fossilised | Jotunheimr

Suddenly, a meeting with intergalactic visitors about a source of technological or magical power didn’t make a lick of difference anymore. He couldn’t stop staring at Steve for what felt like an eternity, but was really just a few seconds.

“Is this some sort of attempt to one up me, Coulson? Because aliens trump formerly frozen super soldiers.” Hr took a seat on the far side of the table instead of the head (where he liked to be) because it was the furthest away from Rogers he could get.

They should have told him.

Someone should have told him. JARVIS had fallen down on the job. He should have been more focused on spying... there were so many things he wanted to say right now to Coulson, but none would be polite.

Fury, of course, made a dramatic entry. He sat where Tony normally would have and took read of the room. Throwing Stark off with Rogers had worked pretty well. “So what’s this I hear about having some sort of magic bullshit in the basement?”

Wow. Well, that was as close to a snub outright as was possible, and Steve couldn't help but wonder what it was he had done that had offended someone that he had never even met. He kept it to himself, though, he wasn't here to get involved in interpersonal relationships, just to observe what was going on in the world now.

Loki wrinkled his nose at the terms the one-eyed leader used, but he took the spotlight here because he was the fyri. None of the others could sense what he could sense, and being in the building was like having it vibrating beneath his feet.

"You possess an artefact of great seidr, something more powerful than any one person could wield safely. I can feel it below us, dormant but fighting to break free. We have come as a delegation of the All-Father of Asgard to make sure such a powerful source of seidr does not provide a threat."

“What sort of threat are you thinking?” Fury asked, mostly trying to gauge the situation. The entire base was on high alert because no one knew anything about these people save for some quickly tapped scholars of mythology who had been working feverishly with the group trying to decipher the tesseract and the ones who handled all of the evidence of alien existence on this planet in the distant past. It had been bad enough when there were only a few dozen covered up leftovers of some massive war fought here during the time period they all now called the Dark Ages. It was another to be presented with living proof that the people that stomped all over Scandinavia still existed.

Tony did his best to pay attention here but his eyes and his attention were still focused on Rogers. It wasn’t fair, he knew that. He knew that the guy wasn’t at fault for anything and some part of him was amused that his father’s little pet project had finally been uncovered well after he was gone, but Tony was a child of a man and he didn’t care how fair it was.

Steve Rogers was a personal enemy and the guy he could never match up to. It pissed him off.

“Do you think we’re the threat for having it or are you worried that we’ll hurt ourselves? No offense, but we aren’t idiots. We’ve managed without you for awhile now.”

"It is not that we think either of these things, only that such artefacts are dangerous in and of themselves. Midgard is not a realm of power in seidr, and that is no fault of your own, without those trained in such things it would be easy to accidentally cause danger."

There, that was more peaceful and diplomatic than agreeing that they were like children playing with an open flame.

"We wish only to see the artefact so that we may provide information for the All-Father, we do not wish to steal what may belong to Midgard by right."

A lot of this was going over Steve's head. Seidr - what in the heck was that? - and all this talk of other realms and archaic speech. Instead, his eyes were drawn by Stark and the way that the other man seemed to be staring at him in open hostility. In the end, he couldn't help but speak up.

"Is something wrong, Mr. Stark?"

“Big lunch,” Tony smoldered. He cleared his throat and readjusted his seat and leaned back with his fingers laced over his abdomen. Not his proudest moment, but he had not intention of engaging Steve Rogers in conversation. Hr was just so annoyed by his presence.

He had no reason being here.

Fury glanced over at Stark and then at Rogers. Maybe he’d underestimated the way Tony would react after all. It had been amusing but now it would just be distracting.

“All right. I know what you’re talking about,” Fury said, returning to Loki. “The device turned on briefly but is back in its dormant state. If you’d like to take a look, we’d welcome it. But we’re the kind of people that like to make our own decisions. And mistakes.”

No one was leaving here with the tesseract.

"Then we have an agreement, because all we have come to do is observe."

Although that might change very abruptly when they reported back to Odin what it was they had found. Loki almost felt sorry for Midgard; Thor might be cut from a different cloth, but he did not trust Odin Spearshaker not to pillage anything of worth for his own gain just as he had done in the past.

"Lead us to where it is."

Steve stood up at the same time that Loki did, though he hung back a bit to try and speak to Tony because he wasn't buying indigestion as an excuse for anything. Nobody glared like that unless they had a personal problem.

"We're on the same team here, Mr. Stark, whatever your problem with me is, I suggest you either tell me so that we can work it out, or learn to keep a better lid on it."

This was exactly what Tony did not want to happen. If there was any way to shoot people down dead with your eyes—. He needed to come up with a way to shoot people down dead with your eyes. This was just awful otherwise. He exhaled slowly and pursed his lips together before he glanced up at Rogers.

“First, we aren’t on a team. I’m here because of them. When they go home, I go home. Army of One.” That was the slogan now right? Tony didn’t keep up on the military now that he was pretty much out of helping fuel the arms race. “Second, I don’t know you enough to have a problem with you. Except for those shirts. Don’t they come any bigger?”

Seriously, SHIELD. Those were ridiculously tight.

Steve frowned and folded his arms over his chest, which just served to bulge his biceps further and make the material stretch over his arms. He was still sometimes a little self conscious about his body, that scrawny guy still inside him wondering when all of this might go away.

"Fine. Then let me introduce myself properly and maybe we can get off on the right foot, okay? I'm Steve, Steve Rogers."

He unfurled his arms to hold one hand out towards Tony with an open and honest expression on his face.

"I knew your Dad once upon a time, so you'll have to forgive me if it takes a while to get used to Howard having had a son."

“I’m sure he has a bunch of children running around out there,” Tony said, which was totally inappropriate and maybe just a little more harsh than what he was going for. Not that it wasn’t true. Howard probably paid off the mother’s of his half siblings, of that Tony was relatively certain. There were a moment of self doubt there which, as most people would agree, was a rare thing to see on his face.

For that reason alone he decided not to be such a baby about shaking hands and carefully, quickly, gave Steve’s much larger paw a good shake before both hands went back into his pockets.

“You can call me Tony. But I’m still not interested in wrapping myself up in a flag and being your sidekick.”

What was wrong with this guy? Why was he being so antagonistic as if Steve had mortally offended him somehow? He smiled, a tight smile that wasn't particularly friendly or amused.

"Lucky for us both that I'm not planning on asking you to do that, isn't it?"

He turned and followed where the others had gone, deciding to put Stark's son and his bad attitude out of his head. He caught up just as Fury was showing the aliens to where the Tesseract was.

As soon as Loki saw it, he went pale and took a half step back, muttering something in a voice that sounded oddly like snow falling on a hillside. He turned wild green eyes to Thor and changed to Aesir, though his voice still shook.

"The Tesseract."

He, at least, had studied the infinity stones as a child of magic. He assumed that surely Odin's get would know them as well.

“Loki...” Thor was on hand to put an arm around Loki briefly so that he could not back up further into the humans gathered around. The fyri looked pale, as pale as a blue skinned person could, like his colour had shifted almost to gray. He glanced over his shoulder at the others, all of whom looked at least partially concerned and followed up with a “I know that name. I do not quite know where I have heard it.”

At least he was honest about it.

He’d never heard of Thanos. He’d never heard of the Infinity Stones. But he did know about the gauntlet. He’d once tried to touch it when he was little but his father had stopped him.

He had no idea why but he might put the two together if Loki told him the name. For now, he was more worried about the implications.

“Does it pose a danger?”

Loki was genuinely and truly shaken. He had felt the call of the Tesseract and not even known that's what it was, and to heed it would have heralded disaster for them all. He wanted both to leave as fast as he could, and to remain to make sure that nobody did anything foolish.

He remained in the Aesir tongue. Even if it was rude to the mortals, it was important that he give this information to Thor first, too shaken to even reprimand him for knowing so little.

"Thanos, the Destroyer, this is his creation and something he seeks. It is far beyond the power of the Casket of Ancient Winters, and it does not belong on Midgard. It does not power their realm, it only endangers it, for if Thanos discovers where it is then he will destroy this whole planet to recover it."

Thor looked again at those gathered and leaned in to have a more private conversation with Loki, though he doubted anyone spoke their language. It was still important to keep this in whispers, despite his genuine inability to do anything quietly. He was still confused, but he kept that out of his mind. Trust that Loki knew what he was talking about was the only thing he genuinely needed right now anyway.

“If it is a danger wherever it is, what do you think we should do about it right now?” They couldn’t just hurdle it into a star or through the void, as much as that mught amuse him to see. If this device became powered up again, it would cause quite the trouble for them all. “If it is a beacon to call this Destroyer, this Realm is already in danger—” Thor looked again at Fury and the son of Coul, momentarily forgetting to use All-Speak when addressing them. “How long was this left powered?”

Coulson didn’t answer, and for a moment, neither did Fury. He clasped his hands behind his back. “A few days. Are you about to tell me that the tesseract is dangerous?”

“In and of itself, no,” Thor said, which had Fury nodding before he added: “But there is a being to whom this belongs. Loki, is the flash of a few days enough to alert the Destroyer?”

No one liked that particular moniker. “Destroyer?” Tony asked. He had to. Everyone else was too grim and tight lipped. “Yeah, might just be me but I doubt it’s like a cute nickname you give to a tiny dog.”

Loki allowed himself to switch back to All-Speak as well so that he could converse properly with the mortals, concern furrowing his brow. Gone was the almost teasing threats and confident language, it was obvious that he was in earnest about the danger here and not simply trying to steal something of power.

"I do not think so, but I know little of what the Destroyer may be capable of. It would be wise to set this in Odin's vaults under high guard at all times, and Midgard may need to be protected for some years in case it did alert him and he is coming."

Instinct had ice forming around his hands, weapons to protect himself. The temperature of the whole room began to drop rapidly.

"Whatever benefit you think you may gain from this power, it will never outweigh the risk it presents."

"I agree," that was Steve. "I never liked this thing when the Red Skull had it, and I sure as heck don't like it now."

“You’ve got to understand that we don’t know you. Your word isn’t much good,” Fury said, not unkindly, but because it was the truth in this case. “That think has a long history. It’s been on and off for centuries.” That wasn’t quite true, but for all he knew, it did flicker on and off at times.

The words made Thor shake his head. “All the more reason to secure it. It takes time and energy to travel vast distances through the void, but if it has been flickering for centuries, Thanos may be well on his way here.”

“We can take care of ourselves.”

“I do not doubt this, but for all the wonders Midgard holds, your technology is still slight. You have focused on comfort and convenience. Your might and mettle are untested against a being that startles those of great warrior Realms like Jotunheim. Asgard will extend the protection it can, but the safest measure is to remove this from your Realm completely.”

Fury shook his head. “It’s not my call. I’ll have to talk to some people. Will you be staying with Stark?”

Tony sighed. “There’s probably no where left to stay. You haven’t met their friends.”

Loki only realised that he had been letting himself lower the temperature of the room when he saw the breath of Tony's sigh puff out in front of him in a visible cloud of condensation, but he could not bring himself to temper it. The cold was a comfort, a barrier against the Tesseract.

A few days or weeks would not make much difference, and so he reluctantly nodded and moved to stand behind Thor, only to start in surprise as the blond mortal who hadn't said much - Steve Rogers - took hold of the Tesseract all of a sudden and tossed it towards Thor.

"Take it," he said, voice firm. "I knew it years ago and it caused only trouble then too, I want it off my world."

They might be surprised, people had this stupid notion that Captain America was always obedient, forgetting that he got that title because of insubordination and running behind enemy lines. He always did what was right, that was him, even if it was against orders or even, sometimes, the law.

Thor had just been ready to prompt Loki about the frost when Loki managed to reign it in himself. He didn’t feel the need to be patronizing and most of the mortals seemed distinctly unaware of how much danger they were in. Loki’s colour evened out and he was busy looking at the other when he felt the change in air around him. Thor lifted a hand to catch what was thrown in his direction and, ignoring the protests of both the son of Coul and Fury (how odd these mortals named themselves) and lifted the cube towards his face.

He could feel the power immediately, feel it tug at him, and he blinked away whatever sudden temptation he had to bust the tesseract from it’s containment cube.

“I know this,” Thor said, grip alone not enough to even dent the container. “I have heard of this in tales told when I was much younger. Soul gems, my teacher called them. Six, total. Space, mind, soul, reality, time and power-- Is that correct? I remember this from my father’s vault, too. Space. The space gem.”

Oh this wasn’t good.

Tony cleared his throat, mostly because he didn’t understand the suddenly esoteric Thor, and came to stand by Rogers. “I hate to agree, but maybe we shouldn’t take our chances.” Even if he really wanted to take a look at that thing. Badly.

Finally Thor seemed to understand the danger.

It was probably wise that the mortal had passed the cube to Thor, even though Loki was the one who could properly wield seidr, it would be in less danger there. Even though he had no intention of using it, it would whisper in his mind and he did not know if he had the strength to resist it.

"Rogers! What the hell do you think you're doing? You don't have the authority to--"

"Begging your pardon, sir, but I'm not actually under your command. Whatever authority I have is mine. I'm doing what I think is best."

"There are other factors here."

"The only factor I care about is the safety of my home."

Tony liked the bad boy attitude. He could respect that. Rogers wasn’t as bright and shiny and wholesome as his dad always made it sound in his anecdotes. What Would Steve Rogers Do? Evidently, it was hand over a questionable artifact to a questionable set of people without checking with the people that owned said artifact. It tickled Tony immensely, and he couldn’t help but smirk and give Rogers a nod.

“It would be best to remove this from Midgard now,” Thor said, ignoring the sudden in fighting. “But we would all like to return. Asgard has many things to offer Midgard should your Realm decide it is ready to join the Realm Eternal.”

To Tony, that sounded a little bit like a boxed response or a feeler. Joining some galactic community though? He wasn’t challenged on earth anymore. How awesome would it be to see what was beyond Earth?

He leaned a little towards Rogers. “What are you doing tonight? Want to go out for pizza?”

Steve had no idea what to make of Howard's son. First the man was actively glaring at him and talking to him as if he were his worst enemy, and now he was inviting him out to pizza with him? He glanced sidelong at the other man, but his sense of manners kicked in and so he shrugged and nodded with a quiet 'sure'.

Loki stood at Thor's shoulder, providing a unified front that perhaps Thor might remember in time to come, knowing that he and Loki had worked well as a partnership and that should be extended into other realms.

"This should be returned to the All-Father, all negotiations and treaties on the position of Midgard can continue when that is safely assured."

“I agree,” Thor said, though it pained him to have to take this artefact when he had all but promised not to. Loki had been correct, however. Sometimes one needed to complete a task that one hadn’t intended to simply because it was the right thing.

This was by far the right thing to do.

Despite the cold of Loki’s skin, which bled through his clothing, Thor set a hand on his shoulder. “We must return to our friends and seek Heimdall’s assistance back to Asgard. The moment we have information for you, we shall return to Stark’s Tower.”

No one would have the chance to challenge him if Loki was fast enough. Either way, Thor had nothing else to say.

When the room was cleared of alien life, Tony headed for the door. “Gotta go check on my house. Might have been kicked over. Coming, Rogers?”

He had a feeling his dad’s old obsession would. What was left for him here after giving away some homing beacon for a big intergalactic baddy?

Stark had little to do now but consolidate his data and wait for Loki to return. His sights were solely set on the stars.

Steve looked briefly over at Fury, but he fell into step beside Tony almost right away. As Coulson watched them leave, he looked almost orgasmic in his happiness; sure, he could have done without his hero leaving with Stark, but he just got to witness Captain America being the hero that Coulson always thought he was. Doing the right thing to protect, even when the right thing wasn't popular... god, today was a brilliant day.

Once they were out of the building and in the fresh night air, Steve sighed and set his hands on his hips looking pensive.

"I guess that could've gone better." Sometimes he should really think through what he did before he did it. "Aliens and magic, it's like some kind of really bad dime novel."

“Only worse,” Tony said as he waited for Happy to pull the car around. It was much less of a mess with only Thor and Loki to ride in it with him on the way here but he was pretty sure that none of his things would ever be the same again. “The blue one changes gender. And shape. And... how up are you on Disney Princesses?” He’d imagine that the answer was ‘very’ considering how perfectly Rogers parted his hair.

He would have loved to see him with some scruff and better fitting clothes. The guy standing beside him (and towering over him) was pretty much a Ken Doll. It was unnerving.

The car pulled up to the curb and Happy hustled around to get the door for him— And then guppy mouth at Rogers. “I... Hello, Sir. Captain. Sir—“

“Cut it out. We’re going to the pizza place in Brooklyn. Happy. I said stop. Seriously. Get in the car and drive. How is this weirder than aliens?”

Steve smiled warmly at the stranger and offered his hand out, shaking Happy's hand as the man continued to stare at him as though he were some kind of god walking among men and Tony was white noise in the background.

"Pleasure to meet you, sir. I appreciate the ride."

He slipped into the back of the car and grinned at Tony, a small lift to one corner of his mouth that suggested how bewildering he also found it when people treated him like he was some sort of celebrity.

"I think Mr. Stark was going to take me for some pizza."

“It’s really just Tony.” He didn’t even make the people he did business with, or employ, call him Mr. Stark. He didn’t like the formality, which he understood was weird considering the amount of money and power he wielded. As he climbed into the car, still not his style but necessary for transporting Asgardians, he noted the marks, the torn consoles, the seats… And with a sigh, he just sat next to Rogers on the back bench. His feet crossed at the ankles, knees apart, and as Happy shut the door, he wondered just what he was doing and why he had yet to call Pepper. She would probably have been delighted to meet Steve Rogers.

Just like everyone else.

Which was why he was not calling her.

“So what happened? Cliff Notes version. You went down. Dad never found you. You woke up. I get that. How long ago? And what have you been doing? Living underground? Lab rat?”

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