The Life of Athena: Tony Stark's Daughter - Steve Rogers

Chapter 18: Answers

Chapter 18

A worried Jane lies on her bed, trying to read. She's startled by the loud knocking on the door. She bolts to the door and opens it to find Thor standing there with the unconscious Selvig slung over his shoulder.

"Erik!" Jane exclaims. "Is he all right?"
"He's fine. Not injured at all." Thor says, as he enters, he bangs Selvig's head on the doorway. "Sorry, my friend."

"What happened?" Jane asked with curiosity.

"We drank. We fought. He made his ancestors proud." Thor says with a grin.

"Put him on the bed." Jane guides Thor.

Thor moves through the small trailer carrying Selvig, like a bear lugging another bear, smashing into things along the way, until he finally sets Selvig down on Jane's bed. Selvig awakens groggily and looks up at him through bleary eyes. "I still don't believe you're the God of Thunder, but you ought to be."

Thor grins, pats him on the cheek. As Selvig drifts off to sleep, Thor pulls a blanket over him. Jane watches, stunned by their friendship.

"These are your chambers?" Thor turns back to Jane.

Jane suddenly becomes self-conscious. She starts cleaning up the mess around her. "Well, it's more of a temporary living space, really. I don't usually have visitors in here. Actually, never..." Thor picks up a sock off the floor. She snatches it from him, puts it away. "Can we go outside?"

Thor steps off a ladder onto the roof of the trailer. He offers Jane his hand, helps her up. There's a telescope set up.
"I come up here sometimes when I can't sleep. Or when I'm trying to reconcile particle data. Or when Darcy's driving me crazy." Jane says, but laughs softly, "I come up here a lot, now that I think about it." Thor looks at the night sky, filled with stars. "I'm glad you're safe." Jane looks at Thor with a sympathetic smile.

"You've been very kind. I've been far less grateful than you deserve." Thor smiles.

"I also hit you with my car a couple times, so it kind of evens out." She laughs softly, Thor grins, then reaches into his pocket and pulls out her notebook. "I don't believe it..." She takes it from him, surprised and grateful.

"It was all I could get back. Not as much as I promised. I'm sorry." Thor looks to Jane.

"No, this is good. Thank you. This means I don't have to start from scratch..." Jane sits down and opens the notebook eagerly, then stops, a harsh realization clouding her face.

Thor notices, "What's wrong?"

"SHIELD, whatever they are." Jane starts, " They're never going to let this research see the light of day."

"You must do this. You must finish what you've started." Thor insisted.

"Why?"

"Because you're right. It's taken so many generations for your people to get to this point. You're nearly there. You just need someone to show you how close you really are." Thor moves beside her, opens her notebook, turns to the page which bears a sketch of the Bifrost. He takes the pen from the notebook, begins to add to the sketch, leading from one point to another in space. "Look--your ancestors called it magic. You call it science. I come from a place where they're one and the same thing." Thor draws the branches of Yggdrasil as Jane looks on, amazed and intrigued.

"What is it?" Jane asks.

"This is how my father explained it to me..." Thor starts, "Your world is one of the Nine Realms of the Cosmos, linked to each other by the branches of Yggdrasil, the Worlds Tree. Now, you see it every day, without realizing. Images glimpsed through what did you call it?" Thor checks back to her notebook, "...this Hubble Telescope." He points and chuckles, "So, Nine Realms--" Thor is interrupted by a car engine approaching the sight. Jane and Thor look at each other, and see a car stoping in front of a trailer, with a SHIELD Logo on it. Jane's eyes widen and Thor can sense her fear. However, when the door to the car opens, and out climbs a beautiful brunette, Jane exhales and Thor smiles.