Story [Thor] "Harken Forth", UDC VI - Week 17 & 18 up on 12/01!

Jade_eyes: Thank-you. That one was the funest to write too. The big ol' overgrown mushball.

Master_Jay: Amen to that!! Redeemed or not, I just can't wait to see him on screen again. For now, the trailer and the loads of casting snippets on set will have to amuse us.

Week XV: your shadow left a hole in its wake

71. Avarice

One trip to SHIELD headquarters, almost a year after the bridge's destruction, Darcy finally dragged Jane away from her work for a day of tourism. The Metropolitan Museum of Art was massive, and Darcy was sure that even Jane could lose herself inside the endless halls.

. . . that was until they found a Norse tapestry, ancient and boasting upon the gallery wall. Jane ignored the guards, and pressed her hand against the figure wielding the hammer in the weave, her eyes hungry - shadowed with a greed Darcy could not explain.

Jane's fingers curled, a caress; and then they turned away.



72. Envy

Too often was the Queen's Hall silent, with her first son pensive at the ruined bridge and her second lost from Asgard. Frigg's fingers trembled as she worked her loom, spinning a wistful vision ? her sons, older and wiser, laughing together as Thor took the crown. There was such a comradeship there, such a weightlessness . . . This was no longer their future.

When she could take no more, Frigg tore at the false prophesy, her fingers curled like talons as she rendered the cloth asunder.

Spent completely, Frigg stared down at the torn threads of her vision, and envied the tale everything.



73. Gluttony

?This tastes as ash in my mouth.?

The day after Thor decided to stay on Midgard, and protect her people, his Lady and the Three took to breakfast alone. All were weary from the epic battle that had formed the Avengers, scratched and scabbed as they were from the Trickster and the forces of Hydra, both.

Fandral stared down mournfully at his food, too out of sorts for its taste. Across the table, Volstagg raised a hopeful brow.

Fandral gasped incredulously at the giant's appetite, aghast. From his side Sif pushed her plate towards Volstagg, her mouth a thin, straight line.



74. Lust

Loki's rooms still stood the same, even now.

Sometimes, when her nights turned, she would come and sit upon the dusty silk of his sheets, letting her longing rise up to strangle her. Her throat turned tight, as if clenched by an enemy fist. Her eyes burned. Her fingers clenched in the fabric, imagining his shadow looming over her once more, playful eyes promising.

?My lady?? soft with surprise was Thor's voice from the door.

Sif collected herself; steeled her expression, hardened her heart. ?Your snake of a brother had my knives. I was merely collecting them.? With her excuse, she slipped away.



75. Pride

After the destruction of the bridge, she had but one question for her husband and king: ?Are you proud of the path that has been walked??

Odin squared his shoulders, and stared out at the edge of the heavens. Before her, he was a reflection of the cosmos. ?I am at peace with the path I have set.?

Her visions stirred ? of Thor wise, and Thor fit to rule; leading Asgard to the Twilight with an empty shadow. ?Odin . . .? she started.

?I regret nothing,? he halted her, his voice steel.

Her fists curled. Clenched. Then released.

Frigg made her words a stone. ?Then so be it.?



~MJ />

Jade_eyes: Why thank-you.

Fanficfan: !!! Ye gods, but that was a perfect scenario that you painted in my mind.





Author's Note: I guess you could call this the result of watching the Avengers trailer one to many times. (And that said, do you know how much fun it is having Tony Stark take a prat fall? I may have indulged in that here. More than once. Hey - I was not an Iron Man fan until Robert Downy Jr. donned the suit. )

On another note, I think I mixed timelines with Boom here - I believe that T'Challa married Storm after his time as an Avenger (my Civil War!verse is fuzzy ), but I was soooooo thinking about the showdown between Ultimates!verse Thor and Storm when I wrote this, and I could not resist.

Week XVI: ?the mighty of earth?

LXXVI. Pow

Tony Stark's assessment was simple: ?I thought that he'd be more ripped.?

It didn't matter that Thor was built like a freaking linebacker who had gotten his hands on Banner's serum, but Pepper's eyes had lingered on the Thunderer, and incredibly charismatic and stunning man that Tony was, he still had nothing on a God.

Of course, he was pretty sure that Pepper had looked just because of his annoyance. ?I don't know, Mr. Stark,? Pepper smirked thoughtfully. ?He looked well from where I was standing.?

?Must have been the light,? Tony pouted.

?Indeed.? Her smirk grew.

Still, all things aside . . . ?Pepper, I want his cape.?



LXXVII. Bang

Clint Barton found that the only thing better than sparring with the Thunderer was when his shield-maiden came to Earth to play. The woman was fierce and resolute, and Clint thrived in finally fighting a person who was far past his equal in the ring.

Tony laughed the first time he saw on of their matches. ?Clint, you're letting a girl kick your ass.?

In no time, Sif had offered her challenge, and Stark was climbing into the ring sans suit.

?Twenty bucks says she busts his nose,? Darcy smirked from the sidelines.

Clint grinned. ?Oh, I don't know I'd take that bet.?



LXXVIII. Boom

T'Challa brought a girl home to meet the team not long after their formation.

Ororo Monroe, one of Xavier's own, was a striking woman with dark skin and hair the color of the clouds. Her eyes, when she took to the sky, were completely white, the pure white of lightning, and Thor grinned when he felt the storms that lingered in her veins, echoing his own ? for there's were kindred of spirits.

She raised a delicate hand, and around them, the sky started to rumble.

?Not bad,? Thor declared as he raised Mjölnir to answer her challenge. ?For a mortal.?



LXXIX. Zap

?Still you say that magicks are nothing to the might of your science??

Tony glared at his teammate, fingers twitching as he started to pry the ruined remains of his armor from his body.

?What's a bolt of lightening every once in a while?? Tony scathed as he threw his helmet to the ground. ?Although, the information that your little brother was capable of possessing machinery could have been useful beforehand.? Hence the bolt of lightning Thor had hit him with.

Thor shrugged. ?You were insulting the ways of seiðr. Just be glad that you escaped with only a ruined suit.?



LXXX. Pop

?The man of iron is a dead weight without his armor,? Sif declared.

Pepper winced as the shield-maiden sat down between Jane and Darcy. ?That bad??

?He relies on the strength of his suit, and forgets that his body is a weapon,? Sif frowned. ?He fights as a child amongst men ? no technique, only stupid determination and faith in the infallibility of his armor. I merely pointed out his . . . weaknesses.?

Natasha grinned wickedly, and summed it up: ?She broke his nose during round one.?

Darcy smirked. ?And I totally have it all on tape,? she held up her phone. ?Now, hello facebook . . .?



~MJ />/>

Deb: And these guys sure give the ladies enough to put up with. That's a fact.




Author's Note: Another two for the price of one. The first set is pretty much a grab bag, but the second is the Greek mythology mash-up I have been planning since I started these.

Enjoy.

Week XVII: like the heavens hold the sun

LXXXI. Inception

They are not much more than children when Loki figures out how to share dreams. Thor was brother to him, closest, and so it was him first that his mind sought out in sleep.

?You dream in color,? Loki's voice was awed, his eyes everywhere on his brother's dreamscape.

Thor, still yawning, rumbled, ?Don't you??

?Not really,? Loki shrugged, rolling his shoulders until they poked sharply through his tunic. Thor grinned then, imagining his brother dreaming of grey snow during the summer months which he so detested.

And so he declared, ?In that case, brother, you can steal my dreams any time.?



LXXXII. Babe

Hela's nightmares were not those of a normal babe. Since the Nornir spoke, the child could feel death, and oftentimes Sif would awaken in the night to find her husband holding their infant daughter ? stealing her dreams and taking the child's burdens onto himself.

. . . he would not leave her to the darkness alone.

?You expected me to do anything else?? Loki asked. His tone was carefully blank, his question dangerous.

Sif anchored herself against him. ?You are not such a father as he,? she swore to the unspoken, knowing that Hela was not the only one who fought darkness and bad dreams.



LXXXIII. Network

The stars were a web of white gossamer over the blackness of the sky. Dozens, she knew by name ? but they were locked ways to her now, branches struck by lightning and lost to the void of space.

Once was, humanity knew how to appeal to the realm of the gods . . . but that didn't mean she couldn't feel the slightest bit silly as she knelt in the desert sand. Bowing her head, she imagined times gone by ? runes and chanting and hands held tight.

And Jane prayed to the guardian of the byway. ?Heimdall, if you can hear me . . .?



LXXXIV. Avatar

?Put it back.?

A raised brow. Darcy could have shaved it off of his head.

?Beg pardon??

?You, Son of Coul, God of iPod thievery, are not wearing a suit.?

? . . . I'm afraid I don't understand, Miss Lewis.?

Darcy was more than happy to explain. ?There is totally a code! You've seen Men in Black ? the Matrix! Rules are at stake here, and I know how you are about rules. You without the suit is like Thor without Mjölnir, or Fury without his eyepatch,? never mind that Darcy was certain that Fury wore the eyepatch just for intimidation kudos ? thankyouverymuch. ?Now, put it back.?



LXXXV. Traffic

Downtown New York was a wall of yellow and silver in the late afternoon. Jane eyed the barricade of traffic ? the squalor of horns, the dirt and grime of humanity's worst, before turning to Thor. He wore jeans and cotton, and more than ever he looked like some mythical beast bound by some paltry charm.

Jane faced the cabs as if they were enemy soldiers, biting her lip. Above them, the sky was clear like a promise.

Thor held out a hand, and said only: ?Milady??

Her smile answered him. When she tangled her arms about his neck, he took to the sky while humanity crawled on far below.

Week XVIII: and we sent the poets penning in mad, mad lines

LXXXVI. Direct

Throughout the centuries, the Allfather and the Father of Heaven often met and drank to their families and the progress of mankind.

Odin flipped open his wallet when asked, pulling out the updated pictures of his grandchildren. ?Thrúda just slayed her first ogre last Wednesday,? he boasted.

Zeus wiped a tear from the corner of his eye. ?Ah, I reme/>/>/>