Chapter 12

Round Robin


Jane Foster was very pleased with herself. The progress she had made in the last few days put everything to shame she had achieved in the last two months, and all because she had decided to go against the rules of someone else’s game.

After that Maximoff person had not shown up for work, Jane had decided that she couldn’t wait any longer. At first, Maximoff had told her that her work on the scepter, whatever that was, would take no more than a week. One week became a few weeks in which Jane’s own work stagnated. So when the first opportunity arose, the astrophysicist had removed Loki’s scepter from its rune circle and started experimenting with it, and the first readings alone showed much promise. Her lab in Stark’s basement had all the toys she could dream of, and after the unnecessary delay, she had had more than enough time to modify some of the instruments. It was high time as well - Bruce Banner had been missing for more than a month now, and with every passing hour, the chance of finding him alive dwindled more.

She had to admit though that the idea of approaching the scepter’s radiation from a biochemical standpoint hadn’t occurred to her until she had started to work with Dr. Elisabeth Ross, an acquaintance of Dr. Banner, via phone. Dr. Ross’ input proved to be invaluable, especially since Jane had to work alone in her lab. Darcy was often occupied with her own studies, and Erik wanted to finish his own project in London before he could help her. He didn’t say what kind of project, but from what she had gathered, it was just as time-sensitive and in its own way crucial as her own work. So, declining Tony Stark’s offer to hire independent lab-workers in fear that they could secretly work for S.H.I.E.L.D, she was mostly alone in her basement, accompanied only by Wanda Maximoff during the day and Darcy whenever she had the time. And there was Thor, of course.

Jane smiled involuntarily when she thought about their holiday in Tahiti, those few magic weeks that belonged just to them and them alone. After his loss of mother and brother, he had certainly deserved to lie at the beach and slurp down one cocktail after the other. It was fortunate that Odin, the bigot of bigots (and that insulted bigots all over the realms), had given him leave to be the person he deserved to be. Jane and Thor were at odds when it came to his father, but they just had agreed to disagree and enjoyed their newly blossomed relationship.
Also, while he had no mind for science, Thor was surprisingly apt in using technology, he made a decent lab assistant in a pinch. To think that when she first met him, she only thought him to be a piece of evidence and nothing more was almost laughable now.

While Jane reminisced, the elevator door opened and Wanda Maximoff stepped into the lab, a folder under her arm, not greeting Jane or even paying her any mind. That person was odd - she seemed to spend way too much time before the mirror, and Jane didn’t really buy that whole maiden-of-sorrow-act. At the same time, she had heard rumors that Clint Barton was allowed to drag her half-naked through her quarters, but she openly flirted with Cap at every opportunity she got. Sometimes, Jane thought that Wanda took herself far too seriously and spent way too much time on her own ego than on her work, something that the astrophysicist couldn’t abide. This work was important, there were lives at stake, and Wanda Maximoff had nothing better to do than tell her in that quiet, sad voice of hers that patience was a virtue. Great. Patience would be a great virtue when whoever was behind the kidnapping of Bruce Banner finally revealed himself.

What’s more, the whole “witch”-thing didn’t add up. Thor had told her that his people had repeatedly visited Midgard and none of them had ever found any trace of magic like Frigga or Loki had used; so in the best case, Maximoff was delusional and lived in this tower because she was pitied. In the worst case, she was a con-artist that somehow had at least one Avenger convinced of her non-existent witchdom. Now that she thought about it, Jane couldn’t even decide which was worse or what her game was in either case.

Instead of going on with her work, Wanda sat down at her desk and started reading the folder she had been carrying. Jane breathed a sigh of relief. For a moment, she had been concerned to be mildly (and quietly) reprimanded and relieved of Loki’s scepter, but nothing of this sort happened. Again, Maximoff didn’t have her priorities straight, which gave Jane the opportunity to finish what she had started. She had persuaded Erik to do a sensoric sweep of gigantic dimensions. He had called every lab he could possibly call in the UK, and together, they would do a practice search for the data she had gathered from the scepter. She had also added the biochemical specs of a sample from Thor’s tissue just to add another variable to the mix, as well as readings gathered from the Hulk. All in all, she didn’t expect much of a revelation - it was an exercise, a prequel to what she planned to do in New York. If such a sensor sweep could be done at all, she could filter certain variables like Chitauri traces and concentrate her search. She could find Banner, and it had taken her two days with Loki’s scepter to come closer to her goal. So, the last thing she needed right now was a possible con artist foiling her plans.

She could hear the elevator door again, but this time, it was Thor who stepped through, a large grin on his face and one steaming pot of coffee in each hand, looking dashing even in something so simple as Jeans and T-Shirt. He wore his hair tied back in a ponytail and kept his beard short, no matter how often Jane complained about prickling kisses. He wouldn’t shave it off and that was that. He apologized every time the topic came up and kept her well-supplied with coffee, which he frequently proclaimed to be the nectar of gods. Asgard had about every delicacy imaginable, he always said, but coffee and chocolate were a purely human thing, and that alone was enough to protect Midgard from any harm. There was only one reason in his mind, as he told her ever so often, that was more important, more unique and more precious than all of Midgards treasures - Jane Foster. Indirectly, he made it a compliment to think her better than coffee, but when he said it, it had a charming quality.

“Lots of milk, two lumps of sugar.” He said, putting the pot next to her on the table while she didn’t stop to make the last configurations. He planted a kiss on her temple, a gesture that made her smile. “Any progress on your endeavour?”

“Almost there.” Jane replied. The sweep was about to begin, and it should be mere minutes before she would receive her first readings. She continued to explain to Thor, who was just as accustomed to listen to her projects as she was telling him about them. “You see, everything leaves a trace. If I’ve done everything right, I should have readings from your stay in London. It’s not about DNA - that falls apart after a short time. But you have a unique magnetic field and a unique bioelectrical signature, and with luck, you leave that behind for a much longer time. If I can find your trace in London after sweeping the whole of the UK, I should be able to find Dr. Banner even in this radiation- and alien-trace-infested New York.”

“So if you can find me on a large island although I’m not there anymore …” Thor started.

“... I can find Banner in a huge city if he’s actually here. I expect a few drawbacks along the way, but if I keep pushing, I will find him for sure.”

“‘Tis wondrous. We don’t have a machine that can do that back home. We would employ a spellcaster for a search like this.” The proud smile Thor beamed at her spoke volumes. It was at times like this when Jane was sure that he wasn’t only enamored with her, but with humankind as a whole. He still loved his home better, but when he interacted with the people and saw new places, he was genuinely fascinated. It reminded her that she still had to get him to see ‘Wicked’, as a ‘study of human folklore’, of course.

“Well, no spellcasters today. Just our own wits.” She had barely spoken the words when she received her first readings from across the great pond. Thor, knowing that she needed peace and quiet while she started to analyze the data, kept his silence and enjoyed his coffee while he watched her work. Jane was pretty sure that, while he had no talent for science, his education would allow him to speed the process, but he wouldn’t do so. He had once explained her that he adored the way she turned problems into scientific success and that he would probably help her achieve her goal, but hinder what made her truly amazing as a scientist: The ability to solve problems and learn something while doing it. Then there was the fact that he sometimes tried to cover up that he was genuinely lost when she talked about her theories.

She had no idea how much time it took to project her results on a screen, laid out with a detailed map of the UK. What she found out in the end baffled her, and a side glance in Thor’s direction showed that he couldn’t quite figure out what that could mean. Even Wanda Maximoff had approached in silence and watched the screen, frowning.

Jane had marked every location with a trace similar to her sample and the energy emitted from Loki’s staff with a distinctive red dot. She had anticipated a red dot hovering over London, but there were red dots all over the place. There were traces all over the UK.

“Ok, that doesn’t make sense.” Jane exclaimed. “That can’t be right. Perhaps there’s a mistake there somewhere …”

“You have used the staff, yes?” Wanda Maximoff interrupted, her voice eerily serene as always. Obviously, she had listened to the conversation with Thor. “Then you have found traces left by energies like the scepter and like Asgardians. So, you were looking not for one specific creature, but for alien and magical influence.”

“Nonsense.” Jane shook her head, her frustration building up. “Thor’s people have only repelled an invasion in Norway, so that leaves Thor. But I know for sure that he’s never been to Cardiff, or Canterbury, or Sherwood Forest. Why do I have readings in Sherwood?”

In this very moment, Thor started to chuckle, and even with this suppressed laughter, it was heartfelt, like everything he did. “I’m so sorry, Jane. My fault, I should have known …”

Jane could have sworn that he even wiped tears from his eyes before he continued, grinning broadly. “This ‘Sherwood Forest’ … wait, let me start at the beginning. My people have a custom, we call it the Bard Quest.”

“Like minstrels singing songs and telling folklore?” She asked, wondering how this could possibly tie into her readings.

“Not quite, it’s not only about storytelling, it’s also about being supremely knowledgable. See, bards are held in very high regard with my people. There are skalds, who are of great importance for morale, but being a bard is something more. There are very daunting requirements for becoming one: A bard must travel all the Nine Realms, and in every Realm, he must collect at least three dozen stories from every corner of the Realm and leave one epic of his own in every corner.”

“Every corner meaning every country?” Wanda asked.

“One could say so.” Thor nodded. “Svartalfheim and Jotunheim are waived nowadays for the journey. But in the end of his travels, a bard has to write an epic about it which should take weeks to perform. That’s why we currently have only one bard residing in Asgard, a man by the name of Ullr. He’s ancient, but shown every reverence.”

She still didn’t see what this had to do with her botched experiment. Thor seemed earnest about this, though, so she understood that being a bard was serious business in Asgard.

“My people think that the best way to write stories is to live them beforehand. Also, most of the aspiring bards start their quest in Midgard, but most of them come back empty-handed. For example, my friend Frandral and Loki have once attempted to become bards and started their quest together.”

Jane couldn’t help but smile. “Loki wanted to be a bard?”

“He was very young, and so was Fandral.” Thor smiled warmly and a touch wistful. “But they brought stories with them when they returned, stories about dashing swordsmen, daring archers, evil princes and a bird of Sherwood Forest.”

This time, it was Wanda who looked at Jane with an arched brow. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Probably.” Jane smiled. “Just to be sure … Thor, do you happen to remember their names?”

Thor frowned, looking at the ceiling, obviously thinking hard. “Fandral was Rob … Robert something and Loki went by the name of William with the scar? It was so long ago.”

And there went one childhood hero of Jane. Now she was sure to never look at Fandral the same again, now that it was certain that Robin Hood and Will Scarlett had been aliens. To add insult to injury, she suddenly couldn’t keep the chant “Brave brave brave Sir Robin” out of her head.

Wanda Maximoff on the other hand seemed to get some mild amusement out of Jane’s childhood heroes being aliened. “So your people are visiting our world every now and then to collect, tell and live stories? That makes sense, especially concerning a variety of worshipped deities.”

It occurred now to Jane that her sensor sweep had picked up traces that were literally about a thousand years old. That worked even better than she had imagined.

Thor nodded, again slipping into the wistful mood. “Fandral had had enough after one adventure, but Loki was cut from a different cloth. He became restless, driven by his dream to become a respected bard and eventually returned to Midgard. He stayed there for centuries, and when he finally came back, he locked himself in his chambers and wouldn’t even come out to eat. I … I guess I should have talked to him, but I was too stupid to see that he had been hurt by something. Now I will never know.”

He was close to slip into melancholy, so Jane had a choice - either switch the topic, which would not help the case, or try to cheer him up. Although his brother had been a psychotic murderer, Jane couldn’t help but wonder if there had been more to the story than she knew. In the end, even she could see that Loki had loved his brother, even if Thor doubted it still. In the end, Loki had been loyal, despite all the evil bravado he had displayed. That spoke louder in her book than every word he said in her presence. “He still lives in our stories, Thor.”

He wasn’t comforted, to say the least. “Stories of him being evil incarnate.” He said bitterly.

Before Jane could say anything, she was surprisingly backed up by Wanda, who joined the fray.

“Au contraire.” She said, a sad smile on her face. “The world knows about the Chitauri, but Loki’s involvement has been downplayed. It is far more easy to believe in ugly aliens than in the ones that look human. As far as the world is concerned, the incident in Stuttgart and the Chitauri-Invasion are separate. And if you are alluding to the mythology … let me put your mind at ease.”

“How?” Thor asked. “I understand that Loki has been compared to your devil in times of old.”

“That’s only half-true. With christianization, there was a need for demonization of pagan beliefs, and it is true that Loki took the brunt of it. But in pagan beliefs, gods were concepts. They represented something in nature, and these natural images formed their personality. Loki in the nordic mythology was the God of Fire, and fire always represented destruction, but also scientific progress. Loki even survives in language, as there are various sayings that use his name. For example, when yarn is in disarray, there’s an icelandic saying ‘There’s Loki inside’”

While Thor seemed a bit baffled, Jane cocked her head. “And that just came from the top of your head?”

“I’m afraid not.” Wanda said with a guilty smile, holding up the folder she had brought with her. “A S.H.I.E.L.D-Agent gave me this folder about mythological background, and I just paraphrased. But I think it was meant for you.” She nodded in Thor’s direction.

“What else does it say about Loki?” He wanted to know.

“Let me see.” Wanda cleared her throat. “... oh, there’s a note from the author, Professor Randolph. ‘It is my firm belief that Loki is an old concept for a deity, the spark of chaos with two sides: one destructive and chaotic, one benevolent like fire itself. Disregarding claims of newer, obviously christianized sources, Loki as a deity has much more in common with Prometheus than Lucifer.’”

“Prometheus is the greek deity who brought humankind fire and science.” Jane quickly added.

“Lucifer is the devil.” Wanda’s addendum was just as quickly done.

Thor pondered on this for a while, but it was clear that his mood had brightened a little, knowing that the memory of his brother wasn’t exclusively negative. “You are telling me that Loki was the patron deity of science?”

Wanda shook her head. “Loki was the patron deity of solving problems, sometimes solving them by ingenuity, sometimes by destruction and sometimes by causing them in the first place.”

At last, a smile crept on Thor’s face, as he clearly liked the idea. “You got him better in your mythology than most of his family ever did. What does your Professor Randolph say about me?”

“Plenty.” Wanda smiled, handing him the folder. “But I think you should see for yourself. There’s also a note from Agent Coulson that you should meet Professor Randolph face to face. Am I correct in the assumption that you tried to retrace Loki’s steps?”

“Yes, your message had me worried. ‘Retrace the Jotun’s steps’. I’ll be damned if that isn’t Loki.” Thor nodded. “But it is nigh impossible to know where he has been. As I said, he spent centuries on Midgard, and nobody knows what he was up to. I also had to do missions on Midgard several times and simply delegated them to Loki …”

“It would have been nearly impossible …” Jane interrupted. “Up until now. If I can narrow down the search, I can at least see where he’s been over the course of time. Even with his illusionary skills, we can safely assume that he spent time in the 12th century in England. He couldn’t have gotten very far, so we ‘only’ have Europe to sweep through until … 15th century?” She glanced in Thor’s direction, who shrugged while reading the folder.

“Make it the 16th, just to be on the safe side. I still get the Asgardian and human calendar mixed up.”

“Great.” Wanda mumbled. “From the Dark Ages to Renaissance. Loki hasn’t picked the best of times, but he surely picked interesting ones.”

She was right. As much as Jane hated to admit it, but getting to know humanity in the Dark Ages, of all times, with all the witch hunts and oppression of art, culture and education in abundance couldn’t have been pretty. Loki must have had a pretty skewed view of humanity, and perhaps he didn’t take the time to see if they had changed in a few hundred years. But committing mass murder and invading with a huge alien-army was definitely over the top as reactions go. And he still deserved the slap she gave him, Thor’s brother or not.

When Wanda got up, it occurred to Jane that she had to have noticed by now that the scepter was missing, or rather, being used in an experiment. Wanda hadn’t said a word; either she had decided to be diplomatic or she lacked backbone. Again, Jane couldn’t decide which was more likely. When Wanda was about to leave the lab, Jane decided that she at least wanted to get a reaction. “Do you want the scepter back soon?”

“No.” Wanda replied, looking at the same time hurt and dismissive. “I don’t care anymore. Do as you will.” Then, she left, giving Jane no opportunity to reply.

Notes