Cover art by AngelicInsanity
Chapter Sixteen
“So, you’re a god,” Stark observed once Tony had finished.
“Really? That’s what you got out of everything I said?” Ultimately, he’d decided to tell Stark everything except the part about Tony having lived a life as an Asgardian before. He kind of considered them partners in crime, and with them both being agents of fate, as it were, they were in the same sort of boat. The news about his former life with Thor, however, should be told to Thor first, if it was told to anyone at all.
Stark shrugged. “There’s not much I can do about the rest except do what we already planned to do. But if you’re a god, I need to know these things. Like what type of god and do you require fealty and regular tribute?”
“You are,” he pointed at Stark, shaking his finger, “so much like me it’s unnerving.”
“I know, right?” Stark offered him his fist, and Tony bumped it. “How much did you tell Point Break.”
“A lot, though not all of the stuff about me.” He hadn’t mentioned the past lives bit. He wasn’t ready for that yet, and Morrigan was pretty clear that, for now, him knowing created balance between them, though he wasn’t completely sold on that idea of balance. “I was going to leave off most of the details about Asgard.”
Stark cocked his head. “How come? That’s the part that most concerns him.”
“Yeah, I know, but my plan went out the window when I asked about his sister, which apparently he didn’t even know about. Odin whitewashed her right out of Asgardian history.”
“Wow. That’s fucked up. We might have to create a club just for our daddy issues.”
Tony snorted. “The thing is? There are Asgardians alive who existed when Hela was apparently around—Heimdall, Tyr. Thor mentioned several others that I didn’t immediately recognize the names of. So are they all in on it? Or is Odin suppressing the memory of Hela with some sort of mind control magic?”
Stark’s expression shifted to be filled with distaste.
“That’s pretty close to how Thor looked too. Until he lost his temper about the whole thing.”
“Ugh. Do I need to call in a repair crew?”
“Nah. I distracted him with sex until he calmed down. I mean, we broke a couch, but Jarvis already ordered another one. Sorry about that.”
Stark waved the issue away. “As long as the walls are intact, I don’t care. So what’d our weather bug think about the family drama? Did he doubt you?”
“No. That Destiny spoke with me directly and that I was summoned by Yggdrasil seemed to be all he needed. I kind of think he’s had some issues about his father for a long time that he didn’t really want to deal with.”
“Nothing like having all the things you’ve been not dealing with slap you in the face.”
“Precisely. So, he’s out over the Great Lakes right now making it rain while he works out his frustration. Very icy rain.”
“But now you’re implicitly involved in the Asgardian telenovela.”
Tony dropped his head onto the table. “Can you believe I’m going to have to go tripping around Asgard someday trying to fix shit? Oh my god. I can’t believe I even said that. The surreal aspects of all this really hit me sometimes.”
“Surreal is one word for it because what I know for certain is that I can’t figure out what thing is made out of it.” He gestured to the black band around Tony’s wrist. “All the tests and scans I could do while it’s attached to you are inconclusive. And I assume you don’t want to try cutting it off?”
Tony curled his hand around his wrist as if that would protect the band. “No…? She said the hair things were her aspects. Or cloned aspects. I don’t really understand either of those. But it seems…wrong to cut someone’s aspect.”
Stark shook his head as if he were dazed. “Okay, the surreal just hit me too.” He took a deep breath. “And if she’s talked to me, how come I don’t have one of those?” Before the words were even completely out of Stark’s mouth, a long black filament appeared and began wrapping around his wrist. Stark jerked back, but it just kept winding around his arm. There was a little flash of blue light then the band was sealed.
“Oh.” Stark bent over, bracing his hands on his knees. “I remember. I remember talking to her for hours while they—” he swallowed heavily as he stood back up. “I didn’t want to remember because I knew I’d think I’d gone crazy, but she told me I’d get through it, and that the hope, the promise of that, could help me succeed if I’d let it.”
Tony let that be for a few seconds, giving Stark some space. “You okay?”
“Yeah…yeah, I’m good. I just need to process.” He took several breaths. “Okay, back to the god thing. What kind of god are you?”
“I’m not a god.”
“It sure sounds like you are. Yggy said you are.”
“We didn’t really discuss that a lot. We talked for hours, and she confirmed I was the kind of Asgardian who was gifted, but their ‘god’ positions come with titles and responsibilities. One of the damn Norns has to visit and anoint you or some such. I’m Tony DiNozzo, responsible for shit here on Earth. Not for Thunder and Lightning or the Sun and Moon on another planet.”
Stark nodded, looking severe. “Would an altar in your quarters be too much? Or should I build you a temple?”
“Tony!”
Stark grinned, utterly unrepentant. Tony figured the guy needed some space to deal with everything.
He spun around on the stool and headed for the door. “I’ll leave you to your architectural shenanigans. Clearly getting laid does terrible things for your personality.”
“Hey! I didn’t tell you that.”
Tony spun around and started walking backwards. “My real superpower is my powers of observation. Feel free to have T-shirts made.”
“Ass!”
– – – –
Tony was reading reports and recommendations as fast as he could while replying to several ongoing email chains. The decision was about to come down about SHIELD and the Avengers. He’d thought turning in his report would be the end of it for him, but several of the powers that be wanted to keep Tony in the loop.
Thor had come back last night after burning off most of his frustration by trying to singlehandedly electrify the Great Lakes. He’d burned off the rest by fucking Tony into the mattress. And wall. There was a rugburn-worthy session on the floor. Thor was moody today, but more frustrated and resigned than truly angry. He was down sparring with Steve, trying to keep his mind off the troubles with his family.
It was probably good that Thor had time on Earth to sort out his angst before going back to Asgard. Tony hadn’t even considered the possibility of going to Asgard, but after his visit with Morrigan, the thought wouldn’t leave his mind.
He shook off his reverie and sent back some paperwork for Homeland related to his resignation. He’d somewhat reluctantly agreed to join the Avengers Initiative provided he does not have ethical issues with how it was run or who was running it. Everyone was staying hands-off for now because they were trying to keep everything off Fury’s radar. But Tony had the green light to work with Stark on contacting the UN. Which he’d done, and they already had a meeting set up for next week to explain everything.
Another report landed in his inbox; he opened it and then immediately sighed and banged his head off the table. SHIELD would not stop trying to hack Homeland, and they’d upped their attempts in the last twenty-four hours. Hard hits on the HR records had been captured. He wanted to take Fury out and strangle him.
Also, he was fucking starving. He couldn’t seem to eat enough the last couple of days since his astral sojourn to wherever the fuck he’d been. Apparently, astral projection made you hungry. Who knew? He was trying to decide between replying to a few more emails or seeing if Jarvis could order him an entire cow.
The elevator doors opened, and Stark came out, looking more than a little frazzled. “I need you.”
“What?”
Stark grabbed his arm and started pulling. “No time to dilly dally. Who knows what might happen.” He was practically shoved in the elevator. “Forty-two, J.”
“Certainly, Sir.”
Stark faced him. “First off, Fury told Agent we have to surrender Barnes.”
“Was it Romanoff or Barton who spilled the beans?”
“Agent suspects Natashalie. He’s furious because he’s been making plans to give her a safe place to land, but he told her not to discuss any of the stuff happening here with Fury.”
“Why after all this time?”
“Guess she chose a side. Thinks Fury can protect her better than Coulson can.”
Tony scoffed. “And Barton?”
“Supposedly he’s on administrative leave for refusing to follow orders about something. Agent said he’d gone off-grid, but he knows how to find him once everything blows over. Jarvis, hold the elevator.” The elevator slid to a smooth stop. “Fury claims to have a court order for custody of Barnes. He’s going to show up here tomorrow loaded for bear and demand we turn him over. Says he’s watching the building and if any of us attempt to leave by jet, we’ll be followed and escorted to a SHIELD facility.”
“He doesn’t have a court order. Or if he does, he didn’t obtain it legally. And I have paperwork upstairs that gives you legal conservatorship.”
“Wait. What?!” Stark stared at him wide-eyed.
“I mean you have to sign it but, yeah. I figured you’re the most stable in this situation in many ways.”
“Ugh. I feel like I just grew up.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay, that’s a good plan. But if Fury shows up with a bunch of armed goons, demanding we turn him over, then what? I can’t have a shootout in the lobby. Pep would kill me.”
“We’ll just have to have armed goons with more authority. I’m thinking the Secretary of the Army or the Army Chief of Staff might have something to say about Fury’s plans.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Barnes is basically a POW who needs extensive trauma therapy and rehabilitation. They’re fine with Barnes being in our collective care because we have resources to help him that they don’t and/or can’t afford. But they’re not going to take Fury coming in and trying to take one of theirs very well.”
“What have you been up to?”
“Plotting. Seriously epic amounts of plotting.”
“I really need to be in on more of the plotting because I miss all the good stuff.”
Tony pointed at him. “You have a day job, and I’ve been trying to spare you the unbelievable amounts of yapping all this has taken.”
Stark made a face, looking disgusted. “But they’ll help?”
“Yeah. I don’t know if they’ll send actual soldiers, but it’ll be someone with more authority than Fury and whoever he’s bringing to the table.”
“Okay, so that gives me something to tell Steve when I go to break the news to them. Because I didn’t want to deal with any overreactions there.”
“Maybe tell him we’ve got a plan first, and then tell him what the plan is for.”
“Right.”
“Why are we going to forty-two if you need to talk to the super duo?”
Stark sighed. “You can take us down there now, J.” The elevator started again. “Something came up, and I thought it’d be maybe a nice surprise or something, but there are issues, lots of talking, and I got dizzy.”
“You’re babbling.” The elevator doors opened, and Stark shoved him out.
“Tony!” Then he had his arms full of Penelope. “I have been frantic.”
He grinned and hugged her. “I’ve been planting my crops.”
“No, I had to watch you get kidnapped and, when you resurface, you have to go into hiding. Then all we get is the ‘guardedly okay’ code for days on end until you tell me to quit my job!” She pulled back and flashed a grin at Stark. “And the Iron Hotness has been filling me in on your plan. It’s gonna be great. I have so many ideas. But!” She held his upper arms, looking serious. “I showed up here, ostensibly to sign some employment contracts because I gave my notice you know, but while we were talking, I got an alert that Mason is missing.”
Tony was no longer amused. “When did it happen?”
“I don’t know. Morrow agreed we had to shut down the monitoring on you guys because the only way anyone was able to find out about those feeds is because they were still active. I shut them down and we purged everything. But that was before SHIELD ever hacked us. Mason was a no-show at work two days ago. We started looking immediately, but we think he may have disappeared after getting gas on his way home from work three days ago.”
“Who is Mason?” Stark asked. “She said there was an urgent issue, but this is the first I’ve heard any real details.”
“Supervisory Special Agent Keith Mason was the other person who had an agent as their cover. And it makes me think SHIELD is behind this.”
“Why would they take him?” Stark asked.
“Fury needs to compromise the identities of the team so he has leverage with me. I wasn’t running the team back then. Mason and I were recruited at the same time, so there was always a more obvious connection between us.”
Penelope looked confused. “You think another member of the alphabet soup has Mason? What does he need leverage for?”
“He’s been very aggressive about getting me to work for him so he can sort out an epic mole infestation he has.”
“Wouldn’t that be better from outside the agency?” she asked, sounding incredulous.
“You’d think, but Fury doesn’t like anything he can’t control.”
She shook her head. “Mason won’t talk. Of all of us, he has the most actual training.”
“But we’re not dealing with torture and truth serum here, Pen. It’s magic and alien artifacts and who the fuck knows what while they dig inside your brain. I know they can seemingly erase memories—though it’s actually more of a memory block—so who knows what else they can do?”
“Oh god.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”
“How do I help? And are you absolutely sure SHIELD has him?”
“No, so that’s where I need your help.” He shot Stark a look, who nodded. “We’ll get you set up to start some serious hacking, see if you can figure out where he went. Jarvis can help you.” He glanced at Stark, eyebrow raised, and Stark nodded again. “In the meantime, we need to meet with the rest of the team and explain what’s going on.”
“Can I come with you, or do I need to work in secret?”
“I don’t know yet how I’d explain you.”
She made a raspberry sound. “Something close to the truth? I was your computer analyst, and now that you’re gone, Mr. Stark hired me and is going to hide me in his company so I can keep helping you out. That HELIOS is dead, but people want you to continue the work, and you need your trusted data mining goddess to do that.”
Tony considered for a second and shot Stark a look. “You see any holes in that?”
“None, really. Once the cover is set up, to Steve and Barnes, she’d be the only one hiding down here, and we’re going to make the software legit because her apps are…” Stark made a thumbs-up sign. “With everything being real, it will look like exactly what she said. That we’re hiding one programmer amongst other programmers.”
“Great!” Penelope said, grabbing them both by the arm and heading toward the elevator. “We’re agreed. Let’s get Mason back.”
– – – –
Tony watched on the monitor as Fury entered the lobby with Natasha Romanoff at his elbow and at least twenty armed agents following him. Next to him, he could practically feel the anger pouring off Coulson and May as they watched. All he could do was shake his head at her foolishness.
Pepper Potts had flown out from California, arriving early this morning to take part in their charade. Potts had to be read in on a lot in the wee hours of the morning—regarding Barnes, Tony’s kidnapping, and him mothballing HELIOS—but she’d jumped on board easily enough, adding some helpful suggestions to their plan. He and Stark planned to tell her a bit more about the future of HELIOS, but they’d decided to keep that quiet until this was over and they could talk to her privately.
Tony thought she seemed glad to be back in contact with Stark. It was as if the two had maintained radio silence about everything except work since the breakup. It was clear they both cared but that they were happier with the way things were now. She seemed grateful that they were on the road to having a friendship again.
Steve had been a little grumpy and was sticking rather close to Stark, but that wasn’t a big surprise. It was obvious to Tony that he felt threatened by Pepper’s presence, but he’d get over it. Stark was so gone on Steve that it wasn’t even funny.
Pepper exited the elevator after making them wait for several minutes. She walked up to Fury. “Director Fury, I understand you presented some sort of legal paperwork to the receptionist?” Her tone clearly conveyed just what she thought of that idea.
“Federal order remanding Barnes into the custody of SHIELD.”
“I see. And is there a reason why you think this Barnes person is here?”
Fury smirked. “I have it on good authority that he’s in the building.”
“Hm. Well, I wouldn’t know, but I certainly haven’t seen anyone who isn’t supposed to be here.”
“Then we’ll search the building,” Fury shot back.
“You most assuredly will not! SHIELD has no actual powers for search and seizure no matter how many writs you have in your pocket. A search would have to be conducted by the local law enforcement or the FBI. And I see none of them here. Our legal team is calling a judge as we speak—”
“I can have the police here in five minutes to execute this order.”
Tony took that as his cue to make the call.
“One moment.” Pepper held up a finger to Fury when her phone rang. “This is Pepper Potts.”
“Hello, Pepper, Tony DiNozzo here. I understand that you have some unwanted houseguests.”
“Oh, hello, Director DiNozzo. Yes, there are some agents here from SHIELD who have some sort of federal order that they think allows them to search the building.”
“Well, see if Fury wants a sit down before things escalate any further.”
“Certainly.” She pulled the phone away. “Director DiNozzo is concerned about an escalation of this situation here in the lobby of people’s place of work. He suggests a meeting.”
“That’s all DiNozzo had to say.”
Pepper smiled. “Wonderful. I’ll escort you upstairs.” She cast a disdainful look at the agents. “Your goon squad stays here.”
“I never go anywhere without a bodyguard.” He gestured to Romanoff.
“Oh, of course Agent Romanoff is welcome. Hello, Natasha.”
“Pepper. How have you been?”
“I’m doing very well, thank you. Please come upstairs. We’ll use one of the executive conference rooms on the 77th floor.” As the elevator doors opened, she added, “I’ll just text my assistant and have refreshments ordered.”
Tony’s phone chimed a moment later.
Potts: Don’t leave me alone with them for too long. I don’t want to be arrested for stabbing one of them with my heels.
Tony snorted and texted back.
DiNozzo: Headed your way as soon as they’re in place.
He gestured for Bruce to take over the feed from the lobby and then checked in on everyone else. All around the building, people were getting into position. They couldn’t very well have no one show up to work, but minimizing civilian fallout had been a high priority, so most of the people masquerading as SI employees were either Marines or Homeland Security agents. Most of the workers in this building had been given a last-minute call not to come into work today. The exceptions had been some lab personnel, who would be in high-security lockdown for the duration, and anyone Jarvis had identified as being a possible spy within SI. It was likely not all of them were spies, but they couldn’t take the chance and a mole for SHIELD slipping by them. The thirty-nine people on Jarvis’ list had been detained when they arrived at work.
Jarvis’ voice came over the speakers. “Ms. Romanoff has placed a USB drive with malware into an assistant’s computer terminal as she passed by on her way out of the elevator.”
“Of course she did,” Stark said stonily. “And what does it do, J?”
“It would infiltrate our system and open a breach in our firewall then send positional data on elevator movements and security doors to her device. It would also leave a backdoor for her to hack in at a later date.”
“And you’re okay? Not actually infected?” Stark clarified.
“I have contained the malware, Sir. I am well.”
“Send fake reports to her based on our movements except show us coming down in the elevator from 93. We only need to fake it for a few minutes.”
“As you wish, Sir.”
“Did they really think I wouldn’t plug the security hole that let them affect Jarvis after the last time?” Stark muttered.
Tony found the whole thing rage-inducing. Really, how dare they do that to Stark and Jarvis? Again?
Everyone got in position fast, so Tony looked around at each person. “Showtime.” He glanced at Bruce, Barnes, and Penelope. “You sure you’re okay being the eye in the sky along with Jarvis?” In reality, the eye in the sky was a big bank of monitors they’d set up in Pepper’s office, figuring no one would expect them all to be hiding out in the CEO’s work domain.
Penelope was banging away on a laptop, not even looking up. “I’m good. I’ve got these two lovely gentlemen to keep me company.” She shot a winning smile at Barnes and Banner.
Barnes actually smiled back.
Huh.
“I’m good too.” Bruce nodded. “Hulk is feeling kind of tetchy, so we’d better stay here. Try to stay this shape so we don’t ruin Pepper’s furniture.”
Tony clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks, Big Guy,” he said directly to Hulk. “I know you want to come, but we need someone watching everything. I promise we’ll watch some cartoons later.”
“He says Frozen,” Bruce shot back.
“He’s never getting tired of that movie, is he?”
“Apparently not. But I am completely tired of it.”
Tony chuckled as he began gesturing people out of the room.
Barnes added, “I want to back you up, but I’m better here. They have the same data you had, so they’ve had the control words. If they’ve figured them out, I’d imagine Fury is the kind of asshole who’d use them to make a point.”
“I don’t think you’re wrong.”
“So I’ll be here with the one person who can completely contain me if needed.”
“We’ll see you soon.”
Barnes gave him a casual, two-fingered salute then sat next to Bruce, casting a furtive glance Penelope’s way.
Agent May peeled away from the group and headed down to be with the team who would be apprehending Fury’s gaggle of agents.
Tony paused at the door to the stairwell. “Everyone remember, only Stark and I can improvise. We’re the only ones right now that know all the contingency plans. So stay with the script.” There hadn’t been time to fill everyone in on every possible thing, plus there were things they just couldn’t tell people on a whim, so everyone needed to stay on task.
He got agreement from everyone but Thor, who was looking rather stubborn. “I do not like this charade. They come here planning to harm you, and I will not allow it.”
“But they’re not going to harm me. Also, you are not the boss of me. We can work out this partnership thing if that’s what we both want, but you don’t get to make decisions for me.”
Thor huffed a little but nodded. “Agreed.”
“Good. I trust you at my back to look stern and intimidating, but please don’t say anything we didn’t agree on. I need to get information out of them, and I can’t do that if we tip our hand too soon.”
Thor nodded again, looking less reluctant. “I will guard your life like my own, and I look forward to seeing you engage in this deception.”
“Lord.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “Let’s go.”
Stark handed him an orange as he passed, grinning when Tony scowled. The troll-in-chief had taken to leaving what he called tribute or offerings all over the place. Including handing off food, particularly fresh fruits.
Rolling his eyes, he tossed the orange from hand to hand as he followed the others to the conference room.
“Oh, there you are,” he heard Pepper say as Stark entered the room first.
“Someone forget to tell me we had a meeting? I’m hurt, Nicky.”
“I’m not here to see you Stark. Right now, I’m here to meet with DiNozzo, and then I’ll be leaving with Barnes.”
Steve entered, moving behind Stark.
“Rogers. I understand why you haven’t returned to work considering Barnes and DiNozzo, but this situation doesn’t actually concern you.”
“I’m just here to be sure everyone plays nice,” he said, sounding way too much like a disapproving parent. He moved out of sight, and the plan was for him to prop up a wall behind Stark.
Coulson entered.
“Phil,” Fury acknowledged.
“Director Fury,” Coulson said stiffly, moving to take a seat.
Thor was next in.
“Welcome back to Earth, Thor. We’ve been trying to catch up with you since you arrived in Tromsø. I look forward to speaking with you after this meeting.”
“I look forward to that as well.” Thor stood to the side so Tony could enter.
“Director DiNozzo,” Fury said from his position leaning back in his chair. Romanoff was behind and to the left of him. “Heard you wanted to talk to me.”
Tony took a seat directly across from Fury. “What are you doing? What’s your game?”
Fury leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the table. “We need to clean house. You know the work we do is vital, and I need you to get that work done.”
“So me repeatedly saying ‘no’ over the years doesn’t matter?”
“There are things that take precedence over personal desires. You’re needed, now more than ever. We thought we’d beaten Hydra back almost seventy years ago, and yet they’ve infiltrated our organization. An organization vital to the safety of the planet. You’ve seen this. There is nothing more important than fixing this.”
“And you think you need me—within SHIELD—to do that?”
“There is no one better, and you know that. You’ve seen the kinds of threats we protect the Earth from!” He gestured to the Manhattan skyline. “There is no higher purpose.”
“Maybe you need HELIOS’ help, but you didn’t need me specifically. And even if you needed me, you don’t need me under your thumb.”
Fury shook his head. “This needs to be done in house.”
“So I can get killed? Because that’s the logical outcome.”
Thor grumbled his disapproval.
Fury shook his head. “We’d protect you. I’d assign Agent Romanoff to your personal protection.”
“Joy,” he deadpanned, and she bristled a little.
“But you’re a little different, enhanced, as it were, in your own right now. You can probably handle yourself.”
“Oh, probably.” Tony tried again. “But why me.”
“You have a different perspective.”
Tony pushed to his feet. “If you’re not going to communicate, I’m done. We can duke it out with the police when they get here. I’m sure—”
Fury held up a hand and Romanoff immediately produced a folder—from where, Tony had no idea. “Read that.”
Tony considered for several seconds but decided to let this play out. He slid the folder closer, opening it to find about thirty sheets of paper. Intelligence briefs and analysis. “What’s this?”
“Tell me what you see.”
“Am I being tested now?”
“I want to know what you see.”
“It doesn’t work this way, and you know that. Most analysis is hours upon hours of research and profiling. It’s—”
“Just give me your first impressions,” Fury ordered, like Tony worked for him.
“Why not, Glowstick?” Stark said as he precariously leaned back in the chair, feet propped on the table. “Just do what he wants and maybe he’ll go away.”
Tony glared at Fury and then at Stark for good measure. He got a text that he checked quickly.
— Do as he asks. For now.
Well, that answered that. “First impressions only,” he warned Fury.
Fury made a surrender gesture, and Tony almost scoffed at it.
He began thumbing through the reports, reading summaries, then digging into some of the details that had been provided. It was three separate reports, so he sorted them that way and made a couple of extra piles for the background information.
Even a first impression took Tony almost thirty minutes. He’d had to fire off one urgent text about an information leak, but managed to avoid anyone knowing anything was wrong. The refreshment cart had arrived, manned by a guy Tony knew to be a Force Recon Marine, so everyone was sitting around drinking coffee and eating pastries while he finished reviewing all the pages.
Finally, he put everything back into the three main piles. “All right, I read them. I mean, I feel like you’re throwing me a fucking softball here, Nick. What’s your point?”
“A softball?” Fury repeated. “You had thirty minutes with them, and you were able to ascertain that not all of them were real?”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? None of them are real.”
Fury’s brow knit in obvious confusion. “No. One has been verified.”
“These are all crap. The only intelligence you can assess this quickly is bad intel. So I assume that’s your point.”
Fury shook his head. “No, one was verified, one I know is bad, and one I suspect is bad.”
“No. They’re all bad.”
“I vetted it myself,” Romanoff snapped.
“Is that supposed to be meaningful?” Tony asked, truly bewildered.
“I trust Agent Romanoff’s opinion,” Fury barked.
“Well, maybe you should look at the advisability of that after you, you know, deal with Hydra.”
“Explain!”
“Dude, I don’t work for you.”
“You do, you just don’t know it yet.”
“Take care, Director Fury,” Thor said, sounding angry. He stepped next to Tony and set Mjølnir right on the table. “I will not—” Thor stopped speaking at Tony’s gentle touch to the back of his leg, hopefully out of Romanoff’s line of sight. “Do not make threats.” He left the hammer and went back to the wall.
Tony stared at it. He understood exactly what Thor had just done. Clever. He’d put a weapon in Tony’s reach that Fury would dismiss as a real threat.
Tired of the game and knowing he didn’t have a ton of time, he thumped the first report. “This one is stupid. It’s riddled with contradictions. I figure someone vetted this for you and told you it was bogus, but you probably made it worse just to see what I’d do with it.”
“It took some of my best people hours to come to the conclusion that it was bad.”
“Sucks to be you.” He touched the next report. “This one? Looks good on the surface, but all the five separate sources weirdly go back to a woman, all different names, but with the same basic description other than hair color. Now, it’s unlikely that five separate sources on this kind of action would all be women. But that they’d all look alike? No. Statistically impossible. Someone fed misinformation deliberately to five different people to create a narrative. Figuring that out is basic profiling.”
He hesitated over the last one, but he’d gotten a text in his thirty minutes of analysis that the problem was dealt with. “Presumably this one is the one Agent Romanoff thinks is real. That there’s a terrorist cell in that location. And I have a hunch you’ve already dispatched people to do something about it before you handed that over to me. But the thing is, that terrorist cell? Is a fucking CIA black site.”
Fury’s mouth fell open.
“Or it was. They’ve evacuated. And I’m sure they’re going to want to know just how SHIELD came to the conclusion that one of their top-secret locations was the hideout of a terrorist.”
Romanoff swore in Russian.
“Someone lie to you, Agent Romanoff? That seems to be going around.”
“Wow, Nick,” Stark said, tone mock sympathetic. “That’s a whole lot of sticking your foot in it. Did you get up this morning with ‘piss off the CIA’ on your to-do list?”
Fury shot Stark a dirty look, and Steve took a step away from the wall.
Stark covered for Steve by getting up to make a cup of coffee.
“The point, DiNozzo,” Fury said, “is that you can do what no one else can. And SHIELD needs that.”
Tony shook his head. “You don’t get it. I don’t trust you, and I never will. And the thing is, I think you believe what you’re saying. I think you believe you’re the world’s last line of defense. You really think it’s your duty to make the tough calls. That it’s okay to manipulate, like, cheat, and ruin a life here or there if it protects people.”
“And if I do?”
“Well, I just don’t agree, and I never will.” He braced his arms on the table. “I told you after the Chitauri that one of the ‘spies’ you were looking for was on the World Security Council. I informed you in good faith that your leadership was part of the problem. But you did nothing about it.”
“These things are delicate, and I couldn’t afford to tip my hand. I’ve been isolating the moles—”
“Isolating the moles?” Stark repeated, sounding baffled. “How do you isolate Hydra in the rank and file from Hydra in one of the top spots? That makes no sense.”
“I was handling it.”
“With Project Insight?” Tony asked leadingly.
Fury stiffened. “How do you know about Insight?”
Tony shook his head. “You think I didn’t already know about a top-secret project to use helicarriers to target our enemies with advanced targeting systems and weaponry.”
“Whoa, really?” Stark asked.
“Excuse me?” Steve said, sounding pissed.
Tony stayed focused on Fury. “I wrote a formal report against the project because I knew you had a spy problem. That you continued to try to implement that when you knew you hadn’t cleaned house is unconscionable. In general, I think it’s a bad idea, but it’s a really bad idea when the organization is full of Hydra operatives.”
“This has nothing to do with Insight—”
“It has everything to do with it!” Tony yelled, startling nearly everyone. Sparks shot off his skin and, a second later, Thor touched the back of his neck and drained away the excess energy. Tony took a deep breath. “You left Pierce in play even once you knew Hydra was a problem—”
“It was Pierce?”
“Oh my god. You hadn’t even figured out who it was? We’ve known for two weeks that it was Pierce, and I figure that out from a distance.”
“But I spoke to him yesterday.”
“Yeah, he’s being watched. We’re trying to get as many collaborators as possible. While you sat on your ass and tried to clean house from the inside. And come on, Pierce was fucking obvious. SHIELD was only sanctioned by the President to run if the UN provided oversight. He was never informed that the UN split it off into a private oversight agency. And the reason he didn’t know is that Secretary Pierce lied to him. Pierce got every side so wrapped up in the WSC being top secret that he managed to keep POTUS from knowing that the UN Security Council wasn’t overseeing your operations anymore.”
“I had no way of knowing about Pierce’s lies.”
“You could have suspected when there was zero inquiry by the Joint Chiefs or Congress into what the fuck you guys were doing. That was suspicious in its own right.”
“Pierce said the President approved the change.”
“With no discussion, terms, or conditions?” Tony asked, appalled at how stupid that was. “You can’t be that naïve.”
“None of this matters. You’re coming to work for SHIELD.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Cleaning up this mess isn’t enough reason?” Romanoff shot back.
“I’m cleaning it up just fine without working for him.” He pointed to Fury.
“You’ll get to keep Barnes and the rest of your team at HELIOS will remain safe.” Fury insisted.
“Wow. Coercion. Nicely played.” He gave a slow clap.
Fury’s eyes narrowed. “You may not know Barnes well enough to care, but Rogers will care. And he’ll go where Barnes goes.”
“True,” Tony conceded.
“And the law says Barnes goes with us. But if you come with, we’ll forget about that order.” Fury was obviously trying to placate an angry Steve Rogers. “Barnes can stay here if that’s what he and Steve want.”
“Well, Barnes isn’t my lookout. So, what’s this about my team?”
“You wouldn’t want anything to happen to them, I assume?”
“Are you threatening them?” Tony clarified.
“Their covers could be compromised.”
“Not unless you know something you shouldn’t and then proceed to do something you really shouldn’t. That’s a lot of shouldn’t. As in should not.”
Fury glared. “Do you know where your team is right now?”
“Yeah.” He shrugged. “Maybe not right this second, but everyone checked in this afternoon.”
“You’re lying,” Romanoff snapped.
Fury held up a hand. “You are lying. And this needs to end. We leave with you, and Barnes stays behind and your team all goes home. Or you stay here, hiding under Stark’s skirts, and Barnes and Rogers go with me. Time will tell about your team.”
“Under his skirts?” Tony repeated. “Wow. You gotta work on the expressions there.”
“Jesus, Nick,” Stark said as he worked his way through another orange. “Give us some credit. I only wear skirts for Steve.”
Tony pressed his lips together.
“I like the black one,” Steve whispered, and Tony nearly choked.
“I knew pencil skirts were the way to your heart,” Stark whispered back.
He glanced over because he had to know, and subtle microexpressions said they were both full of shit, but it was a near thing. Most people would be fooled. Tony would never have expected it from Steve. Go, Grandpa.
“Look, Steve and Tony’s skirt kink isn’t the point here.” Tony had to get his back on track. “Clearly the point is that you think you’ve compromised my team in some way and are ready to exploit it. Ready to put lives in danger and compromise intelligence analysis in this country so you can get your way.”
“Basically,” Nick agreed. “You really don’t understand what we’re dealing with. There is nothing more important than this.”
“Yeah.” Tony took a deep breath. “Protecting the planet is awfully important.” He got to his feet but then paused. “But the thing is that the secret is out.”
“Pardon?”
“We don’t need a covert agency when people already know about aliens. I mean, they all saw it on repeat 24/7 for months. And yet you weighed the worth of an intelligence program that serves every agency, including SHIELD, against your own personal agenda.” He put his hands out and mimicked scales. “You took a Hydra-ridden SHIELD in a world where aliens aren’t a secret and weighed it against HELIOS.” He see-sawed his hands a bit, slowly letting the HELIOS hand sink. “And somehow you decided that you were what was needed. Curious.”
Fury’s jaw clenched as he got to his feet. “I don’t think there’s anything more to say.”
“Oh, I do.” Tony braced his hands on the table and glared at Nick. “Project Insight was Hydra’s baby. You had delusions of using it to kill off all the Hydra assets you identified, or thought you identified. I have zero faith that you picked the right people because, after all, your shitty intelligence department is why we’re all sitting here. You put too much faith in the assessments of people like her.” He stabbed a finger in Romanoff’s direction.
Romanoff looked like she was about to come across the table and kill him. Fury stuck his hand out, obviously reining her in. Tony felt heat at his back and knew Thor had moved closer.
“But, Nick, we found the target list for Insight, and it included the President of the United States.”
Fury reared back like he’d been slapped.
Everyone was staying cool even though Tony had dropped a major bomb on them, but he’d been forbidden to bring up Insight until he got the go-ahead. Which had happened about five minutes before the meeting.
“So, there are a lot of people super annoyed right now. I mean, the secret service would love to pound you into paste because you knew you had a problem and planned to use an untried weapon to solve it, but what you would have done is kill the President. Along with about twenty million other people, including Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.”
“What the actual fuck?!” Stark exploded. Steve grabbed his arm and pulled him back toward the wall.
Tony continued. “But don’t worry, we cleaned up your shit. Those helicarriers have been grounded. They were still weeks away from launching anyway, but they can’t very well launch with no navigation systems. The Department of Defense is going to figure out what to do with them.”
“You are jeopardizing our safety,” Fury bit out.
“Your safety? I mean, personally? Yeah, I am. The world’s safety? No. I’m fixing your fuck up. I would have worked with you, but you had to have it your way or no way. Your delusion that you always know best is dangerous.”
“And you think you know better?”
“I don’t have to. I don’t operate in a bubble and refuse to take input from others. So, here’s what’s happening. SHIELD will be torn down to its component parts. Some of the agents and analysts will be salvaged into other agencies, but many will return to civilian life. The Hydra operatives are going to disappear into the kind of hole we reserve for terrorists. Agent Coulson will be the acting director, supervising the effort. After which time, he will be sent to a new duty station.”
“You have no authority for that.”
“Agreed. Jarvis?”
The large flat screen on the far wall flared to life and President Ellis filled the screen. The Joint Chiefs and many of the Cabinet were arrayed at the table behind the President.
“Good morning, sir,” Tony said, standing straight and facing the screen, trusting Thor, Steve, and Stark to have his back.
“DiNozzo.” Ellis smiled faintly. “Thank you for getting the information we needed from Director Fury.”
“It’s always a pleasure to assist you, sir.”
Ellis nodded, attention turning to Fury. “Director Fury, there are two hundred Marines and a hundred Homeland and FBI agents in the tower. Your team in the building as well as all your teams in the surrounding area have been apprehended. If they pass their vetting, they’ll be processed back out to return to their lives.
“We arrested Secretary Pierce this morning, and he’s being held and questioned about his ties to global terrorism. He’s already revealed many conspirators. The UN has taken steps to ensure the World Security Council is no more. Their decision to privatize the council, and keep that decision secret, is one that I think will haunt them for years to come.
“The top-secret CIA facility that you nearly bombed was safely evacuated.” The President glared. “SHIELD is finished. You will be escorted by Homeland Security agents and a contingent of Marines to the Pentagon for debriefing. Agent Romanoff will join the other SHIELD agents to be vetted for ties to Hydra.”
Ellis accepted a note and read it. Tony glanced at Fury and found him stony-faced. But Romanoff was enraged. He signaled Stark to be on the lookout.
Ellis cleared his throat. “I’ve just been informed that information was obtained on-site after the SHIELD agents were detained by Homeland. Apparently, SHIELD had a Homeland Security supervisory agent named Keith Mason imprisoned. His preliminary statement indicates that he was abducted by Agent Romanoff and interrogated for suspected ties to HELIOS.” Ellis set the note down. “He’s being retrieved as we speak.
“But due to your thoughtless and arrogant actions, I have no choice but to end the intelligence analysis project known as HELIOS. It’s a great loss to this nation, and I consider what you’ve done to be criminal. It’s fortunate for you that I’m not allowed to determine those kinds of things or you’d already be in prison.
“And in case you were wondering if we missed anything, the federal judge you bribed to sign POW Sergeant James Barnes into your custody has also been arrested.” He nodded decisively. “We do like to cross all of our T’s.”
He gestured toward the doors. “There are agents waiting to escort you both. There are men with orders to kill should either of you prove to be a threat to anyone. Please don’t put your deaths on their conscience.”
Tony stood back, shoulder to shoulder with Thor, and watched as Fury and Romanoff left. It didn’t have to go this way—they could have made different choices at any point.
As soon as the Homeland agents had left with Fury and Romanoff, Ellis cleared his throat, and Tony immediately stepped back into the camera sightline.
“Yes, sir.”
“Thank you for your service, Director DiNozzo, though it seems that’s the last time I’ll be able to address you as such.”
“It’s been my honor, Mr. President.”
“I understand you’re considering the offer to join with the Avengers.”
“The wind does seem to be blowing that way, yes, sir.”
Ellis smiled and nodded. “Glad to hear it, son. The light show was impressive. I think the Avengers will be a good fit. I don’t suppose you’ve sorted out a codename?”
“Yes, sir, I have.”
“Care to tell an old man?”
“Sentry, sir. My codename will be Sentry.”
Ellis nodded. “Apt, DiNozzo, very apt.”
Chapter Seventeen
Steve stopped outside the conference room, waiting for Tony. Everyone else was headed back upstairs, but Pepper had asked to speak with Tony after the meeting had broken up, and he’d waved Steve on ahead.
Anthony paused at the stairwell door then whispered something to Thor before turning back and joining Steve. He leaned against the wall, shoulder-to-shoulder with Steve. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.”
“Modern culture point of reference, ‘I’m fine’ is a sure-fire way these days of telling people you’re not okay. And before you say it, with that expression on your face, ‘I’m okay’ is only slightly better.”
Steve couldn’t help but chuckle. “There’s nothing wrong, Anthony.”
“Right. And Pepper being here isn’t making you tense.”
Sighing, Steve shot his grandson an exasperated look, getting a grin in return. “Tony’s right. Your powers of observation are annoying.”
Anthony smiled wider.
“Do you think Tony noticed?”
“Probably not. You’re not terribly overt and I suspect he’s a lot like me in that his biggest blind spot is himself.” Anthony nudged his shoulder. “He loves you, Steve. He’s totally gone on you.”
Steve felt his face get hot, but he couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah?”
“Oh, yeah. He just needs someone to accept him for who he is. Keep doing that, and everything will be fine.”
“They have a lot of history…”
“There’s a very old expression, old enough that even you would have heard it. Familiarity breeds contempt.”
Steve’s brow furrowed and he considered that. “And you think that’s what happened there?”
“Not literally, but I think the dynamic of their relationship was probably such that… Well, it created the breeding ground for that proverb to be an issue between them.”
“Are you telling me that as a cautionary tale?”
“It’s a good cautionary tale for anyone in a relationship, but that wasn’t my direct intent, no. I’m just saying he’s happy with you now because he’s not feeling judged. If you need to take that onboard as advice, I’m sure not going to stop you.”
Steve laughed. “I hear you.”
Anthony squeezed his shoulder. “I figure we’ve all got some stuff to talk about, so we’ll wait for you. Come up when you can.”
Nodding, Steve watched his grandson walk away, pondering the situation. The door to the stairwell had barely closed before the conference room opened, and Tony stepped out.
His expression immediately lit up with a genuine smile. “You waited!” Over Tony’s shoulder, he spotted Ms. Potts sitting at the table, talking on the phone.
“Of course I did.” He nodded to the conference room. “Do we need to wait longer?”
“Nah. She’s handling getting everything squared away legally and arranging for our security people to talk to all the possible spies we picked up today.” He grabbed Steve’s arm and started pulling him toward the private elevator. “Come on.”
As soon as the door closed, Tony said, “J, hold the elevator.” Then Tony was on him, sealing their mouths together. Steve was shocked into stillness for a beat, but he quickly got with the program, losing himself in the hot flush of desire that hit him like a freight train.
He grabbed Tony’s ass and lifted, and Tony groaned as he wrapped his legs around Steve’s waist. He pressed his lover against the wall, their hard cocks rubbing together. He broke the kiss and nudged Tony’s chin up, nipping at his throat.
“Steve,” Tony whispered, threading his fingers through Steve’s hair, bringing Steve’s head back up then licking into Steve’s mouth again.
Steve moaned, rutting harder against Tony. It felt like lightning was sparking all along his spine, and every nerve ending was electrified.
Tony’s legs tightened and he sucked hard at Steve’s tongue as tremors racked his whole frame. Steve followed him into climax a second later.
He came back to himself, still holding Tony pressed up against the elevator wall, foreheads resting together as they panted through their recovery.
“Wow,” Tony whispered, still clutching at Steve’s hair.
“Yeah,” Steve agreed mindlessly. “Penthouse occupied, Jarvis?”
“No, Captain, it is not. Shall I deliver you to Sir’s floor?”
“Please.”
Tony kept a grip on Steve’s hair, the other hand sliding to the back of his neck. “You played along with me,” he whispered.
The elevator door opened, and Steve carried Tony out, trying to get his sex-addled brain to put the pieces together. “You mean the skirt thing?” He lowered them both down on the bed, letting his weight rest on Tony. They needed to get cleaned up, but it could wait.
“Yeah. You totally went with it.” Tony’s eyes were bright with amusement and something else, something more vulnerable.
Steve leaned in for another kiss, slow and exploratory, until Tony was clutching at his shoulders again. “It was funny,” he said, sucking a path down Tony’s throat. He promised himself he’d remember this moment and how much it meant to Tony that he’d gone along with his joke. Steve’s way would be to talk the thing through, but he had a feeling that wasn’t the right approach here. He thought he had maybe learned to understand Tony more.
He focused on making Tony relaxed and happy. “Want to grab a shower with me?”
“How is that a real question?” Tony grinned and slapped his ass. “Get a move on, Rogers. I want to get clean and maybe dirty again.”
Steve laughed, pulling Tony off the bed with him.
– – – –
It was almost an hour before they got upstairs to the party deck. There was a mountain of takeout of several different cuisines. Anthony and Thor were talking to Bruce, while James was talking to the friend of Anthony’s who had helped them today, Penelope.
Anthony took one look at them before grinning and winking at Tony, who gave him the middle finger.
“What’s that about?” Steve whispered as he grabbed a couple of cartons of Thai from the counter.
“Damn observant asshole,” Tony grumbled.
“Do you care that he knows?”
“Not even, so don’t take on. I’m just grousing because nothing gets by him.” Tony piled a plate with an odd hodgepodge of cuisines—a few enchiladas, salt and pepper squid, and pad Thai.
Steve and Tony took the two spots on the couch with Bruce at the other end. James and Penelope had the chairs, and Anthony and Thor were on the loveseat.
“Have you heard from Coulson or May?” Steve asked as soon as they were settled.
Anthony nodded. “They’re going to be knee-deep in cleaning up SHIELD for a while; I doubt we’ll see them anytime soon unless they run into a really hairy situation. The Marines and a contingent from the FBI are tasked to help them sort out and vet all the agents and support personnel. The Marines tapped for this duty are specially trained to vet assets. They are usually doing it with foreign intelligence assets, but needs must.” He cocked his head to the side. “I guess the application isn’t that far off. Anyway… We may get called in if they need serious backup but, otherwise, we’re hoping to stay out of the dismantling of SHIELD. I’d certainly prefer to stay focused on working with the UN to set up the new Avengers Initiative.”
“Can we talk about the elephant in the room?” Tony asked, stabbing his squid.
“Do you mean that big, fat, tutu-wearing elephant named Project Insight?” Anthony set his plate on the table and leaned back, eyeing Steve and Tony.
“Yeah. I really do,” Tony replied, tone serious. “How come you didn’t say anything?”
“Because the President of the United States personally told me to keep my yap shut until I’d been given the go-ahead to reveal it.”
Tony huffed. “Stop making it hard to argue with you.”
“Not my intent. I’m just saying that we took action on Insight the minute we figured out what was going on. There were SEAL teams tasked to move in on those helicarriers and ensure they were grounded. The sheer threat that Project Insight represented is why we had Marines and SEAL teams tasked to this operation. I was the only person not involved in the tactical or strategic aspects of the op who knew what was going on. For the sake of operational security, I was ordered to keep quiet until the carriers were grounded. The Teams moved on the carriers when Fury entered the building. I got a text during our meeting that it was handled. The president chose not to involve you, Tony—arguably the best choice to handle grounding the helicarriers—because he knew Fury was keeping close tabs on you.”
Steve found that infuriating and realized the depth of his anger as he squished the carton of orange chicken in his fist. Fortunately, it was mostly empty already. He set the ruined container aside and mopped up the small mess on his hand.
Anthony was watching them closely. “Even though Hydra didn’t plan to execute Insight for quite a while yet because the helicarriers aren’t ready—”
“Tell me about it,” Tony snapped. “I was actively working on the propulsion system!”
Steve set a hand on Tony’s back, rubbing gently over his spine.
Tony blew out a breath. “I’m just pissed that I was helping build something designed to murder me.”
Anthony winced. “As soon as we decrypted the true target list, we took steps to act. Fury’s shenanigans today lined up fairly well with the timeline the SEAL team leader put together, so we made the best of it with some last-minute adjustments.”
“It’s not your fault, Sparky. It’s just…”
“I get it,” Anthony assured. “It was disconcerting to know that Fury advocated for going forward with a program designed for mass murder. That alone is enough to be disturbing, but even if you manage to justify it considering he planned to use it to take out Hydra, he kept moving forward knowing he’d been infiltrated by Hydra. I’m not sure if I find his negligence or his hubris to be more offensive.”
Steve held up a hand. “There’s one part I’m still not clear on.”
“Just one part?” Tony asked, lips twitching in obvious amusement.
“Okay, there’s a lot about all this that’s confusing.”
“Tell me about it,” James muttered, shaking his head.
“What I don’t get,” Steve continued, “is how one man—Pierce—was able to lie to both the United Nations and the US government. Is it that easy to pull off this level of fraud?”
Anthony shook his head. “No. But it wasn’t just Pierce. There were many more collaborators in the US government and the UN. Not to mention on the World Security Council. It was a carefully placed array of moles who could feed misinformation where needed and make sure certain information went missing. We’ve identified two senators so far who helped ensure Congress didn’t push too hard about a nuke being launched at the United States.
“At a rough guess, we think we’ve got about sixty percent of the collaborators who are outside of SHIELD. Arrests were made today. It’ll be an ongoing effort to find the rest. Homeland Security and the NSA are running point on the mole hunt at this point. I’ll be consulting as needed.”
“Wow,” Tony said. “That’s impressive for how fast you had to work.”
Anthony shrugged. “We do what we have to do.” He got to his feet. “Anyone want dessert? We got that cheesecake assortment…”
Steve knew there’d be a lot of questions in the days ahead, and he wanted to understand everything that was happening, but he thought perhaps it was best left for another time. He let Tony and Anthony steer the conversation into a more social and pleasant direction.
When things seemed ready to break up, Steve got Anthony’s attention and they stepped out on the balcony for some privacy.
“What’s up, Gramps?” Anthony asked with a grin.
“God, don’t call me that.”
“Grandpa? Granddad?”
Steve shot him an exasperated look. “How about Grandfather for formal or when you feel the need to troll, and Steve for everyday.”
Tony blinked a few times then grinned. “Wow. Someone’s been taking your pop culture education seriously.”
“Jarvis is very good at it.”
Laughing, Anthony nudged Steve. “So, what’s up?”
“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay.”
“Me?” Anthony stared. “Why wouldn’t I be okay? I’ve been more concerned about you. I mean, there’s been a lot thrown at you recently, and it’s caused some tension between us…”
Steve winced. “I’m sorry about—”
“No, don’t be. It’s not a recrimination. I know everything is new and sometimes difficult; getting a grandson thrown on there when you didn’t even know you had a daughter is weird.”
Steve relaxed a little. “I just wanted to be sure we’re okay.”
“Of course we are, Steve. We’re not always going to see eye-to-eye, and that’s okay.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
Impulsively, Steve pulled his grandson into a quick hug. “I’m glad we found each other.”
Anthony returned the hug firmly. “Me too.”
– – – –
Tony was talking to Bruce about Bruce’s latest research as he stood by the windows, finishing up his latest round at food. The serum changes meant eating way more frequently than he was used to, so it wasn’t uncommon for him to eat a third or even fourth portion at most meals with big snacks in between.
He lost track of what Bruce was saying when he spotted Stark and his grandfather make a beeline for the stairs, sneaking away like everyone didn’t know exactly where they were going and what they were getting up to.
Bruce trailed off as he followed the line of Tony’s gaze, and then he laughed. “I’m glad they got their act together.”
Tony eyed him speculatively. “You could get your act together too,” he offered casually.
“Pardon?”
“She’s still waiting for you, Bruce, and there’s no reason you can’t be with her.”
Bruce blinked several times then flushed and looked away. “I’m not safe.”
“None of us are safe. But she’s always been safe with you, with him.” He clapped Bruce on the shoulder, giving a reassuring squeeze. “Just think about it. Your life has changed a lot since Harlem. Give yourself permission to really think about what all this change could mean for you.”
Bruce hesitated for a few seconds then nodded stiffly. “I’ll consider it.”
“All anyone can ask.” Tony didn’t want to end the conversation without opening the door for Bruce if he needed it. “And I’m always available to you, Bruce. You or your inner Hulk. You’ve got friends who have your back, so feel free to call, knock, send a pigeon if needed, okay?”
Lips twitching in amusement, Bruce nodded. “Thanks, Tony.”
“Anytime.” He tilted his head toward the other two. “They’ve looked a little uncomfortable for the last few minutes, so I’m gonna go rescue them.” James and Penelope had suddenly gotten stiff with each other after a day of getting along great, so Tony had no idea what had happened, but he figured an intervention was in order.
“What do you suppose happened there?” Bruce asked softly.
“No clue, but I’m going to escort Penelope to her room, and then come back for Barnes.”
“You want me to take Barnes down to the detention level?”
“Nah. If you and Thor could just keep him company for a bit, that’d be great. I’ll be back to take him to the new room.”
Bruce’s brows shot up. “That’s today, eh? Good.”
Tony nodded. “Yeah, it’s time.” He crossed to Thor, dropping a hard, quick kiss on his mouth. “I’ll be right back.”
Thor gave him a smile full of promise. “I eagerly anticipate your return.”
Turning his attention to Penelope offered a casual smile. “You ready, or do you want to hang out a little longer?”
“Now’s good.” She got to her feet, giving James a quick, confused look then went to the elevators.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, Tony asked, “You want to tell me what’s going on? You and Barnes were relaxed earlier and now he’s all tense around you.”
She slumped back against the elevator wall. “I think I pushed too hard. We’d been flirting all day, and it was fun. He so sweet and just…adorable.”
Tony pinched the bridge of his nose at the Winter Soldier being described as adorable. “Penelope…”
“I know. I asked him about having dinner with me, and he just clammed up tighter than a frog’s butt in water.”
Sighing, Tony led the way off the elevator onto the floor Steve occupied. “I stashed your bags in that guest room earlier. The only other occupant of this floor is Steve. This is all guest suites, but it’s just the two of you right now. Stark is working on some apartments on another floor, but that’s a HELIOS thing, and he and I can go over the details with you in a planning session some other time. No one else is read in. Stark says the guest room here is yours as long as you need it.”
She nodded and stopped at the counter dividing the living area from the kitchen, hopping up on a barstool. “I’ll thank Tony myself when I see him next.” He bit her lip. “I’m sorry about James.”
“Just take it easy on him, okay? But don’t give up on being his friend. He needs all of those he can get.”
“Just his friend?” She sounded a little crushed.
“Pen… He’s been a prisoner of war since the ’40s. Yeah, just his friend. For now. I’m not saying give up on whatever vibe you two have, I’m saying sit on it for a minute, okay?”
She’d paled at the POW mention. “Yeah, that’s totally fair. Friends is good. I can rock the friends thing.”
He leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You always do.” He tilted his head toward the elevator. “I’m going to go talk to James about his living situation and then deal with the look Thor has been sending me.”
“You mean the ‘I’m going to jump you at the earliest opportunity’ look? And don’t think we’re not having a long talk about how you literally scored yourself a Norse god.”
Tony laughed. “He’s definitely going to jump me, and I’m going to love every second of it. I promise to give you all the details. How about lunch tomorrow?”
“Deal!”
– – – –
Bruce had returned to his quarters to decompress, leaving Thor and James talking about fighting strategies when one arm was incapacitated or, in James’ case, completely missing. Weird conversation topic as far as Tony was concerned, but he’d never had a battle mindset.
“You two want to keep talking fighting techniques or shall we call the party done?”
Thor shot him a look that definitely expressed his opinion.
“I’m ready to return to my room.” James got to his feet with an economy of motion that reminded Tony more of his first few days in the tower when he was more Asset than James.
When they entered the elevator, Jarvis got them headed in the right direction immediately, and James shot him a questioning look because they were going up rather than down, but Tony ignored it. They only had to go a few floors before they were let out on one of the unoccupied residential floors above the party deck. Unlike Thor’s guest floor, which opened to a spacious living area, this opened to a hallway with three doors. Tony opened the door in the middle and entered the spacious apartment.
James looked confused but gamely stepped in with Tony.
They headed to the sofa and Tony patted the seat next to him. “Pull up a cushion. You seemed a little uncomfortable there all of a sudden. Everything okay?”
James suddenly slumped and rubbed his hand over his face. “She’s so perfect.”
Tony snorted. “Not really, but it’s cute that you think so. She is pretty awesome, though. But is there a reason why her awesomeness stresses you out?”
“I’m a mess.”
“Ah, it’s like that, then.”
James sat up straight, looking guarded.
Tony waved off the reaction. “You’re both adults, and I’m not her dad. Though I think we both know that anything serious is a bad idea right now. You’re recovering who you are, and you both deserve to start something on a more equal footing.”
James looked away. “So, I should stay away.”
“I didn’t say that. Everyone can use more friends, James. You’ve been through hell. Pen’s life hasn’t been easy, certainly not since she got to know me. Her story is hers to tell, and she’ll let you in eventually. Get to know each other, flirt, have fun. Just give yourself time to heal before anything else is decided.”
“She’s too good for me anyway.”
Tony scoffed. “I want front row tickets to her kicking your ass when she finds out you’re making decisions for her.”
“I’m not!”
“You are. Look, you’ve come so far in a short period of time, and time is what you need. Give both of you that time.”
James finally gave a terse nod. Then he looked around. “Where are we?”
“Your new quarters.”
“What?”
“There are still some security precautions up here, but there’s no reason to keep you locked up anymore like you’re a prisoner. Bruce is going to take point on getting you hooked up with specialists to start working on the deprogramming. Since the trigger words are still an issue, Jarvis will continue to filter everything you watch or access to be certain Hydra can’t slip those words by innocuously on a radio broadcast or TV program.
“It’s not viable to leave the tower right yet but, honestly, I can’t really leave much either. There’s a full gym and boxing ring, as you know. There’s a pool in the sub-basement that Tony’s employees have access to up to eight at night, but you could use after that time. Anything you need, Jarvis can arrange for you.” Tony gestured to the apartment. It had been remodeled so that half the floor was James’ new apartment. Of the remaining half, part had been dedicated to whatever medical needs James might have. The medical suite was empty now, likely therapy offices of some sort. The third part was a smaller set of guest suites in the event they ever needed to house anyone else on this floor.
James looked befuddled. “This is for me?”
“Yep. Figure yourself out. This is your spot. Steve had advocated for you staying with him, but Tony and I both felt that you needed more privacy than basically being roomies with Steve, even if you’d both have plenty of space.”
James looked down at where his hand was fisted in his jeans. “Yeah. Thanks. Steve is…complicated. I remember more, but the more I remember, the harder it is some days. I can’t be that guy.”
“He knows that, James,” Tony said softly. “And I get that it’s harder not to feel like you have to live up to that memory when you’re sharing a kitchen. So, this is your spot. I do think you and Bruce could probably cohabitate successfully, but that should be because you two are buddies and want to, not because either of you feels you have to. So, try this out and see how you feel. Make it your own. Tony wants you to personalize it, figure out what makes you happy and comfortable.”
James looked around again. “Some days, the weirdest thing is being able to make my own choices.”
Tony felt sad and angry on James’ behalf. “Don’t feel pressured to make choices, okay? Do what makes you feel safe, all right?”
After a few more seconds of looking around at the apartment with something like bewilderment, James finally looked squarely at Tony again. “You’re the one who decided I was ready for this, aren’t you?”
“I…” Tony rubbed the back of his neck, not wanting to be perceived as being in that kind of power position over James. “I made a recommendation. People trust my judgment about things, and they asked my opinions about the people here. You’re the only one I haven’t spoken to about making those observations.”
“But if you don’t do it, they’ll send someone from the outside to do it, right?”
“Yes.”
“So, you should do it.” James got to his feet and began wandering the living space. “From what I remember of my relationship with Steve, I’m pretty sure I’d have been your mom’s godfather.”
“I’d imagine so.”
James let his fingers linger on the Sci-Fi series Stark had picked out for James to dig into. “You’d have grown up as part of my family.”
“I think so,” Tony murmured. “That opportunity isn’t lost, James. They took a lot from you, but you can take back a life. The foundation is there, you know? Steve is still here; I’m here.”
James’ head moved just slightly, but it was an acknowledgment of sorts.
Tony got to his feet. “You’re not a prisoner. If you want to visit Bruce or me or whoever, just let Jarvis know.”
After a hesitation, James asked, “Is Penelope staying?”
“Tony’s working on her permanent situation down on another floor, so in the interim, she’s going to be occupying one of the guest rooms on the same floor as Steve. Though she’ll be making a few trips back to DC to pack and whatnot. But, yeah, short answer is that she’s moving here.”
“Yeah, all right.” James seemed like he was at his limit, so Tony headed toward the door.
“I’m going to go collect Thor. If you need anything, just give a holler. There’s a new tablet and phone for you by your bed. It’s got a bit of a nanny mode on it so Jarvis can keep Hydra from getting in your head, but you’re ready for this, so run with it.”
Just as his hand closed on the doorknob, James called out, “Tony… Thank you.”
Tony stopped and looked back, raising a brow in question because the thanks sounded like more than just casual thanks for showing him the apartment.
“Thank you for bringing me here…for not leaving me behind.”
He had a hard time keeping the sadness out of his smile. “You’re welcome, James. And welcome home.”
Chapter Eighteen
As soon as they entered Thor’s suite and the door closed behind them, Thor backed Tony up against the wall, feasting on his neck. “I’ve waited patiently to have you to myself. You were glorious today.”
Tony chuckled even as he clutched at Thor’s shoulders, his knees feeling weak. “Glorious? You’re so over the top.” Thor’s teeth hit a particularly sensitive spot, and Tony shuddered.
“Your verbal trap for Fury was well executed.” He slid a hand down to Tony’s thigh, lifting it to wrap around his waist. They ground against each other. “I would have you, beloved,” Thor whispered, lips pressed against Tony’s ear.
“Wait.” Tony pushed at Thor’s shoulders. “I need to talk to you first.” He hadn’t even made the decision consciously, but it had been rattling around in the back of his mind all day.
Thor pulled back, a look of concern on his face. “What troubles you?”
Tony lowered his leg and wiggled away from Thor, feeling clearer headed for not being in direct contact with all of that. “Let’s just talk for a minute. You want a beer?”
“I liked that dark ale you favored us with two nights ago.”
“Guinness. Give me a minute… It takes a little bit to pour properly.”
“I will watch this ‘pour’ and you can begin to say what troubles you.” Thor followed him into the kitchen.
Tony got out the beer, selecting an IPA for himself. “There was something Morrigan told me that I elected not to inform you of at the time.” He focused on pouring the Guinness and didn’t look at Thor.
“And that is your right. What we learn in the arms of Yggdrasil is private, and none could fault you for choosing to hold close what you were told. Though I greatly appreciate the news you shared with me of Loki, my sister, and Ragnarok.”
“Mm-hm.” Tony considered what he wanted to say. “See, the thing is, the news was about you and me specifically. And it was presented like it was okay to keep the information to myself, but I’m not so sure about that.”
“If this news is about us, I readily admit my curiosity is piqued, but it most certainly is ‘okay’ to keep the news to yourself if that is your wish.”
“I’m not sure it is my wish.” He handed the Guinness to Thor, who took it but watched Tony rather than drink. “Let’s go sit.” Tony took the few seconds he had between kitchen and couch to get his thoughts in order.
Thor sat in the armchair, setting his beer on the side table, then pulled Tony down onto his lap.
Tony laughed. “I was thinking the couch.”
“I like you here.”
Sighing, Tony wrapped his arm around Thor’s strong shoulders. “You know I have to keep a lot of secrets, right?”
“For this work you do? Yes, I understand the nature of state secrets even if the particulars of Midgardian governance elude me.”
“Yeah.” Tony blew out a breath. “The thing is, I got used to the secrecy consuming my life. I tried to be honest as much as I could, but it’s hard when you have to lie about your occupation.”
Thor’s arm tightened around Tony’s waist. “That would be difficult. Our spymasters struggle with the same, I’m sure.”
“Right. So, I got to thinking that now that it’s over, by some measure of over, and I’m openly going to be part of the Avengers, I don’t want there to be secrets where they don’t serve a purpose. And I don’t want to be in the position of having to lie.” He hesitated. “Not to you.”
“Anthony…” Thor touched the side of Tony’s face, nudging until Tony looked at him. “What has happened.”
“I was cautioned to be judicious about how I used information, but I think the best I can do is give people the information they need and offer counsel if they want it. I don’t want to be like Nick Fury…arranging pieces on a chessboard.”
“Know that you are under no obligation to tell me what the Morrigan said to you, but if you wish to share this burden, I will help you bear it.”
Tony stared at Thor for a long time, wondering what this might do to them. “What if I told you we’d known each other before?”
Thor blinked several times. “You passed through the eye of Yggdrasil and were born again?”
“If by that you mean reincarnated, then, yes, I suppose so.”
“And who were you when we last met?”
“I didn’t get the name from her. She said I’d died when we were young…” He hesitated. “That I saved you.”
Thor’s arm tightened again—to the degree it would be painful if Tony weren’t enhanced. “It is perhaps unfortunate that more than one person I have known in my life has sacrificed themselves for me, but only one when I was young. I was but forty years of age, not yet battle ready, and my friend took a blade meant for me.” Thor reached up and framed Tony’s face, their gazes locked.
They stared at each other, and Tony couldn’t say how much time passed.
Thor sucked in a breath, eyes going misty. “Åsmund.”
“I’m not,” Tony choked out, the name resonating in him. “I may have his soul, but I don’t have his memories. I’ll never know the things you know. I’ll never—” He was cut off when Thor yanked him into a fierce kiss.
They fought for control of the kiss, but Tony ultimately surrendered and let Thor dominate his mouth. He found himself on his back on the floor with Thor doing his best to merge them into one person.
Tony broke the kiss, gasping for breath. “Thor…”
Thor nipped sharply at his throat. “I know you are not the same as him and, yet, it’s as if something precious was returned to me.” He braced himself on his arms, hovering above Tony. “Our souls recognized one another, and it was not mine alone, Anthony. You may not remember here,” he stroked the side of Tony’s face, “but you remember here.” Thor rested a hand over Tony’s heart.
“Thor—”
“Do you deny the draw you feel to me?”
Tony felt his face twist as he wished he could deny it. “No. I’ve been drawn to you since we met.”
Getting to his feet, Thor pulled Tony up and got them sprawled out on the couch with Tony half lying on him. “I understand your worry… That it will be like the captain and his friend, no?”
“If you mean the way Steve looks at James and forces himself to bite back the expectation of a past James doesn’t remember? Yeah, that.”
“I have lived fifteen hundred years, Anthony. I had a mere thirty-two years to get to know Åsmund, but our friendship was deep. I grieved his loss for many centuries. But the years we’ll have to together as Thor and Tony will greatly outnumber the years of memories I have of Åsmund.”
Tony frowned, wondering if that were even possible.
Thor sighed. “I have no expectations of you beyond who you are now. That you are the soul of my friend, who in all the important ways is still the same, does not mean I do not see you. I am simply grateful that Yggdrasil has brought you back to me.”
Tony huffed and rested his head on Thor’s chest. He blew out a breath then gave in to temptation and asked. “So… Åsmund?”
“It means protector. It was perhaps prescient on Heimdall’s part.” His thumb grazed along the top of Tony’s cheekbone.
“Heimdall?”
“Åsmund’s father. His only child.”
“Huh. That’s weird.”
“How so?”
“Perhaps not his only child.”
Thor tilted Tony’s face so their eyes met. “What do you mean?”
“Morrigan said that Heimdall unknowingly left a child behind on Earth when the Asgardians closed the Bifrost. That I’m descended from his line through my biological father, and that’s the Asgardian genetics that were awoken by Hydra’s experiments. Heimdall’s genetics.”
Brow furrowed, Thor looked thoughtful. “I know not what to make of this.”
“I’m not sure it has any particular meaning.”
“I feel it does. You are descended from an unknown line of Heimdall and are his reincarnated son? There seems meaning in that.”
“I’d say don’t be going on about fate, but it seems like Agent of Fate is practically my job description.”
Thor laughed, dropping a firm kiss on Tony’s mouth. “Never fear that I do not see you for who you are, Anthony. While much of you is like Åsmund, you are different in many ways.”
“How so?” Tony didn’t want to be curious but he couldn’t help that he was.
“The core of you is the same. Your honor, your cleverness, your ability to love.” Thor’s arms tightened fractionally. “But Åsmund was always shy. He did not seek confrontation, and he was not boisterous the way I or my other friends were. He preferred solitary pursuits. Many were surprised when he took the blade meant for me, though I was not, even though I wished he had not done so. He stepped in front of me, and it pierced his throat.”
Tony threaded his fingers through Thor’s hair. “I’m sorry you lost someone you cared for.”
“He died in my arms before his father could even arrive.”
“That must have been terrible.”
Thor kissed Tony’s forehead.
Tony sighed. “You’re sure your feelings for me aren’t influenced by this past life…thing?”
“Hmm.” Thor’s fingers trailed along Tony’s spine. “I cannot say with certainty. Can you?”
“Pardon?”
“I cannot say that my draw to you at first was not due to our souls having known one another before. Are you sure your attraction to me was not influenced by having known me?”
Tony opened his mouth to deny it but then snapped it shut. “I guess I can’t. My draw to you was more profound than I’m used to, I’ll admit that.”
“Then perhaps we recognized each other, yes? And that was the bridge by which we were able to know who we are now.”
“Because even if I had Åsmund’s memories, you’ve lived 1500 years without him… You’re hardly who you were when you were forty.”
“Indeed. And the man I love is the man before me.”
Tony stilled. “Thor.”
Thor pressed a finger to Tony’s lips. “You will say it when you’re ready. I place no expectation upon you.”
Tony pulled the finger away, holding on to Thor’s hand. “I just need a little more time.”
“And you shall have whatever you desire.”
– – – –
Tony woke, feeling a weird buzzing in the air. He glanced at the bedside clock. It was three in the morning.
Thor woke a second later, sitting straight up in bed and calling Mjølnir to hand in the next breath.
“I guess you feel it too?”
“Yes. There’s something here.”
“Which no doubt will require pants.” Tony hopped out of bed, shimmying into his jeans and grabbing a T-shirt.
“Tony,” Jarvis’ said softly, “there is what I believe to be an Asgardian on the landing pad. They are waiting outside patiently. I’ve notified Sir. He will join you if Mr. Odinson feels backup is required.”
“Thanks, Jarvis.”
Thor looked troubled. “The bifröst is still months from functional.”
“What are you thinking?”
“My father sent me here to kill you.”
“You can’t think he knew who I actually was.”
“At one time, I would have said he could not know, but now…I am no longer as confident in my father as I once was.”
“I’m sorry. That must be difficult.” Tony stepped close. “Is there any way other than your father using the Tesseract that they could have been sent here?”
“There are secret ways known only to the practitioners of seidr.”
“Jarvis, can you send the security feed from the landing pad to my phone? Let’s at least get a look at what’s waiting for us.”
There was only one person out there. They’d stepped down from the actual landing pad and seemed to be waiting patiently outside the doors in full view of the security cameras. The figure was shortish-to-average height and fully covered by a hooded cloak. The slighter build made Tony think they were likely female, but he couldn’t be sure. The cloak had some interesting markings on it, but the face was obscured completely.
Now fully dressed, Thor stepped up next to Tony and peered at the phone. He sucked in a sharp breath.
When there was no information forthcoming, Tony nudged Thor. “Care to share with the class?”
“All will be well,” Thor tried to reassure.
“Thor?”
“The markings on the cloak denote that to be one of the Norns.”
Tony stared, unable to come up with a response.
Thor took his hand. “Come. Let’s greet our guest.”
“Right. I guess I can’t just stay here, can I…?” he asked leadingly, hoping he could avoid whatever this was.
Thor shook his head and led Tony to the elevator.
It was three floors down to the party deck where their visitor was waiting. It was cold as fuck out there in the middle of the night in winter, but as they approached, Tony didn’t see any sign that their guest was chilled.
They’d barely cleared the door, and Thor took a breath like he was about to say something, when the short figure threw off the hood, revealing a young woman’s face. Thor’s breath caught in his throat. He immediately dropped to one knee.
“Urðr!” Thor’s head was bowed deferentially, so Tony figured this was important, but he was mostly clueless as to the nature of what was happening.
“So, um, I’m guessing your presence here is significant, and I’m all down for being polite, but I’m not going to invite you in out of the cold if I don’t know that you’re not here to stir stuff up. I mean, this is Tony Stark’s house, and his party deck has already been trashed by one Asgardian.”
“I am not an Asgardian,” she said as she stepped forward. “Well met, Anthony, instrument of Fate, of the line of Sheppard, descended of the line of Heimdall.” She pressed her hand over his heart. “Very well met, Åsmund, son of Heimdall.”
“I’m not—” He swallowed. “I have no memory of him.”
“It was your first time through the arms of Yggdrasil, and the incarnation of Anthony will not be your last. Åsmund’s sacrifice ensured the future of Asgard and made him an instrument of Fate. Many lives have you lived in her service. Many times have you sacrificed yourself for others. But your first life, the life where Yggdrasil gave your soul to this world was Åsmund.”
“Who are you?” Tony knew vaguely what the Norns were but nothing else about them. It was an element of Norse mythology he’d never felt the need to delve into.
“I am Urðr. I am one of the Norns.” She reached up and pressed a finger to his lips before he could say anything. “My time here is short, young one. Your father sends his joyful greetings; he is desirous of a reunion one day soon. He assures you that Odin will learn nothing of you from his lips. Now, what house would you call your own?”
Tony blinked, not having any idea what that meant, not even able to deal with the father thing. “Uh… What?”
“To what house are you pledged?”
“Oh. I guess the house of Stark.” It was as good an answer as anything he could come up with since he and Stark were in the same fate-basket and Stark was giving his pantheon a place to hide. Not to mention that he was literally standing on Stark’s property.
“Anthony of the House of Stark, God of Protection and Light. So mote it be.”
A weight felt like it landed on him, driving him to his knees and everything whited out.
There was noise he couldn’t process, but he registered that it was abruptly warmer. The spots faded from his vision, and he came back to himself on one of the couches back on their floor with Thor sitting next to him.
Thor was watching him closely, brow furrowed in a way that spoke to concern.
“So, uh, where’d the Norn lady go?”
“Urðr has returned to her realm. The Norns do not venture to the mortal plane often.”
“I’m suddenly feeling super tired, so could we jump to the salient points and talk about everything else after I’ve slept for a week?”
“The settling of your title will exhaust you for a time,” Thor said seriously.
Tony pointed at him. “Yes, that. What the hell was that? Please tell me I was hallucinating?”
“It was no fugue state, beloved.”
Tony’s brows shot up and he nudged Thor. “Okay, so… I guess that really happened. I can’t even with this whole thing.” He considered his lover for a second. “And why do you seem so tense? What’s got your knickers in a knot?”
“It’s an interesting title the Norns have bestowed on you.”
“In what sense?”
“There are many protector gods,” Thor answered slowly. “I am one. Heimdall is as well. My office is also of the warrior gods. But there has never explicitly been a godhood called the God of Protection. It’s…interesting.”
“Interesting good, or interesting what the fuck?”
Thor moved closer. “It’s not a bad distinction; it simply is. But we cannot know what it means.”
Tony opened his mouth to ask a question but then decided he’d hit his limit. “I’m going to bed. I’ll have to freak out about this tomorrow.”
Thor readily followed him into the room and pressed a kiss to his temple. “All will be well.”
Tony crawled into bed, feeling exhaustion pulling at him. Even though he was beyond his limits with fatigue, sleep felt elusive.
Thor slid into bed next to him, and it took Thor draining away the energy humming under his skin for him to realize how close to out of control he was.
– – – –
A shadow fell over Tony, and he cracked one eye open, peering up at where Stark was standing next to his chair on the balcony. “I was using those UV rays, I’ll have you know.”
“Photosynthesis?”
“Ass.”
Stark laughed and pulled up a chair. “It’s practically balmy out here.”
“It’s forty-five. It’s like the deep freeze fucked off in a big way.”
“Tribute,” Stark offered as he tossed Tony an apple.
Tony huffed but took a bite. “I guess you heard.”
“Hell, Sparky, one of the fucking Norns showed up on my party deck. Yeah, I got the whole story. Steve is acting all paternal and grilling Thor about what it means for you to be a literal god.”
Tony groaned let his head flop back.
“So, were you really needing the sun? Or were you just hiding from your new reality?”
“Both. But, also, when the Norns put the godly whammy on you, it’s like getting hit with a divine brick. I’m fucking exhausted. I figured the sun could only help.”
“And is it helping?”
“Sort of. I’d be totally napping out here naked if it were summer.”
“Hmm. I’ll have to be sure Jarvis accounts for privacy screens for those among us who recharge in the sun when the warmer months come around.” He nudged Tony with his elbow. “You okay?”
“I don’t know. I’d like to say I think it’s irrelevant because I don’t plan on it changing my path, but I just don’t know.” He made a face.
“What’s that look about?”
“I was just thinking about what Morrigan said about how Asgard has always been vital to the protection of the nine realms, which are the anchor points of Yggdrasil. I don’t want to let these Asgardian shenanigans steer me, but it seems like Asgard might be the endgame after all.”
“But that day is not today,” Stark advised. “There’s no viable transport method to Asgard unless Odin himself comes down from on high with the Tesseract in hand. Asgard can wait a bit while we get stuff sorted here.”
“Point.” Tony blew out a breath. “So, I’ll just stay on task until their freaky bridge is fixed, and then I’ll decide what’s next.”
“But it’s worth keeping in mind that it’s obviously supposed to mean something, right? These Norns don’t drop those titles on every Asgardian—it’s not even a small percentage of them, apparently. Thor was just telling Steve that they only drop that kind of title on the worthy.”
“Bah.”
Stark grinned. “Suck it up, Glowstick. Everyone thinks you’re awesome. You’re like a fucking unicorn.”
“A mythical creature?”
“Or that.”
Tony took a good look at Stark. “You got laid. I mean, like properly laid.”
Stark’s smile softened. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well, hallelujah. It was good, I take it?”
“The fucking angels sang.”
Tony laughed.
“It’s why I wasn’t eager to get up when Jarvis said someone had just appeared on the landing pad but wasn’t doing anything.”
“Like interrupting the afterglow or actual coitus interruptus?”
“The latter.”
“Well, that would have sucked.”
“That precisely is why I didn’t want to get out of bed.”
“That may have been too specific.” Tony grinned and nudged Stark back. “Nicely done.”
“He asked about us moving in together. Not right away, but someday soon. Which,” Stark chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, “is kinda weird considering he only lives a couple of floors above me.”
“It’s not weird. People can live right next door to each other, but moving in together is still a big step.”
“Yeah. I think we’re close, but I’m not ready yet. I need a few months where I’m sure…” Stark looked off in the distance.
“Where you’re sure he’s not going to go back to judging you?”
“That sounds so…”
“Human?”
“Stop it.” Stark glared. “I just need to be sure.” He lifted one shoulder. “He’s good with it. I figure we’ll spend more nights together than not. I’m not sure how to sort out all the living logistics since you’re not fully living with Thor either.”
“We’ll manage it. It’s not like we’re short on brainpower.”
“Yeah, but you eventually living with Thor doesn’t solve the need to have, uh, project space.”
Tony made a face. “Right.” How to have secrets from the person you’re living with 101.
“So I had a thought. Because I cannot have a problem in front of me and not try to solve it.”
“Okay…”
“Pep and I have offices on 78, right below my workshop, and then executive conference rooms on 77. I’m thinking about moving her down to 77, and it’d just be you and me with access to 78 unless we want to allow someone up there.”
“She may not appreciate that. Being told she doesn’t have access to your office, that is.”
“Yeah, well, she’ll just have to deal. She knows there are things I work on that she doesn’t get to know about. There would be multiple high-security spaces, so we can lock down whatever we need to if I need to bring someone into my actual office for SI purposes or whatever.”
“Yeah, okay. I mean, if you’re willing to sacrifice another floor to the cause.”
Stark waved negligently. “It’s fine. We still have many floors unoccupied. We can work on the security for our new private office floor so that we can even dedicate part of it to the Avengers so that no one questions what we’re up to.” He rubbed his hands together. “So, that’s a plan. It’s too fucking cold out here for prolonged exposure. I’m going to go give Jarvis a headache with all the logistical crap I need done.”
“You sound way too gleeful about giving your kid a headache.”
Stark shot him a grin and headed inside.
Tony closed his eyes and went back to soaking up the sun. When he was finally noticing the cold more than the sun, he headed back in and did a double take at something new that had been set up on the dining table. Upon closer inspection, it was a small marble altar with various fruits and even a fucking golden goblet on it. The word “Tony” had been etched on the front. There was a little paper tent with the words “leave godly tribute here” stenciled on the front.
Stark was such an asshole, and Tony laughed so hard he could barely stand up.
The End
The original banner from Rough Trade/NaNo 2018, created by Jilly James.
SQUEEEEE!!! OMG, it seems like I’ve been waiting for this, like, forever! (And yeah, I know I’m fangirling all over this at the moment, but don’t care. You — and this story — deserve it. Deal, please? ;P)
Anyway, not only is the idea of Tony being Cap’s grandson hilarious (in the best way), but he and Thor are so incredibly adorable and cute together! Well, and scorching hot, but … yeah. *drools* Unfortunately, I’m busy this morning (it’s my husband’s birthday), but I can’t wait to find the time to reread all the “old” stuff and discover the new. Thanks for posting, you definitely made my day/weekend!
Love it, Jilly, as always! Tony a Sheppard too, I squee’d at both of the references, and the relationships between Tony and Steve, Tony and Thor, everyone… this is perfect (despite the inherent problems of 2 Tonys who both need to be Tony at times). Always my favourite author
Love anything you write with Tony. Loved this
Superb, as your writings ALWAYS are! Thank you!
Thank you Jilly, you just made a crappy week end on a perfect note. I can’t wait to read this over the weekend. I really enjoyed it on Rough Trade and am looking forward to it so much. You are a goddess! Hugs, Hxx
I stayed up way too late reading this…. It’s so perfect. I agree so hard with your analysis of the Avengers. The budding romances here are perfect- and I’m always in awe of how you, all Lachesis-like, weave the threads so well. Thanks for a great story I’ll read over and over again.
Excellent stopping point, even as I cry for more of this story. The story seems fully realized, but the resonance between the characters is particularly well-written (absolutely amazing characterization). I’d love to see more about the re-establishment of HELIOS, and what their new name might be, ironing out the UN-Avengers details, reading Col. Rhodes response to his VIP tickets to the Tony-&-Tony Show, Asgard/Loki shenanigans, and basically an awesome fix-it fic for Marvel-verse. I guess it all depends on if you’re still feeling this head-canon or if you’re tired of Marvel. But this fic feels like it could anchor a series, multi-chapter fics or shorts, whatever. It was playing like a movie in my mind as I read it. I guess I’ll just have to imagine what I’d like to happen next.
Wow … this story really took me by surprise today. I’m not sure if I read it during RT in 2018 or not (I read way too much to remember, sorry), but it was a wild ride. Absolutely enjoyable and an interesting mix of people working together. I really enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing.
Oh my god! Oh my gods!! I love this. This was such a fantastic piece of work, with such excellent characterisation from all your cast, like each of their voices was totally accurate despite the new circumstances. Just glorious!
Thanks for sharing it with us!
I looooved this so much, thank you for sharing! ❤️ Your Tony is really the best, in all of your worlds. I could have read on and in in this world of yours. Your stories keep on giving. Thank you so much!
Yusss! I have been waiting for this ever since it first appeared on rough trade! And it. Was. Glorious! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the awesomeness that is Tony/Thor. I also loved the little references, like the hint about the Shep Fam. And can I just say, the thought of High Priestess Penny just tickles me pink. Please tell me there’s going to be a sequel…
Very cute and awesome
Loved it so much love!! I re-read this many times while on RT and now can do it here.
This was such a joy to read. Thank you so much.
The snark was epic. Tony of the line of Sheppard and Heimdall (and the House of Stark). Sweet. Those are some mighty fine genes. Loved his visit with Morrigan. That was cool.
Thank you again.
I adore you. Thank you for this masterpiece. Seriously amazing.
Honestly, while I loved a redeemed Rogers, I am beyond smitten with the relationship the two Tony’s share! I cannot get enough of them!!! Now I’m going to reread your other Tony/Don fic just to get more! Thank you for sharing this!
This is fantastic. Thank you for sharing!
LOVED IT. I have always loved the way you write dialog with just the right touch of snark and humor without being obnoxious. The characters are wonderful, the sexy times well written and not over done. I hope you continue on with this world because it was really really good
Fantastic! I loved this story so much. What a great way to use Tony DiNozzo’s character and weave it into the MCU verse. Major kudos!
Oh my goodness, this made me so happy! I love the snark.
1) How do you always manage to come up with ideas and pairings that manage to suck me in and make me binge-read the whole thing??
2) The epic friendship between the two Tonys was absolutely awesome
3) It is criminal that no Groot(s) appeared in this
Wonderful!
Lovely. Thank you for sharing.
This was brilliant! The creepy scientist set the stage for horror, but thank goodness the chair wasn’t needed. Tony taking Barnes with him was wonderful.
Steve was a thoughtful and sympathetic character with an ingenious and believable reason for the arrogance displayed in MCU. Evil callous Fury fit right in with Hydra. Romanoff was self-centered and chose poorly.
Tony D was perfect with his PhD in psychology and analysis. Loved the Asgardian, Sheppard and Groot influences! And the relationship with Thor was hot.
I stayed up until 1 AM reading this and loved it!
That is simply amazing.
I love the way you weave the surreal, drama and everyday things together, from mystical trees to Stark’s tributes to an operation to stop helicarriers killing millions.
Tony (DiNozzo) is lovely in this, doing work he enjoys with colleagues he actually likes and mutual appreciation as well as a kickass title and support at the highest level.
It was interesting to see Fury’s egocentric take on that was to want those skills for himself, not recognising that there was more value in them being available to other agencies or even that there may be more important players than him. Aside from that, he also didn’t seem to understand that a reluctant/coerced employee has no loyalty to him and it is better and more efficient to have someone who wants to work there. He has gone too far into his own delusions to be safe or useful in the spy business.
High stress jobs take their toll and it was great to see the support they gave each other, from grandfather/grandson to super soldier solidarity and the two Tony’s similar mindsets. Not forgetting the development of the romantic relationships and the support they got from partners, as well as ‘stress relief’!
Oh wow. I remember this from before. I adored it then and love it even more now. I really liked how you addressed Steve’s issues with the future. I felt like I could like Steve and Tony together as a couple again. Tony/Thor was way hot! Thank you for sharing it. ❤️❤️
Rachel
This was beautiful. I loved the twist of Tony (DiNozzo) and Groot, that was great! The relationships were lovely to watch as they developed, not just the romances, which were great, but the friendships as well. A lovely fic and a fantastic read.
Thank you for sharing,
~ Sibyl
Loved this so much. Thanks.
This was a treat! I’m always going to love the antics of Tony & Tony no matter their relationship. I’d never have considered DiNozzo/Thor but it was a ton of fun and really sweet. And the way you dealt with SHIELD was pretty perfect. Thank you for sharing this with us!
Whoa! This was totally awesome. Im so glad I didn’t read it before and was able to enjoy the finished product all in one go. You just sucked up a day or so from my life and I don’t even care that I left the sink full of dirty dishes. There was so much in this to love that I’m left with lots of spinning thoughts. Loved that Dinozzo’s puzzle solving skills was put to use on HELIOS. Adore that they communicated via a farming app. And really liked they way Stark’s running god gag and Dinozzo’s observation skills lightened the story. I was very happy to see Fury and Natasha held to account. Tony effectively taking down a corrupted agency will never get old. But…Sheppard!! You evil woman you! Had to laugh. Norns for the win.
Loved it!!! I didn’t catch it on Rough Trade so this is my first go round. You seriously write my favorite Dinozzo!! Thanks soo much for this! The Tony squared bromance was absolutely amazing!!!
I loved this . thank you for finish this lovely fic. I love your Anthony Dinozzo.
You write him in a competent way And you did a great job of keeping the Tonys seperate in a way I could understand who was being discussed.
This was so amazing, I couldn’t stop reading last night until I literally almost passed out with the laptop still open on my lap. Finishing it was both glorious and sad – I adored everything about this, and like all your fic can only wish it would go on forever so I can continue reading!
Thank you, a wonderful way to spend my few free hours. xxx
Oh my fucking god, I have spent a day and a half reading this story and it is the best time I have spent in ages! I absolutely LOVE this whole AU. I hope your muse strikes to write more in this ‘verse, because I am stoked by the reference to the Sheppards (and yay, me, I had figured that connection out way ahead of the confirmation). Not to mention Tony/Sentry has to meet Heimdall and Patrick Sheppard at some point. Excellent!
This was fantastic only wish it could go on. Or have a sequel
Smart, super capable Tony is always going to work for me. This was lovely. The Thor/Tony pairing was something I never knew I needed but, holy cow, it’s amazing. Thank you so much for this long, delicious read!
Thank you so much for this, it really brightened my day!
Great story!! I really enjoy all your writing. This is the first time I found the comment block ?, I’ve looked before but could never find it. All of your stories are great, you really draw readers into your characters and plots. I find myself ‘re reading them all the time. Don’t ask which is my favorite, I have way many to choose from. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication, you are an awesome writer. ???
Wow, this was great! The MCU movies were ok, but not my favorite, but between you and Keira, you’re pulling me into this fandom. I’m now mentally putting Fury in the same category as Dumbledore.
I love your writing—thanks for sharing!
Seriously love this!!! Tony with powers! And with Thor. Love that he’s smart and confident. The snark between him and Stark is awesome. Love it, thank you for sharing 🙂
Oh my God I love you. I was just gearing up to ask if you had posted this somewhere else so that I could get a quick re read in and it just appeared, complete. I have no words for the love…
Thank you. I loved where you were going with this during RT, & it’s a joy to read all of it now.
What a treat! A lovely meaty read. I adore the extrapolation of Tony’s career. And the snarkfest. Well, there goes my day.
Absolutely awesome,, thanks!
Completely brilliant!
Thanks very much Jilly.
Great story.
I loved this! I cackled my way through much of it, and engaged in at least one fist pump and more than a little geriatric fangirl boogie woogie, doing a mad little victory dance in my jammies.
Thanks so much for this. And the unforgettable thought of Jarvis teaching Steve about condoms..because of the evidence of his lack of this particular skill residing a few floors away! The Hulk cuddling everyone. Hell, even James with Penelope! Thanks for Tony and Tony, partners in crime. I loved every bit of this!
SOOO much fun to run into an old friend like this fic! I read this when you first posted it and have since read all the rest of the things I can find that you’ve shared (Major fangirl here) – I even caught the Easter egg of Tony being a lost Shepherd this time!
Sending virtual brownies with ice cream for letting me revisit this awesome fic!!
This was great. I love this story. The idea of dinozzo being Steve’s grandson? When I first read it I had to laugh so hard. Also, I love competent DiNozzo AND competent Stark.
Thank you for this story, or better said thank you for sharing this story with us. I really enjoyed reading it and it was over way too fast, as it always is when I’m reading a well written story.
Great Story. Thank you for sharing
I told my fiancee today that reading a new fic from you feels like eating a box of Godiva – I’m starting to think I may need to find a more decadent brand to compare it too. What a wonderful fic!!
Just fantastic! I always enjoy your personality and voice for Tony D and to see him and Stark playing off each other here is so great! I laughed so much through this whole story. The relationships are so well done and seem to flow naturally with either friend, family or lover. Thanks so much for sharing!
YES! Definitely one of my favorite Tony Aus.
I saw this yesterday, and started reading, and eventually dragged myself to bed at 5.00 a.m. because I couldn’t properly focus on the screen. ?
It’s a fantastic story, of which I have only the vaguest memory from Rough Trade, and I enjoyed it hugely. It’s impossible to pick a favourite bit, because there is SO MUCH that is awesome, and so many laugh-out-loud moments, but I really love the relationship between the two Tonys, and the last two paragraphs are pure gold.
Thanks for sharing.
Oh My Gosh!! I ❤ your story a lot!
Thor and Tony are cute as well as Tony and Steve!
was just thinking about this past rough trade entry the other day then low and behold here be the completed story 🙂 – fantastic read !!
This is awesome! I loved it when you worked on it on RT, and I love how it played out. Also, kudos on how you managed the two Tonys issue. There was never a point where I couldn’t follow the differing POVs and who was talking at the time. I’m pretty sure the logistics of that would have driven me crazy, so like I said, kudos. Also, “Yer a plant, Tony.” (Hagrid voice) will never not be funny.
Great story, great characterization… great job, Jilly. 🙂
I have no idea how I missed this one on RT in 2018, but I’m so glad you shared it now! It was fantastic. You nailed every character perfectly. I felt so vindicated when the Norn said he was a Sheppard, I guessed it!! You are a fantastic writer and I love your work!
What a wonderful piece of writing!
You have such a gift for melding characters and universes to create one of your own that is internally consistent , consistent with the originals, and where the characters are true to themselves. I love the way you develop both the mythologies and the science involved. And your Tony is always the best!!
Thank you for sharing,
This is so frigging awesome I don’t know where to start. Thank you so much. You filled in so many holes that I hadn’t even thought about . And now the possibilities are incredible. My hat is off to your skill.
Yet another superb story, thank you for sharing! I love seeing how you weave in a few other people from fandoms or plots you shared in other stories. It’s like Easter eggs for Jilly fans!
This was absolutely fantastic. Your ability to weave all these plot elements into a cohesive whole never fails to draw me in until I look up and realize hours have passed that I have been immersed in your worlds. Thank you so much for sharing!
I looooved this! (Hi, regular lurker here! *waves*) I didn’t realize how much I needed a story like this until I was about a third of the way through it, and sneaking in reading between chores and my toddler napping. This definitely will go on my re-read list for whenever I need a break. Well done on the characterizations, HELIOS, and the twist with Asgard/the Norns. I second what others have said, I could keep reading on and on in this world of yours. Awesome job! Thank you for this!
Argh, first comment went poof.
Anyway, awesome story! I was sad I didn’t see it when it was up on Rough Trade initially, but man, it was worth the wait for the complete version! :Db
This version Nick Fury is frightenly easy to see based on the movie characterization. And I wonder why Natasha decided to side with him when Coulson’s alive? Maybe she thought it’d be too hard to regain his trust?
Also, was Stark being both teasing and practical with the food “offerings” to Tony? Tony needs to eat more anyway, and Stark seems to like to feed people, going by the snacks he was offering in the lab with Bruce in the Avengers movie.
Natasha views the sides not as Fury and Coulson, but as Fury and Stark. DiNozzo is really the power player behind Stark, but she doesn’t have the insight to see that. Coulson has clearly thrown his lot in with Stark, and she knows she’s never getting back on Stark’s good side. She made the choice based on where she felt she’d have the most ability to influence the outcome to her own benefit.
This is awesome! I really enjoyed the Godly tributes. Thank you so much for posting this. The scene where Fury is ‘contained’ has stayed in my memory and I could not place it.
I loved this! I laughed so hard at all the snark flying around, I also enjoyed the nods to several other shows. Just a great story all around!
Great story, I really, really enjoyed reading it. Thanks for sharing it with us
I was super excited to see this! I loved it so very much. One of my favorite fuck you marvel stories out there!
This was truely lovely. Thank you. I loved the Tony’s relationship, all the snark and trolling was great.
Fabulous. I did not want to put it down (hence, why I am squirreled away in my office typing on my phone instead of finishing a project. 🤦🏼♀️)
I loved everything about this and bow down before your mastery of your craft. I had no trouble following the many threads of this story despite having seen none of the Avenger movies. (I did see the original Iron Man many moons ago. But anything else I know, I’ve learned from fandom and by that I mean from you and Keira.) You wove fandom, mythology and science into a wonderful complex story that left me smiling and happy and ready to start all over and read it again. Thank you for sharing this with us. What a gift.
Finally had the time and energy to finish and it was utterly delightful. I loved Fury getting his comeuppance and Tony and Thor and their godly ways. Stark was fantastic and snarky, and Steve was good.
And I am all in for James and Penelope.
Thank you so much for such a wonderful story!
So much amazingness in one story! The Tonyx2 snarkfest is wonderful. Steve learning about the future is great. The Mythos of Morrigan et al is fantastic. And Penelope is going to have a wonderful time at the tower.
If a sequel ever happens, I think she would take Peter under her wing and they would cause much chaos together.
Wow. That was awesomely epic and full of all the good things. Thank you for writing and sharing.
Love love love this! Your ability to weave a character through a world is spectacular. And I really enjoy how they are all perfectly in character or improved. Thank you so much for sharing these for us
I remember loving this when it was on RT and it was great to come back to the finished product. The way you wove the Norse mythology (both actual mythology and the MCU/Marvel mythology) was fabulous. The friendship between the two Tony’s will always delight me and the way the ripples of this universe help ground Steve and keep him from sliding into the self-righteous and rather ignorant weapon that Fury wanted to wield. And we get to see James saved and helped way sooner, which is always nice.
I enjoyed watching Steve unbend and find his sense of humor, and his relationship with Tony developed in a very believable way. All of the friendships and relationships in this are incredibly well done. Bruce and Hulk getting to where they can communicate and Hulk’s nicknames for the various super solders just made me grin.
And finally, you managed to actually write a Thor that I liked. I usually find him too pompous and arrogant in both the MCU canon and many of the fic I’ve read. You balance the character’s history as god and crown prince, both of which add to his arrogance, with an fuller personality. He still is very sure of his mind, but is willing to listen to counsel and take things into consideration. And the chemistry (and sex) between him and Tony D. were smoking.
Thank you for sharing this with us. <3 <3 <3
Thanks, V. I was uncertain about the Thor dynamic until I was actually writing it, so it’s gratifying to hear that it worked. I felt like he was a bit like cardboard in the franchise up until Ragnarok, which probably contributed to my ambivalence about him as a character. Behind the scenes, Bruce and Hulk are always my favorites though 🙂
This story was perfect. I needed it.Thank you.
What a fantastic story. I really love the shenanigans between the two Tonys. Especially the offerings 😀
And you brought some of my favourite fandoms together. Also I write enjoy the characteristics of the different characters (especially the Tonys, Bruce/Hulk and James)
So thank you very much for sharing
Hey, did any one catch Sheppard as the name of his biological father? It feel like an easter egg from Stargate Atlantis. Wait nevermind everyone already did.
This story is the BEST crossover of these two fandoms I have ever read❣️❣️❣️ I think I’ve found a new favorite author!!!
I really like how you not really change but kind of transitioned Steve into the current time and address to his faults and changed his opinion when new information came to light. I liked how you diverted Captain America: Winter Soldier and the Civil War, I couldn’t even watch the Civil War read about it got the gist of it but couldn’t see it in action… hated the idea they would be at odds and the whole thing just put me off. I like this much better.
There are several part that were memorable: the glowworm nickname, Tony DiNozzo being referred to as Superman and then finding out he’s actually part plant (giggles), the whole scene when Thor ask Tony if he was a god (that was pure gold). Those were the once I could think of right off the top of my head, more will probably come later but they’re not as important and the moment. This story is going to be read re-read and then read again in the future.
Wonderful, love it all, great story, love the pairing of Thor and Dinozzo, thank you
Aaaahhhhh, such a great fic! I absolutely loved it! You avoided the Insight helicarriers mess — even if Fury and Natashalie (attachment disorder, yes! 😢) are still too stubbornly blindered to see their own wrongs —, gave both wary Tonys sweet yet realistically taking-it-slow happy endings (and James, too! 😍 🤗Penelope🤗 is perfect to bring him some light!), and an equally perfect title/mantle (what is the proper term?) for TonyD’s powers. So many clever twists throughout, and you never lost the humor, both snarky and warm.
Plus, I get to gloat over having guessed/wondered about the right name for Claire Paddington (DiNozzo)’s one-night-stand widower. You’re not suggesting Asgardians *are* Alterans/Ancients, though, right? So the Sheppard DNA just gets even more s-m-h *interesting*.
I just read this for the second time and I love it so much! As many amazing parts are in here, I think my favorite parts are Hulk and his relationships with everyone and the tributes. I can just picture the many increasingly silly ways Stark finds a way to provide said tributes.
Thank you for sharing this!
Thank you!
Loved every bit of this, so much. Thank you!
ahhhh I finally got around to reading this and it was such a lovely swing back into mcu territory! I adore the little threads that made the whole, it was such a fun wander down the path to discover all the little surprises as you brought them out. thanks again for a wonderful read!
I really loved this! I’ve read it at least twice, once right after the first. Thanks so much for sharing your gift.
This was fabulous. I loved Tony doing his spy stuff and getting the respect he deserved. The way you paired the two or three universes was seemless. HELIOS was inspired. Definitely gave me a lot to think about. 5 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
This was absolutely delightful. I put off reading it because I was disenchanted with the MCU but I’m so glad I gave it a chance. I love how you wrote everyone. I love how everything wove together and I love that Nick Fury got the ass kicking he so richly deserved. I am such a sucker for Tony getting the respect he deserves and being such a badass.
Thank you! I can completely understand why someone would pass on anything MCU. I started writing it even at a time when my own disenchantment with the MCU was beginning and it took me so long to finish it because the meh was real. But despite my dislike of canon, my love for some of the characters remains, and I’m glad I could share that with others 🙂
What a fantastic read. Loved it loved it, loved it! Poor Thor doesn’t normally get s lot of good portrayals in fandom, but it all tied in beautifully. Another great story!!!
This is still one of my favourites to read whenever i need cheering up, so thank you a lot for sharing your talent.
Hi Jilly, reading this for about the sixth time and still adoring it. I loved how Tony DiNozzo and Tony Stark become best bros. I love how DiNozzo’s smarts capsized all the idiocy that would be coming down the line. I love the idea of James and Penelope. Ha! Great stuff, as usual!!
Great ending. Thank you for the story.
Awesome fic! The relationship between the two Tonys was so touching and funny. I loved it!
I cannot imagine how daunting it must be to write TWO such snarky, but sweet, but smart, but loveable assholes! I LOL’d more than once. Their bromance and chemistry totally won me over, even more than Thor and Tony. C’mon, you know that is a major kudos. Strong bodies, smooth and taut skin, rowr. vs dialogue? Yep, dialogue won because it was exceptionally well done!
BUT still, it was scorching. And as a single lady, I thank you for that.
Reread kudos! Still terrific!
This is one of the few fics that I search out to reread. So well written and just so damn good!!!