I think we all need a breather from any more trauma, don't you think?

Here's a chapter that'll make you all feel a little better.

Chapter 50

Thor hurries through the hallway to Stark Tower one early morning. His eyes are drawn, and his face haggard. He looks as though he hasn't gotten any sleep for days. 

He walks into one of the upper level laboratories and finds Tony and Bruce already working, even at this hour. Tony is at a computer, drinking a cup of coffee, talking to Bruce, who is standing next to the desk. 

They both look up when Thor approaches them. 

Bruce, taking off his glasses, says in a surprised voice, "Thor, what are you doing here?" 

"And also," says Tony, "Why do you look like you're either hungover or in a trance?"

"My father has entered the Odin-sleep," says Thor listlessly, "And the kingdom is in shambles. Neidra's power is far-reaching, as is Fjodr's, but as I have no proof of either of their exploits, I can do nothing." 

Tony looks up, drumming his fingers on the desk, "Just arrest them, sans habeas corpus." 

"I cannot. The people will question the arrest of two powerful figures, two powerful figures who have powerful influences." 

Tony shrugs. 

"There is a more urgent matter, however," says Thor, "I have come here for two reasons, one of which probably does not relate to Thea and the other that most certainly relates." 

"What is it?" asks Bruce. Tony stops drumming his fingers. 

"Fandral and Sif went to Myrinea, hoping that she may spread some light on recent events. They found her dead, and not recently." Seeing the other men's frowns, Thor carries on, "She had been killed by a dagger more than a month ago. But there was a note hidden in her belt. It said her father, alive." 

"Why would someone kill Myrinea?" questions Bruce, "I mean, she's more help than harm." 

"If Myrinea knew something or foresaw an event that could hinder someone, that person may know the need to eliminate her," says Thor, "But she predicted her death possibly, hence the note." 

"Okay," says Tony, folding his arms across his chest, "What's the thing relating to Thea?"

Thor takes something from his belt. It's a small glass vial, with a red liquid inside. "I took this from the healing chambers. The healers always take a blood sample from each soul that comes through their doorway, for record, and I forgot. This is Thea's blood, from a year ago." 

Bruce puts his glasses back on and takes the glass vial as Tony says, "And you only just remembered this?" 

"We're going to need to get Kyle in here," says Bruce, before Thor can respond. 

"Why?" asks Tony. 

"Because I'm going to need some help, and you're not exactly a phlebotomist," responds Bruce. 

Kyle is thankfully already in the building, but his appearance in the lab comes at a price. Jack and Peter come following the younger Calen brother. Jack, still out of school for Christmas break, had quickly gotten bored of Clint's apartment and has been in Stark Tower more than he has been out of it. Peter has been just as frequent, popping in and out when he's not at his job at the sandwich shop down the street when he's not working on spying with the Calens and Clint (Jack had very bluntly informed him that a sandwich shop is not good enough for him, but Peter had responded that the monotony of making subs and croissants is actually a very stimulating process). 

"What are they doing here?" asks Tony, who is sitting against one of the tables, twiddling his thumbs as Bruce uses a small beaker to extract a few drops of blood from the beaker. Thor is standing next to Tony, his brawny arms crossed. He's leaning against the wall, and looks even more exhausted than ever. 

"How about you tell me what I'm doing here first," says Kyle. 

"This blood sample is from Asgard," says Bruce casually, "We're trying to analyze it, and seeing as this is your area of expertise, I thought it might be good if you helped us out." 

"Huh, sounds good," says Kyle, pulling on some latex gloves from the box near the door. He nods to Peter, "Yo, Pete, you can help us out too."

"What about me?" scoffs Jack as Peter gives him a smug look and goes to join Kyle, "I'm bloody acing physics!" 

"Just because you have a one hundred twelve percent in physics doesn't mean you're good at bio," says Kyle, sliding into a lab coat and joining Bruce at the table. 

"You might as well let him suit up," says Peter practically, "He's going to be hanging out here anyway, and talking even more than Tony."

"Excuse me?" asks Tony. 

"He has a point," says Jack, who has already walked over to the box of gloves. 

Bruce shrugs, "Fine, then."

"You can be Igor," says Peter to Jack.

"You shut your mouth," retorts Jack. 

Kyle, who has accepted Jack's involvement as an unfortunate necessity, leans over the table, "What are you doing to it?" 

"Inputting all the genes onto the computer," says Bruce, who is still handling the pipette and the vial of blood. "I just need some help analyzing it, especially since it's from Asgard." 

Do I look like an Asgardian expert to you?" asks Kyle, taking another pipette and, as Peter holds the vial of blood, sucks in some of the plasma and then brings it over to the flat iron surface that transfers the genetic pieces of the blood onto the computers. 

"No, neither am I, but Thor also doesn't know how to analyze blood like we do, so it's a team effort, right?"

Bruce doesn't mention that he needs to look at the blood, not to try to conclude anything scientific about Asgardian blood, but to see if the blood is even Asgardian. 

"Kyle, can you run an analysis on Thor's blood, and also Jack's?" asks Bruce, who is still squeezing little drops of blood onto the iron. 

"What the hell for?" asks Kyle.

"What the hell for?" asks Jack.

"Just for some comparisons," says Bruce, avoiding Tony's pointed look. 

"Mm," says Kyle, squinting, but he nods Jack over to another lab table adjacent to the one Bruce is working at. 

"Why am I the guinea pig?" asks Jack, raising one of his eyebrows unnaturally high. 

"Bruce called it, not me." Fiddling through the drawers, Kyle takes out a sterilized, wrapped needle and adds, "And besides, wouldn't you'd be a cute guinea pig." 

"Make all the girl guinea pigs go waaaa," puts in Peter, grinning from where he's still working with Bruce. 

"I hate you all," says Jack.

"Aw, don't worry, it's just a little prick," says Kyle, swabbing Jack's exposed arm with disinfectant. 

Jack gives Kyle a very sassy look. "You're a little prick." 

"Just because you're as tall as me doesn't make me little." 

"It does because that means I'll probably grow." 

"You're ridiculous," says Kyle, and then sticks the needle in Jack's vein a little harder than necessary. 

Fifteen minutes later, Bruce and Kyle have all three samples– the vial, Jack, and Thor– loaded onto the computer. While Tony uploads the genetic data to the transparent screens, Bruce, Kyle, Jack, and Peter take off their gloves and throw them away in one of Tony's special garbage cans that immediately incinerates all trash. 

"All right," says Tony, "Here's what we got." He spreads his hands forward and three sets of spiraling DNA come floating forward in the center of the room, "Have fun deducing stuff from this, boys." 

Bruce leans against the counter and frowns at the three samples, biting his lower lip and shaking his head. He's already seen something. 

"What is it?" asks Thor quietly, "What is amiss?" 

Before Bruce can respond, Kyle takes the show. Crossing his arms, he points to the sample in the middle- the vial. "Well we know one thing for sure. That's not human." 

"Oh...really...?" asks Tony, shooting Bruce and Thor a look. 

"What is it then?" asks Thor.

Kyle shrugs, "It's ridiculously similar to your blood, so my guess is that it's Asgardian." 

"It's not just Asgardian," says Bruce quietly, "Kyle's right. That sample is ridiculously similar to Thor's." 

"So...?" asks Kyle, frowning.

"So you're saying that whosever blood this is is related to Thor?" asks Jack. 

"Whose blood is it?" asks Peter. 

"That's a long story," says Bruce, but he's still staring at the samples with an extremely shocked expression on his face. "All I know for sure is that we need a full-fledged meeting, stat." 

"Full-fledged meeting" includes more people than Bruce had originally planned. 

By the time Tony, who has just been caught up with everything Bruce had discovered and has also been labeled as the spokesperson, is clearing his throat to talk, there are fourteen people in the dimly lit conference room. This includes, of course, Jack, Peter, Kyle (who looks confused and also frustrated that Bruce wouldn't elaborate before now), and Thor. However, Natasha has stopped in too, with Clint and Pepper who had been in one of the lower levels. Steve is also here, with Sam. Max and Emmaline, who by now has been quite updated on the entirety of Kyle's life, have just arrived. The last are Fandral and Sif, whom Thor had summoned– he had left Volstagg in Asgard in case of necessity. 

"All right," says Tony, "So about a month ago or so, several things made Thor, Bruce and me very interested in certain samples of blood from Asgard." 

"Is it Neidra?" asks Steve, who, as the seats have already been filled, is leaning against the wall with Sam. 

"I'll get to that in a minute," says Tony. "So Bruce and Kyle did their thing, and we've found out that the blood is, in fact, Asgardian."

"Well that seems likely," shrugs Peter, "Seeing as Thor got the blood from Asgard."

Tony holds up a finger, "Not necessarily so. It is, in fact, the exact opposite of likely."

"Why is that?" asks Natasha, who is holding Clint's hand and has not taken her squinted eyes off Kyle. 

"Why are you staring at me?" asks Kyle. "I know I'm a stud, but you're holding Clint's hand right now, so it's sort of awkward."  

Natasha gives him a look, then nods to Tony, "Go on." 

"Thank you," says Tony, and then touches a few buttons. Immediately, two samples of blood show up on the wall. "Now, the one on the left is the sample that Thor collected, and the one on the right is from the big man himself. Anybody who is not in the science department notice anything about it?"

"They're similar," says Natasha immediately, "Really, really similar."

"Because they're both Asgardian," says Peter. 

"Mm, not quite," says Tony, "It, according to Banner here, is because that the samples are related. In other words: Thor is related to this person." 

"And who is this person you speak of?" asks Fandral. "Whose blood is that?"

"Hold on a second," says Tony, and then opens his arms to the crowd of people in front of him, "Now can we not agree that whoever is related to Thor is related to Loki?" 

Kyle bangs his head on the table and mutters something incomprehensible. Emmaline pats the top of his hair, looking mystified. 

"Well yes, duh," says Jack. 

"Oh good," says Tony, "Because based on all of these results, we've deduced that Loki is Thea's father." 

Tony had been expecting chaos. Instead, he receives blank stares and a couple dropped jaws. 

Except for Kyle, who has gotten up from the table, slamming it in the process and letting out a loud whoop. 

"Dear God," says Max faintly, looking up at his brother, "We're never going to hear the end of this, are we?" 

"You have been so owned, ALL OF YOU," says Kyle. "When the actual HECK is anybody going to believe anything I say?"

Jack raises his eyes to the ceiling and groans, "If he starts singing, I'm going to kill him." 

"No time for singing," says Steve, "Guys, are you sure? First of all, the years don't add up. Thea is fourteen. Loki died sixteen years ago." 

"The years don't match up if Loki actually died," says Natasha, frowning.

Thor takes this time to start talking, "I am just as perplexed, my friends. But the only reasonable motion I can put forward is that Loki hasn't died, and that he is, in fact, alive, and Thea's father. Fandral and Sif found Myrinea dead, with a note saying her father, alive. Perhaps, and probably, she was speaking of Loki."   

"This is ridiculous," says Natasha, still disbelieving, "Thea has blonde hair! And–"

"Ah," says Tony, "Thank you for mentioning that. Because actually, right before we all so humbly gathered in here to hear this shattering news, I got a tip-off from my buddy in Chicago. He has a hotel security feed freeze. Thought you might be interested in it." 

He swipes on the screen again, and another image takes the place of the blood samples. 

There are three figures. One of them is clearly Videl, wearing ordinary clothes and carrying a backpack on his shoulders. His arm is around another figure, Angelique, who is looking up at him. The last figure is also looking up at Videl so that her face is clearly seen in the camera. It's Thea, and her hair is not only extremely short, but it is also jet-black.

"She got a haircut," says Peter. 

"Well observed," says Jack, who is grinning at the image, because he can see the dolphin necklace around Thea's neck.

"Conclusion," says Tony, "Thea's hair is actually black, which would make sense if Loki is her father. Somehow, magic got involved maybe, or something." 

"Maybe it's like Rapunzel," suggests Pepper, who is standing next to Tony, "When her hair got cut, it turned brown." 

"Why did she cut her hair?" asks Kyle, his eyebrows furrowed, "Thea liked her hair."

"Don't know, not important," says Tony. "Here's what we know, or can guess. Thea is Loki's daughter. His only daughter, so she is therefore in the running for the throne. Loki is obviously Neidra's lover, that much we can guess, so both of them are probably playing some sort of power game. This also fits several pieces of the puzzle. Loki is the one who kidnapped Thea, and probably also killed Archer, which explains why Videl is involved." 

"This is unbelievable," says Nat, throwing her hands in the air, "How can we possibly not have known this? Why hasn't THEA told us?"  

"Maybe Thea doesn't know," suggests Steve. 

"Oh, she knows," says Kyle, "She was asking about him a lot, remember?"

"Fair point," says Steve.

"The question," says Thor, "Is why do we not remember Loki?"

Tony wriggles his fingers, "Magic." 

"What does Loki look like?" asks Clint, "Because Thea doesn't look very much like Thor."

"Oh yes," says Tony, "Good point, which also leads me to my last point." He changes the images, and now brings up a recent picture of Thea, grinning from her birthday party, except her hair has been digitally altered to be black. "Everybody, this is Thea," says Tony. 

"You're annoying," says Jack pointedly. 

"We have precisely one image of Loki, and one image that I got out of pure luck. Actually, Agent Hill, who sadly could not make this meeting, got it for me. It's from a box of Angela Fossil's possessions that had been locked, but had also survived the Imeldi attack in her apartment a year ago. And here you go." 

Tony changes the images, also letting the picture of Thea hang side-by-side. There are several gasps. 

Angela Fossil, younger, less harried, with beautiful long blonde hair, is gazing up at a man whose arms are around her. The man is tall and lean, with thick, long black hair, and a pale face. His cheekbones are pronounced and high, but most striking are his eyes. Large green eyes, a piercing emerald that is precisely the same shape and color as Thea's. 

"Oh my Lord," says Max, leaning heavily against his chair. 

"You don't have it as bad as Jack," points out Peter to Jack, who is staring at the images in shock, "At least he doesn't have to ask the God of Mischief for permission to date his daughter." 

"Shut up," says Jack weakly. 

"Now what do we do?" asks Steve, "So Loki's alive, which probably isn't good. Odin's also out for the count, and Neidra and Fjodr are taking full rein. And also, Thea is Loki's daughter and therefore in a deadly race for the throne." 

"Oh yeah, that's right," says Peter, turning to Jack, "Your soon-to-be-girlfriend is also the heir apparent to the Asgardian throne, so therefore, she's a princess." 

"I will strangle you," says Jack. 

"Wait, so that means Leah isn't Thea's sister?" asks Clint suddenly. 

"Half-sister," says Kyle and Bruce at the same time. 

"It does mean that Bryce wasn't actually her brother," says Tony. 

Thor speaks up, "This news is a blow, but it also provides us with a logical insight to what has been occurring in Asgard. I suggest that we move forward with caution. Thea may soon need our help–"

"Yeah, if she doesn't ask for help soon, we're getting involved," says Max, "I don't know what she's running from–"

"Loki probably," says Natasha. 

"But whatever it is, we need to help her. She can't keep globetrotting forever."

"And I will be returning to Asgard," says Thor, nodding to Sif and Fandral, who look shocked but relatively composed, "Immediately. There are mysteries that I refuse to leave unanswered." 

"And in the meantime," says Peter, "Jack can be beginning his pitifully desperate speech to his father-in-law."

"I TOLD YOU, I WOULD STRANGLE YOU." 

SEE, I CAN SO WRITE HAPPY CHAPTERS.

Please VOTE and COMMENT ;)

xxSierraxx