. Sold the weapons to terrorists and helped him escaped. One of my own bombs went off right in front of me.”Fury listened with growing concern. Depending on how close it was Tony shouldn’t even be alive. Fury was aware he was more durable than a normal human but a bomb going off would have no doubt done a good amount of damage.“Did medical check you out?”Tony sat up with a bitter laugh.“There’s nothing left of my injuries for medical to check out.”“The damage wasn’t that bad then?”Fury knew Tony healed faster than the average human but something told him things might have changed.“A bomb went off right in front of my face. The terrorists had kidnapped a doctor hoping to save my life so I could build them weapons. Obadiah was there and he’s never been that much of an idiot. He’s greedy, not stupid. He saw the shrapnel from the bomb being pushed out of my body and the damage from the weapon healed. My mutation changed.”“Is your mutation a danger to yourself and others?”“No, but Obadiah is dead.”“I had to send Coulson to debrief you.”Tony smirked though it did little to relieve the exhaustion in his face. It was honestly hard to remember that he was nearly forty when you look into the fact he’d stopped aging around thirty years old and there were days he struggled to hide just how exhausted he was carrying a weight on his shoulders far too heavy for a single man.“So ignore, annoy, and bother him until he eventually thinks he has the upper hand and corners me with his persistence?”Fury patted his shoulder with an unimpressed look.“You would have made a good Shield agent.”“We both know I break into your house way too much for you to want me around Shield full time.”Fury should have asked for more details and should have figured out how Tony escaped. Fury had long ago accepted he was compromised but he wouldn’t change a thing between him and Tony. If his superiors knew he’d no doubt be removed from Shield entirely. ~ Once Fury had left Tony collapsed back onto the couch. He didn’t want to close his eyes for fear of seeing the cave and Yinsen dying again. He didn’t want to relive that time. Being trained by Hydra’s living weapon had been painful as he always ended up with broken bones. This had been different though. What he’d gone through with the ten rings and Obadiah had been for no other reason than to cause pain and revenge. Ten Rings wanted weapons and Obadiah had wanted him to suffer. The trauma from the bomb had caused his mutation to change; the torture had the same effect. Then Yinsen had died and he’d lost control.“Did you miss me JARVIS?”“Of course Sir, I am happy to have you home.”He took comfort in that as he got up determined to find a way to do as Yinsen had asked. To not waste his life. He got to work on a suit of armor. It was obvious that more of his weapons had been sold to the enemy and he put JARVIS to work to find out who the hell was still in his company that was betraying him for Stane. While Tony worked on the design JARVIS found who was responsible for the weapons being sold to the ten rings. He quickly worked to mend the issue as he wouldn’t allow this to continue. The next step was destroying the weapons that had ended up in enemy hands.By the time he came up from his work he had another guest. Tony smiled when he saw Warren. The mutant also known as Angel stood there looking concerned but relieved to see Tony.“I was worried.”“Thanks but I’m doing just fine. Just had an attempt on my life because an old business partner wanted revenge. How’s the school?”Warren and him had gotten along due to both being from wealthy families that had negative views of their mutations. Warren’s father wanted him to take the Cure while Howard had thought Tony a weapon to be used. They had bonded during the days they were both at Charles’s school.“The school is fine though people miss you.”Tony went to the kitchen to grab drinks for them both. He tossed a bottle of water to Warren who caught it easily.“I should visit soon anyways. Need to talk to the professor. You still at the school full time?”He nodded as he removed his coat to let his wings out. Tony had always been envious of the pure white wings. He wondered what it would be like to have the freedom to fly and feel the wind on his face.“Yeah I’m still there. Been helping some of the younger students. Haven’t really returned home, last time I did dad nearly forced the Cure on me.”“Damn, sorry to hear that. What are your plans now if you’re not going back home? Weren’t you suppose to take over the company?”Warren shrugged.“For now I’ve just been at the school. Trying to do some good there. I understand the reason some take the Cure but I’m not one of the ones who needs to or wants to. The world isn’t a friendly place for mutants.”Tony paused before he looked at Warren. Ideas were swarming in his mind. He might be able to help change that. Fix the view on mutants that the world had.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony had been working on mutant community’s image since the day he and Warren talked. Stark Industries had hired several mutants since then as well as had stated their support for the super human community. Happy had been his driver/bodyguard since taking over Stark Industries but he moved the man to working with Pepper while Piotr aka Colossus had taken on the role of his bodyguard. People had been nervous seeing the large metal man at first. Last charity event SI had was show casing art that had been donated to help raise money. Among the pieces had been Piotr’s work as the man was a very talented artist. The event had been run by Warren who had taken over being in charge of charity work for Stark Industries. The sight of the angelic mutant had been a big part in changing the views people had on the mutant community.He had been fairly busy with the company and the increase in workload that he hadn’t had much of a chance to check in with Shield and Fury. So when he had the one eyed man in his home he’d raised a brow curious what brought him for the unexpected visit.“I need your help.”“Oh? What do you need my help with? Last I checked Shield thought I was dying and threatened me into staying until I fixed it.”Fury had known he wasn’t dying. Tony had been making the rest of Shield think he had the arc reactor in his chest when he didn’t. It just proved to Fury that Tony would have made a good Shield agent but it also put into question just how good his agents were. He didn’t know if Tony was just that good or if maybe Shield had been slacking in their training of new agents.“We both know you aren’t dying. Look, something landed in New Mexico and we’re not entirely sure it’s from this planet. Coulson is already on his way but I’d like you to get there first.”Tony gathered the paperwork he’d been looking over knowing it wasn’t a priority right now and could wait.“I’ll head out then and check it out. Just give the location to JARVIS. I’m going to let the others know I’ll be out for a while.”Pepper made him promise to return safely, Warren had wished him a safe trip as he was distracted with the next event he was setting up, Piotr knew if he wasn’t guarding Tony he was free to do what he wanted or would be given another assignment while Tony was gone.He chose the suitcase armor for the trip. It wasn’t an overly long flight with the armor from Malibu to New Mexico. When he landed at the location given by Fury he stared in confusion at the hammer sitting in the dirt.“J, is this really what Fury wanted me to come check out?”“It appears so Sir. Apparently the locals tried and failed to pick it up. It’s how Shield was alerted to it.”He raised a brow confused as he looked at the hammer he held in his hand.“It’s not that heavy but the code in this thing is ridiculous.” His eyes glowed gold as he looked at the hammer that if he was honest he doubted came from earth.“Shall I alert Director Fury to your discovery of the item and ability to retrieve it?”“Let him know I have it yeah. Also let him know I’m going to stay around here for a while.”He didn’t say that he had a feeling something else came through as he took off with the armor and the hammer in hand. His eyes still glowing gold he followed a trail that had a similar code as the hammer. It led him to a hospital which he didn’t hesitate to enter after letting his armor fold back into the suitcase form. At the front desk was a woman saying something about a man calling himself Thor. Tony had read into mythology during one of his bouts of boredom and was more than aware of the Norse deities.“Excuse me, do you mean my friend Thor? Son of Odin. Big guy that looks like he lives at the gym.”He was assuming that the Norse deity would look like a viking as the Norse deities were warriors. Thor had several titles including god of battle so it was safe to assume he’d be a strong guy.“Oh you know him?” The woman asked startled.He offered his hand after setting his armor down.“Tony Stark, I’m afraid I had misplaced Thor. He wandered away from me.”The woman’s eyes widened in shock as she shook his hand.“You’re Tony Stark…like the Tony Stark?”“Well unless someone’s cloned me yes. You’re Jane Foster right? I’ve read your work. Amazing stuff and while not my field I’d love to discuss helping fund your work. Right now though I really need to check on my friend.”Jane looked through her pockets before she found something to write on.“When you have time and want to talk here’s my number.”He accepted it not bothering with the usual not liking to be handed things. Jane and the two with her left while Tony turned to the one behind the front desk.“My friend Thor?”She nodded as she got the room number for him. When he went to the room he found Thor unconscious and alone. He sat down in the extra chair and set down the suit and hammer. While he waited he sent out a message to get a ride home knowing he couldn’t take the blonde with him with the armor. When the blonde woke up he spotted the hammer and quickly got up.“My hammer!”“I figured it was yours big guy. Look before you-”“Silence mortal, I have no time for you.”Tony said nothing as Thor grabbed the hammer. However the blonde couldn’t lift it. He pulled harder before he let go looking broken as he stared at the hammer.“Why? Why…has father forsaken me to this place?”“Fathers are sometimes assholes.” Tony said drawing Thor’s attention to him.“You know not what you speak mortal.”“Well you were apparently abandoned here by your father and mine pretty much abandoned me when I turned out to be worthless in his eyes. Join the club, we’ll get matching t-shirts and prove we don’t need our fathers.”Thor looked at him with anger until everything seemed to sink in and he collapsed to his knees defeated.“I have nothing. I have been banished from my home.”“Then you can come to mine. I’ll help you get on your feet and find a life here that you won’t need your dad for.”Thor looked up at him for a few moments before he nodded.“Thank you. What is your name? I should at least know the name of the one offering me such kindness.”He held out his hand.“Anthony Edward Stark but everyone calls me Tony.”Thor accepted the hand thinking he would only shake the mortal’s hand but Tony pulled him to his feet easily.“I did not think mortals so strong.”“I’m a unique case, best if you don’t mention it to anyone. Now let’s get going, we have quite the way to go to get to my home.”He released Thor’s hand to pick up the suitcase armor and hammer. Thor’s eyes widened when he saw Tony pick up the hammer. The genius looked at him and offered a smile.“Don’t worry, when you regain the ability to pick up the hammer it’s all yours.”Thor didn’t say anything as he followed him out of the hospital room. Tony checked in with the front desk to leave his information to be billed for anything with Thor’s visit.“What is that case you carry?” Thor asked as they waited.“It’s my armor. I’m Iron Man, kind of a hero in this world.”“You are a warrior? You are so small though.”Tony looked at him with a raised brow not bothering to get offended.“I’m actually pretty strong and my abilities help me. I don’t even need the armor to fight, it’s just necessary to hide my true abilities.”Thor looked confused by this.“Why should you have to hide? Does Midgard not value its warriors?”“Let me ask you this Thor, does your world look down on anything?”That earned a frown and a thoughtful look.“It is uncommon for women to become warriors as is a man to practice magic. Magic on the battlefield is considered trickery.”That confused the hell out of Tony but he could question that later.“Well in this world what I am is considered something of an abomination and looked down on. Normal humans have in the past imprisoned and experimented on my kind. Things are starting to get better though, I’m working on making sure my kind are treated properly and not feared.”“You do not look like an abomination. You look no different than the other mortals of this realm.”Tony shrugged as he spotted their ride.“It’s not something on the surface you can see Thor. What makes me different is my DNA.”The car pulled up and the driver opened the door for him and Thor. The god got in after him looking a bit cramped in the seat.“I am still confused as to why-”Tony placed a finger against his lips to shush the god.“Remember what I said about secrets?”Thor nodded and remained silent. Thor stared at him a moment longer until their ride pulled up to where the private plane was waiting. They got out and Tony led Thor onto the aircraft.“What is this?” Thor asked with a frown.“An airplane, we’re going to take it because my home is in Malibu which is a fair distance from here which is New Mexico.”“So we are in a different kingdom?”“Different state within this country, not kingdom, consists of fifty states.”“I am unfamiliar with such a way of a realm being ruled.” Thor stated looking confused.“Seeing as I’m not familiar with other realms you know it’s going to be hard to explain the differences. I’ll try and put together a welcome to earth introductory packet for you with the correct terminology but maybe for the beginning of your stay in this world you should have someone with you. Just to avoid you committing any crimes by accident or causing a scene.”“I thank you for your help. It has been many centuries since I last came to Midgard, I cannot imagine everything is the same.”Tony quirked a smirk at the blonde.“Yeah not sure how things work in your world but even ten years ago the world today and back then are as different as night and day. This world is always changing so it’s good to find out how things work and keep up-to-date on world events.”“You’re realm sounds so chaotic to change so much and so often. Does this not bother you? How is it your people have not yet destroyed each other?”Tony let out a laugh.“Not for lack of trying but that’s one of the strengths of humanity I think. They’re resilient and at their core they are survivors. Even when faced with impossible odds they find a way to rise up from the ashes of defeat and continue on.”Thor considered that a moment before his to blue gaze met Tony’s.“You sound as though you have experience in this matter.”Tony shrugged about to lie but figured maybe truth would be best.“Growing up I was forced to learn to survive against impossible odds. Trained from a young age to be a weapon with the pretty little lie of being a perfect human, I learned how to survive when I was beaten down. I shouldn’t have survived this long but between horrible genetic experiments and the refusal to allow my creator to win, I lived. Even going so far to be far more than my creator intended.”Thor frowned.“I…do not understand. You are human yes? Why do you speak as though you are little more than a construct crafted by a mage?”Tony was actually surprised by that as he looked at Thor.“Construct? Mages can just create people?”Thor shook his head.“Not so much people but animals that act as a mage’s familiar. My brother has done so many times though they are not just constructs to act as an extension of his will. They live at his side as creatures with wills of their own and freedom. Not many can do such a thing as it takes time and quite a bit of both magic and skill that very few have.”“I’m not a construct but it sounds closer to what I am then a human.” Tony gave a bitter laugh at the thought of that.“I am sorry; I did not intend to insult you. I simply do not understand your earlier explanation.”Tony sighed as he leaned back in his seat.“Let me ask you this first, you are born a single mother and a single father right?”Thor nodded.“All people are.”Tony looked at him his gaze carefully blank as he held up his hand with four fingers held up.“I have four fathers.”Thor frowned looking further confused.“How is such a thing possible?”“My creator was attempting to make the perfect human. He took the DNA of several people in order to create me. He found a way to mix the four different male DNA to use with an enhanced woman to birth his so called perfect human baby.”Thor shook his head looking clearly disgusted.“Such a thing does not seem like it would bode well for any involved. You mentioned earlier your father abandoned you and thought you worthless. What did you mean?”“He expected me to be an invincible weapon from the moment I was born. Turns out being a child unable to get up after a beating capable of breaking nearly every bone in my body was a sign I was a failure. He tried a few more times to see if maybe the first test just hadn’t been done right or that the fault lie elsewhere. After what he deemed too many failures he ignored my existence or sent me away so I wasn’t taking up space in his home.”“I am sorry you have suffered so.”Tony just shrugged.“It doesn’t matter. Let’s just keep all this between us. I don’t need anyone finding out and trying recreate what I am.”Thor nodded in agreement.“Have you ever seen the ocean?” Tony decided to break the uncomfortable silence they’d fallen into.“I have, I’m quite fond of it. My brother and I use to go swimming in the oceans of Vanahiem when we were young.”Tony opened his eyes to look at Thor who had a sad expression on his face.“Tell me about your brother.”“He has stuck by me through many battles but as I sit here knowing I’m paying for my foolishness I realize I have wronged my brother in many ways. You claim your means of battle not accepted yet you have offered me kindness when I am but a stranger to you. My brother has offered me loyalty through my many centuries of life yet I mocked him for his magic. He stood with me trying to speak reason when I went to start a war against an entire race with just him at my side and our four friends. I failed him and I failed Asgard.”Tony was silent for a moment before he nodded.“Yep, you were a dick to your brother. Let me guess, you’ve never thanked him for standing by you either.”Thor looked ashamed.“Aye, I never did even in our youth. I realize now looking back searching for the mistakes that led me here I have never actually been punished for wrong doing. Not like Loki had been. I’ve seen the horrors my brother faced and I said nothing because I believed our father’s word was one I should never question. He was my king so I thought there was no reason to.”“Kings can be wrong to. Sounds like he favored you. You know parents normally don’t give their children everything they want because they can become spoiled and ungrateful. Is he younger or older?”“He is younger than I am. Loki has always been the smarter one between us. I had failed to see why a warrior would need to know the things we were being taught by our tutors so I would often skip out on lessons. My brother is a talented mage taught by our mother. In truth I believe Loki would make a far better king than I yet if his words are to be believed he has never wanted the throne for himself.”Tony watched Thor for a few moments before he shook his head.“You’re going to have to explain to me what you mean. Why do you say it like your brother often doesn’t speak the truth?”Thor met his gaze as he answered.“My brother is often known for his lies and tricks. It’s…difficult to believe what he says when it is not always true.”“Ok explain this to me, when and how did you find out he was a liar?”Thor frowned anger beginning to overtake his gaze.“Don’t get angry with me, you’ve already admitted to wronging your brother. I’m trying to help you figure this all out. I’m assuming the not being able to pick up the hammer thing has to do with being unworthy in some way. Maybe this is the wake up call you need and now we’re trying to figure out what exactly has made you unworthy. You said Loki tried to talk you out of a frankly horrifyingly stupid plan so maybe that’s where you need to start. So, what proof do you have of Loki being a liar?”Thor calmed down quickly after that as he sat back and considered the question.“I do not…I am not certain. Many have claimed my brother’s words to be false.”Tony just stared at Thor and shook his head.“Tell me this Thor, why would anyone think for a moment they wouldn’t be believed when it sounds like your dad made it painfully clear he really didn’t like his second son? If the king of an entire planet or whatever where you’re from favors one prince over another, what’s to say all that king’s people didn’t just jump on the bandwagon as well to start treating the less than favored prince like shit?”Thor looked so confused and pained by the thought that his people had been targeting his brother just because they could.“I…You believe he was not really a liar?”“You tell me. What was your dad’s reaction the first time someone called your brother a liar?”Thor thought back to the days of his youth when he and Loki had still gone out together as brothers did. Both smiling and laughing as they waved their toy weapons pretending to slay a dragon. Thor had been boasting that it was he who slayed the dragon while Loki was giggling and proclaiming he helped as he waved his tiny toy dagger. They had been so happy they hadn’t seen one of the servants drawing closer. Loki had not seen her as he waved his dagger that was not sharp in the least hit the poor woman. Thor had remembered the woman screaming and crying. He remembered later Odin approaching them in anger, the woman nearby with bandages on her leg from the healer. Odin had not given Loki a chance to explain. He’d just told the boy who couldn’t actually be at fault because Frigga made certain their toys could not accidently hurt them and not even minutes before the woman was hit the toy had accidently hit Thor to and done nothing. Odin simply told Loki sternly that he needed to stop with his mischievous tricks because they would only hurt people. Loki had opened his mouth to protest and Thor remembered quite clearly their father’s words. Do not lie to me boy.“I remember the first time Loki was claimed to be a liar. It was by our own father Odin and Loki had not said a word. A servant had been injured but I would assume she had done it to herself because it was certainly not Loki’s doing.”Tony stared at Thor for a long moment before he spoke again.“All it takes is one.”Thor looked at him confused.“I beg your pardon?”“It means things can go very badly or good but sometimes all it takes is one to change things in favor of one way or another. Sometimes all it takes is one person to affect a situation or someone in some way. Like the servant that claimed Loki hurt her, it was just one person but you’ve just said it may have affected Loki’s entire life. You were banished here and here I am helping you. Just one person, sometimes all it takes is one.”Thor nodded solemnly.“You are very wise for one so young.” Thor commented and Tony smirked.“Not as young as I seem but in your terms probably. Thanks though.”The rest of the ride was uneventful and only when they landed did he receive a call from Fury. Thor looked startled by sound from the phone. Tony smiled as he picked up sounding chipper.“Nicky, I was just about to call you.” He lied easily and even Thor was giving him a look like he didn’t believe him.“I don’t believe you.” Came Fury’s reply.“Oh I know because you’re not an idiot. So what can I do for you Uncle Nick?”“Are you still in New Mexico?”“Nope.” He said popping the p. “Decided I had enough and I missed the beautiful salty air of my Malibu home.”“You still have the unknown artifact?”“Well of course, did you think I’d just leave it someplace? I may be a bit reckless but I’m not stupid. I’m hurt Nicky, I thought you had more faith in me.”As he spoke he led Thor to the car where Piotr was waiting. Thor stared shocked at the metal coated mutant while Tony gave him a reassuring look causing the blonde to relax though his eyes never strayed from the mutant.“Keep it under wraps, the higher ups aren’t happy it’s suddenly missing and I have a feeling something else is going on behind the scenes.”Tony paused at that as his tone lost all of its teasing and became dead serious.“Do you think Hydra found a way to infiltrate Shield again?”“I think maybe we only removed the underlings. Think you can check into the higher ups for anything we might have missed?”“Sure, I’ll get a report ready for you by tonight. Think you can stop by then?”“Yeah, I’ll be by.”Fury hung up without so much as a goodbye and Tony met Piotr’s gaze in the rearview mirror.“Looks like I’m working tonight. How did you enjoy your time off?”“Wished it was longer. I was in the middle of a painting.”“Ah, sorry about that. Maybe I should hire a second driver?”“It’s fine; I knew what I was getting into becoming your driver and bodyguard.” His eyes turned to Thor who tensed under the metal gaze. “I am Piotr Rasputin, Dr. Stark’s bodyguard and driver.”“I am Thor son of Odin. I mean no offense but what are you? I have never seen such a man before.”Piotr wasn’t easily offended and offered a small smile.“I am a mutant. I am not always like this.” To show proof he allowed the metal to vanish showing a normal if not slightly larger than normal man. Thor’s eyes lit up with interest as Piotr returned the metal coating.“Why do you not always remain looking normal?”“Not all mutants appear what is considered normal. We are attempting to show mankind we are not people to be feared and to show other mutants that we do not need to hide.” Piotr answered while Tony typed away on his phone to get JARVIS to begin looking into Shield from the top down.Tony even with his attention on his phone was listening to the conversation between the alien prince and metal mutant. He thought it was pretty interesting considering the two were from very different worlds. Piotr wasn’t even fazed by the fact Thor wasn’t from earth and Thor was very accepting of Piotr. As they spoke the rest of the tension drained from his body.“Hey Piotr do you think you can help Thor settle in? I’ve got some stuff that takes priority at the moment.”The mutant nodded as he continued speaking to Thor as he directed him to one of the guest bedrooms. Tony entered his workshop with JARVIS already bringing up several screens of information.“How’s it looking so far J?”“I have already found the Hydra agent within the World Security Council. I have since been looking into everyone Alexander Pierce has brought in and anyone they have. I shall have all the information complied for Director Fury by the time he visits.”“Alright good. Thor is going to be staying with us for a while. I don’t want him leaving on his own until he is at least familiar with our world. I’m going to get information together for him in the meantime.”He sat down already gathering relevant information with JARVIS adding here and there. He wasn’t sure how long it was before the workshop door opened and Pepper stepped in with Warren at her side, both holding paperwork he rather not have to deal with.“Please don’t make me do things.” He half whined.“I need you to look over and sign these.” Pepper said dropping the papers on his table.“And I’d like you to look this over and see if you approve.” Warren said adding another pile of paperwork.“Slave drivers all of you.”Pepper rolled her eyes.“So who is your new friend?” She asked as he already pulled the papers towards him to begin on them.“His name is Thor Odinson, he’s an alien prince that Norse mythology is based on. He was banished from his home and is staying with us for the time being.”Apparently both were so use to the strangeness that was being friends with him that they just accepted that they now had an alien prince in the house. He probably should be worried but he just shrugged.“Will he be joining us for dinner?” Warren asked.“Yeah, also Pep I’m looking to expand into Astrophysics. Looking into funding Jane Foster’s research.”Pepper gave him a questioning look.“She’s the one who found Thor. Saw him coming out of whatever was used to bring him to our world. Surprise surprise, aliens don’t use spaceships.”“Or just his don’t. You think however he came here she might be able to give some answers?”“Well Dr. Foster’s field of study focuses on Einstein-Rosen Bridges. If that’s what we’re looking at it might be good to get into the field before others do. She doesn’t have much funding but her work is good. I read her research.”“Alright, I’ll see what we can do.” Pepper said as she turned to leave. “Dinner will be here in thirty minutes.”He waved at her as she and Warren left, all of them knowing thirty minutes was plenty of time to look over the paperwork. When he went up to the dining room he found everyone already gathered. Happy was sitting beside Pepper, Warren at the head of the table, and Thor sitting next to Piotr. As he took his seat he heard Fury arrive. He went ahead serving himself some of the spaghetti and garlic bread before Fury entered the room. Tony pointed to the other table he’d set the relevant papers for him.“Are you not joining us for food?” Pepper asked Fury who still wasn’t sure what to make of Pepper. For a civilian she was oddly both terrifying and efficient. Honestly either Shield or Hydra could benefit from someone like her but both had missed out as Tony scooped her up the moment he met her. Now she was his secret weapon to scare both the public and the board into submission.“Not tonight Ms. Potts.” Fury answered before his one eye moved to Thor who was happily stuffing his face. “Are you picking up more strays Stark?”Thor looked over clearly knowing who the stray Fury was talking about was. Thor looked offended but decided not to bother commenting as he was too engrossed in eating like he hadn’t in days. That or he was a diehard Italian fan in which case he was good in Tony’s opinion. Italian food was delicious.“Me? Never, why would I pick up strays? Just eating a delicious meal with some good friends.” Tony offered a cheerful grin which had Fury just accepting whatever may come.“Pierce? He’s the one who snuck those assholes back into my organization?”“Yep, luckily he hasn’t been at it to long so it’s not a major problem. Not like it was before.”Fury still wasn’t happy as he began walking away mumbling to himself. He didn’t get far before Tony’s phone dinged with the sound of a text message. There weren’t many people who texted him as most of those not in the room with him currently would call. He looked at his phone and frowned.
If Director Nickolas Fury leaves your home tonight he’ll die
“Nick wait.” He said taking the unknown number as truth.Fury stopped hearing his serious tone. Another text came in once he spoke as though the person texting him knew what he’d done.
Alexander Pierce knows Fury is onto him
Tony held up his phone for Fury to see.“Who the hell knows I’m here? I’m always careful to keep our connection secret.”Tony looked at the phone again just as another text came in.
Our unwilling donor James Buchanan Barnes is Hydra’s Winter Soldier. He’s been brain washed to obey and has been trailing Fury. If you want to save Sergeant Barnes face him at 1am when he tries to assassinate Fury in the second guest bedroom
Tony stared at Fury before he stood.“Everyone we need to end this dinner early. Pepper take Warren and Piotr with you when you and Happy leave. I want you four to go to Xavier’s.”The four looked at him concerned.“Tony what’s going on?”Tony looked at the phone that remained silent with no further messages.“It seems an old acquaintance is coming by for a visit. He’s not the kind I’d bring around the family.”They nodded as they picked up their plates to clear the table and take what they hadn’t eaten home. Thor was frowning but seemed to know the seriousness of the situation.“How can I help?” Thor asked as he moved closer to Tony and Fury.“Right now we just need you to act like you have been. Tonight when everyone’s gone to bed stay in your room until I come get you.”Thor looked ready to argue but one look from Tony had him closing his mouth. Tony began clearing the table and offered Fury the use of the second guest bedroom. Something he would have done if Fury had decided to stay the night as the first guest bedroom was currently being used by Thor. He didn’t know who this mystery texter was yet but the fact they called Bucky Barnes both their unwilling donor it seemed he wasn’t the only one created by Howard Stark. Tony knew from the files that Howard himself hadn’t been present for his birth. He’d just made sure Zola delivered the goods. Whoever was warning him was either an even better spy than Fury or psychic. Judging by the text coming now of all times it had to be someone he met recently, someone usually overlooked or considered the furthest thing from a threat. He scanned his memories before he sent a text back.
Would you happen to be using your real name sister or that you crossed paths with me by accident
He waited for a reply he knew would come.
Seems you defy even more than just death
Not an answer to his question but certainly one for the unasked one. The person texting him was psychic and he’d just gone against her vision. He wasn’t sure that was necessarily a good thing.He walked the others to the door saying goodbye to them as he usually would. Keeping things normal as he could. Fury had taken food and sat down in the living room with Thor determined to keep the knowledge they knew there was an assassin after him secret. Tony joined them lounging on the massive couch and had JARVIS turn on Avatar because Tony thought maybe Thor might enjoy a human’s idea of what alien life was like. Thor did in fact enjoy it even though they were still in danger of being targeted by an assassin. If Tony had gone off script of a pre-foreseen future there was no telling what his actions might have changed already.Night came and Fury went off to bed first and then Thor. Tony laid down on the couch pretending to sleep but his senses were wide awake and waiting. Fury’s attempted murderer was very quiet and very skilled. Tony was too though and so he moved carefully to avoid being seen as he moved towards the guest room Fury was using. He slipped into the room remaining silent and in the shadows to avoid being seen. Fury’s would be assassin climbed through the window allowing Tony to see his deadly and graceful movements. He could see the shine of that metal arm that he was all too familiar with. Flashes of memories echoed in his mind. Remembering a childhood where being beaten down by a Hydra trained assassin was Howard’s way of testing whether he was the perfect human he was hoping for. Memories of late nights unable to sleep because of the pain. Flashes of empty stormy grey eyes almost glowing in the darkness as surprisingly gentle hands treated injuries left as they were by his creator.He struck fast as he moved forward and grabbed the winter soldier by the head and slammed it into the ground. He calculated the exact amount of force needed to knock him out but not kill him. When the soldier went limp Fury turned on the light with his gun in hand but it not held up.“I’m keeping him.” He warned Fury not leaving any room for the spy to try and claim some kind of control over the man who had suffered more years of torture than he had of freedom.“Can you reform him?” Fury asked, his weapon being put down.“I can heal him.” Tony answered.Fury nodded.“Fine, goodnight then.”Tony picked up the assassin and carried him from the room as Fury laid down to sleep. It was a little unnerving sometimes how much Fury trusted him. He was under no delusion that Fury had never been afraid of him. He had never been stupid enough to think for a moment Fury wished Howard was still alive so he or Shield could recreate what he’d done for their own powerful superhumans. No Fury was more likely to shoot Howard if he were still alive just to make sure no one figured out how to do what he did. Of course Tony could admit he understood Fury’s worries. Tony knew how strong he was and now with the unknown element of another of Howard’s creations or possibly someone else having recreated the process even Tony was a bit uneasy. Whoever had texted him could be just as strong or stronger than him.He placed the soldier on the bed in yet another guest room. He had so many in his massive home. He straddled the soldier as he pinned him to the bed with his weight and placed his hands on either side of his head. Eyes glowing gold he worked to repair the man. Tony could see the universe in code and the winter soldier wasn’t bad code, just broken and corrupt code. It was like the soldier’s entire being was plagued by a virus that was viciously trying to destroy him. Tony had to destroy the virus and repair every piece of broken code. When Tony finally pulled away from the man sunlight was pouring into the room. He slowly got up and made his way to Thor’s room running on spite at this point. So rarely did he exhaust himself but this hadn’t been an easy task.“Morning Thor, it’s safe to come out now.” He told the blonde before he passed out right there in the god’s doorway.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony was a child with far too much knowledge of how dark and cruel the world was with the few short years of life behind him. Eyes long since empty as he stared at the world around him. Wounds healing faster than normal but not fast enough. His body to small, to weak according to the man the world called his father. He was a child with no understanding of such things. Father, a parental figure that should care for their offspring. These things were not true of Howard’s treatment towards him. He stood giving orders to another man, a man that seemed familiar to the child though he couldn’t say why. He ordered the other man to hurt him. To beat him, test his skills as a soldier. Tony was not a soldier. He was a child or at least he appeared to be. Tony did not have the innocence of a child. He did not have the mind of a child. His mind was racing, ideas and creations waiting to be brought into the world. He had the mind of a genius but Howard did not notice, he chose not to focus on the aspect of his being. Instead he focused on the crushing of bones with a frown on his face when they didn’t knit back together seamlessly within moments. He focused on the growing pool of blood far too disappointed to realize the child shouldn’t have survived that amount of blood loss.A child bloody and bruised beyond what he should have survived sat alone in the closet that was his bedroom. Failures didn’t deserve luxury; experiments didn’t get the same treatment as people. There were no windows or lights in his tiny space. It was big enough for two people to stand in but in the darkness it almost seemed like the walls were closing in on him. When the door opened the boy didn’t even shrink away, there was no point in running. He’d only die tired. In the light from outside he saw the shine of metal; with his enhanced hearing he heard the mechanical arm move. Darkness overtook them both as the man who had spent the better part of the day being ordered around and obeying stepped inside and closed the door. Tony didn’t even tense as cool metal fingers reached out for him. He didn’t scream when bones were set to heal properly, when stitches were put in, or when wounds were disinfected. The touch was gentle and the man said nothing throughout the entire process. His wounds eventually healed and as soon as they had he was beaten down again.In time Tony knew both cruelty and kindness at the hands of the silent man. Sometimes in the short flashes of light from the outside world he’d seen those stormy eyes look concerned and fearful. Like he was worried about him. Tony almost thought the kindness was crueler than the beatings. Dying would end this hell. In time the soldier would speak and he’d teach Tony speak Russian, a language he picked up far too quickly. Russian was a language Howard didn’t speak; it was almost the first happy memory Tony had to hold, a secret between himself and the soldier. A secret the cold man that stood as a charming man outside in the world would never know.The soldier trained him, taught him how to protect himself and fight to avoid losing so badly when he was ordered to hurt Tony. It was another of their secrets and Tony was happy for it. At least he was until the cruel people came to take the soldier away. He learned of what the soldier was that day. A prisoner bound in chains that remained unseen to the rest of the world. There was no hero coming to save either of them, you couldn’t save a dead man after all. You didn’t save an experiment, not like you would a person. They were both prisoners even though to the outside they might seem free. Freedom it would seem was life’s greatest lie. It is among the first truths that Tony learns. ~ Tony woke with a groan and rubbed his forehead trying to chase away the memories of his childhood. He looked up when he felt the presence of anther in his bedroom. There was the soldier…no, there was Bucky Barnes. Tony didn’t tense or show any sign of worry for the other being in his room. He simply sat there staring at the sniper waiting for the older man to speak.“I remember your dad…I killed him.”Tony titled his head slightly as he watched the man who had just come right out and told him about Howard.“Sorry, you must be mistaken. I don’t have a father.”He threw back the sheets ignoring the confused look on Barnes’s face.“Howard Stark…you’re Anthony Edward Stark.”“It doesn’t mean that soulless creature was my father.” Tony answered his voice carefully blank as he moved to the bathroom to do his business.When he came out Barnes was staring with a dark look in his eyes.“What did he do?”Tony walked right up to the sniper that seemed to be slipping more into the assassin mindset.“Tell me Barnes, what do you see when you look into my eyes?”Barnes did look, searching his gaze. He’d been a sniper before Hydra got to him. Talented more so than any other. He had been the perfect candidate for Hydra’s project to create a living weapon. The fact he was the only one to survive Zola’s experiments had just made him even more a valuable asset for the evil organization.“You’re eyes are the same shade as Stevie’s. They don’t match either Howard or Maria Stark.”“Of course not, Maria wasn’t my mother and Howard needed Steve’s DNA for the serum.”Barnes froze and suddenly Tony’s eyes were glowing gold as he watched Barnes’s code change. It was like seeing an entirely different person and a quick search of the other man’s file he found under the information for his name listed: Winter Soldier, Fist of Hydra, Asset, Soldat, and Yasha. This was not Bucky Barnes but the winter soldier, what came of Hydra’s torture and programming of Bucky.“Soldat.” Tony greeted him.The soldier looked into his glowing golden gaze studying him. Tony just let him look as much as he wanted as he waited for the older man to say something.“I am not Hydra’s Asset anymore.”“Then what do you want to be called? Winter? Yasha?”The older man nodded.“Yasha, the spider use to call me that.”“Alright Yasha, do you know who I am?”Yasha reached out and settled his metal hand on Tony’s head.“Our son.”Tony found himself staring at the floor uncertain how to respond. He had never had a true parent. Howard had tossed him aside when he proved to be less than what he wanted and Maria had never looked his way. She had always seemed to accept that Tony was little more than another experiment that took away Howard’s focus. Tony’s mind flashed back to those nights his wounds were treated with such care that he’d never been able to understand why the man who’d beaten him on orders had bothered.“You knew back then. You knew what I was.”Yasha nodded.“Hydra was to strong; all I could do was obey and try to ensure you survived.”He recalled whispered words of advice in the darkness. A different stance to both block and attack, nights when the rest of the house was asleep he’d find himself being trained under the starry night sky, he remembered lessons on how to be just like Hydra’s deadliest weapon. Kindness had come from the winter soldier, from Yasha. The man who had hurt him to save him.“I removed the trigger words from your head. Don’t kill anyone I care about and you can stay.”Yasha nodded ruffling his hair before he removed his hand.“How did you know what I was anyways?”Yasha tapped his head.“My mind has been wiped more times than I doubt I’ll ever know. But I was trained by Hydra, trained to complete my missions quickly and as efficiently as possible. I am aware of my surroundings and those around me even when they think I’m not. I heard them planning, heard why they needed my DNA. They made me believe I was a weapon, not a person. Weapons do not have children but people do. My new mission, my self-imposed mission, it took over that the wipes could not take it.”Tony was listening as the man’s voice came out with a Russian accent to it. As his stormy gaze remained locked on his own blue eyes. Yasha moved his hand to tap Tony’s chest.“Primary mission, Protect my children.”Tony’s eyes flickered up to Yasha’s as something occurred to him.“You were there when I was born.”Yasha nodded.“When you and your twin were born. ““Who is my twin?”Yasha stared at him a moment before he shook his head.“You will know them soon. They’ve already contacted you.”Tony had never had a mystery before. Everything was always so easy to figure out and study that this was something new to him. He could admit maybe for the first time in his life he was excited.“Alright, well let’s introduce you to the house. No killing my guests.”Yasha nodded looking as though that were obvious. Tony just shook his head slightly as he left the room with his biological father behind him. Yasha’s eyes were carefully taking everything in and it was clear he was aware of everything in his surroundings.“Ah Anthony, are you feeling better?” Thor asked when they entered the kitchen where the god was attempting to make food with the aid of JARVIS.“I’m fine, what are you making?”Thor looked at the pot of food in front of him.“I believe it is chicken noodle soup. Your JARVIS has been aiding me and I hope it is done properly. I thought you might be hungry when you woke up.”Tony moved towards the pot sniffing it. It smelled ok if maybe under seasoned. He took a taste and quickly remedied the problem.“Anyways Thor this is Yasha, Yasha Thor Odinson. He’ll be staying with us.”“This is your father correct?” Thor asked surprising both Tony and Yasha.“How can you tell?”Yasha and Bucky had stormy eyes and brown hair. Tony was blue eyed and had black hair. They didn’t really look alike.“You have a similar expression and he looks at you as a father would a child they are protective of.” Thor replied making Tony look towards Yasha who didn’t hide the protectiveness within his gaze.“Yeah well Yasha here is only one half of the equation. His other personality is Bucky Barnes. So later I’ll introduce you to him to.”Thor looked a little confused at that but nodded.“Alright.” Tony clapped his hands together. “Let’s get you guys settled in. I’ve got that introductory pack for you and I guess I can give a copy to Yasha here to since he’s been on ice for a few decades. Once that’s all done and you’re familiar enough with this world we’ll move onto jobs or schooling. Whatever you guys want.”“I have already received the best education Asgard has to offer.” Thor said.“Ok then, job if you want it.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony sipped his coffee as he stared at his two guests. Thor was listening as Warren explained his work. Since becoming more comfortable in the human world Thor had been looking into what type of work might fit him best. Fury had already arranged for identification for him so he could look for work wherever he wanted. Thor was interested in Warren’s work so far and had been offered a position at Charles’s school to help teach the young mutants there. Bucky and Yasha were already in training with Happy for Stark Industries security. Currently Bucky was in control and listening as well to Warren though his main focus seemed to be the greasy burger he was devouring. Tony had already had to stock up for the different tastes between the two halves of the super soldier. Bucky liked the all-American most popular dishes and Yasha favored cooking himself Russian and German dishes.“Don’t you have a meeting today?” Warren suddenly paused in his story to question Tony.“No you’re thinking of the one I have tomorrow. Today’s my day off. I was thinking of going to visit Charles today.”“He misses you, I’m sure he’d enjoy seeing you.” Warren said before he turned back to Thor to continue his story.Bucky glanced his way but Tony waved him off knowing the super soldier was trying to see if he needed him to go with him. Tony grabbed his suit jacket before he went to the garage. He picked a red sports car to head to Charles’s school. It had been a while since he visited. He was actually looking forward to seeing the school again after all this time.As he drove down the empty road close to the school a rainbow of light shot down directly in his path nearly making him hit a tree as he moved to avoid hitting the form left behind. Cursing he looked at the raven haired figure dressed in something that looked like it belonged to someone from another world. His eyes quickly flashed gold as he sought out a name for the stranger.“So, little brother decides to come down to play?”Loki turned to look at him and smirked.“I have seen you helping Thor since he arrived in your world. I had come to see the mortal that has drawn my brother’s attention.”Tony got out of his car and studied the alien prince for a moment. He decided not to beat around the bush here and go straight to the matter at hand.“Why are you really here Loki?”Loki seemed taken aback by the direct question.“I’ve come for Thor. The people of Asgard refuse me as even a temporary ruler. I had intended to keep the Allfather’s decree of Thor’s banishment but I can no longer continue as things are.”“And what if Thor doesn’t want to go back? He still can’t use Mjolnir and he’s happy here.”Loki didn’t appear to have expected to be facing a disagreement on his mission of bringing his brother home.“Thor has a duty to his home.”“And Odin had a duty to be a proper father to his sons but we both know he failed.”Anger flashed through Loki’s eyes.“What makes you think he failed me?”Tony leaned against his car and crossed his arms over his crest.“How about the fact that you didn’t know you were born a son of Laufey until recently and it wasn’t Odin telling you that had you finding out the truth.”Loki tensed before rage overtook him and he stormed up to Tony. He grabbed him by the front of his shirt and lifted him effortlessly.“How did you know? Who told you?”Tony allowed his eyes to glow gold with the use of his power so Loki could see it clearly.“I can see a lot more than most. No one told me, I saw it. Now if you want to see Thor I’d suggest putting me down and getting in the car.”Loki frowned slightly confused by the change in Tony’s eyes but finally put him down. He got in the passenger seat crossing his arms as he sulked. Tony almost laughed but didn’t want to piss off the god any further so he got in the driver’s seat and headed back towards home. As he drove he turned on the radio to some classical music. As much as he didn’t like it, he figured Loki would appreciate it more than his preferred choice. The music played for a good thirty minutes before it cut off with an incoming call from the tower.“J let the call through.”Loki looked confused before Thor’s voice sounded in the car.“Anthony, your comrade Warren has given me permission to aid in his work with your charities. I require a suit to be dressed appropriately. Your spirit JARVIS said it would be alright to purchase the necessary clothing but I thought I should seek your permission first.”“Its fine Thor, J is right though you don’t need to call me first. You’re my guest so it’s not a problem. I’ll take you to get a suit when I get back; I actually have someone with me hoping to talk to you.”“Ah another friend?”“Not exactly big guy. You’ll see when we get back.”The music continued once the call ended and a glance towards Loki showed the god was confused by the call but didn’t question it. When they neared the tower Loki looked at it with a questioning gaze.“You must be someone of great importance to possess a building with your name on it.”“I have lots of buildings including several mansions.”That earned an interested look from the god.“I’m an inventor, one of the best minds in the world. I’m the head of R&D of my company as well as the former CEO. So kind of important.”He pulled into the garage and led Loki inside. The god appeared calm but Tony could see he was a bit nervous though Tony wasn’t entirely sure why. He could check to see but he didn’t like invading people’s privacy like that. When the elevator doors open it did so on the common room floor where Thor was reading what appeared to be a scientific magazine.“My friend, you have made marvelous strides in Midgard’s technology. Why do people comment so often on your daily life when these are so much more important?” Thor asked not looking up from the magazine.“Hello Thor.”Thor’s head snapped up his eyes widening in shock.“Loki…?” He asked uncertain as he stood.“I know Odin banished you but you must return. The people are unhappy with my ruling. No one wants the second prince, the trickster to rule. Even with keeping the Jotun from continuing with Laufey’s wish for war after the attack on Jotunhiem none wish for me to remain on the throne. With Odin still in Odinsleep Asgard needs you.”Thor didn’t move from where he was standing before he looked to Tony. The genius was staying out of it but could tell Thor was conflicted in the matter.“I cannot.”Loki was shocked by Thor refusing to return home.“Why? Asgard needs you.”Thor shook his head.“It does not, Asgard wants me but it does not need me. Loki you are a fine king, had Odin ever truly bothered to see you he would know you have always acted in Asgard’s best interest. You were a far better option for king than I.”Loki stood there still as a statue before he seemed to grow angry with his brother.“I never wanted the throne.”“But the task has fallen to you. Even if I were to return now I do not possess the ability to wield Mjolnir. Even if I could it does not change the fact I have been banished. When father awakens he will hold you accountable for my return against his orders. I will not allow you to suffer such punishment.”There was a long pause of silence before Loki spoke up again.“I will not go back without you Thor. I was at fault for this entire mess. I let the Jotun into Asgard. I had hoped to stop you being crowned king when you were not yet ready. I never intended for you to attack Jotunhiem or be banished.”Thor moved closer to his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder.“Then stay here with me Loki. You were right to try and stop my coronation. My actions in Jotunhiem were further proof and my banishment of my own doing. Asgard needs a ruler but it will not be me so long as I am unsuited and the people have already decided to wrongfully refuse your rightful claim as the next in line. Mother is strong and though father slumbers I know she will handle the burden of the throne while he sleeps.”Loki tensed at the mention of his rightful claim.“I have no claim to the throne. Thor…Odin lied; he has lied all our lives. I am not prince of Asgard. I am Laufey’s bastard spawn. I am the very monster mothers tell their children to fear.”Tony watched as Thor approached his brother and the younger tensed. Shocked green eyes looked up as Thor reached out and pulled him into a hug.“We were raised together, we played together, we fought together. You are my brother and no matter who birthed you, no matter your true heritage, no matter what lies others have told, you will always be my little brother. Stay Loki; remain here on Midgard with me. Let us watch over each other as we once did. I know there has been distance between us, I know it is my doing but I hope to do right by you. I have been shown the error of my ways and if you would allow me, I shall try to earn your forgiveness for my arrogance.”Loki allowed Thor to embrace him for a moment before he pulled away and patted Thor on the shoulder.“Midgard has done you well brother.”Thor grinned at his brother before he motioned to Tony directing his brother’s attention to the genius.“Friend Anthony has been kind enough to take me under his wing. He has been showing me my faults and how to do better. I owe this second chance to you brother and my new friend.”“So are you staying Loki? I can get things set up for you here.”Loki glanced at Thor before he sighed.“I should return to Asgard to ensure mother does not have to suffer the throne alone but I am not foolish enough to think I’d be overly welcome in Asgard. Perhaps a few days away will help me clear my mind and decide how to approach everything that’s happened. If anything truly requires my attention I have no doubt mother will send someone to retrieve me.”Thor’s smile was blinding, no one could mistake his mood with how he was looking now. Tony shrugged and told Loki if he needed anything to contact JARVIS. Looking to Thor he questioned about the god’s previous request.“Ah yes, I require the appropriate clothing for the charity event. Warren has agreed to allow me to help him and should I be successful in my quest he will add me to his band of warriors for future quests.”Tony chuckled at Thor’s wording.“Sure Thor though you might want to talk a bit more normal for this world if you’re going to avoid getting weird looks. I’d prefer to set you up with a tailored suit but the charity is tonight if I remember correctly. We’ll have to make do with what we can get on short notice.”“Allow me to join you Anthony, I shall resize whatever you purchase to fit my idiot brother. My magic can be useful for more than tricks and battle.”Tony had no arguments and he got the chance to see the two brothers interact. The two sat in the backseat as Tony drove and the two were talking about a past battle with Thor laughing at how Loki had apparently tricked their enemies. Loki’s easy smile and genuine laughter seemed to show that he was honestly enjoying talking with his older brother. Loki mentioned how Thor had felled their enemies so easily, his physical strength among his greatest assets in battle.When they arrived at their destination Thor practically pulled his brother beside him not seeming to want him to far from his side. After giving the shop clerk instructions on what he wanted he left them to it and stepped out for a moment intent on calling Charles seeing as he didn’t get the chance to actually see him. He had barely stepped out of the store when the hairs on the back of his neck stood up in a way that told him something dangerous was nearby. He looked up and was concerned to find how close the stranger was to him.It took a moment to realize the woman wasn’t a complete stranger. It was like his mind couldn’t connect her face to the memory of her. It was a bit concerning but he quickly realized why it might be and smirked.“Sister.”The woman looked up a cold look within her eyes that seemed foreign compared to her earlier appearance.“Brother, you seem to attract interesting people.”“Worried?” He teased.She glanced to the shop window where Thor and Loki could be seen playfully arguing.“No, everyone dies one day. Why worry about the in-between when you know the eventual end? If they are a danger there is not much more I can do.”Tony grimaced slightly.“I don’t like to think things are set in stone. If there’s a danger, I’ll prepare to face it.”Her eyes flickered back to him.“When one spends their life training to be better and seeing what lies ahead, fighting the enviable seems pointless. Until you defied fate I thought there was no point to fight against what is destined.”He studied her a moment before he asked her teasingly, “I don’t think we were formally introduced before, were we?”Her gaze flickered to his offered hand.“Darcy Lewis is what I was named. But you and I both know I’m not anymore a Lewis than you are a Carbonell.”Tony glanced around noticing no one was even looking their way. It wasn’t often Tony went out in public without someone noticing him. He suspected it had to do with Darcy.“So you came here to just say hi or maybe catch up with a long lost sibling?”Darcy didn’t look amused as she stared at him.“Shield is preforming experiments on the tesseract. It will draw attention to our planet from outside forces. I’ve come to warn you to be prepared.”He gave her a questioning stare.“And why am I not stopping this?”If possible her gaze darkened further and her expression turned even more serious.“It’s necessary though I don’t know for what yet.”He crossed his arms over his chest but nodded.“Alright, thanks for the warning I guess. I’d ask if you’re always this tense but I’m sure this is just your working persona.”Her gaze flickered up at him and a small up curve appeared on her lip. He’d guess he got that one right. A quick glance to the two gods proved they were doing alright. However looking back to Darcy proved useless as she was gone. He pulled out his phone for a quick check of the nearby cameras. They didn’t pick up any sign of her or even him. It was like they had been expertly edited out of the recordings though JARVIS couldn’t say how. He smirked thinking perhaps his sister was something of a ghost. Something about her abilities proved it was hard to keep track of her. It might explain how she got so close him without him noticing. With a quick message to JARVIS had the AI looking into who Darcy Lewis was supposed to be. He knew how he’d ended up with Howard and Maria Stark; he wanted to see if he could find out how Darcy ended up with the Lewis family.“Everything good here?” He asked when he returned inside to the shop.“Aye, we have found appropriate clothing.” Thor said standing proudly in a very nice suit with Loki next to him wearingly an equally nice suit.Thor was wearing a nice silver suit with a red tie and Loki a black one with a green tie. Both looked quite nice dressed up in human clothing. Tony bought both suits and listened to the two brothers bicker about who looked better. In between Thor insisting he looked best in Midgardian clothing and Loki insisting at least he would not make himself a fool at a mortal event, somehow Thor managed to convince the trickster to attend the event as well.“You two want to get your hair done as well or something for tonight’s charity? You know since you’re competing on who’s prettiest.”“Yes, we must look our best for this glorious event!” Thor agreed loudly.Tony had been joking but he took them anyways. Upon arriving and seeing others get their nails done as well Loki insisted on having his done. To which Thor wanted his done as well not to be outdone by his brother. Tony just sat nearby reading a magazine in between being asked for pictures by fans that spotted him. He also had to deal with men and woman alike flirting with him which he politely refused them with the excuse he was here with company.By the time they went to the charity Tony was far to amused by the bickering brothers to try and stop them. Warren however was a professional and insisting they both be on their best behavior. Tony was dressed in a blue suit with a gold and blue tie. Their arrival was met with many cameras with plenty of people trying to find out who the two were with them. By now Warren was a familiar face and Tony had already had to deal with threats from his father for daring to support his son being a mutant and being happy with how he was born. Thor and Loki to their credit were faring well in the face of the paparazzi. Both looking like the regal princes they were. Tony could admit both painted a nice picture as they stood tall and proud and when Warren offered his arm to Loki the god accepted easily. Thor offered his to Tony and he accepted walking beside the crown prince of Asgard. Both unbothered by the cameras and the continued questions as it wasn’t the first time both had been seen in public.He made sure to keep an eye on the two and noticed Warren doing the same though both princes had apparently done their research. Both were charming and polite with everyone they came into contact with. Tony really didn’t need to keep an eye on them as he continued to sweet talk the rich and famous out of their money.Tony took a moment to stop by the bar where Thor was also taking a break from the crowd. The god smiled looking good in his suit and bright eyed at being at the event. Tony was going to compliment his look when one of his least favorite people approached.“Anthony!”Tony closed his eyes a moment before he turned to Justin Hammer.“Justin, my least favorite person.”Thor straightened a bit at hearing that.“How you doing? You’re not the only rich guy here.” Justin said with that greasy smile of his and false sense of friendship.“I would imagine he was not. Perhaps you do not understand the meaning behind such events as these?” Thor said forcing Tony to suppress laughter at the burn he just delivered to the idiotic weapons designer.Justin patted Tony on the shoulder ignoring Thor.“You always did like them pretty but stupid.”“Try handsome, smart, and able to break you in half like a kit kat bar.” Tony countered with a grin.“Ah yes, those delightful candies make such a satisfying sound when you break them.” Thor agreed with an equally bright smile that made it even more frightening that he’d just threatened Hammer.“Brother, why are you not mingling with the fine ladies and gentleman at this event?” Loki asked approaching them.He noticed Hammer and looked unimpressed.“Brother do please try to interact with only the cultured and respectable members of society. You would not wish to shame our family name by interacting with the filth that believes themselves the upper-class.” Without giving Hammer a chance to even respond to the lovely insult directed his way Loki directed Thor elsewhere.Tony just smirked as he left Hammer standing there shocked speechless. He joined Thor and Loki where they were talking with an heiress that was known for looking for a new boy toy every couple years. It wasn’t unusual for her to pick up two at a time and it looked like that was what she intended with the brothers.It was fairly difficult to tear anyone away from the heiress when someone sparked her interest but he managed. When questioned on her odd interest later he’d laugh at the reaction from both brothers. They were used to people interested because they were princes. They’d never been sought after to be merely pretty arm candy to be used in bed when not being shown off. By the end of the night Tony was actually happy he attended the event. It wasn’t often he had company so supportive of his dislike of idiots like Justin Hammer. Usually Warren and Pepper insisted he behave even though he couldn’t stand those like him.“I’ve got to ask, how the hell did you know Justin was an asshole?” He asked as they sat in the limo on the way back home.“If I am here to stay and help you then I should be knowledgeable of what you do and who your enemies are. I have researched that fool’s work; he has no business attempting to claim himself of the same class as nobles or weapon smiths. The dwarves if they could see his work would shame him and the only thing he has in common with nobles is having an excess of wealth. He possesses no manners, no regal appeal. It is as though he was simply blessed to be born to a wealthy family yet given no proper upbringing.” Loki spoke with distaste of the weapons designer.“My brother is very knowledgeable and likes to know all he can of his allies and their enemies. It is a sign he cares.”Loki glared at Thor.“Do not talk as though you know me so well Thor. I simply approve of him and if you indeed chose to tell him you are bewitched by him to begin courting him I will not argue.”Thor shouted a protest as he tackled his brother. Tony chuckled watching the two brothers as he left them to their argument. Thor was cute but Tony didn’t dare to even have flings. He refused to ever take the chance of passing on his cursed genetics. Something like him had no business having kids. Sure Thor was a guy but if even part of mythology was to be believed he wouldn’t risk it. Though the stories said Loki was the shape shifter he refused to take the chance. He might let the world believe him to be a playboy that would sleep with almost anyone but he had never had interest in that either way regardless of his fears of passing on his curse.“We’re home.” Piotr called from the front.“Thank you my friend.” Thor said as they got out, the two brothers seemingly forgetting their previous argument for the moment.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony snapped awake sensing something was wrong in his room. He shot up pointing the gun from under his pillow at whatever had drawn his attention. Yasha looked the same as ever with only a slight twinkle to his gaze that showed he was impressed with his reaction speed.“What are you doing in my room Yasha?”The former assassin stared a moment longer before he turned towards the door.“Your sister has come to visit. Get dressed.”Tony ran a hand through his bedhead trying not to be annoyed by the unexpected visit at…three in the morning according to his clock. He threw back the sheets and grabbed a shirt to put on with his boxers. If Darcy wanted to show up with no warning at a ridiculous time, she could deal with him not properly dressed. Since their meeting a week before he hadn’t heard from her though he had arranged to fund Doctor Foster’s research. Something he had been serious about and interested in.“What’s up?” He asked walking out where Darcy was looking comfortable in pajamas with little iron mans on them.“Not much, me and Jane got here earlier and I thought why not bug you at three in the morning. Cocoa?” She offered a mug of what smelled like pretty good cocoa.“Really? You know it’s called beauty sleep for a reason? If I wake up ugly tomorrow, I’m suing you.”“Oh please, you genius types are always so pretty. It’s called being a nerd, you’re the cute kind of pretty.”“Awe, that’s so sweet of you. Just for that I’ll forgive you but mostly just because you made me cocoa.” He said accepting the extra mug.He sat down next to Yasha who had his own mug.“What are you talking about? I just happened to make extra to share with you losers.”Tony smirked taking a sip of the cocoa. He tasted the poison in it though he was immune to such things.“I like how you decided to test if I was immune to poison. I’m beginning to think you don’t like me seeing as you didn’t add it to Yasha’s.”He licked his lips not stopping from enjoying the otherwise good cocoa.“Oh well you know, I thought it would be interesting to see if you noticed before you drank it.” She said with a teasing smile.“Oh well, I did but why waste good cocoa. Other than the poison it’s nice though the poison does add a nice kick to it that poor baseline humans just don’t get to enjoy.” He said taking another sip.“I know right? Pity, it’s among my favorite things to have in cocoa.” She said drinking another gulp of her own which Tony quickly scanned the profile of to see the same poison in his.“The joys of being an experiment with untold number of abilities including immunity to these things.”She put her cup down and Tony grabbed the dagger thrown at him with impressive speed.“And amazing combat abilities with the training of well-known assassins.” She said with a friendly smile that didn’t match her earlier reactions.He glanced at the dagger coated in a thin layer of quick acting poison and a design that was impressive. No doubt her own design.“Ah well, we were clearly trained by different assassins but at least it gives us something to bond over. I imagine you were trained by the spider variety.” He guessed her being trained by a black widow though he had no idea which one. It wasn’t like the red room only produced one.“Maybe. You’re the unwilling student of the wintery kind I’m assuming.”He slammed the dagger into the table letting it sit half embedded in the wood.“Well you know what they say about assuming, it makes an ass out of you and me.”“Well luckily for both of us we don’t blindly guess so much as we make educated guesses.”He hummed his agreement before taking another sip of the cocoa. It was really good and he could see himself asking her to make it again. Most likely at a more reasonable time, with or without the poison he didn’t really care.“Yeah good move on our part. So, I’m assuming you’ve properly introduced yourself to Yasha. He’s a cool dad, hasn’t scolded us for playing with knives at the table.”Darcy grinned at Yasha who had finished his cocoa.“I know right, he’s the best.”Yasha looked unimpressed.“Hey now, there you go assuming. You haven’t even met our other dads. That’s just rude. You’ll crush his poor little assassin heart if you discover he’s not the best.”Darcy laughed before picking up her mug to wash it.“Funny, I can see why the ladies love you so much. You know, all the charm. Not because your dick is so great.”“Siblings shouldn’t talk about their brother’s dick.”“Loki and Thor do. You know Thor has a crush on you right. I swear he’s a step away from waxing poetry about you.”“First of all, stupid space Viking culture. Second of all, I know. Third of all, I’d like to see that, I’m sure it would be impressive. Why do you care about my sex life? Are you the crazy one of the two of us that has strange hobbies? I feel like I should see that as a challenge, I’m a sore loser by the way so this shit is going to get out of hand really fast.”“Ok so you’re competitive, awesome. I can deal with that. What I can’t deal with is idiots that turn away a good thing. Thor is a good thing.”“Thor is a person…god person. Not a thing. That’s just messed up you calling him a thing. Also, idiot? I’ve got several PhDs so rude.”“Shut it genius idiot. So get your head out of your ass and go get your man. He’s handsome and way out of your league so you should be happy with the fact he likes you.”“Oh my god you’re the meddling type. I have a meddling sister. Dad, Darcy’s picking on me.” He whined to Yasha who ignored him.“Hey, I’m a meddling but well-meaning sibling. How rude that you just focus on my meddling part. Besides, if you date Thor I can go hit on Loki. That god is fine as hell.”Tony banged his head on the table.“Holy shit, you woke me up at this unholy hour to have my guard down. This was your plan the whole time you evil master mind.”“Excuse you, I didn’t wake you up. I just made cocoa, which you’re welcome by the way.”Tony groaned.“I’m going back to bed. Stop meddling in my love life.”“You have to have a love life for me to meddle in it.” Darcy called after him as he headed back to his bedroom.When he woke up in the morning it was to a pillow with a note attached to it with the message ‘date Thor’ which Tony had reason to believe was from Darcy. He didn’t get it but he wasn’t going to focus to much on it. So far Thor hadn’t commented on his little crush yet and Loki wasn’t meddling other than the first comment he’d made. Going to breakfast he found everyone at the table already eating with a plate set aside for him. He sat beside Warren and Piotr both of which looked ready for work though Tony had no meetings but Piotr was stepping in for Happy who was on vacation.“Morning.”“Morning!” Darcy said overly cheerfully which did not bode well for him.“You seem happy today.” Jane said looking rather put together for someone who according to JARVIS had arrived somewhere around midnight so not much sleep for waking up at eight and likely not going to bed until several hours after arriving.“Oh well, I’ve got a busy day today. I’m going to convince Tony to date Thor. That way he’s not around so I can fuck his brother.” Darcy said in the same cheerful tone as earlier.Jane spat out her coffee and Loki choked on his food looking over at the intern in shock.“A valiant quest my friend. I wish you luck.” Thor said smirking in a way that said he had no issue with Darcy’s self-imposed mission.“Why must my idiotic brother date Anthony for you and I to have fun?”“No one wants their brother walking in on them getting freaky Loki. Stop questioning me and help me set these two up. They’d make beautiful babies.”Loki didn’t look like he disagreed.“Darcy they’re both men, they can’t have babies.” Jane scolded Darcy on the completely wrong part of her previous statement in Tony’s opinion.“Not true actually. My brother is a shape shifter and I am a god of fertility. Did they not mention this in your stories of our people? I had thought they had recorded that part of our history.” Thor said looking thoughtful at the maybe incorrect mythology.Jane looked uncertain.“You mean the horse story?”“I have birthed all my children.” Loki stated offended that apparently, they’d only recorded him mothering one child.“I know I’m going to regret this but why does you being a fertility god matter? It doesn’t change the fact you’re both men.” Pepper said entering the conversation knowing she’d likely regret it later.“Because I possess both gentiles. Is it not recorded in your history?” Thor asked confused as everyone but Loki stared at him in shock.“Um…what?” Jane asked still seeming to process that bit of information.“It is a gift granted to fertility gods to both be able to birth and father children. Is this strange to your people?”“Kinda but it’s fine. You’ll fit in with us freaks.” Darcy said easily stuffing her face with scrambled eggs.“How are we freaks?” Jane asked looking more curious than offended.“Well you are weirdly obsessed with the stars and wormholes and I have an unnatural love of my tazer that is borderline pornographic.” Darcy answered and seeing Jane just shrugged was oddly concerning.“Borderline pornographic?” Loki inquired.“Don’t worry baby, if I’m fucking you, you’ll always come before my tazer. Just not my ipod.”Tony pointed at Darcy.“Blasphemy, I won’t have Apple products in my fucking house. This is a Starktech household.”As though secretly having been prepared for this odd conversation Warren pulled out an Iphone to check the time. He ignored Tony’s hurt gasp as he cleared his plate and headed out for work.“Traitors all of you!” He yelled out as the two mutants and Pepper left to begin their day.“I’m going to head to my lab to work. Darcy stay out of trouble.” Jane said clearing her plate and leaving.Bucky finished eating also and glanced at Tony and Darcy.“Are you two going to keep messing with each other? I’m still kind of new to this parenting thing. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to step in or not.”“We’re adults.” Tony deadpanned.“Could have fooled me.” He said walking away.“Pretty sure we got our sass from him.” Darcy said smirking.“Bullshit, I’ve got my own unique brand of sass.” He argued for the sake of arguing.“That is your father?” Loki asked apparently not having been informed of that fact.“He is one of their fathers. They have multiple.” Thor informed as he stood. “And I believe the Lady Darcy has a fine suggestion. Anthony, will you accompany me today on a Midgardian date?”“Why did you have to specify Midgardian?” Tony asked choosing to ignore the request for a date.“Because those of Asgard do not do something so casual for someone they seek to be their long-term partner. However, Thor is acknowledging that courting is not the way of Midgard.”Darcy gave Tony a look that almost made him agree if only to avoid the horrible events that would follow his refusal. Darcy could actually be pretty terrifying.“Look, Thor, I don’t really…date. You know part of what I am. I’ve never done anything like that to avoid risking passing on my cursed genes.”“Excuse you, what the hell makes ya think you’ve got cursed genes.” Bucky asked stepping back into the room.Tony opened his mouth to argue but Bucky glared him into submission.“I’ve dealt with the most stubborn bastard on the planet. You may share his genes but you got nothing on him. Get your sorry excuses out of here and grow up. There’s nothing wrong with ya. Thor seems like a nice guy and I approve. As much as Yasha would refuse to admit it he does to. Mostly because he looks like he could break anyone who messes with you in two without even trying but whatever.”Tony glared for a long moment but regardless of sharing genes with Bucky his glaring attempts weren’t enough. He sighed and looked at Darcy who was waiting for his response. When he still said nothing she rolled her eyes.“We’ll go on a double date. You and Thor and me and Loki. It’ll be fun.”Glancing at Thor who looked hopeful he finally nodded.“Sure.”Thor brightened at finally receiving an agreement. Loki looked between them looking oddly bemused by the entire situation.“I see I have apparently been brought into this without anyone asking my opinion.”Darcy stood and tore off her shirt revealing her bare chest.“Oh you’ll agree to a date with me. See you in an hour.” She said sending a wink his way before leaving.“Oh god, I didn’t need to see my own sister naked.” Tony said hitting his head on the table.Bucky pointed at Loki.“You try anything with her on the first date and I will castrate you.”Loki was still staring after Darcy looking unworried.“Good parenting there dad.” Tony mumbled not seeing Bucky nod looking oddly proud of himself.“I shall see you all in an hour. Hopefully this date will be as eventful as this morning.” Loki said smirking as he left with Thor not far behind him.Tony waved goodbye to Bucky before going to the penthouse to get ready. He picked a pair of jeans and a t-shirt with a leather jacket over it. After putting on a pair of boots he headed down to meet the others. Darcy was wearing jeans and a dark blue turtleneck, Thor dressed in a dark red jacket over a grey shirt and slacks, and Loki was wearing all black dressed in a suit that made him look according to Thor like a witch.“Ready?” Darcy said stepping up next to Loki.“As ready as I’ll ever be to be sharing a date with Thor.” Loki said making Thor glare at him.“Do not make this weird brother.”“Hey I’m doing a double date with my brother, it’s not that weird. Now let’s go get freaky.” Darcy said grabbing Loki’s arm and dragging him off seeming to shock him by her strength to do so.“See when you say stuff like that it’s not us making it weird.” Tony mumbled as he followed after with Thor at his side.Darcy was driving them to wherever their date was supposed to be which left the rest of them in the dark. When they arrived at a seemingly abandoned warehouse Tony glanced at his sister that looked weirdly excited. She went up to the door tapping in a code to the door that opened it to reveal a fairly advanced jet.“Where exactly are we going?” Loki asked as Darcy remain secretive of their date location.“It’s a surprise, you like surprises, right?” She teased Loki smirking like she already knew the answer.The trickster just followed her onto the jet and Thor and Tony decided to do the same. Tony was looking around at the jet impressed by what he saw.“Thought you were a political science major?”Darcy flying the jet like a pro offered him a smug smile.“I have my secrets. A girl’s gotta have a layer of mystery to her.”Tony was a little concerned but sat back and waited for their arrival at their destination. He wasn’t expecting to arrive in the middle of bum fuck nowhere and to have Darcy put the jet on autopilot before opening the bay door.“Let’s go assholes, last one out is a rotten egg.”The three men jumped to their feet when she jumped out with a salute to them.“Can she fly?” Loki asked.“I don’t know, I don’t even know what the hell she can do.”Tony making a quick decision grabbed both gods and jumped out after her. Thor grabbed onto him for dear life and Loki’s body sparked with his magic before he transformed into a dragon capable of carrying them both. Darcy was free falling grinning like a mad man as they caught up to her. Tony reached out and pulled her onto Loki’s back with him and Thor.“What the hell Darcy?”She pointed to the large facility below them that had guards that strangely hadn’t noticed them yet.“That’s our target. Hydra base known for human experimentation. We kill all the Hydra agents and retrieve the information on their servers. Most kills wins and gets to decide where we eat later.”Loki’s emerald green eyes focused on Darcy while Tony gave her a look like he couldn’t believe she’d planned this.“This is your idea of a date? Thor’s mortal.”“Yes, let’s face it we’re dating godly warriors and we’re science experiments trained to fight and kill. And you better keep your boyfriend alive then but let’s face it, he doesn’t deserve the title of god if he can’t stay alive even without his hammer. Now let’s go, I’m going to beat all your asses.” She said jumping from Loki’s back to land gracefully on the ground below.“Verily! A mighty battle for our first outing.” Thor cheered jumping down from a distance that would have injured a baseline human proving he still had some of his godly abilities.Tony rolled his eyes jumping down to join them. Darcy made it all the way up to one of the two guards together and slit his throat with a dagger she’d hidden on her person before the other even noticed. Something to look into later when they weren’t in the middle of their murder date. Thor rushed the other guard slamming him into the wall knocking him out. When Loki landed, he shifted back into his own form and summoned two daggers. The manic grin on his face was slightly disturbing but Tony knew his own wasn’t any better. As much as he hated what he’d been made into, he was a show off and Yasha didn’t train a weakling.They entered the base and as the guards raised their guns Tony took control. Each pointed their guns at each other and pulled the trigger. The three looked his way looking for an explanation but Tony just kept moving forward. Hesitation meant death. Loki managed to take down the next group with his daggers while Darcy expertly avoided any strikes from the enemy. The pure terror on their faces when she rushed right up to them only further proved what Tony was thinking about her abilities.His senses were fine-tuned by training with the winter soldier. She shouldn’t have been able to get so close to him without him noticing. Not unless she had an extra ability that kept him blind to her. The Hydra agents didn’t seem to see her until she chose for them to though Tony could see her as clear as day. The widening of their eyes and pick up of their heartbeat showed when they actually saw her. Thor was like a force of nature. Faster than one would expect and both strong and talented. He moved with a skill not even most trained agents possessed. His movements done with a confidence of someone familiar with battle and not bothered by the sight of death.By the time they’d cleared through the base Thor was grinning even though he was sweaty and looking a bit tired. Loki was cleaning his blades looking quite pleased with the turnout and unbothered by what just happened. He saw Darcy busy downloading whatever information was on Hydra’s servers.“Was this not fun Anthony?” Thor asked still grinning.Tony smirked admitting this was a pretty good workout.“Not what I normally do for fun but sure. Who won anyways?”“I am quite certain you know you won. I must admit, I am curious about the nature of your abilities. I have yet to figure what exactly it is you’re able to do.” Loki answered.“He’s an elemental bender.” Darcy answered not looking up from what she was doing.“I beg your pardon?” Loki asked not understanding.“The human body is about sixty percent water; he controls that water mass within the body to do what he wants.”Loki looked shocked as he sought confirmation from Tony.“Surprised you realized that’s what I was doing.”Darcy smirked.“I’m a fan of Avatar the last air bender. You know blood bending is morally wrong.”“You know I’m not an anime character right?”She rolled her eyes.“So where are we going to eat. I’m starving.”Tony reached above his head stretching until his back popped.“I don’t know, what does everyone else feel like? I’m not picky.”“I seek meat as a celebratory meal for our victory!” Thor cheered patting Tony on the back.“Steakhouse it is. I think I know one nearby.”“I suppose I should fix our clothing. It would not do well to go out and frighten the mortals with a bit of blood.” Loki said already using his magic to clean and straighten out their clothing.”“Thanks Lokes.” His eyes moving to Darcy he decided to ask, “So what do they call you?”She pulled the flash drive free and smiled.“The Ghost. I’m sure you know why. Bet Fury talks about me all the time.”“Not really, I think he cursed out the ghost once but I thought maybe he was finally going crazy.”Darcy laughed. They headed back to the jet and Darcy flew it to the nearest steakhouse. He paid of course but it was worth it to see the two gods experience good food. Thor kept sneaking steak off of Loki’s plate but the trickster was stealing his vegetables and potatoes. It seemed to be unspoken agreement between them. When Thor tried to do it with Tony’s food he was just about stabbed with a knife. The first attempt was followed by a story from when Thor and Loki were kids and the trickster had transformed into a snake in order to stab the thunder god. Not to be outdone Tony told a story of the pranks he’d pulled with Rhodey in college. Darcy didn’t have any stories of pranks so much as silly stories of Jane without coffee or not enough sleep. By the end of their meal they were all smiling and laughing like they hadn’t been killing people before arriving at the restaurant.“This was truly wonderful. We must do it again.”Tony turned to agree with Thor when warm lips met his. Shocked he looked up at Thor who looked surprisingly bashful.“Ah…sure. Maybe without all the murder.”“Oh I’m quite looking forward to another date. Though perhaps without our respective siblings coming along?” Loki asked Darcy.“Sure, whatever sounds good to you handsome.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I want you to know I hate everything right now.” Tony said as he lifted his head to see Bucky in his room. “If Darcy is out there with poisoned cocoa again, I’m going to drink it and then kick someone’s ass.”Bucky looked confused.“Why would she give you poisoned cocoa, that’s supervillain behavior right there. I bet Red Skull gave his loved ones poisoned cocoa.”Tony let his head fall back into his pillow intent on going back to sleep. He didn’t get to though.“Someone from Asgard is here in the tower…other than Loki and Thor.”He got to his feet and changed into jeans and a t-shirt. He wasn’t going to get dressed up for whoever decided to arrive at 5am but he wasn’t going out in his boxers. When he stepped out where the others were standing, he found several warriors that were looking at Thor but the hands on their weapons showed their unease.“Thor, you must return to Asgard. The queen has sent us to bring you home.” The woman said not even addressing the other prince of Asgard that had been away from home.“Mother is ending my banishment?” Thor asked though his face was carefully blank.“She has, Asgard needs its rightful heir.” The blonde warrior stated.“If Asgard truly needed me it would have no other available to turn to. Asgard and its people have both my brother and mother yet you’ve turned Loki away and accepted my mother simply because you had no other choice. I am here due to my own actions. The Allfather banished me for a reason. I was reckless and arrogant, I ignored the demands of my king, and I started a war with a people we had a treaty with. So tell me again, why does Asgard need me when with my banishment Loki was the next rightful heir to take the throne upon the Allfather falling into Odinsleep?”The warriors were silent as they gave each other questioning looks.“Asgard’s people spoke and they refused the lying trickster. He has no right to the throne.” The woman said venom in her tone.Before Thor could speak again Tony stepped forward.“Thor.” The thunder god turned his way. “It’s time to go home. Talk to your mom. Loki you did your best and others refused to give you a chance. Show them they’re wrong. Go together, stand together and show them you’re united regardless of what they think.”Both brothers stood straighter looking determined.“Then united we shall stand. Come with us.” Loki told him.He stared a moment before he shrugged. Why the hell not, he might be able to knock some sense into some people while he was there.“Yeah sure, trip off planet. No way that can end badly. Be right back.”He went to his room to grab Mjolnir and put on shoes. When he walked back out Darcy was standing there in jeans and a t-shirt. Her hair was pulled up in a ponytail and she was grinning.“Heard we’re going to Asgard. Never thought I’d get to meet the parents this early.”“Who are you to invite yourself to the home of the gods mortal?” The woman accused and a quick check causing Tony’s eyes to flash gold showed the woman’s name was Sif and she was jealous thinking Darcy was romantically involved with Thor.“Shut if Sif, your jealously isn’t going to help any of us.”Sif and the other three warriors turned towards him ready to scold him but paused when they saw him holding Mjolnir.“What?” The red bearded warrior asked dumbstruck.“Let’s go, I’m not happy about being woken up at five in the morning but hey, family drama should be entertaining enough to wake me up.”They walked to the balcony with the warriors still staring at him in stunned silence. Thor stood closer to Tony while Loki was standing between Thor and Darcy. His face was carefully blank mask while Darcy was still looking excited for the trip. Thor called to Heimdal causing a rainbow of lights to pull them through space. When they arrived it was to a massive golden dome with an equally golden warrior standing at the pillar where he was withdrawing his sword.“Welcome back to Asgard my princes.” Heimdal greeted them.Both princes gave a nod of acknowledgement. When the two led the way with Tony and Darcy behind them with the warriors following those eerie golden eyes locked onto the two of them.“Welcome to Asgard warriors Sir Anthony and Lady Darcy, children of the warrior James, warrior Steven, Lady Natalie, warrior James, and weapons smith Howard. We are honored to have you within the realm eternal.”Both paused a chilling look crossing their gaze before both recovered with remarkable speed. Though it went unnoticed by the four warriors the golden eyed guardian was very observant.“Nice to meet you to big guy.” Darcy greeted chipper as ever.“Really did they design your wardrobe after the city because it’s very golden. I mean I could flaunt my wealth but I don’t think it’d go as far as to wear all gold.” Tony said.“Ugh you’d look terrible in all gold, at least on earth you would. Here you’d probably have Thor wanting to climb you like a tree.” Darcy teased as they continued on their way.“Maybe, but maybe I’d prefer to bottom. You don’t know me.” He matched Darcy’s teasing seeming to succeed in distracting the others from Heimdal’s earlier address of them.Their arrival at the palace was met with many guards greeting the two princes in what seemed to be the expected formal greeting to royalty. Tony quickly got annoyed with it but from time to time he’d check with his ability to make sure there wasn’t anything that would pose a threat to them. Nothing did until they entered the throne room and Tony managed a quick check of the Allmother. Where she held the spear, energy surged to and through her but there was also a coating of something that Tony found hard to read. He’d need more time to do so but he didn’t want the use of his ability to go noticed by the others. Frigga, Allmother, queen of Asgard and wife to Odin Allfather.“My sons, you’ve returned to me.” Frigga greeted her voice kind yet still regal.She descended the stairs moving towards her sons and embraced both before turning to the two from earth.“Who are your guests?” She asked being polite though her gaze did fall onto Mjolnir within Tony’s hand for a moment.“Mother please allow me to introduce you to the one who has been helping me find my way on Midgard and my chosen Consort Anthony of Midgard.” Thor said holding a hand out to Tony which he took if only to see the shock and rage on Sif’s face.“Mother allow me to introduce my chosen Consort as well. This is Lady Darcy, sister to Anthony.”Frigga smiled brightly at her two sons.“How lovely to meet you both. I am so happy my sons have found happiness. I hope you will enjoy your stay. I am afraid I will need both my sons to help sort out things as their father is still within Odinsleep.”“Don’t worry, I understand needing to take care of your people. Might not be a king but I’ve run Stark Industries long enough to understand. We can’t stay long though.” Tony tried to be polite seeing as this was Thor’s mother and regardless of Loki’s heritage did care for him as though he were her own.“Thank you, Anthony of Midgard. I shall allow Thor and Loki to show you to the family wing and plan for a time we may sit together to share a meal. It may not be anytime soon as both Thor and Loki have been gone for some time and there is much to catch up on.”“We shall return shortly mother.” Loki said with a parting bow before he and Thor led the two away from the throne room.“She seems nice.” Darcy said walking alongside Loki.“I had no doubt she would approve of you both. We are not fools to choose our Consorts lightly.”“She hasn’t approved of us yet. She’ll test us when you two aren’t around.” Tony corrected not even needing his abilities to see that Frigga was not a woman to be trifled with.“Beloved?” Thor asked and since when did he call him beloved? Apparently being in Asgard changed Thor and he wasn’t sure the short time they’d been dating made them have this level of commitment yet. Especially considering not long before he agreed to that date, he’d been unwilling to even date anyone. He could have his freak out later.“Nothing Thor, it’ll be fine.” Or not, he didn’t know. He was still trying not to freak out.Their rooms were guest bedrooms in the family wing. The two rooms were connected so he and Darcy wouldn’t be far from each other. Normally Tony would argue that but in an entirely different world it might be better to have the backup from his possibly overpowered sister. Thor kissed Tony before leaving and Loki promised to finish with their duties as quickly as possible. When they were alone and sure no one could hear them, Tony sat on the couch and Darcy took the bed.“So that guardian.” Tony started.“He has the ability see anywhere in the universe. We’re hidden from him right now.” Darcy said her earlier excitement gone and her expression almost cold.“You ever going to explain that to me?”Her eyes flickered over to him.“You’ve already guessed.”He shrugged.“You’re named the ghost for a reason and no one has ever snuck up on me like that before.”“It’s more than that and you know it.”He leaned in his seat.“Yeah seeing the future. I’m curious, how did you end up with two very different mutations?”She was silent for a long moment but Tony waited.“My mother was murdered. She couldn’t outrun the red room forever. I was undergoing a change at the time making me vulnerable enough to capture. When they captured me after murdering her it was the last mistake the red room ever made.”“Puberty is when mutations normally activate, it’s when the serum also became active.”Her cold expression finally vanished and she gave a small smile.“Didn’t actually know what happened. Didn’t think too much about it when I was destroying everything linked to the red room. What about you? Seems like you have more power than you let on.”He shrugged falling back into the easy persona of the playboy genius Tony Stark. He didn’t favor serious conversations and the easy change between the serious nature of earlier and easygoing of now was as simple as flipping a switch. He wasn’t stupid enough to think this wasn’t a test on Darcy’s part. She was curious about his abilities and skills. He couldn’t judge her for it, it was stupid to ignore a clear threat and not try to assess it. Shared blood didn’t change that.“Trauma can affect when a mutation shows up. I’ve had my fair share of that even if I’ve never been normal. Something between the serums in my veins and the x-gene interacted weirdly. I have more than one or two types of abilities.”He activated his ability looking at her with his golden gaze. Now he could finally see her code. Could see what expanded from her to him was like a firewall. It kept them hidden from sight.“When I was a kid I could see profiles of people. Later that expanded to seeing what basically is the code of the universe. Everything including you has code that I can see.”“Like the Matrix?” Her true surprise showed in her code and he laughed.“Yeah like the Matrix. Did you like all the movies? I think your answer will determine if we can continue being on speaking terms.”She grinned her code lighting up in delight.“Ok I know you might hate me but I actually liked all the movies. If I hadn’t watched all of them it’s like only reading part of a book, I needed to know the ending.”Tony burst out laughing.“Ok, we can stay on speaking terms. So, a secret sci fi nerd?”“Not that secret but hiding how smart I am I can’t point out all the ridiculously science in it.”He clapped his hands together.“Oh, I know what we’re doing when we get home. Movie marathon, I’ll bring all the unhealthy food that doesn’t put a pound on us.”She grinned.“You’ve got a deal. Don’t think you can distract me though, cough up the deets bro.”“Oh my god I can’t believe you said deets and bro. What the hell Darce?”“Stop distracting me, it might work on others but not me. Do you want me to make you poisoned cocoa again because I will.”He snorted.“That’s not much of a threat but sure. You already guessed another of my abilities.”“Yeah you’re apparently a real-life Avatar. So, a hundred years from now are you still going to be around or will you have already reincarnated into the next one?”“Was it really reincarnation? I don’t remember that detail.”“Bullshit, you’re just trying to play it cool that you actually watched the show.”They both grinned at ease with each other.“So you’re strong and have a healing factor?” Tony asked her.“Maybe, what about you?”Tony lifted his arm quickly drawing a blade he had hidden on him to slice into his arm. The wound was already closing quickly before he even finished getting to the end of the long cut into his flesh.“Have the wolverine to thank for this healing factor.”“Could do without the enhanced sense of smell, right?”“It helps right? It’s not so much of an issue.”Which meant they didn’t have the same level of enhanced senses. Wolverine he’d looked into. He was talented with tracking; his sense of smell was impressive. Tony’s sense of hearing was among his best senses and if he had to name which of his senses were weakest it would be his sense of smell. He hadn’t checked or seen much to give an educated guess on her level of senses but Tony would actually bet big money of her having a good round about on all senses being evenly enhanced.“Not going to tell me the rest of your abilities?”He leaned back crossing his arms behind his head and gave her a smug look.“For someone who can see the future you ask a lot of questions.”“One would think it wise to when one defies fate.”“Now you’re sounding like the Viking brothers. Seriously it’s just weird.”With no further wiliness to give information of themselves they instead deterred to topics of movies, fun college stories, and embarrassing tales of their respective best friends. By the time Loki and Thor returned to check on them both were passed out sleeping. While Thor picked up Tony to place him in his bed the genius peaked an eye open to see Darcy was faking being asleep to. Both had woken up the moment the princes had opened the door.In morning both princes were gone again though they left each of them a note. They met up and headed out looking for food. Both with metabolisms that required more food. A servant was waiting for them with an invitation oddly enough to join Hiemdal for breakfast. Both hungry they had agreed following the woman to where the guardian was waiting. He raised his cup in greeting as they sat down at the table piled high with food.“A good morrow to you both.”“Morning golden warrior.” Darcy greeted cheerfully.“Looks good.” Tony said moving to grab food.They ate in silence for a while before Heimdal finally spoke up.“I’d appreciate you not hiding from my gaze.”Darcy didn’t look up and Tony kind of figured she was trying to leave it up in the air of which of them was doing it.“I am aware it is you Lady Darcy.”She finally looked up.“How do I know you’re not peeping on me? A lady has to be concerned about these things with all-seeing prevents around.”Heimdal didn’t take offense or show much reaction to Darcy’s little rant. Tony couldn’t blame him. The guardian saw everything and grew up in a place where Loki and Thor were in close proximity of each other, he wouldn’t be fazed by much either if he had to deal with all that for centuries on end. He’s more surprised Heimdal is still sane, well that and impressed. Mostly impressed actually because he knows a lesser man would have lost it a long time ago.“I simply wished to properly welcome you both to Asgard. We are indeed honored to have warriors like you both.”Tony knows Heimdal already welcomed them both. By name and birthright, something Tony isn’t too happy about.“We’re not planning on making enemies here.” Tony told him not looking away from his meal and trying to avoid stating anything to seriously.He understood Heimdal’s concern. Both of them were powerful and already from his encounter with Thor when they first met, he knows those of Asgard don’t have a high opinion of anyone from earth. Heimdal likely knows the chances of things going very badly if they encounter others with that low opinion when they were in fact likely among the strongest beings in Asgard at the moment.“I wouldn’t imagine you would. I’ve been a protector of Asgard for a long time. I know what you both are capable of and I’m not blind to how many in Asgard believe themselves above those of Midgard. I truly do wish to welcome you both, the princes are fond of you both.”He stood having finished his food and turned to leave likely to return to his post.“Enjoy your meal.”Long after Heimdal had left the two were still seated at the now empty table. Both having their fill though it wouldn’t be long before one or both of them needed more. The curse of having inherited the serum of a super soldier.“What do you think?” Tony asked Darcy.“Find a way to entertain ourselves?” She asked a wicked grin beginning to spread across her face.Oh, this was going to be a good day. ~ “Come on, it’s two against four. I expected better.” Tony taunted the warriors three and Lady Sif as he held the blade he was borrowing for the training match against Asgard’s finest warriors.Darcy was grinning as she held herself loosely not looking like the deadly assassin she was. The sword in her hand was given to her because it was a light weight blade. The idiots had mistakenly thought her to be weak due to being human and a woman. A mistake they were regretting as both easily moved with a familiarity with a blade they weren’t expecting and experience none of them could understand. Tony had learned to wield many weapons in his lifetime, he’d actually enjoyed fencing quite a bit and had accepted a blade appropriate for that fighting style. He hadn’t asked Darcy what her experience was but if she had been raised by a black widow then no doubt there wasn’t a weapon in existence that she couldn’t use with the skill of an expert.“This isn’t possible.” Volstagg said his breathing labored as he rested his ax on the ground.“We can’t let these mortals make us the fool. Come, let us show them the strength of Asgard’s finest.This time when they attacked, they did so with the strength of an Asgardian behind them. Surprisingly up until this point they’d been holding back knowing they were human. With this turn of events all playfulness vanished from their eyes and they both separated to spilt their four warriors. Sif and Volstagg charged after Tony while Hogun and Fandral went after Darcy. Tony dodged a strike from Volstagg whose weapon wasn’t designed for nimble movements and limited him. After dodging he rushed Sif throwing his weapon into the air surprising her. He summoned his strength and slammed into her sending her across the training grounds before moving to sweep Volstagg’s legs out from under him. As he fell he knocked the ax from the Asgardian’s hand and grabbed it to hold against the bearded warrior’s throat while he held his other hand up to catch his sword as it fell back towards him.“I’m pretty sure we win.” He smirked looking like the arrogant man the world made him out to be.Darcy was holding both Fandral’s and Hogun’s weapons as she pressed her foot onto the two warriors that had been knocked out on top of each other.“This was fun, we should do it again sometime.” She agreed grinning. “To bad I didn’t get to use my tazer. Maybe next time.”The four warriors picked themselves up not meeting the two humans’ gaze clearly ashamed of their loss. Tony and Darcy headed back to the family wing planning to find something else to occupy their time. When Darcy stopped suddenly looking out the window Tony paused and turned to see what had caused her to stop so suddenly.“The mad titan.”He looked confused.“Who?”She shook her head.“The name of what is to come. Sometimes I don’t see it all at once.”He recalled what she’d told him before. An attack was coming that for some reason or another was necessary. He could guess why. Other than Thor and Loki their world had no experience with beings of other worlds. Those who believed there was life outside their own were often thought of as mad though that was only semi understandable. Without proof it was simply unbelievable by the masses but to have the arrogance to believe themselves the only intelligent life in the universe was ridiculous. Their world as a whole would need proof, clear proof that would be enough to show them not only were they not alone but they were outmatched and needed to be prepared for attacks and to catch up to the universe as a whole. Knowing an attack was coming and the name of their foe would help.“We’ll prepare for whatever might be coming. We are not our world’s only defense.”They weren’t, he’d heard of Dr. Banner who could transform into a hulking green giant, he knew Fury hadn’t stopped searching for Steve Rogers, Shield had two spies able to stand their own against odds that should only be faced by a superhuman. That was just some of what their world had to offer. There was also the x-men who were talented and trained to use their abilities. Tony didn’t doubt there were more out there and their numbers were growing every day. It was just a matter of gathering a group to be ready to defend when the enemy came.They continued on their way to their rooms and found the brothers waiting for them.“Beloved, I had hoped you’d allow me to show you around my home.” Thor said offering his hand to the genius ready to lead him on what would likely be a romantic walk.Tony still felt unease when he considered this relationship. He didn’t think he should ever pass on his genes. He was a science experiment that may or may not have gone wrong. Howard claimed him a failure but Howard was an arrogant idiot and in his eyes a monster. He could be allowing Howard’s opinions to cloud his own judgement but even he knew the strength he possessed. What would his genes mixed with Thor’s bring into the world?Not only those worries stood in the way but also his own lack of experience with this kind of situation. Genius he may be but romantic not so much. He barely understood humans as it was, how was he supposed to understand another person much less a god for a long-term relationship.“Sure Thor, let’s see this world.”He spied Darcy pulling Loki into her bedroom and could guess how far their relationship had progressed. Loki was a trickster and a being of chaos, the idea he didn’t do a typical relationship wasn’t so strange. Someone raised by a black widow having an unusual relationship wasn’t so strange either.“I heard you and Lady Darcy decided to spar against Asgard’s finest.”Tony snorted at the idea that those four were Asgard’s finest. It earned him a look from Thor.“You disagree?”“I think they shouldn’t be what you brag about. They might be more talented by your warriors’ standards but that’s not much good either. Thinking we were simple humans with no extra abilities in the beginning was understandable. However, it took them to long to realize we were playing with them and that we had more to offer in a fight. They were arrogant to assume they were humoring us simply because we were human. Their skills weren’t all that impressive either when they finally decided to use their strength against us properly. If they are above the rest, I can only assume how weak the average soldier is. I’d fix that if I were you.”Thor took in the information and nodded.“I see, I will have to work to fix these things as it is a common belief that Midgard has no worthy warriors to offer. I believe father has been so assured of Asgard and its people’s place in the nine realms that he has failed to keep up on our warriors’ training. The warriors three and Lady Sif have been so assured of their place that they have not worked on training properly in some time. Arrogance shall be our undoing.”“Look at you Point Break, being all kingly. It’s a good look on you.”Thor chuckled tightening his grip on Tony’s hand.“I have you to thank Anthony; you have shown me the error of my ways. I have seen Midgard and the people that reside there. They are nothing to laugh at and the warriors there worthy of being seen as equals. I hope one day my people will be open to seeing the truth. I believe Loki shares my opinion in this and I can only hope he chooses to stay at my side to aid me in the much needed changes to this realm.”Tony gave Thor a curious look.“You don’t think he’ll stay?”Thor looked uncertain as they kept walking.“Asgard’s people have made their opinion on my brother clear and while Loki often claims to care very little on the thoughts of others, I know he feels betrayed by this. Loki has always been mischievous in nature and can be chaotic, to be bound anywhere is not his way. Growing up he has made every attempt to see other realms and to avoid staying in one place to long.”“Why does he need to be tied down here?”Thor was the one to look confused now.“What do you mean?”“I mean you work with several other worlds; you’ll need someone to go to those places in order to keep up relations with them. You also realize your people’s warriors need improvement and who knows, maybe there’s other places that could use it to. Loki could be the one to keep up relations with other worlds outside things that you’d have to tend to yourself. It would allow him to travel and while he’s visiting other worlds, he could pick up things to bring back to teach your people. He could still be helping Asgard but also wouldn’t be tied down just to this place. Freedom while still being a prince of Asgard.”Thor brightened.“Indeed, a very wise idea beloved.”Their walk took them through the gardens and market. Thor bought a few different foods being sold by visiting merchants. There were fruits that were sweet but weird looking and some roasted meats that were so tender they melted in his mouth. He was happy to try the different foods and grinned as he surprised Thor by waiting for him to start explaining something to shove a piece of fruit in his mouth. Seeing Thor’s reaction, he laughed. The god smiled seeing him laugh and took the chance to lean down towards him lay a gentle kiss on his cheek.“You are beautiful like this beloved.”Tony Stark did not blush so he refused to believe the god had gotten that kind of reaction out of him. Looking away he refused to admit he was embarrassed.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When the attack came it was late and Tony was in his home celebrating the activation of the arc reactor powering his tower. Thor had greeted him with a kiss, Darcy was sitting in Loki’s lap with her glass raised with a cheer, Jane was standing next to Warren their glasses raised and the mutant’s arm wrapped around her waist, Bucky was lounging on the couch his own glass at his lips taking a sip, and Pepper standing with Happy and Piotr.Thor still hadn’t earned back Mjolnir but he was working around it splitting his time between Asgard and earth working to help his mother rule and continuing his job working with Warren. Loki had been helping when needed but was otherwise spending his time learning about earth or with Darcy, Tony had never been more thankful for soundproofing in his life. When he received the call from Coulson he acted like his usual public persona but was also not interested in having his celebration interrupted. If it was really important Nick would have called him. JARVIS however let Coulson believe he hacked his system and let him up. After a few joking comments Pepper handed him the information Coulson wanted him to look over while Coulson glanced at the gathered group doing fairly good at hiding his surprise. Of course the Shield agent didn’t think he had friends. He looked at the information and froze seeing not only the profiles on the group considered for the avengers but also information on those from Shield this Other had taken when he leveled a Shield base.“So, someone managed to turn that one eyed pirate into their own personal flying monkey?” He asked his façade of an uncaring billionaire not failing him even though he had the desire to tear apart everything that dares to stand in his path of retrieving what was his.“Director Fury and Agent Barton were the two top Shield agents taken when the Other came through the portal created by the tesseract. Our top priority is to retrieve the tesseract though, both the director and agents know this. This is what they signed up for when they joined Shield.”Pepper wisely led Coulson to the elevator to leave the building. When he was gone Thor approached Tony unaware of the emotional storm swirling within him at the moment.“My love?” He asked his hand just about to touch his shoulder but Tony span around his eyes burning with hatred and unshed tears.“I’m going to tear out his insides and hang him by his entrails.” He growled already planning what he’d do to the Other.“Later.” Darcy said standing.“I know you’re angry Tony but now isn’t the time to lose your cool.” Warren said the fear lingering in his gaze knowing how powerful Tony was but those Tony was close to knew to never shy away from trying to stop him if he lost control, it was why they made it into the selective group of people Tony called his family.“Then let’s go grab this alien asshole and then go save Fury’s ass.” Bucky said standing up his expression shifting to that of Yasha.“I suppose we must suit up as you say.” Loki said standing.Yasha prepped the jet that Tony had decided to design for his own team. Warren joined them his uniform a mix or dark red and black with part of his head covered though the sight of his white wings would clearly give away his identity. Yasha wore a new improved version of his winter soldier uniform with the addition of better weapons. Loki had his own armor and Darcy wearing a uniform very similar to Yasha’s though hers was black with red ascents, the unmistakable red hourglass of a black widow on the front of her uniform. Her hair was braided to stay out of her face and while Yasha wore the goggles and mask with his uniform Darcy only wore the mask. Piotr was wearing his usual uniform from when he was with the x-men. Tony and Thor were wearing iron man armors, Tony in his red and gold and Thor in red and silver. Happy waved to them as they took off, all of them in the jet except for Tony and Thor. JARVIS was Tony’s co-pilot while he’d designed a separate AI for Thor. Should Thor regain his hammer and no longer need the armor, the AI Friday would take over and pilot the armor.They headed to Germany where apparently the Other had crashed a party killing innocent people in his quest for a man who could grant him access to materials he needed. If the Other didn’t clearly look alien, he might have snuck his way in but because he didn’t, he was killing his way to his target. The agents nowhere in sight making it clear they were elsewhere completing their own part of a bigger plan.When their group arrived Captain America was fighting the Other and losing. The Other was using ancient and powerful magic according to Loki. Tony hacked into the quinjet Romanov was in to blast music in order to keep up his public persona and avoid showing how truly invested he was in this. He only blasted the Other as he landed knowing he was compromised. He allowed the others to take point after that. The Other stood looking unaffected by the strike but was quickly knocked back as Warren dropped Darcy who quickly broke both the Other’s legs with frightening efficiency, Yasha who appeared with Loki grabbed the scepter, and Loki used his magic to bind the Other. When Thor landed both he and Tony revealed a large arrange of weapons all pointed at the Other to give further incentive for him to come quietly.“Coulson didn’t tell me he was calling you in.” Steve said when they were in the air with Tony riding with him and the prisoner while the others took the other jet.“Well he needed the big guns so you know.” Tony said with a smirk.The entire way was him making jokes at Steve’s expense if only to help keep his mind focused on the matter at hand instead of gutting the Other. What Tony wouldn’t give to tear the asshole who took Nick to pieces. He resisted what he wanted to do and followed Agent Hill when they arrived. Piotr who had taken over piloting the jet when Yasha joined the fight earlier landed it on the hellicarrier and joined them when the others followed the agent inside. Coulson appeared to be in charge with Fury missing and along with the widow and captain, Dr. Banner had been dragged into this mess.“Mr. Stark, we weren’t expecting you to arrive with so many friends.” Coulson commented when they were all gathered.“Well you know me, when I party, I party hard.”Steve looked disapprovingly at him.“Is everything a joke to you?”“Funny things are.” He fired off the reply easily.“Enough, we need to find the tesseract.”“Maybe we should have this conversation with only the members of the avengers initiative here.” The widow spoke up careful to hide the reason behind the suggestion.“We stay.” Darcy said her voice empty and her eyes cold putting an end to any further argument of their presence there.“Dr. Banner and Mr. Stark if you would work to track down the tesseract.”Tony’s walked up to Bruce to shake his hand.“Doctor Banner, I’ve read all your research. Love your work and a huge fan of the way you turn into a giant green rage monster.”Bruce looked surprised by the comment and how easily Tony approached him knowing what he could do.“Thanks.”Wrapping an arm around his shoulders Tony led him to the lab that had been set up for them as he talked about some of Bruce’s work that had caught his interest. Bruce was taken aback by the genuine interest in his work, something that was likely rare for him since gaining his green alter ego. Tony was a lover of knowledge, and he particularly liked those a step above the rest. Bruce was a rare mind that was in a league of its own. Though Tony could soak in new information at a rate unseen before, he could appreciate others considered geniuses. He was actually saddened to see Bruce’s overlooked simply because he could transform.The two were working together with a few side tracks as Tony shocked Bruce to test his control. Steve walked in as he was doing that. The good captain of course yelled at him claiming he was risking the lives of everyone on board. He knew Bruce had control; he wouldn’t have come out of hiding otherwise. It was also helping to distract him from the fact Nick had been taken and was being controlled by another. He hated having to wait to get him back. He hated knowing he had the ability to find him and rescue him but couldn’t. Now that he’d had time to calm down as well, he realized he shouldn’t be the one to kill the Other. It would be too easy to fall down a path of killing and while he had the ability and training to, he knew he had to be careful. This matter was personal and he shouldn’t be the one to face the Other. He’d discuss the matter with Darcy when he had the chance. For now, he had a powerful magical artifact to find.Steve eventually left them to their work and not long after his departure Tony sensed Yasha’s arrival. Bruce hadn’t heard him enter so when he turned around to see the former assassin, he startled but still no sign of green.“Oh,” he adjusted his glasses. “I didn’t hear you arrive. Are you a friend of Tony’s?”Yasha answered in Russian his accent perfect to suggest he was born and raised in Russia. Bruce nodded understanding. Tony recalled reading while getting his PhD Bruce had learned Russian.“Well it’s nice to meet you.”Yasha began sharpening one of his knives if only to have something to do. When Bruce looked uneasy at it Yasha explained he did it when he was bored, he had no negative feelings towards Bruce’s alter ego and knew Hulk usually only acted in self-defense. That had surprised Bruce though hearing Yasha had actually researched what happened when Hulk first made an appearance had Bruce looking less suspicious.At one point the widow, Coulson, Thor, and Loki entered the lab to find out the status update of the search. For whatever reason that turned into an argument of Tony pointing out that Shield was the one messing with something they had no idea about and Steve going toe to toe with Tony in an argument that the good old captain wanted to turn physical. Tony could feel the outside influence trying to provoke him but he kept up mental shields and saw Loki had noticed as well. Hopefully he was protecting the others but without giving away his abilities he couldn’t see if it was affecting the others. Judging by Steve’s increasing aggression he’d guess it was on him at least. The argument ended for a moment when Natasha told Bruce to put down the scepter. Not even a minute after he did so something exploded separating Tony and Bruce from the others. Tony looked over to Bruce who was struggling to hold back Hulk.“Hey Brucie, think you can stay with me? I promise I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ve got you and Hulk; you just have to trust me.”His words didn’t change the outcome and before losing it Bruce sent him a pleading and apologetic look. Tony pushed the pieces of the hellicarrier that had fallen on him off and stood to wait for the green giant. Even if Hulk decided to attack him as the source of the danger at least he could handle it. He waved off others that had tried to arrive to help to ensure none of them were in the line of fire. The idiots would probably provoke Hulk. When the green giant was fully in control looking around wildly searching for the danger Tony grinned and waved at him happily.“Hey buddy, I’m Tony.”Hulk looked at him looking as angry as before but Tony didn’t shrink away.“I’m friendly I swear,” he held out his hand. “Want to be friends with me?”Hulk looked confused as he looked at the hand. Tony was patient and finally Hulk crouched down to be more on his level and pressed his own hand to Tony’s smaller one. Tony brightened as he looked at the giant.“We are so hanging out after this mess is taken care of. What do you think of pizza? Maybe burgers. Oh donuts! Donuts are delicious and I’d love to introduce you to them.”Hulk huffed out a long sigh.“Tiny man talk too much.”“Hey, I take offense to that. I mean you wouldn’t be the first to say that but I’d like to think there’s something endearing about my rambling.”“Tiny man no danger?”“Are you asking if I’m a danger or if there is danger?”“Is there danger? Hulk know tiny man danger. Hulk sense it but tiny man not danger to Hulk. Tiny man like Hulk and Hulk like tiny man.”Tony could honestly say he was surprised. He wondered if it was an animal instinct that naturally had a sense for when a predator was present. Although Hulk was also right about him not being a danger to Hulk or even Bruce. Tony did like the two and he had no intentions of ever hurting either.“There’s danger here but now isn’t the time for you to fight big guy. I’ll let Bruce know when we need your help ok? And I’ll see if I can talk to him about letting you out for some fun. I do think you’d like donuts.”Hulk smiled.“Hulk see tiny man later. Be nice to puny Banner. Puny Banner need friends.”The green giant slowly began to shrink and turned back into a confused Bruce Banner who looked around surprised to still be where he’d fallen during the explosion.“I…I didn’t hurt anyone?”“No, you and the big guy didn’t hurt anyone. Hulk was pretty confused for a moment but after a friendly talk he realized now wasn’t the best time for him to fight anyone. I did promise to get him donuts sometime so keep that in mind. I’m a man of my word.”Bruce looked utterly confused while Tony grinned at him.“We should probably get you some clothes, not that you aren’t absolutely gorgeous but I’m very much taken and committed to my lover.”Bruce nodded still looking a bit confused as he followed Tony. Meeting up with the others they were met with grim or blank expressions. The Other had escaped and while the missing agents had arrived to rescue the alien, the fight had ended with a heavy price. Hearing that Coulson and Fury had ended up facing each other with Fury dead and Coulson in critical condition. Agents were preparing to take Coulson to a hospital while the medical staff onboard tried to keep him stable until they could get him there. Tony felt like the world around him had shattered. Everyone’s voices around him faded into the background and by the time he was pulled back to reality it was when someone grabbed him to try and stop him. He span around and threw Agent Hill clear down the hall not bothering to hide his strength. Other than some bruising she’d be fine but the other agents present raised their weapons. He ignored them and turned around even as Steve tried to grab him. Thankfully Yasha stopped the blonde super soldier from approaching him. Tony found where they had the director’s body laid out.“Loki, how long does someone have to be revived?” He asked the god who was waiting outside the room with Thor and Darcy knowing there was a goddess of death in Norse mythology that might give him some insight that could help.“Not as much time as one would hope, I can check to see if Hela has retrieved his soul yet.” He said already stepping forward.His magic glowed for a moment before he confirmed Fury’s soul had yet to be collected but they didn’t have much time. Tony’s eyes glowed golden as he placed his hands on Fury’s body to begin working.“Go see if you can help Coulson remain stable and don’t let them take him off this ship, I’ll be there when I’m done here.”Loki left while Tony began healing the wounds in his uncle’s body. A bullet had hit its mark tearing through his chest and heart. Tony could see the damaged code in the older man and began repairing it as he made the director’s body begin healing in a way it couldn’t on its own. He was focused on his task but he didn’t miss Steve’s voice having gotten past Yasha but Thor and Darcy were the next line of defense. Someone called out for him to step away from Fury and in his current state he honestly couldn’t say if it was Hill or not. He did sense the weapons pointed at him and while continuing to put energy into speeding up the process he looked up his golden eyes burning with a rage that had even Natasha Romanov stepping back.“Impend my attempts to save his life and there will be nowhere in this universe you can go where I will not find you and make you regret ever crossing my path.”He turned back to his task ignoring the others as the last of Fury’s wounds mended together. With the damage healed he worked Fury’s code basically doing the equivalent of a computer reboot that had Fury drawing in breath while he remained unconscious but alive. Tony pointed to Thor and Darcy as he spoke next.“Watch him, call me when he wakes up.”Already he was moving to go find Coulson. Other agents were running around working, JARVIS was helpful in telling him that while he’d handled Hulk and Bruce Thor had worked with Steve to keep the hellicarrier in the air after the engine had been damaged. There was no doubt other damage that would need to be addressed quickly and no guarantee the hellicarrier would stay in the air as it was. They were likely already working on what repairs they could do while they worked to safely land the flying base. Tony tuned them out as he entered the medical room where staff was arguing with Loki that was maintaining Coulson’s state and keeping them from moving him. Eyes still glowing, Tony walked right up to the god and fallen agent to begin working on his injuries. The medical staff began to quiet down when they saw Coulson’s wounds mending together and his breathing return to normal from its labored state. With his work done Tony walked away but not before insulting the idiots working at Shield that didn’t trust his judgement or Loki’s magic. He knew he was lashing out but at least with words no one died.Returning to the others had them looking at him as though he was something foreign and alien. There was fear and unease within each of those that had no idea who or what he truly was.“None of this was in your file.” Hill said, her hand resting close to her weapon.“The file you have on me was made while the little spider there spied on me. If you think for a moment, I didn’t know she was watching me you’re all idiots. Now we have an alien to kill before he brings his army here to invade our planet. I’d suggest if you like having your freedom and still being alive you’ll help me, otherwise I’ll deal with this with my allies. We leave in five minutes.”He stalked away going in the direction of his armor with the others of his group following him. He and Thor got armored up and the others readied themselves for takeoff in the jet. Their destination was Stark Tower, a place Tony had no doubt had the power needed to power a device made to use the tesseract.“Darce,” Tony spoke to his sister on a private channel.“Speak your mind though I will not respond because I am not without eyes on me.” Darcy responded.“When we get there, kill that bastard. I’ll work on ensuring the tesseract is shut down.”She didn’t respond but Tony knew the message got across. Thor arrived first to retrieve a newer model armor as his was damaged from repairing the hellicarrier’s engine. Tony arrived just in time to see Thor thrown from the tower. He pushed his armor to catch the god but saw Mjolnir shooting out of the window to return to her master. Tony adjusted his course seeing Thor returned to all his godly glory. His attempts to blast the tesseract were failures but he expected as much, it did however ease some of his earlier rage. JARVIS scanned the device but couldn’t pick up anything useful in shutting it down. Checking the code had blinded him a moment not expecting anything that bright. Unable to actually check the code of the artifact he opened a private channel to Darcy again.“Any idea how to close this thing?”He could hear her blades cutting through flesh for several moments before she answered, “The scepter but I would suggest getting JARVIS to ground Shield’s jets first, the World Security Council will be trying their usual bullshit.”“When you say usual…”“Unless you think you can contain a nuke, yes their usual bullshit.”He looked at the enemy forces pouring through their world before looking up at the portal.“I have an idea, just try to handle what’s come through for now.”With Thor back to his godly status he and Loki were fighting alongside each other in a way only two with years of experience doing so could. Steve was leading the charge, giving orders to all those involved while ensuring the local law enforcement helped to give them a perimeter to contain the aliens to minimize damage and life loss. Warren was rescuing civilians to get them to safety, Darcy and Natasha working close to each other, Yasha and Clint who had joined them after being freed from control were covering the high ground and helping to give locations of enemies, Colossus was working closely with Steve watching his back as the chitarui’s weapons didn’t do anything against his metal coated body, and Hulk was tearing through enemies with ease.When the nuke finally came in Tony met it partway and directed it to the portal with Natasha claiming she could close the portal. She had in her hands the scepter with Darcy at her side ready to defend against any chitauri that would attempt to stop her. He told them to wait not really expecting them to think he’d make it back through the portal. If he died on the other end oh well, no point fearing something like death.The other side he could see the enemy forces, oh how their world wasn’t prepared for that. As he let loose the nuke, he couldn’t help but remember the name, Thanos. That was the name of the one behind this, the one Darcy warned him about. Thanos had massive forces behind him but at least this would slow them down. He began falling back towards the portal and when he passed through, he saw it close just as he got through. His armor wasn’t active having not been designed to function out in space. Before he hit the ground though Hulk grabbed him and brought him safely down to where the others were gathered.“My beloved.” Thor rushed to his side tearing off the faceplate.“Hey, we talked about you breaking my shit.”Thor pulled him into his arms squeezing so tightly the armor made a sound of protest.“Thor stop trying to squeeze the life out of your lover.” Loki said kicking Thor in the side.“Well if you’re still sassing people, I’ll assume you’re feeling ok.” Warren said smiling at Tony.“I could be seconds away from dying and suffering from the plague and still sass the shit out of all of you. Thanks for the catch by the way jolly green.” He winked at Hulk who roared triumphantly.“We must celebrate our victory.” Thor said pulling Tony to his feet.“Maybe later, right now there’s a lot of damage and probably people needing help.” Warren said looking around.“First responders are likely already on their way. We need to report in to Shield and get the tesseract and the scepter secure.” Steve said.“No.” Tony’s tone cut through the group earning looks from Steve and Clint.“Shield is the only place they will be safe.”“Shield just tried to nuke the city and are the reason the tesseract activated to draw the chitauri’s attention to our world. Or did you decide to forget that Shield had been doing experiments with it? I’m not trusting Shield with either it or the scepter.”“Well you don’t get to decide what happens to either.” Clint said as he checked over his bow.Tony looked to Loki who pressed on the com in his ear.“Ghost, do you have the scepter and tesseract in your possession?”Loki nodded turning to Tony.“Both are secure, she does warn that the widow will need ice for the bruise on her head. She was not willing to let either go out of Shield’s possession.”Clint and Steve both looked alarmed while Tony and Loki ignored them.“Then I’ll let you two handle them. We’re going to start on efforts to repair the damage.”Loki nodded allowing Thor to grab ahold of him as the thunder god shot off into the sky heading towards the tower. Tony turned his attention to Hulk with a friendly smile.“So big guy, think you want to stay around a bit to help us clear the roads for first responders?”Hulk nodded.“I shall also help clear the roads.” Colossus moved to join Hulk looking unbothered by working with the green giant.“I’ll see if I can help get the injured someplace safe where the medical teams can get to them.” Warren said taking to the sky to look for injured.“Yasha, let’s help evacuate the buildings that were too damaged in the fight.”Yasha nodded as he grabbed onto the armor to go with Tony as he quickly scanned buildings within the area affected. The massive leviathans were the worse when it came to destroying buildings, they had hit and either torn apart part of the building or fallen on them. As they worked the x-men arrived to help and Tony was informed the three from Shield had returned to base. He ignored their absence as he focused on the work that needed to be done. He’d have to hold a press conference later and there would be clean up needing to be done. He knew everyone was tired after the fight and would likely be both hungry and ready to crawl into bed for a week. He had JARVIS make the appropriate calls. At one point the Blackbird left and when it returned Shadowcat and Iceman walked out with boxes of food, among those boxes was donuts. Shadowcat ran up to Hulk holding out the box explaining the different flavors. The green giant ate the entire box’s contents in one bite. He grinned at the young mutant before grabbing more food to restore his energy having no doubt used a lot already. The others took rotation eating and drinking water before returning to help. Eventually Hulk did run out of steam turning back into an exhausted Bruce Banner.Eventually they all reached their limited and Tony offered the tower for everyone to rest. They accepted and return to work the next couple of days to do all they could for their hurting city. Tony held a press conference several days after the battle with Warren at his side to explain how Stark Industries was going to help in the tragic event. There were people injured and without homes and regardless of their group not being responsible for aliens pouring into the city doing the damage as many politicians believed, they would still stand with their city and do all they could to help the road to recovery.Mutant hate groups were using the attack to get their cause support and many rivals of Stark Industries were using Tony’s involvement to accuse him of offering support only to put himself in the spotlight to be praised. During an interview shortly after the conference Tony was more than happy to address the accusations. He called out the hate groups who were demonizing a group that were freely offering their help. He made sure those groups looked as stupid as they were and freely named the political figures that were happily backing those groups. When it came to the accusations against himself, he was more than happy to speak about that.“If they truly think that I don’t care. They can do the same if they want to try and outdo what they’re accusing me of, at least that way more money goes to the people affected by this horrible tragedy.”His taunt worked of course because people who were rich, famous, and bashed him hated being called out. More companies contributed money to the recovery efforts which helped more people than SI alone could help. Some demonized him more claiming he’d admitted to doing it only for fame while most thanked him and his company for the efforts put forth.It wasn’t until a week after the interview that he received a visit from Nick Fury.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I hear I have you to thank for being alive.” He said from where he sat in the living room of the common room.“Don’t believe everything you hear.” Tony teased really not wanting to have this conversation.Nick’s expression was dead serious though leaving no room to avoid this conversation.“You never told me you could revive the dead.”Tony hated these conversations, always when he showed a new ability or his uncle worried he was heading towards the dark side.“I didn’t know I could either, if it makes you feel better there’s a time limit. Apparently Hela hadn’t claimed your soul yet.”Nick didn’t laugh.“It doesn’t make me feel better. Rogers and Romanov saw you use your abilities and now people are asking questions. I didn’t want Shield ever learning what you can do or what you are.”Tony looked away hating this. He would even swear a debt to Loki if it got him out of this and Thor had already thoroughly warned how bad an idea that would be. Loki always turned in the debts he was owed and all so far had lived to regret it, Thor included and as foolish as he could be sometimes, even he had only made the mistake once.“I couldn’t let you die.” He admitted only because neither would ever come right out and say how they were compromised when it came to each other.Nick sighed as he looked right at Tony.“I’m hoping to separate the avengers from Shield enough to avoid having to try and explain whatever you did.”Tony tensed; he didn’t like where this was going.“And how exactly do you plan to do that?”“You already know what I’m going to suggest. I just need your confirmation.”Tony glared at his uncle but Nick remained straight faced and serious.“Fine, just give me warning at least.”The asshole didn’t give him any. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov, and Clint Barton just showed up one day. Bruce had already moved in after the battle of New York. Tony had been called down to the lobby by Happy and had arrived to see the three standing there with a single bag each of what he could assume was their only belongings.“Fury didn’t call ahead.”“Have to keep you guessing Stark.” Clint grinned looking thoroughly entertained by his annoyance.“Fine whatever, let’s go. Let’s get you settled and introduced to the others.” He wished Thor was home so he could cuddle, neither god had returned yet.When they were in the elevator and the doors closed Tony spoke to JARVIS knowing exactly where his first stop would be.“Hey J, where’s dad?”That earned him several confused looks.“I thought Howard passed away?” Steve asked.“Yeah Howard’s dead.” He answered being cryptic for no other reason than he could, Loki might be spreading his bad habits.“He is currently on his floor.” The AI helpfully answered and Tony tried and failed to figure out why he sounded slightly amused.He led the others off on Bucky’s floor and went to the bedroom door seeing it closed.“Hey, no sleeping in. You’ve got new roommates.”He received a warning to stay out in Russian telling him Yasha was in control. Tony ignored the warning as he kept knocking. Eventually he got an answer and quickly covered his eyes as Yasha answered the door naked with a cigarette in his mouth. If that wasn’t the worst part his other parent Logan was lounging naked on the bed with one of his favorite cheap cigars in his mouth.“Ah! Naked dad!” He cried. “My eyes are bleeding!”“I warned you I had a date today.” Yasha grumbled at him while Steve took a step forward in shock.“Bucky?”Yasha rolled his eyes as he leaned against the door, neither him or Logan in the least ashamed of their current state of dress.“I’m Yasha, Bucky’s sleeping right now seeing as I had a date.”“Dad, clothes.” Tony protested still not uncovering his eyes.“You’re not in charge of me, go to your room. You’re grounded.” Yasha said earning a chuckle from Logan.“I second this, besides we’re not done yet.”Tony yelled in protest.“Agh, all of my parentage sucks. This, this is what I’ve had to deal with and I hate all of you for this.”He turned on his heels and headed back to the elevator grumbling about his AI’s sick sense of humor knowing he’d forgotten about Yasha’s forewarning of his and Logan’s ‘date’. The two always broke every piece of furniture in the room and Tony had to buy replacements. The replacements were the only reason he had any information on their relationship.He went to the kitchen to drown himself in coco, he couldn’t make it like Darcy but luckily, she was in the kitchen planning vengeance for Loki being gone so long. Her plans so far included throwing balloons full of paint and tricking Loki into watching Twilight. Tony advised her to go with the Twilight idea while he sipped the delicious coco. When she asked what had him willingly risking her coco again, he told her old man dick which was answer enough. JARVIS the helpful asshole had shown the new houseguests their rooms and once they’d dropped off their bags, they came looking for him.“What the hell is with you and Barnes Stark? Is this a weird kink?”He nearly puked.“Oh sweet baby Jesus on a fucking cracker no! That asshole that decided to flash me is my dad.”Steve looked so confused.“But Howard-”“Has not nor will ever be my dad regardless of how much my genetic code might have come from him. Now sit down and enjoy Darcy’s wonderful coco. If you’re real nice she won’t poison you.”“I’m only responsible for keeping one scientist in this place alive and none of you look like Jane.”“I could be Jane if I shaved my goatee and grew out my hair.” Tony told her with a smirk.“That and removed your dick and grew a nice set of tits.”He shrugged.“Ok you’ve got me there. So, everyone this is Darcy, don’t piss her off. She loves her tazer and is overenthusiastic when using it.”“Awe don’t warn them, I wanted it to be a surprise.” She eyed Clint. “I can tell you’re an asshole, you and my tazer will get very well acquainted.”“What? No, I’m a loveable asshole. Like a cute puppy that pees on all your favorite shit.”“Oh well in that case you’ll fit right in.”Clint planted himself in the seat next to Tony.“Is this your way to warn me you’re going to pee on my stuff?”He smirked.“Depends, will it make you drop your guard around your stuff?”“Hell no, I don’t have nice shit. Do what you will, I’ll get payback.”Ok so Tony could learn to like Clint.“Like what? I need ideas, I have vengeance to plan.”Clint turned his attention to Darcy to discuss plans for some really weird and creative prank. Clint actually supported the Twilight idea. Learning who was the target Clint expanded on the idea which had Darcy ordering a Twilight shirt with Edward’s face on it and was going to convince Loki that he was one of Midgard’s greatest and most honored warriors before eventually showing him the movie.Tony turned away from their conversation to focus on his other guests.“So, you’ve met Yasha and Darcy, everyone else is out but you’ll meet them eventually.”“How did Bucky come to live with you? How did he survive?”“Well he was sent on a mission and was stopped. Helped him heal from what Hydra did and now he lives here. He survived because Hydra are assholes that like to fuck with people. Any more questions before I end up locking myself in my workshop.”Steve looked heartbroken while Natasha showed no expression.“And your reason for calling him dad? Doesn’t sound like he raised you.”Tony gave her a look before getting up and going to his workshop. He would prefer to ignore his newest houseguests but several hours later he had Steve knocking on his door. He turned to look and saw the super soldier holding a plate of sandwiches and a mug of coffee. If there was ever a good peace offering it was coffee. He told JARVIS to let him in as he turned back to his work.“Thought you might be hungry.”Tony eyed the plate before looking up at Steve whose eyes held a desperate hope in them.“What do you want?”“A chance to start over? You really saved us with that nuke and I realize the file on you was wrong. Just wanted a chance to get to know the real Tony Stark.”Tony turned back to his work again but motioned to the seat at his table.“Who gave you the idea to bring lunch and coffee?”“Um the guy sharing a body with Bucky, Yasha I think his name is. Didn’t want me bothering him and told me if there was anything I should be doing it was apologizing for acting the way I did when we first met.”Tony reached for the coffee when Steve put it down.“The coffee was a good start.”There was a long silence that followed after that Tony was content to work through. Steve looked nervous and unsure of how to continue. When he spoke up next, he seemed to have gathered his courage to speak his mind.“You’re not what the media portrays you as. I didn’t think about taking anything they said seriously but I had heard some Shield agents talking about you. I kind of wondered what the media was saying that had them talking that way even after you risked your own life to save New York. I read about the things your company does, how you changed the direction of what it does.”Tony looked at him trying to see what exactly the super soldier wanted.“What are you hoping to get out of talking to me?”Steve rubbed the back of his neck looking kind of shy.“Just want the chance to get to know you, the real you. Not what the media or anyone else talks about.”Tony stared at him a moment before he shrugged.“Sure why not, meet me in the penthouse tonight at six.”Steve smiled looking relieved and happy to be given another chance. Tony didn’t understand it. They were barely even teammates; one fight didn’t make them anything. Tony had his team and just because he now housed the three Nick asked him to didn’t change that. He doubted many people genuinely wanted to be his friend or try to understand him. He could see Natasha trying to manipulate her way into his good graces in order to find out information about him. Steve wasn’t trying to manipulate him but his genuine desire to know him was still confusing.When it was close to six JARVIS shut down everything so Tony would start making his way to the penthouse. It wasn’t like he’d made any special plans with Steve, just added him to an already existing plan for that night. Bucky and Logan were already there sitting in separate chairs with beers and their preferred smoke while Darcy sat lounging on the couch with her feet up on the table and a glass of her favorite vodka in hand. Tony grabbed a soda for himself along with snacks and popcorn. By the time he sat down Steve had made his way up to join them.“Grab a seat Steve; we’re going to watch the Matrix.”Logan snorted.“You guys are going to watch it; I’m going to silently mock it.”Steve wasn’t expecting the others but he sat down on the end of the couch closest to Bucky. JARVIS started up the movie once they were all seated.“Hey kid, pass me the m&m’s.” Bucky said eyeing the bag Tony grabbed for himself.“Hell no, get your own dad.”“You don’t even like that candy, don’t be an ass kid.” Logan said already use to Tony hogging snacks when they had movie nights.“I’m an adult old man.” He protested as Darcy used the distraction to grab the massive bag and toss it Bucky.“Thanks, you’re a good kid Darce.”“Ah yeah, still the favorite.” She cheered before they quieted as they all focused on the movie.The scene came where they saw Neo first return to the Matrix dressed in the usual outfit of those that had taken the red pill.“I’m just going to say this now, Keanu Reeves is really hot.”“Eww, no way. You have terrible taste.” Darcy said making a face to show she really disagreed.“Whatever, I still think he’s hot. If I had to pick one celebrity free cheat it’s him.”“Mine would be Halle Berry.” Bucky said.“Don’t tell Storm that, she looks like her.” Logan said.“What about you old man? Celebrity free cheat.”“Dwayne Johnson or Gal Gadot.”Bucky pointed at Logan with a look of approval, “Yes and yes, good choices. I approve whole heartedly.”Steve looked utterly confused but he seemed to be making a note to look up who they were talking about later. The movie continued until Darcy spoke up.“You know for being completely unrealistic this is still one of my favorite movies.”“Why wouldn’t it be unrealistic, do you think we’re all batteries powering our evil machine overloads?” Logan asked before sipping his beer.Tony smirked tossing popcorn at him much to the older mutant’s annoyance.“If we are, I’m Neo and JARVIS is Agent Smith.”“Bullshit, Coulson is Agent Smith. He fits the imagine better. J is the one of the machines watching over all us human batteries.” Bucky said which earned him a handful of popcorn thrown at him.The movie continued in mostly silence until Bucky muttered about Morpheus being a badass and a round of agreements including Steve. When it ended Darcy grinned as she stood and stretched.“Bathroom break and then let’s watch Scary Movie 3.”“Why 3?” Bucky asked already standing prepared to use the break to stretch his legs.“Because it makes fun of the matrix and as much as I love the movies, I can appreciate a good parody.”“She’s not wrong.” Tony said preparing to go order some pizzas to go with their second movie.“Can I stay for the next movie?” Steve asked uncertain.“Hell yeah, I invited you to join our movie night. This shit doesn’t end until we pass out, spoilers most of us are night owls so feel free to leave when you want or just get comfortable where you are to sleep. I’m ordering pizzas, everyone want the usual?”“Oh I want vegetarian this time.” Darcy called from where she was just entering the bathroom.“You’re gross for even considering that an option.” Bucky called after her.“Ok so I’m taking that as a yes other than Darcy. What about you Steve?”“Classic pepperoni is fine.”When they returned to sit down for the movie, they had pizzas, Steve finally got comfortable enough to ask for a beer, and Darcy had a second bottle of vodka. It earned her a worried look from Steve but Darcy assured him she could drink all of them under the table and still not be buzzed, they had never bothered to test this theory because Tony didn’t think he could fit enough alcohol in his penthouse to try.Steve seemed lost by the second movie but managed to enjoy it a bit when Bucky explained it was supposed to be stupid as it made fun of a lot of other movies. Next movie choice was Tony’s picking Silence of the Lambs. Following that was Bucky’s choice was Starship Troopers because it entertained him and didn’t bother him like really serious and realistic war movies. By the look on Steve’s face he and Bucky shared their strange love of the movie. Logan’s pick was a classic as he had JARVIS start up Jaws. By the time the movie ended Bucky was passed out on his chair and Tony covered him with a blanket before they decided on the Jurassic Park movies even though they all agreed they weren’t all good. By the end of it Tony and Darcy were leaning against each other sleeping soundly and Logan placed a blanket over them before heading to his own room. Steve quietly left with him yawning and ready to sleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony had been right about Natasha trying to manipulate him. She had managed to get into one of his galas as someone’s plus one when trying to talk to him at the tower failed. Tony refused to be manipulated. If she genuinely wanted to talk and not secretly searching for information, he wouldn’t mind sitting down with her. He had considered it simply not possible for a black widow to form genuine connections but Darcy had told him they could. Natasha was supposedly reformed, looking to clean the red from her ledger. Darcy being more familiar with the black widows had been the one he’d asked if Natasha did already have anyone that was really her friend, someone she wasn’t simply using to further her own path. Darcy had for once shown concern as she said her friendship with Clint was partly genuine. Natasha hadn’t yet managed to fully shake the black widow’s need to manipulate everyone or see them as targets.Tony had been trying to only deal with her as necessary. He and Steve were getting along so far. The super soldier brought him lunch and coffee before sitting in the lab to draw. The weekly movie night Tony and his family held had an invitation extended to him as well. Logan wasn’t always around but when he was, he joined. Three weeks after the first night Thor and Loki returned. Thor didn’t hesitate to pull Tony in for a kiss while Darcy jumped into Loki’s arms making out with him. The others who didn’t already know about the relationship stared clearly not having expected this.“So you guys are dating?” Steve asked drawing their attention to him.“Courting actually, it is far more serious than your Midgardian custom of dating.” Loki replied.“Welcome back guys, I know Warren was wondering when you were returning.” Bucky greeted as he passed by moving towards the kitchen.“Ah yes, I shall have to apologize for being gone so long. It seems father had awoken from Odinsleep shortly after I became worthy again of Mjolnir. The reunion was not…pleasant to say the least.”“He was angry?” Tony asked.“He was not pleased that we had left ruling to mother.” Loki replied sounding bitter.“We had explained that I remained here to honor his decision to banish me and that the people rejected Loki’s rule. He did not agree with us when we explained it was beneficial to Asgard and its people for them to have a ruler they respected and trusted in such a trying time.”“And let us not forget his absolute rage at having heard that when we did return to aid mother when she requested it that we had not only chose human consorts but brought them to the realm eternal as well.” Loki said anger overtaking the bitterness.“Wow, I hope your mom tore him a new one.” Darcy said.“Mother did defend us but Odin is still very much unhappy. The tesseract and scepter being brought after defending Midgard did little to appease his anger. As of right now Thor and I have decided on a self-imposed exile until Odin as you mortals say ‘pulls his head out of his ass’ only then shall we return to attempt to discuss matters as proper adults.”“Well damn that’s some loyalty. You two marry these men.” Bucky said hearing the extents the princes were willing to go to for not only their home but their lovers.“Only if marriage doesn’t lessen our sex life.” Darcy said from where she was wrapped around Loki like a clingy octopus.“I assure you; nothing will lessen it.” Loki said all charm while Tony groaned not wanting to hear anymore.“Eww, Thor make them stop.”“I’m afraid I cannot beloved, it is a great honor to have a father’s permission to wed their child. This is a day to celebrate.”“I vote we go out, fancy restaurant. I’ll invite Jane.” Darcy said jumping off Loki already moving to find the wayward scientist.“I’m inviting myself along, try and stop me.” Bucky said returning to the room with soda in hand.“Anyone else want to invite themselves along?” Tony asked being sarcastic.“I want to go. You’re paying right?” Clint asked grinning because he knew it wasn’t a real offer.“Yeah sure whatever, let the rich guy pay for you.”“Sweet, this is why you’re my favorite genius.” Clint cheered pulling out his phone clearly texting someone.“Let’s make it a team outing.” Steve suggested and Tony was ok with him enough that he didn’t mind everyone being invited along.When they all gathered it was a larger group than he’d expected. Warren, Pepper, Happy, Logan, and Piotr had all caught wind of the outing and apparently Clint had texted Coulson who had in turn somehow accidently informed Nick. Their group was large and only his fame got them a table quickly. Couples were paired up sitting next to each other with the other seats being filled in randomly. Judging by the looks Clint was giving Coulson he’d guess something was going on there. Nick had taken a seat next to Natasha though both were unreadable so Tony didn’t know if it was simply because they worked together. Piotr had decided to sit beside Warren though there was an extra seat available next to him. It wasn’t free long as the metal mutant sighed at the cheerful and loud arrival of someone they were all familiar with in some way. Apparently Deadpool had learned of their outing. Tony and Darcy had bets on whether they were a thing or not, Wade touched his ass enough to be involved but Piotr always acted like he didn’t like it. They weren’t sure and both were determined to get others in on this. The look of temptation to murder the mec showed that Natasha, Nick, and Coulson all knew him.Other than the Wade and Loki seeming to try to out do the other in the crazy department and the concerned looks from their waitress, their outing was nice. Darcy and Loki were weirdly cute at moments, Natasha was more at ease than he’d ever seen her, Steve was the politest out of their group, and perhaps the most frightening was Nick and Pepper discussing how best to manage difficult people in the workplace. Nick had more years’ experience but Pepper was frighteningly creative and had dealt with Tony long enough to make her an expert. Tony almost felt bad for the poor souls working at Shield that would deal with the ideas Pepper was giving Nick.Tony enjoyed moments like these but life was cruel and such things were doomed to end. For him and Darcy it all came to an end with a rainbow of lights and a god that decided they were to blame for his sons deciding to stand against his wishes.He and the other residence that didn’t otherwise have work to go to were gathered for breakfast one morning when the bi-frost brought their uninvited guest. Bucky was working at SI for security, Thor and Loki were helping Warren preparing for an upcoming charity event, and Bruce was in his lab working on a time sensitive experiment. Those gathered stood prepared for whatever might come. Tony recognized the god king by his appearance and knew this wasn’t meant to be a pleasant visit by the cold hard look the god leveled him and Darcy with.“Anthony and Darcy, children of Howard the craftsman, Steven the warrior, James the warrior, James the abomination, and Natalie the assassin. I seek word with you of my sons’ unnatural desire to have you as their consorts.”Tony and Darcy glanced at each other sensing the change in the others hearing the way the god addressed them. They knew there was no way this god in his set ways and arrogance was going to really have a discussion with them. He’d already insulted their parentage and their relationship with the two brothers. Turning back to Odin Tony’s eyes glowed golden with his power and Darcy’s expression turned blank no longer bothering with the cover for what she truly was.“I think not.” Darcy said her voice empty and her stance portraying her readiness to attack if necessary.“Leave, you don’t get to come into my home uninvited and insult my parents or my lover.” Tony agreed with his twin.Odin’s single eye narrowed.“Perhaps I was not clear. You will break off this ill-advised relationship with my sons or you shall face the wrath of Asgard’s forces. I will not lose Thor and Loki to the foolish temptations of weak and fleeting creatures like you.”Tony didn’t even flinch as he found himself suddenly teleported behind Odin by his twin. An ability he didn’t realize she had but still he pressed into Odin’s back working within seconds to break his code. The god collapsed completely paralyzed. Tony knelt beside him seeing the rage within his one eye.“I’ve removed your ability to move and talk, bring Asgard’s forces and you will find just how quickly and ruthlessly I can kill an army. Don’t fuck with me or my planet. Regardless of what you might think of me, you don’t know just how bloody getting on my bad side can get. Thor and Loki didn’t abandon their people carelessly, they left suffering the rule of a tyrant like you.”Darcy grabbed him and dragged him easily to the balcony. As the bi-frost retrieved the god king she returned still set in the expression of one trained and raised by a black widow.“The teleporting was a new trick.” He greeted his twin.“I don’t usually use it, not everyone handles the sudden displacement well.” She answered stopping by his side.“I’ll go tell the brothers they should return home. Until Asgard’s healers figure out how to undo what I’ve done they’ll likely be needed.”Darcy leveled him with a look.“Asgard doesn’t possess the ability to undo that, not as their healers are now.”And that was coming from someone who could see the future. Good to know he wouldn’t have to keep good on his promise when Odin recovered because he had no doubt Odin would bring an army against him for this. He just wasn’t going to let him or humanity be pushed around because the god thought himself superior.“Still going to call Thor and Loki. It’s up to them if they have me undo what I did to Odin.” He sent a quick text off to Nick first before he made the call as he ignored the looks from the others.“What did he mean?” Steve asked Darcy looking at her like he was seeing her for the first time which wasn’t so surprising when he’d never seen this side of her.Darcy ignored him and walked away putting distance between herself and this newest problem. Tony couldn’t blame her; he didn’t know how to approach this either. As he used the call to keep distance between himself and the others he managed to get away to. Steve was still to shocked to really pursue them about the matter, Natasha though knew and Tony didn’t know how to react to the heartbreak in her expression. ~ “You all look like hell.” Fury said walking into the Tower to find Steve, Natasha, Bruce, and Clint sitting around a table looking like life had run them over with a truck.Natasha looked up at him eyes wet with unshed tears as she asked him with accusation tinting her tone, “Did you know?”Fury sat down at the table with them and nodded.“I raised Tony since he was a kid. Peggy and I figured out early on what Howard had done. Didn’t know the whole story until later.”“What exactly is going on?” Steve asked a pleading look in his eyes and looking like he had a lot of questions but not sure how to ask them.Fury had dealt with a lot in his life. He’d survived a lot most wouldn’t come out the other side sane. This wasn’t something he was equipped to handle or ever thought he’d have to. Sometimes he really did just want to curse Howard for what he’d done.“Howard Stark had an obsession that developed with the success of the super soldier serum. He foresaw the use of it to create not just a superior human but a perfect one. The next stage of human evolution handcrafted by man. Then he witnessed the abilities of a mutant, nature’s next stage of evolution. He wanted to mix them and combine them with his own genius. A person created with the serum, mutant gene, and a genius level intellect. Bucky Barnes was the only survivor of Hydra’s experiments. Armin Zola who Howard allowed into Shield when it was created in exchange for his connections to find an enhanced female to birth his creation had added Barnes’s DNA thinking something unique to him would add to Howard’s creation. It was in his best interest for a success as he wanted to remain free and rebuild Hydra. Howard manipulated, bribed, and bought the ingredients he needed. He got the blood samples of Steven Grant Rogers and James Howlett. Zola had access to Bucky Barnes’s DNA as well as connections to the red room to have one of the black widow’s impregnated with the combined DNA. Howard planned for a single child so the red room kept the female twin. Entrusting the care of the child to one of their best widows until she was old enough to train. There’s a reason the red room took away their students’ ability to have children. The black widow took the child away and hid to protect her. I didn’t know about Tony’s twin until she showed up after telling him how to stop my assassination when we discovered we missed clearing out some of Hydra.”Steve and Natasha wore matching expressions of pain while Bruce looked horrified of the human experimentation he was hearing.“I kind of get the feeling we’re missing a lot of information.” Clint said not codenamed Hawkeye for no reason.Fury was silent for a moment thinking of how to approach this topic. How did you tell the unwilling donors to a horrifying scientific miracle that their child was quite possibly the most terrifying thing to ever be created by science? That even if they didn’t believe in a higher power, they should be thanking one that neither of the twins had turned out to be insane supervillains because there would likely be no stopping either? That they were lucky either even knew how to be human after what they had experienced growing up?“If Howard Stark was to suddenly return from the dead, I’d shoot him in the head.” The comment earned him shocked looks. “Just so he couldn’t make another like them. Even when I only thought there was one of them, I knew we were lucky Tony didn’t go a different way. The world hasn’t been kind to him and while Howard was testing to see if his experiment was successful, he’d suffered pain no one comes out the other side sane, especially not a child. When Howard determined him a failure and abandoned him like an unsuccessful weapon design it’s a miracle that Tony didn’t start going dark side. The kid already had a higher level of intelligence than even most geniuses today. He takes in information remarkably fast and he was already better trained than the best of Shield’s agents.”“Why are you telling us this? It seems like a bad idea to give us reasons to be distrustful of Stark.” Clint asked.“Because having known about Tony and not telling you has given you enough reason not to trust me. I want to make it perfectly clear that this was a very delicate matter. If I haven’t made myself perfectly clear yet then let me tell you this. You’d have a better chance finding a way to kill an enraged Hulk with a toothpick than finding a way to stop Tony if he decided he wanted to destroy this world. I don’t know if his power has a limit, if we’d ever see the end coming. His intelligence and power are unmatched. It’s only because of his own awareness that the world has every right to fear him if they learn the truth that he even keeps me updated on his newest growth. Yes, his powers increase. His mutation changes sometimes and it’s not him trying to grow stronger. The world has been harsh and cruel towards him his entire life and one day it might not like the outcome of what it’s done to him. He informed me of what happened when Odin came because he knows as director of Shield and someone that aims to protect this world I should know. Does it mean I can stop him if he wanted to get into an intergalactic war? No, but he’s compromising in an impossible situation. At the end of the day we’re powerless because Howard Stark was a deranged scientist that thought he could have his name go down in history for creating the first perfect human. Instead we’re left with a weapon of mass destruction we should be graceful everyday doesn’t go off in our faces. Because I can promise you plenty of people are trying without even knowing it.”Bruce stood up and muttered an excuse to leave. Not long after Natasha stood leaving silently. Clint jumped to his feet muttering about mad scientists and Steve was left alone with Fury.“Was he ever going to tell us?”“From what JARVIS has told me he gave you hints. I think he wanted to see if you’d connect the dots.”Steve sat there trying to think of the clues Tony had given him. He didn’t know how long he sat there thinking but he was alone when he came out of his thoughts.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Tony was reading when Steve finally decided to come see him. Yasha had been around a lot since Odin’s visit. Thor and Loki had returned home promising to return as soon as they could but otherwise, he and Darcy hadn’t heard anything on the status of Asgard and its tyrant now useless king. Yasha was more protective than Bucky and so both had agreed he’d be present until things with all involved finally resolved. Bruce had either been alone in his lab or in the Hulk room made for him. Hulk had told JARVIS that he still liked tiny man or tin man as he called Tony. Natasha had been absent from the tower and Tony hadn’t looked into where she’d gone. Clint was still around but hadn’t sought him or Darcy out but he also didn’t act any different when Darcy walked around the room he was in. Both just went about their day. Clint not bothered that Darcy was more deadly than the black widow and Darcy still the cheerful and joking personality that the tower had come to know. Jane had been informed of Darcy’s newly discovered secret and her solution to the news had been to bond over getting their nails done and proving nothing changed. Darcy still kept her properly caffeinated and pulled her to bed when necessary and Jane still muttered about her work whether Darcy was listening or not.Yasha was lounging on the couch watching a Russian film that he knew by heart word for word so Tony had been listening as he talked along with the entire movie. He looked up from his book when Steve entered the room and Yasha paused his movie looking at Steve with eyes that spoke of murder if he said the wrong thing. Tony wasn’t entirely sure if he’d actually go that far to be an overprotective parent. The murderous love from his father was weirdly endearing though and appreciated even if the mess and body cleanup would be annoying if it came to it.“What are you reading?” He asked eyeing the book in Tony’s hands.“Book published by a mutant hate group. Was curious if they had a reasonable argument for their opinion. Not so much in my opinion.”Steve was surprised.“Aren’t you um…a mutant? Why would you bother reading a book by a group that hates them?”“Regardless if I don’t agree with them if they had a valid argument I’d listen. This book shows they’re just spouting hate for no reason. Just a lot of bullshit which I feel is a waste of the trees that died to make this book.”Steve actually laughed seeming entertained by his rambling.“Those poor trees. Mind if I join you? It’s been a while since we hung out. I think I missed a few weekly movie nights.”Tony waved towards the available seats.“Sure, we haven’t had movie night since the last time you joined. The old man is doing his old man thing, Yasha’s on a Russian movie parade which I have to admit I’m not overly fond of, and Darcy has been very generous in information of what she’d like to be doing to Loki if he wasn’t off in godland so she’s banned from all family related activities until she gets less vocal about it. I’m still traumatized from seeing two of my dads naked. I don’t need any more family trauma destroying what little precious sanity I have left.”“Sanity’s overrated. I’m sure you’re fine.” Steve teased.Tony laughed happy with the teasing like nothing had changed.“True but I think there’s plenty that will argue with you. So, what’s going on with you Cap? Still mistreating my poor punching bags? You know if they had an HR department, I’d have regular complaints from them.”“Nonsense, I’m a perfect gentleman.”Yasha snorted disagreeing in Russian.“Don’t listen to Bucky, I swear he lies.” Steve told the Russian assassin and for a moment a bit of Bucky flickered in his gaze before Yasha turned and resumed his movie.“Dad no! let’s turn on a good movie.”Yasha mock glared at him before a smirk crossed his face. It did not bode well for him. The movie was changed out for Mars attacks and Tony officially hated Yasha’s taste in movies. Steve looked utterly confused by the movie and as Tony laughed at his expression Darcy had sweet talked her way past his ban on her from the penthouse. It was ok though, she brought Chinese food. Tony could always be won over by food and she knew it. Damn assassin types played dirty.Things were relatively normal between them and Steve after that but Tony didn’t have high hopes for the mother he’d never known and had so far had no genuine interest in being more than necessary housemates. When he saw her again it was at night when he’d been up late working in his workshop. She brought a bottle of vodka and put it on the table between them.“It’s the drink of our people.”Tony paused looking at the bottle; it was a good brand and a favorite of Darcy’s.“Well, I was born in Russia. Raised in the U.S though. It’s more Darcy’s preference but I appreciate the effort.”Natasha nodded taking back the bottle though remaining seated.“I never knew what happened to you two.”“I figured, regardless of how well you think you hide things I know you aren’t as emotionless as you’d like us to believe.”She smiled sadly.“You’re observant.”“Natural talent I must have inherited someplace.”She finally stood and patted him on the shoulder.“Goodnight Tony.”“Night Nat.”It was a small start but it was something. When he went up to his room to finally sleep, he found Darcy waiting for him her expression blank and her eyes empty.“They talked to you to.”She turned away looking out the window.“Sentiment is something not easy to ignore and the widow who raised me wasn’t willing to train that into me. Just taught me to be carefully selective with who I allowed myself to feel anything like that for.”“Did you feel sentimental towards her?”“No, she was very clear ever having any type of feeling like that for a black widow was a death sentence. I destroyed the red room when they finally caught up to her because I owed a debt. She didn’t have to raise me.”“So Natasha wanting some kind of connection isn’t on the top of your list of things to have happen. Even though there’s no use fighting the inevitable.”Darcy gave him a look but didn’t argue the point.“Everyone dies eventually, I suppose I just know that there are worse things than that. I was taught that to and a black widow will do whatever to survive, even offer their young if it means they get out unharmed.”“Pretty sure it’s their mates they eat. The kids are usually ok. Although some species of spiders the kids eat their mom. Maybe Nat should be the one worried. Not that I’m into cannibalism but I’m not entirely sure I’d put it past you.”Darcy gave him a look again.“Maybe, I haven’t formed any lasting attachment to her.”Tony chuckled though he knew she was hinting at something he’d suspected of her already.“What does Loki think of this little interesting trait?”“He says I have a lot in common with dragons.”He looked interested at that; he always did like learning something new.“The stories are correct dragons keep hordes. It’s just not gold like so many believe and it wasn’t so much they terrorized the townsfolk for no reason. Hordes are people dragons become attached to and protect. Otherwise they have no emotion towards others. They’re known to burn or eat those that hurt their horde.”“Good to know you wouldn’t have bat an eye about killing me.” He said taking a seat not particularly tired but he had the serum in his veins to thank for that.“Glad to know it doesn’t bother you. Most would think someone so easily able to kill their twin would be concerned. Luckily your glowing personality gained my affection so your safe.”“I knew it! And here people say I’m not likable.”He halfheartedly glared at her when she collapsed on top of him pretending to sleep.“Yeah well I’m sure they have a valid reason for their opinion. It’s just so rude that you don’t respect their opinions.”He snorted as he wrapped his arms around her. They hadn’t had a sibling bonding moment like this before. It was nice but weird, maybe if she pretended to try and kill him again it would add the level of normal he was use to with her. Where was the poisoned coco when you needed it?“If I wasn’t so comfortable, I’d stab you right now. I feel like this moment needs it.”“You’re right but I feel like my organs would protest even though they’d heal.”“Probably.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I want to get a cat.”Tony looked up as Darcy leaned over the table he was working at with Jane. He’d been curious about her research and he was avoiding Pepper. Not the first time he’d hidden away from her and paperwork but it was a first for this location. Jane was a perfect co-conspirer because she had no idea what he was doing. Darcy was here for the daily feeding and watering of her scientist. Sadly, Darcy didn’t care about the care and feeding of one Tony Stark so he hadn’t been brought any coffee. Something she said was the duty of Thor and that clearly, he’d starve before the god returned, something Yasha the asshole had agreed on. He was really feeling the family love here. It’s ok, Steve made him blueberry pancakes when he’d told him about how mean they were being. Natasha had also sent him some funny Russian jokes so there was that to. Their relationship was still odd so she decided to connect with him through her weird Russian ways. That included the food, weird gifts, and jokes from her homeland.“Why?”“Because Loki’s like a cat and I need something to love while he’s gone.”Well first she’d have to get attached to include the small beast into her horde, he’d taken to calling those Darcy had any affection for that because he personally thought it was entertaining, and then she’d have to decide she wanted to spend the time on the animal that would die long before her. Though Tony did like cats, he could always take the little devil if she didn’t get attached. He was convinced cats were secretly evil so he would always think of them as little devils or demons. Demons with fur and an unnatural ability to make you think they love you when really, they were loyal to no one.“Yeah sure why not. Little furry beast wandering around the tower, maybe it’ll solve our hawk problem.”“Hey!” Came the protest from the nearby vent.“Let’s get a litter of them, just release them into the vents.” He continued because he knew Clint would hear.“I reject this idea. Get a dog, dogs and hawks get along great!”The vent opened and Clint plopped down.“I want a dog, if she gets a cat, I should be able to get a dog.”Tony sighed giving Darcy a look.“He’s like the annoying little brother I always wished I smothered when we were kids.”“I know right, never too late.” She teased earning a squawk from the archer.“Nah, I’m not cute enough anymore to get away with it or young enough to blame it on my least favorite parent.” He turned moving toward the door. “Let’s go assholes, we’re going to get some pets so I have something to snuggle that will only be a fraction of Thor’s warm fluffy cuteness.”Clint cheered going with him and Darcy. Bucky and Steve joined them both voting for a dog they could smother with their love, mostly because dogs were man’s best friend and Steve couldn’t have a dog when he was younger because he was to sickly to take care of one. Natasha appeared out of nowhere to join them. She wanted an old grumpy cat that would be as unimpressed with their shit as she was.The pound had been shocked to see the avengers arrive. The staff hovering around until they got the courage to ask for autographs or pictures. Clint posed for them, Bucky wrapped an arm around Steve’s shoulders and flipped off the camera, Natasha looked utterly unimpressed, and Darcy and Tony like the proper adults they were stuck their tongue out.Darcy did end up getting her cat that had black fur and green eyes looking a lot like a certain mage. The cat hissed at Clint every time she saw him so Darcy decided she was perfect. Clint fell in love with a Labrador that kept getting excited when he talked about feeding him pizza when they got home. Steve and Bucky were picky saying they needed a pet that they could fight over to win it’s love. They ended up with a German shepherd that had enough energy to give the super soldiers a run for their money. While everyone else was choosing Natasha stood staring at an older cat that no one expected to be adopted. The little old lady stared right back looking like a cat that had seen enough shit and lived long enough that the black widow didn’t even faze her. She even started cleaning herself and peaked up at Natasha as though daring her to say some shit. Natasha was impressed. Tony ended up with a large fat cat with orange fur that added to his size making him look like a massive fat fluff ball. He had big blue eyes and kept biting Tony when he thought he was going to be put down. No wonder the little bastard was fat, he was probably carried everywhere.“Why did you pick the fat one?”Tony kicked Clint in the shins.“Don’t you fat shame Pikachu. He’s cute.”“Really?” Darcy asked.“You have a better name for your cat?”“Brat.”“You can’t name your cat Brat, that’s mean.” Clint protested.“If Capsicle dad gets to be called punk I can name my cat Brat.”Steve grinned.“We’re going to name our pup Furball.”“I don’t agree with that name.” Bucky protested.“We can’t call him what you wanted to; it would be embarrassing to call in public.”Bucky grinned pleased with his earlier suggestion because he wanted to see Steve’s reaction.“Ok I’ll compromise, Commander Furball. It sounds badass like us.”“No it doesn’t.” the rest of them answered.“Whatever losers, it’s his name.”“I’m calling my adorable little pizza lover Lucky because he got me to adopt him. We’ll be best bros.”“Whatever, Pikachu is the best out of all of them so suck it Hawkass.”Nick would call him much later complaining about how getting pets was a horrible idea. The genius’s comment had sparked a competition between them as they all took to sharing increasingly cheesy and cute pictures on social media to outdo the other.Steve and Bucky two men out of time had gotten on the media train if only to prove their pet’s spot as number one in the tower. They had videos of Commander Furball working out with them or cuddling on the couch watching the game. Clint had decided to show pictures and video of Lucky swimming next to him in the pool and Darcy had decided to outdo him as she swam in the pool with Brat perched on her head. Tony hadn’t willingly joined their competition, Pepper just really liked catching him with Pikachu. He’d taken a nap in the common room and Pikachu had decided his face was a wonderful bed. He’d been hunched over a table working with Bruce and the fat cat had decided his back was the perfect place to curl up. There was video of him carrying the lazy cat while trying to make himself lunch that Rhodey had shared finding it hilarious. Tony won the competition without even trying. Nick still thought it was a terrible idea and had reminded them that they broke twitter and facebook on several different occasions because while the world could handle superheroes it couldn’t handle animal loving superheroes.When Thor and Loki returned both looked exhausted. Thor’s face lit up though when he saw Tony and the massive cat he was holding.“Who is this delightful creature my love?” Thor asked picking up the cat that yowled in protest but quickly realized he liked Thor and settled in the god’s arm.“Pikachu, he’s fat and fluffy.” He leaned up to kiss Thor.“He is adorable, much like you beloved.”Loki on the other hand wasn’t as fond of the cat that glared at him.“Who is this creature that dares call your attention away from me?”“Brat, she’s here to stay.” Darcy told him earning a scowl from the god.“If she attempts to steal you away from me, we shall have issues.”Brat took a swipe at him with her claws either earning the god’s respect or had given him enough reason to start plotting her murder. As Loki glared at her Thor walked over moving to pet Brat. The cat went crazy flipping out and tearing up Thor. Loki laughed and picked up the suddenly feral beast.“Never mind, she is acceptable.”Thor frowned confused as Brat lay calmly in Loki’s arms purring up a storm.“So how’s space?” Darcy asked grinning and looking far too pleased.“Space is fine. With Odin in his current state mother has taken the throne. She has been happier lately though a few of other realms had attempted to use the Allfather’s current state to cause trouble. They had not expected Asgard to be stronger with Odin off the throne. For now, mother can handle matters on her own but she knows to contact us should our aid be needed. She has requested you visit again. She gave us permission to extend an offer to your family and our shield brothers as well.”“We get to go on a trip to space?” Clint asked poking his head out of a vet where Tony was pretty sure he’d been camping out with Lucky, he could hear the sound of the dog wagging his tail happily up there.“You’re a weird dude.” He told the archer.“But you love me anyways.” Clint blew him a kiss.“As much as one would love a tumor.” Tony teased which Clint responded to by sticking his tongue out at him.“If you are all done proving that Midgard’s greatest defenders are overgrown children, I have catching up to do with my chosen consort.” Loki said picking up Darcy and throwing her over his shoulder and walking away.Tony turned to look at Thor.“Date night? We could go see a movie or dinner.”“Perhaps a walk through the park so we may bring Pikachu?” Thor offered as the cat in question rubbed against his face purring.“Sounds like a plan.”Tony had actually taken Pikachu out with him when he’d gotten coffee at a café already so he had a leash to ensure the cat didn’t bolt. He attached the leash to Pikachu’s collar and left with Thor. He had the cat perched on his shoulder still with the leash in his hand. They earned a few looks and Tony didn’t miss the people taking pictures of them not only for the sight of the fluffy cat but their hands interlinked. They hadn’t actually been public about their relationship and so far people had assumed the times they’d been out was for work or an outing as friends.“You know this is the first time you’ve given any hint of our relationship in public.” Tony pointed out as they walked.“I am aware you were not quite certain you wished to allow my courtship. I have been making certain I do not cross your boundaries.”Tony gave him a questioning look.“That why you haven’t jumped my bones yet? Not sure how Asgardian courtship goes but judging by Loki’s actions going slow might not be normal.”“My brother is not the norm for many things including courtship though neither I would think would Lady Darcy appreciate such a courtship. Though courtships are likely slow in comparison to Midgardian dating they do not usually last so long without intimacy.”Tony stopped walking to look at Thor confused by why he’d go to these lengths for him or why he’d suddenly decided to show their relationship now.“So what’s changed? Why hold my hand in public?”Thor was silent looking to be considering how to best answer the question.“You stood up to my father not just for your realm but to support the decision my brother and I made. I thought perhaps after such protectiveness towards us you were open to furthering our relationship.”Tony looked away embarrassed that Thor had heard about him defending him.“So moving on further in this is hand holding?”“It is whatever you wish love.” Thor said as they started walking together.Tony pouted slightly being left in charge of this. If anyone wanted to know if he was good at relationships, he’d like them to note that Thor had been leading this entire thing so far. He had no idea how to respond to any of this.“Your dad is an asshole.” He decided was the proper response.Thor laughed his hand tightening on Tony’s.“Indeed, I hope the consequences of his actions shall teach him some humility. Maybe in a century or so he can be freed of the paralysis you’ve brought upon him.”“A century?”“For a lifetime of unopposed arrogance? Yes, personally I believe that long enough.”He shrugged.“Sure, sounds good to me. Pretty sure I’ll live that long, haven’t been aging normally as it is.”Thor looked hesitant at the comment.“I had hoped when you were certain you’d accept me as your husband that you would accept a golden apple. To stay beside me for as long as I live.”Tony gave Thor a playful smirk.“That sounds a lot like a proposal big guy.”Thor’s expression was serious.“It is one if you wish it. I was not lying when I introduced you to my mother as my chosen consort.”His body stopped moving and Tony found himself frozen in place looking at Thor with wide eyes.“What?”“You beloved are all I want. Even if it takes me decades or centuries to prove it, I shall wait as long as needed.”Tony blushed hating that Thor could get such a reaction out of him.“Well, no need to wait that long. You suck at proposing by the way.” He looked away and started pulling Thor along with him. “But not so bad that I could refuse. It’s your stupidly pretty eyes, they won me over.”He didn’t get far before Thor pulled him close sealing their lips together in a breath-taking kiss.“Does that mean you’re saying yes my love?”Tony had to get his lungs to work again because he’s pretty sure Thor sucked all the oxygen from them.“Y-yeah, it’s a yes.”He’s pretty sure when Thor held him tighter his soul was squeezed out of his body for a moment. Pikachu meowed showing his annoyance as claws dug deep into Thor as he struggled not to be thrown from his perch. Thor petted the cat in apology which had the cat demanding all the god’s attention trying to leave none for Tony. The genius called the cat out on being a selfish traitor. The fat bastard just rubbed against Thor’s hand more.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
When they returned to the tower pressed against each other looking more lovey dovey than any couple should without giving everyone they came into contact with diabetes, the others were gathered and cheered. Clint threw confetti at them, Loki had magic explode in a shower of lights nearly blinding them, and Darcy had somehow convinced Bucky to hold the other end of a banner that read ‘We hope you make sweet tender love and lots of cute babies that we’ll spoil rotten’ it was slightly disturbing that any family member would talk about their own flesh and blood’s sex life.“I hate you all.” Tony declared as he burrowed further into Thor’s side letting the god shelter him from their embarrassing comments. He blamed Darcy who was likely responsible for this.“I see you finally proposed to him brother. Congratulations.” Loki told his brother a fond and knowing smile on his face, so Loki had been the one to know.“And he said yes. We must celebrate this joyous occasion.”“Great, let’s order in some food and get some drinks. My treat.” Bucky offered.“I’ll chip in to.” Natasha offered.“Well I’m not going to be the cheap parent.” Steve said his own way of agreeing to help pay for their celebration.“Me and dad will get beers. Mama spider and Capsicle dad can get food.”“I vote party games!” Clint cheered. “It’s the only real way to celebrate.”“Party games?” Tony asked not sure what Clint was talking about.The archer’s mischievous grin was enough to make him worried.An order of Thai food and trip to the liquor store later had them and their friends gathered to celebrate. Natasha had poured shots for them and Clint had explained the rules of never have I ever to the gods who had never played before. Warren and Happy had decided to sit this one out but Piotr, Pepper, Rhodey, and Logan were all sitting with them ready to play.“I’ll start, never have I ever refused a threesome.” Clint said grinning.Tony drank while Thor asked, “Do we drink if we have not been offered a threesome?”“No, seriously Stark? No way you’ve refused a threesome.”Tony snorted.“Just watch birdbrain, if this is the direction these questions are going, I might actually get drunk.”He squawked in surprise but before he could say anything Natasha was up.“Never have I ever ridden a horse.”Tony, Thor, Loki, Rhodey, and Logan drank.“When did you ride a horse?” Steve asked Tony and Rhodey.“Wasn’t something I’d done before and I bet Rhodey fifty dollars that I could learn faster. The idiot took the bet and came with me for riding lessons.”Natahsa gave Logan a look.“I’m over a hundred years old, you think I didn’t find an occasion to ride a horse?” She just nodded conceding the point.“Never have I ever slept with a criminal.” Bucky said which had Loki, Thor, Clint, Logan, and Pepper drinking their shot.“Woah, seriously?” Bucky asked looking at Pepper.“Crook businessman, didn’t know until after the fact.” She said not ashamed as she just shrugged.“And you guys?” Steve asked looking at the two gods.“You think assassins don’t think seducing their way into a prince’s bed is the best way to kill them?” Loki countered.Warren looked at Logan and Clint and dared to ask what their stories were.“Again, over a hundred years old.” Logan answered.“I was in the circus; it wouldn’t surprise you how many of the acts were criminals.”“Never have I ever remained a virgin all my life.” Steve said earning surprised looks from his teammates.“Wait you’re not a virgin? I swore you were. I’m calling bullshit right now.” Clint said but his and the others attention was quickly focused elsewhere as Tony took his shot.“No way…” Bruce said looking at his science bro.“How?” Jane asked from where she was sitting next to Darcy.“Don’t look so surprised. The media is full of bullshit.” Tony said eyeing the next person to take their turn.“Never have I ever been an assassin.” Logan said taking his turn.Tony, Darcy, Clint, and Natasha drank.“What about you Barnes?” Logan said eyeing the sniper.“Sniper, Yasha’s the assassin so technically I don’t need to drink.”Their game continued until enough of them were good and drunk. Only then did Darcy cheer loudly they should switch to truth and dare. A horrible choice in Tony’s opinion when you had a trickster god and Clint in the same room. It didn’t deter the group and they ended up gathered together with everyone willing to join in.“Oh god this is going to be worse than college isn’t it?” Rhodey asked thinking of the dares he and Tony had suffered in their earlier years.“I get to go first.” Tony said before anyone else could dare to claim the honor. “Loki, truth or dare?”The trickster grinned a mischievous look in his eyes.“Do your worst Anthony, I shall take dare.”The genius grinned.“I dare you to give Thor a lap dance.”Thor sighed closing his eyes while both Loki and Darcy grinned excitedly.“Oh Norns not again.”“Again?” Several people asked shocked while Loki stood looking more than happy to complete the dare.“I am a trickster, there is not much in this world I am ashamed to do.”Loki snapped his fingers causing the appropriate music to start and shifted into a sexy dressed woman in heels that put even Pepper’s to shame. It was a shock he/she could move so easily in them. Everyone watched shocked as Loki gave Thor a lap dance that would make even the most talented of exotic dancers envious. Thor just let it happen looking like this wasn’t even the weirdest thing his brother had done.“Why? Why is this a thing that is happening?” Steve asked when Loki had finished his dance and was shifting uncomfortably likely not unaffected by the impressive show.“I slept with a horse; this is not the most ridiculous thing I’ve done.”“Oh shit that’s true?” Clint asked. “What about the others?”“Yes the tale of my eldest son is true. Your stories however did not get all details correct. None remember that Thor is the father to my daughter Hela.”“Incest, kinky.” Darcy said unbothered by the reveal.“Why?” Natasha asked unable to hide her own surprise at that admission.“I was drunk and had been considering pranking him for some time. It just so happened that resulted in my seducing him while disguised. Why else would any child of mine be given a throne by Odin?”“Hela is a fair queen.” Thor said earning a smile from his brother.“I suppose it is my turn now.” Loki said eyeing Warren. “Truth or dare Angel?”“I’m going with truth; I don’t trust doing a dare with any of you guys.”Loki didn’t look offended and others were nodding in understanding.“Very well, when do you think the last time I was trolling you or our dear friends was?”Warren stared at him confused a moment before he thought back to three days ago when the trickster had made them all believe he’d been eavesdropping on them by disguising himself as a lamp.“Three days ago.”Loki smirked looking like the cat that got the cream.“I get the feeling it’s been more recently.” Pepper said eyeing the trickster.“Indeed, though the fact you all believe I’ve slept with Thor does say something about how you all think.”“Bullshit, Thor can’t lie like you can.” Bucky said looking at Thor who was grinning.“I grew up with The trickster, you pick up quite a few tricks after a while.”Everyone was staring open mouthed and shocked at Thor working so easily with Loki to trick them.“I want you to know you managing to lie to all of us is really really hot.”Thor grinned and kissed Tony on the lips.“I shall do well to remember that beloved.”Warren sighed shaking his head.“I know I’ll likely regret this but Logan, truth or dare?”Logan shrugged.“Dare, bring it wings.”Warren hadn’t been expecting that answered so he had to think a moment.“I dare you to make out with Steve for two minutes.”“Done.” Logan said standing and pulling a confused Captain America close and sealed their lips together.Bucky looked surprised and when the two minutes was up Steve was left gasping confused with an even more confused boner.“Didn’t think you were gay Rogers.” Natasha said seeing the evidence that the captain had been affected.“I…I’m not? I’m both confused and turned on.”Logan shrugged.“Don’t be surprised, I have that effect on people. Truth or dare spider?”“Truth.”“Who are you in a relationship with?”Natasha looked like she’d sucked on a lemon. She eyed her drink thinking she’d rather take a shot than answer.“Fury.”Tony pumped the air.“Knew it, pay up bitches.”Loki, Bucky, Pepper, Piotr, and Steve handed over money. Natasha just gave them a look while Clint gave her thumbs up.“But did you guess the exact nature of our relationship?” Natasha decided to countered.“Wait what?” Came Clint’s answer to that challenge.“Married for 2 years.”Tony cursed.“Shit.” He handed over the money he’d just gathered to Bruce.“I don’t bet often but when I do, I win.” Bruce said counting the money.“Damn, didn’t see that coming.” Clint said looking impressed.“Bruce, truth or dare.”“Truth, I’m not risking what might happen if you dare me anything.”“So if you know of anything the other guy feels other than rage what is it?” Natasha asked calm as a cucumber but a few others looked intrigued.“Well he likes Tony. At least enough to think about smashing Thor if he hurts him. Pretty sure he’s got a crush on Steve; said he has pretty eyes and nice muscles.”Steve’s eyes widened as his mouth hung open in shock.“Are you trolling me?”Bruce smirked.“No, we both agree you have nice muscles.”“But not the pretty eyes? You know we share eye color, right?” Tony said in a teasing tone.“Yes Tony you have stupidly pretty eyes to, but we like Steve’s muscles so shush. Just let us have our crush on our probably only straight friend.”“Hey I’m a straight friend.” Clint argued.“Don’t you lie to us Legolas. Fifty bucks says you’re banging Agent Agent.”“Pay up, we’re not banging. Don’t have a crush on him either.”“I’m calling all the bullshit.”“They’re not dating nor do they like each other that way. Believe me, I thought the same before and had enough proof they weren’t. He’s actually really picky in what he looks for in a girlfriend so you know, he’s been single for years.”“Rude, I just know what I like.” Clint stuck his tongue out at her.“I feel like I should ask this before I forget but has Loki seriously given you a lap dance before tonight?” Happy spoke up bringing up the earlier dare likely having just now decided was the right time to ask Thor.“Ah yes, it was a dare from my friends years ago when we were visiting the realm of the elves. We had just witnessed a dance very similar to your Midgardian lap dance. Fandral was quite certain Loki could not do such a dance nor do it so enthusiastically should he have to for someone he typically would not preform that for. Not to be called out on being a coward Loki accepted and the dare was to do it for me. I do not believe I have ever before that day wished to kill my friend.”“Other than the awkward and weirdly attractive lap dance between brothers, truth or dare Piotr.”The Russian born mutant looked considerate a moment.“I shall choose dare.”“You’re going to regret that, Bruce may look cute and cuddly but he’s secretly a mad scientist like me.” Tony warned his friend.“He’s right by the way. So I dare you to text Wade Wilson that you want to go on a date with him.”Piotr looked shocked and took his shot instead of the dare.“Damn, I was hoping to see that happen. Like a train wreck, just wouldn’t be able to look away.”“Perhaps if we get him drunk enough, we can convince him to later.” Loki offered.“Let’s do it.” Bucky cheered earning a shake of the head from Piotr.“I could think of more torturous activities than wanting to date Wade that I’d rather do.” Piotr said sealing his fate as Tony had recorded his words and cut together a clip of just him saying the part ‘wanting to date Wade’ and sent it to the mercenary.“And like that, I’ve gotten payback for trying to give me decaf coffee.”Loki and Darcy burst out laughing and Piotr was already shutting off his phone knowing what was coming. Wade’s face and name showed up on the calling ID just as he picked up his phone.“This isn’t over.” Piotr said pointing at Tony as he got up to leave.“I know, it’s just begun and I welcome the challenge.” Tony called eager to find out what the mutant would do to get back at him.“I’m pretty sure enough of us are either drunk or planning chaos. We should probably call it a night.”“No, we’re having fun.” Tony pouted.Pikachu yowled in agreement before plopping down on Thor’s feet and rolling around looking like an adorable fluff ball wanting attention.