Norway - New Asgard (January 2018)

[Lady Lee-o]

"Oh Banner... Unless our friend is using one of those rare invisibility cloaks from the wizardly world, I`d suggest we take a little walk to recon this place."

"Already on it," Natasha let them work on the scientific stuff. She could work her way around a computer but when it came to cloaking devices shew as out of her depth just a bit. "There, Definitely some sort of cloaking tech."

"Guess we should take a closer look. That thing won't send me flying back a thousand feet or disintegrate me, will it?" She looked around to find a rock and tossed it at the barrier to test.

[Anduin]

"Sounds like you care for someone after all."
Yes, he did. He turned his face to the side and looked at Bruce.
"I just hope it'll be final this time."
Okay, that sounded a bit indicting. Suddenly Doctor Banner also recognized it and bid his lips.
Loki let some moments lapse away before he answered.
"Believe it or not – I do. I think we were getting into big trouble that challenged everybody."
While he was talking he gave Bruce a slight smile and then a pat on his shoulder.
"We will deal with it together this time, Dr. Banner."

The God’s eyes turned over to the area surrounding them. He still wondered who had arrived within that Jet.
"Well, I go back and ask Heimdall. Maybe he knows something about our uninvited guests", he said and stood up.
For a moment he felt like faltering because he had slept in such an uncomfortable position.
"You should go back to your shelter. But if you are going to stay here, keep your eyes and ears open. And – that‘s most important: Don’t do anything stupid! No matter who will appear or what they will do, remember that they can’t find us until we don’t show them that we are here!", the current king of Asgard added with a haunting voice.

Then he turned around and walked back to the huts.
Perhaps he will ask Heimdall about Thor’s whereabouts, too...

[DarkSideCookie]

"There," Tony looked up at Hope in a way that didn't show a lot of anticipation. His statement about some sort of cloaking tech actually had been a joke as he was casting doubt on Banner being in possession of such a thing. So It was hardly likely she had found some piece of advice just here.

"Please tell me you've found Big Foot's print in the snow.", Tony threw casually in before Hope spoke up again.

"Definitely some sort of cloaking tech."

It was just then that his attention completely turned away from his own instruments to check the coordinates once again and up towards the spot Hope was pointing at. On Tony's face appeared the usual frowning of surprise as he watched a knot of creepy-crawlies gathering on the ground some meters ahead of them.

"Guess we should take a closer look. That thing won't send me flying back a thousand feet or disintegrate me, will it?"

"You never know.", he suddenly uttered towards Natasha who was already nearing the knot of crawlers, about to toss something in the knot's direction. "I mean, ants changing into men... this kinda thing. Oh.." Tony's head slightly turned to Hope and then wordlessly back to Natasha. Hope's sore point, the ant guy, really wasn't something he was keen to discuss right now.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Believe it or not – I do. I think we were getting into big trouble that challenged everybody.""We will deal with it together this time, Dr. Banner."

He did believe. Surprisingly. As the scientist he was, there was this job-related habit of being skeptical; not the worst thing when you were talking to a guy calling himself the god of mischief. But there was also good faith in Bruce, telling him that it was on time to trust Loki. Well, real good faith that had to be, but these last months Thor's little brother had shown real loyalty towards his people. And besides, there was no alternative anyway.

"Well, I go back and ask Heimdall. Maybe he knows something about our uninvited guests""You should go back to your shelter. But if you are going to stay here, keep your eyes and ears open. And – that‘s most important: Don’t do anything stupid! No matter who will appear or what they will do, remember that they can’t find us until we don’t show them that we are here!"

"Okay...", he responded with an unease that he wasn't able to hide very well when Loki was already turned and walking back to the huts.

Bruce stood there just some more time until he felt like it might set him on ease to walk around a little himself. It actually didn't take long though that his mind was sending silent prayers that they wouldn't meet with this Thanos guy a second time.
Suddenly a thud made him stop his steps. Bruce turned into the direction where it had come from, but couldn't make anything out from the distance. He knew though this was one of their barrier's walls.

Don’t do anything stupid! No matter who will appear or what they will do, remember that they can’t find us until we don’t show them that we are here!, he heard Loki's words once again in his head. Oh, well, he was no blockhead like the other guy. "Sorry Hulk, but we both know you're not the brightest bulb in the box."

Bruce decided to swallow the upcoming trepidation down and instead started to walk up in the direction the sound had come from.

[Hollywood Heidi]

"Guess we should take a closer look. That thing won't send me flying back a thousand feet or disintegrate me, will it?"

"You never know." "I mean, ants changing into men... this kinda thing. Oh..

Hope gave him a sidelong glance, looking only mildly annoyed. The topic of Scott was most definitely a sore point with her for several reasons. Her pride and private nature kept the personal aspects of it buried from showing on the surface. As far as anyone besides Pepper and her father were concerned, there wasn't anything beyond anger toward the man who'd stolen one their suits then disappeared from The Raft, leaving her and her father to pay off his sentence. It wasn't so bad, having to work alongside the Avengers when the Powers That Be beckoned her, but Hope didn't particularly like not having a choice nor did she like having to answer to anybody. It also took her away from her and her father's continued work to find her mother, created potential opportunities of public exposure to their tech and her side job with the Avengers, and it was a pain in the ass to come up with excuses of why she needed to suddenly rearrange things at work.

"It doesn't appear to cause any harm. The ants seem unphased," she said, starting to walk toward the invisible barrier. Hope sent out a signal for the ants to start fanning out, both up and to each side. She watched the mass appear to thin out as they spread out, even though more joined the march from the ground, working their way into the upward and outward march. The curtain of crawlies remained in a seemingly even line both horizontally and vertically. "Whatever this thing is, it's ginormous. I don't think it's Wakandan," she said, recalling the fascinating technological advances she'd read up on after T'Challa had recently shared the mind blowing secret of his country with the world. "Can't think of why they'd be covering up something way out here and besides, something feels different about this tech," she said in distracted thought. Hope had reached the barrier and stood about a foot away from it, ants continuing their march, looking as if they were walking on air. She squinted, looking hard for any sign of something. A distortion, a fuzziness, something that would give away the image of the false sprawl of empty land.

Hope turned her head toward Tony. His suit was literally armor and could withstand practically anything. "Wanna give it a poke?" she asked, tilting her head toward the invisible wall as she had the ants clear a large oval spanning the height and width of the three of them standing side by side.

[Lady Lee-o]

Nat didn't bother saying anything, she just watched as Hope held out a hand and made the little things move. It was certainly cool looking, she couldn't deny it but again would these things cause loss of limb? When Hope said it was unlikely, she felt a bit better by it. "More inclined to reach out and touch it but after you Tony," She patted his back and gestured for him to go ahead.

[Anduin]

*** Inside Heimdall’s hut ***


Loki went over to Heimdall’s hut but stopped for a moment at the door. Should he knock or not? He was the (Well, current) king of the Asgardians but that didn’t allow him to barge in everywhere, or not?
Before he could come to a decision he heard Heimdall’s voice from the inside.
"Come in, Loki Odinson. I know that you are at my door. I can see you."
The God of Mischief sighed. He knew that it was very tricky to hide oneself from the guardian’s eyes.
So he entered the hut. It was just one single room like most of the other buildings except his own.

"We’re receiving visitors," he said directly. No phrases to say hello. There was no time for something like that. It was a sign for the God’s worry.
"I know", Heimdall answered. But there was a sound of sorrow in his voice. "I’ve heared the sound of a starship or something similar. But it is not the one your brother is staying at the moment."
Your brother? At a spaceship? That ment that Thor truly was still alive!  
Wether he wanted or not – Loki couldn’t suppress the faint smile for a second.
"Yes, not that one…"
"He’s not as far away from us as you may think. I’m sure he’s on his way to Earth, too."

That was good news.
But with a bad taste: If Thor would be back he probably would claim his right to be king of the Asgardians again.
This was not the result the younger brother had wanted to become true.
But he had to deal with that problem when Thor will arrive.
(Of course, just when Loki allowed him to arrive!)

"What about the other ship? Can you tell me something about it? Is it…"
Loki hesitated for a few heartbeats. There was a slight tone of fear in his voice as he noticed angryly.
But Heimdall knew what he wanted to ask anyway.
"You wanted to know if it could be Thanos? I can soothe you. I’ve already met him and also wanted to be sure that he isn’t come to attack us again. It’s not Thanos."
The God of Mischief breathed a sigh of relief.

But although it wasn’t the mad Titan there would be some trouble around this area. A foreign ship and also Thor on his way to this place – that would be many things to manage.


******

[DarkSideCookie]

"Whatever this thing is, it's ginormous. I don't think it's Wakandan,""Can't think of why they'd be covering up something way out here and besides, something feels different about this tech,"

"Tell me when you've found something out, ant-whisperer.", Tony couldn't help spouting yet another quip her way while he was busying himself with his own tech stuff to add something more useful to their investigation. Unfortunately though, he didn't have anything with him that could help them along with some kind of invisible wall, most probably built with powers that were beyond his own skill tree or rather of a completely different field of expertise.

Then Hope spoke up again, turned back into his direction. "Wanna give it a poke?"

"If I...?", Tony threw her a look of disbelief without finishing his repetition of her question.

"More inclined to reach out and touch it but after you Tony,"

"When did I miss the voting that made me your guinea pig?", he asked with his hands spread, at the same time getting prepared to step forward though. Tony put his helmet back up as he drew closer to the knot of ants walking up the air. Just to make sure of course.

[DarkSideCookie]

Once Bruce was close enough to make out silhouettes in the distance, his trepidation was slowly rousing him to an inner panic. Keep calm, he started his inner recitation. One that he actually hadn't make use of in a while, but with Thanos had come up for discussion as the possible uninvited visitor, Bruce couldn't help reverting back to his old ways. Keep calm, just keep calm.

There was a little moment in which he actually felt relieved for the silhouettes didn't quite look like Thanos nor like someone of his crew. It was just another moment later though that he grew completely stiff. What were they doing here? How on earth did they find them here? Well, or not exactly find but... they were here after all.

As Bruce's eyes went past Tony, there was happening yet again a change on his facial features.

"Nat?", he whispered in disbelief, not sure if he should be happy or appalled to see her, maybe in many more ways than just for the fact that she might not be safe outside of this area, although he knew she was able to protect herself very well - a lot more like he was. When it was him and not the other guy that was. Anyways, their last meeting had been a long time ago and their farewell with so much unspoken.

Bruce wasn't exactly sure what to do right that moment. Loki didn't want anyone to enter the barrier but would that affect their friends also?

[Hollywood Heidi]

"When did I miss the voting that made me your guinea pig?"

Hope rolled her eyes. "You walk around wearing a big ass suit of armor, you're gonna get picked for this kinda stuff," she said dryly. She saw his hesitation and sighed. Really though, she couldn't blame him. Suit of armor or not, this tech seemed foreign, even to her and Tony's tech advancements.

Not wanting to hurt the ants, Hope "ant-whispered" them scattering off the invisible dome and back onto the ground. "Hold up, Snark. I'll give it a poke," she said, raising her arm and aiming the stinger at the shield. Hope gave her suit a neural command and a bolt at lowest energy shot out. The contact caused the invisible shield to ripple out like a pebble hitting water and like water, the ripples distorted the flat image they'd been made to show. Unlike water, though, the ripples revealed a distorted glimpse to something underneath it.

Hope moved to stand beside Tony, squinting at the ripples to make out what it was she was seeing. "Is that... it looks like a whole friggin' town hidden in there." Hope was about to look over at Tony when a distorted humanoid silhouette caught her eye. "I think we're being watched..."

[Anduin]

It was time to get back outside.
The current king of Asgard wanted to be present when the uninvited guests arrived.
And he wasn’t sure if Dr. Banner really could hold position. To be fair he had to admit that Bruce changed a bit since he saw him hulking out during the battle in New York.
And that goes for himself, too.

So he left Heimdall’s hut and walked straight back to Bruce.
But on his way he already noticed that the guests have yet arrived.
No Thanos, no alien army – just three people.
And Loki knew two of them – or rather he fought against two of them.

"Nat?", he heard Bruce whisper.
"Well, it sounds like you want to be Agent Romanova’s love interest…," he also whispered when he stood next to him.

"I think it's time to… Wait! What is she doing?"
Just as the God wanted the visitors allow to pass the barrier one of them – the woman he didn’t know – attacked it. Of course, the people beyond the barrier were save but just as long as he kept it.
That was enough. Loki decided to show himself up.

"Stop it!" The Asgardian raised his voice and stepped outside of the barrier right in front of the others.
"I allow you to enter  – be my guests," he added with a token gesture.

Now there was the moment which decided how this scene could keep going on.
It was up to Tony and Natalia.
And, of course, to Bruce. But Loki was sure that he would be on his side if the others started to attack him or try to prevent his friends from doing it leastways.

[Hollywood Heidi]

Of all the things she imagined would be hiding behind the barrier, the alien terrorist who had brought in an army hoard in an attempt to take over and rule Earth had not been one of them. Hope had seen footage from that day on the news. Who hadn’t? She’d been briefed when she’d been taken on by the Avengers and had seen and heard more horrific details of that day that hadn’t been public knowledge.

Yet here he was, complacent and even more baffling, speaking as if he were a well mannered host inviting guests into his home.

Hope had immediately taken a defensive pose, standing sideways and aiming her stinger at Loki, ready to strike if she needed to. The only thing that stopped her from immediately blasting him on the spot was his baffling demeanor and the information she’d been given regarding his supposed current whereabouts. “Be your guest?” she scoffed. Hope kept her eyes on Loki but angled her head toward Tony and Nat, addressing them to coordinate how to proceed. “I thought Space Ghengis here was imprisoned on his home planet.”

[DarkSideCookie]

"Hold up, Snark. I'll give it a poke,"

Tony had been just about to get this done when Hope was holding him back. He paused, masterly ignoring the nickname she was used to giving him at times, before he turned, his movements accompanied by the usual mechanic sound of the Iron Man suit. "Ladies first."

And while Hope was busying herself with the task of giving the invisible barrier a poke, Tony and Natasha stood in the background to watch her actions, and not only her actions but what got revealed for just a little moment. "Is that...", Tony started in disbelief when Hope gave voice to what he was just going to say.

"...it looks like a whole friggin' town hidden in there.""I think we're being watched..." Except for that second part. Being watched?

There actually was no time to react to this unusual statement as out of nowhere suddenly a figure appeared right in front of them, obviously had been coming out from the inside of that barrier.

"Stop it!" Oh, for real?! "I allow you to enter – be my guests," Of all humans or even non-human beings this guy had been the last Tony had expected to see here. And also the last he wanted to see ever again because last time he had tried to subjugate earth.

“Be your guest?”“I thought Space Ghengis here was imprisoned on his home planet.”

Tony was just about to chime in when suddenly another familiar face was showing up right behind the alien terrorist.

"Banner?", Tony asked in surprise; not that surprised about his apparatuses had been right about their friend's whereabouts after all but about the fact that he was here with Loki, and that just without taking account of the question what they were doing here in the first place?

[DarkSideCookie]

"Well, it sounds like you want to be Agent Romanova’s love interest…,"

The sudden whispering right next to him was giving Bruce a chill. He didn't like when people did this kind of thing, especially when you could replace people with unpredictable manipulative alien.

"I think it's time to… Wait! What is she doing?"

Immediately Bruce's attention was turning back towards Tony, Nat and that other woman he had never seen before. He was not quite sure if they would be able to break through Loki's barrier but anyways, this was rendering his thought about how to get Thor's little brother to let them in moot. Rather intuitively than intentionally Bruce took a self-protective pose.

"Stop it!""I allow you to enter – be my guests,"

“Be your guest?”“I thought Space Ghengis here was imprisoned on his home planet.”

Bruce felt stress rising in him and so he wanted to shed some light on this matter, for everyone's sake. At least it seemed that with Loki's revelation also he was able to make himself seen.

"Banner?"

"Hi, Tony.", Bruce shyly greeted as he stepped a little closer to bring himself in the middle of this meeting although he usually didn't appreciate to stand in the middle of anything which was pretty much visible on his features.

"Hi, Nat. Hi." The last greeting was directed at the other young woman in their companionship. "Okay, we're gonna keep calm everyone. I know in the past this guy here hasn't integrated into the team very well" To say the least... "But he changed... I believe." At that, he couldn't help to give Loki a quick glance from the side. "So why don't we just all come in first before going for each other's throat?" Also, all the while of his rather clumsy sounding speech Bruce avoided eye contact with Natasha who was standing a little apart from the rest.

[Anduin]

“I thought Space Ghengis here was imprisoned on his home planet.”
The God made a face. He also knew that he was imprisoned at Asgard, of course, but he didn’t know the meaning of this kind of nickname that woman chose for him. But he decided not to give her an answer and listen to the others before. Surely they all had something to say.

Tony Stark – the so called Iron Man – looked not amused to see him again. Well, he couldn’t blame him for that. 
"Banner?" was all he said. The man who liked to hear himself talking and talking. 
Tony’s surprised question was the proof that Loki didn’t err.
Dr. Banner had follow him outside of the barrier.
"Okay, we're gonna keep calm everyone. I know in the past this guy here hasn't integrated into the team very well" "But he changed... I believe."
And he also took his part to soothe everybody.
When Bruce glanced at him for a short moment the Asgardian gave him a hinted nod.
"So why don't we just all come in first before going for each other's throat?"
This time Loki couldn’t help to give a short laugh.
"Well said, Dr. Banner," he said while he patted him on the back.
Then he turned back to the others.
"Do you need another invitation or do you want to come in?" 

His look leaned on the unknown woman.
"You have an advantage over me because you seem to know who I am but I don’t know who you are. Oh, and concerning my imprisonment at Asgard: My home doesn’t exist any longer… And before someone asks – it wasn’t me!"

[Lady Lee-o]

Natalie stayed back and let everything take place, the banter between Tony and Hope was old and she was done. She was good at ignoring most things but what she couldn't ignore was that of Loki standing before them. Instantly she was ready to go but no one else seemed to be attacking and then Bruce stepped from the barrier. "Hi, Nat. Hi." Nat closed in on the others now but her face showed no emotion- nothing that would give away how she was actually feeling right now.

"Bruce," She wanted to slap him but knew that probably wasn't the best idea.

"he changed... I believe. So why don't we just all come in first before going for each other's throat?" Nat's brow went up at those words, she didn't believe it for a second.

"Well said, Dr. Banner, Do you need another invitation or do you want to come in?" Nat was curious enough to see inside, she wanted to know what was behind this barrier. "My home doesn’t exist any longer… And before someone asks – it wasn’t me!"

"Let's go."

[Hollywood Heidi]

"he changed... I believe. So why don't we just all come in first before going for each other's throat?"

Hope's brows also went up, mirroring Nat's incredulous look. She slowly lowered her arm but remained on guard.


"Well said, Dr. Banner, Do you need another invitation or do you want to come in?" "You have an advantage over me because you seem to know who I am but I don’t know who you are. Oh, and concerning my imprisonment at Asgard: My home doesn’t exist any longer… And before someone asks – it wasn’t me!"

"Let's go."

As Loki finished speaking, Hope only gave him a suspicious hard look in response. She started forward but didn't stop to remedy his comment of not knowing who she was. Instead, Hope gave him the cold shoulder and continued right past him to Bruce. She stood before Bruce, scrutinizing his eyes for the ice blue coloring that had been reported on previous people Loki had put under control with the Tesseract.  It would explain why he might be fending for the likes of Loki. Seeing no trace of blue in his warm, dark brown eyes, Hope relaxed but still held fast to her distrust of Loki.  Bruce would have to have one hell of an argument to change that.  Hope gave him a warm smile of respect. "Bruce Banner. I admire your work in the scientific field. Hope Van Dyne," she said, offering her right hand to shake in greeting.

Unlike Tony, Hope preferred to stay out of the limelight. She and her father had always turned down requests for interviews, speaking at seminars, or publicly showing off their accomplishments. Because of this, their images didn't get out into the world a lot but there was nothing they could do to stop their names being spoken or written about, mostly in scientific related journals and the like. There'd rarely be a mention of them in media due to the intrigue of their elusiveness, but that never went very far as it didn't make for very exciting coverage without any showy drama to go along with it.

[DarkSideCookie]

Tony couldn't help showing off his astonishment. True, the two science bros hadn't seen like for ages, but Banner seemed to have changed a lot - in the positive sense. Well, he still looked like feeling kind of uncomfortable with what he did, but he did it. In silence, Tony wondered what might have happened in the two years his friend had been elsewhere. And above all, where the hell had he been? Probably not here in the middle of nowhere all the time.

"Do you need another invitation or do you want to come in?" Tony's attention turned back to Thor's wacky little brother. Well, there was no alternative than to just believe in the trust Banner was according to him. "...Oh, and concerning my imprisonment at Asgard: My home doesn’t exist any longer… And before someone asks – it wasn’t me!"

"Let's go."

"For once.", Tony commented on Loki's last statement with quiet sarcasm, rather to himself though, before following Natasha's lead inside the place that was lying snug behind the wannabe conqueror of earth.

"Well said, my friend. Just take care of who you trust.", Tony said to Bruce in passing, giving him a pat on his shoulder. He made no secret of who he was talking about as he threw a side glance towards Loki. "Anyway, it's great to see you again.", Tony added to Bruce again before continuing his steps. He really was looking forward to hearing his story once they all would be surrounded by the barrier to have a private chat.

"... Bruce Banner. I admire your work in the scientific field. Hope Van Dyne,"

[DarkSideCookie]

"Well said, Dr. Banner,"

Bruce couldn't help feeling kind of uncomfortable getting a compliment from him, just like feeling uncomfortable getting patted by him; the ladder probably much more disturbing at that. He wondered if he could ever get used to it, but then again, everyone deserved a second chance, or not?

"Do you need another invitation or do you want to come in?"

Once Loki had turned his attention away from him, Bruce's was turned to one specific person among their new guests until it was just her who suddenly spoke up as well.

"Let's go."

Immediately his eyes were wandering past her. He just didn't want to make this even more crampy for them, even though Nat actually didn't look like she would be feeling the same way about this. But then again, he knew her well enough to be able to say that she wasn't someone to extravert emotions, the good and the bad.

"Well said, my friend. Just take care of who you trust.", Tony said to him in passing, patting his shoulder just as Loki had done before, but not with unleashing the same feeling of uncomfortableness but instead a feeling of not taken seriously for some reason. Maybe it was just the way eccentric people were patting your shoulder like they'd be praising a kid. "Anyway, it's great to see you again." Bruce answered him with a self-effacing nod. "Thank you, Tony."

Actually just randomly his eyes met with the other woman among them, who was giving him kind of an odd look into his. "Uh...", Bruce stammered very quiet as she finally said something instead of just staring at him like he was an alien or something. Could it be she had heard about the Hulk and therefore facing him with scrutiny? Well, he couldn't take it amiss on her. But then suddenly she smiled.

"Bruce Banner. I admire your work in the scientific field. Hope Van Dyne,"

"Oh!" With sudden joyful excitement, Bruce shook the hand that was offered to him. "I had no idea. Wow, Hope Van Dyne. And thank you. I'm a fan of your work as well. Pym Tech has advanced neural science to a whole new level." Being a scientist himself or not, it always was a pleasure to meet up with someone who advanced the scientific field with findings like her institute had. He just never had a face to the name as all articles had been rather impersonal. Despite that fact, Bruce felt a little ashamed for not have recognized her.

[Anduin]

The unknown woman dicided to give him the cold shoulder. It didn’t matter. He’ll probably get to know her soon enough.
But they all did some chitchat together like old friends who hadn’t seen for a while. Well, at least they might be.
The Asgardian stood beside them, listened – of course, with half an ear – and waited until they would be finished.

"Let's go."
It was Natalia Romanova’s voice which made him smile for a second. Straightforwardly as he remembered her.
He gave her a short nod.
That was the right manner – they need to be straight forward if they wanted to defeat Thanos and his people!

"Well said, my friend. Just take care of who you trust."
Loki responded Tony’s glance with a sneer.
It looked like that guy didn’t change a lot. But it wasn’t the time to argue with such a stuborn person.

"Bruce Banner. I admire your work in the scientific field. Hope Van Dyne,"
Ah, finally he got her name. 
"I had no idea. Wow, Hope Van Dyne. And thank you. I'm a fan of your work as well. Pym Tech has advanced neural science to a whole new level."
And a hint about her skills and knowledge.

So there were an assassin and two scientist (a rude woman and a selfish extravagant guy).

The current king of (New) Asgard coughed slightly to get everyone’s attention back.
"You will get time to say 'nice to meet you' later. I have to tell you some important things you may not know so far… So, like Agent Romanova said before – let’s go! "
With his last words he turned around and walked back through the barrier.


After passing the barrier they could see the huts and the people which curiously watched behind them. They wondered who this foreigners would be. It was the first time that Loki let someone pass the barrier he created to protect them. But no one dared to come over and ask. Even Heimdall didn’t say a word but his eyes followed every step of Loki and his guests. The God of mischief was sure that the Keeper of the Bridge knew some of those people.

Finally they arrived Loki’s hut, the biggest and stately one.
He opened the door and let all of them enter the interior.
There were some chairs around a table. 
"Take a seat if you like or not. You‘ll probably need one when you hear what I have to say."
He made a short pause waiting for everybody being ready to listen to him.
"There is a great enemy that you won’t defeat on your own. He is heading to Earth. To be honest I have to say me and my people also wasn’t able to defeat him. We got the chance to flee because my brother gave us time by distracting him. Now Thor is still missing." 
Loki gave a sigh before he added: "No worries, I’m sure that he is still alive."
Then he turned serious again.
"We built a new home for our people here. I don’t want Thanos to threat them again! I am the king of New Asgard – and I offer you my help to fight against Thanos. He is not only mine or your enemy. He is our enemy. If you don’t belive me – ask Dr. Banner. He will agree with what I said."
Then he turned directly to Tony Stark: "Oh, one more thing. I am interested in how you find us."

[Lady Lee-o]

Once past the barrier she looked around to see the people, all of them curious as to what was happening. It was clear these people were curious about them and Natasha could say the same.

"Take a seat if you like or not. You‘ll probably need one when you hear what I have to say." Natasha stayed standing and on alert, she didn't trust Loki enough to relax. "There is a great enemy that you won’t defeat on your own. He is heading to Earth. To be honest I have to say me and my people also wasn’t able to defeat him. We got the chance to flee because my brother gave us time by distracting him. Now Thor is still missing. No worries, I’m sure that he is still alive." Natasha hoped that he was alive because they would eventually need him. "We built a new home for our people here. I don’t want Thanos to threat them again! I am the king of New Asgard – and I offer you my help to fight against Thanos. He is not only mine or your enemy. He is our enemy. If you don’t belive me – ask Dr. Banner. He will agree with what I said. Oh, one more thing. I am interested in how you find us."

Natasha sighed and stayed silent, letting her eyes connect with Bruce. She gave him a small smile and moved over to stand next to him, "I'm glad you're okay."

[Hollywood Heidi]

*****

About an hour had passed since they'd settled in and explained how they'd tracked down New Asgard, then gone on to brief Bruce and Loki on the Sakovia Accords when they'd made mention of some suits showing up shortly after the Asgardians had arrived. It was a good thing Loki had created that barrier upon arrival.


They sat outside in a circle in a clearing of the quaint makeshift village now, trying to ease tensions of sharing a late lunch with a man who'd once wreaked havoc on Earth and a different kind of tension Hope picked up on between Bruce and Nat based off the glances she caught between the two.

Hope was just at the beginnings of creating a distraction from it all with a demonstration of the advancements in neural science that Bruce had made mention of upon their introduction. She watched the ground, sending neurological messages to the small creatures who gathered into the formation she instructed. The tiny ants marched along in unison, forming the outline of the picture while some marched within to form the features. When they stilled into their final positions, the ant formation created the helmet of Tony's suit.

"I am Iron Man," Hope said, deepening her voice in an attempt to mimic Tony. She sent him a good natured smirk before looking back down. "Wait, wait. We can do better," she said, the ants starting to climb upward on each other to start forming a three dimensional rendering of Tony's helmet. Suddenly, a small shadow moved along the ground and across the ants, pulling Hope's attention up to the sky. "What the--" Hope shot to her feet and the ants scattered with Hope's newest focus.

"One of yours?" Hope asked, pinning Loki with a disapproving glare, but she saw no recognition there so she immediately switched to business. "This is gonna rain hell down on you guys," she warned quickly, efficiently. "They may have overlooked your arrival as a blip on the radar one time but twice in the same location? Get ready for company. Loki, give us an exit." The serious authority in her voice basically saying that they'd make one if he didn't. "Tony," she said, looking to the only other person able to go airborne. "You've got outside, I'll take inside." With a thought, her helmet snapped into place and her wings were out. She shrank and took off toward the incoming ship, seemingly disappearing from view and when next she spoke, her voice was coming in through Tony and Nat's comms. "I'll let you know if they're friendlies."

As she zoomed toward the sky, she was relieved to see a small hole opening in the barrier to accommodate her and Tony's exit.

*Hope exits to Ship - Milano***

[Hollywood Heidi]

(via comm)

"I'm in," "Found the people. Some aren't human," "Going in for a better look." 

A couple beats of silence.


"It's Thor. Thor's here,"

Another couple beats of silence.


"Tony, we need an assist. The ship is having problems," "We need to get you guys grounded and hide you and the ship. Explanations later."

[Anduin]

It took some time to get everybody at the same level.
The Trickster was glad that he had created the magic barrier over their new home.
There was only one thing left unspoken: The Tesseract. He thought it would be the best that the others didn’t know about this Infinity Stone he held in his hands.

After sharing their informations there was enough time for some jokes. Hope used her powers to communicate with bugs to tease Tony. "I am Iron Man,"
The God of Mischief smirked. "And I am a God, you dull creature!"
"Wait, wait. We can do better," "What the--"

Suddenly they got back to severity.
There was a shadow moving somewhere over them. Probably another space ship.
"One of yours?"
"No," he gave back. His voice and his whole paralanguage showed apprehension.
"This is gonna rain hell down on you guys," "They may have overlooked your arrival as a blip on the radar one time but twice in the same location? Get ready for company. Loki, give us an exit."
"If they did it is your fault. You shouldn’t come over here. If you are getting into trouble I will help you. But I will also try to keep my people out of this affair. Most of them aren’t fighters."
After a short brake he added: "Go and do what you need to do. I will give you a way out. But… be careful."
He hesitated for a second before he added the last two words.
Of course, he was serious but he wasn’t used to this.


A couple of moments later Hope’s voice contacted them via comm.
"I'm in," "Found the people. Some aren't human," "Going in for a better look."
Not human… Please, don’t let it be Thanos!
"It's Thor. Thor's here,"
Loki breathed a sigh of relief. His brother was alive!
"Tony, we need an assist. The ship is having problems," "We need to get you guys grounded and hide you and the ship. Explanations later."
The current king of New Asgard (But not much longer?) stood up, a determined look at his face.
"So, they are no enemies. I’ll go outside, too."
He faced Dr. Banner and Agent Romanova. "You two want to join?"

[DarkSideCookie]

"So now we need something like a record deal to still be the Avengers?", Bruce had interrupted their explanations about the Sakovia Accords at some point before Hope could have started to give more details about the whole situation on Earth. Well, they had been back on Earth for quite a while already as well but rather in the middle of nowhere.

Once the briefing had been over, they finally were able to ease the tensions around by sharing a late lunch and having a chat between friends that haven't seen in a while and new friends getting to know a little better. There was only one tension, except of the fact that the others still seemed to feel a little uncomfortable around Loki, that was ever-present since they all had met each other again.

Bruce tried to just avoid eye contact with Natasha as he had no idea what to say other than the few words they had exchanged while everyone else was still around. And so he concentrated on the conversation with Hope van Dyne whose accompany he appreciated a lot, for it always was a pleasure to talk to someone being on the same intellectual level, without sounding any boastful here. But the conversations with Thor's little brother or any other Asgardian for that matter had been just different from this.

"That is just incredible!", Bruce uttered in amazement when Hope gave them a demonstration of her ability by creating a connection between her own neural activity and the neural stimuli of ants on the ground. "Wow, hey Tony, look! She's able to command the ants to form your Iron Man helmet and that very lifelike!", he suddenly called out to Tony who was watching the show out of the background.

"I am Iron Man,"

"Oh wow, that's just cute. And really funny.", Tony replied with sarcasm and an expression on his face that said he wasn't quite as impressed as Bruce seemed to be.

"Isn't it? I've never seen anything like that." Maybe it was because the two science bros hadn't talked to each other for years, but Bruce actually didn't get the sarcasm in his friend's voice right that moment. Or maybe he was still just too fascinated about what Hope was able to do to realize.

"Wait, wait. We can do better,"

"That is..."

Suddenly a small shadow moved along the ground and across the ants, pulling everyone's attention up to the sky.

"What the--"

The fascination on Bruce's features died down at once when the whole situation took a turn. And then everything happened very fast.

"One of yours?" With Loki negating her question, although Bruce knew that the ship that had appeared up in the sky all of a sudden would be no invited guest, his anxiety from before was coming back immediately. He could only hope that this wasn't one of Thanos' ships because he wasn't ready to die yet. "This is gonna rain hell down on you guys,""They may have overlooked your arrival as a blip on the radar one time but twice in the same location? Get ready for company. Loki, give us an exit."

"If they did it is your fault. You shouldn’t come over here. If you are getting into trouble I will help you. But I will also try to keep my people out of this affair. Most of them aren’t fighters.""Go and do what you need to do. I will give you a way out. But… be careful."

"Tony,", Hope spoke up again without reacting to Loki's words as they had no time for discussions of any sort. "You've got outside, I'll take inside."

And then Bruce became a silent witness of another incredible ability of hers but right this moment there was no time for fascination. He didn't know though what to do other than just standing around pretty useless. Even Hulk wouldn't be helpful right now. And so he just watched Hope and Tony zooming toward the sky.

The next minutes, Bruce wasn't even able to say if it had been minutes as time felt like something out of order right that moment, everyone kept just watching the distant ship in silence, sending prayers towards Hope and Tony who were checking the situation with the uninvited guests. Then finally Hope's voice via communicator was breaking through the silence.

"I'm in,""Found the people. Some aren't human,""Going in for a better look."

Another break of silence.

"It's Thor. Thor's here,"

"Oh, thank goodness!", Bruce breathed a sigh of relief along with Loki right next to him. Of course he was glad that Thor was alive but primarily was he glad that it wasn't Thanos who was paying them a visit.

"Tony, we need an assist. The ship is having problems,""We need to get you guys grounded and hide you and the ship. Explanations later."

"So, they are no enemies. I’ll go outside, too.", Loki sudenly said before directly adressing Natasha and him. "You two want to join?"

Bruce threw an unsure look in Natasha's direction, the first since the had started their late lunch, before turning his head back to Loki to give him a silent nod of confirmation. He might not be a help right now but if Thor was out there and needed their help he wanted to be part of the rescue team as he was still owing the god of thunder a lot.

[DarkSideCookie]

"Wow, hey Tony, look! She's able to command the ants to form your Iron Man helmet and that very lifelike!"

"Oh wow, that's just cute.", Tony answered Bruce's fascination about Hope's ability with sarsacm as he looked up from his phone, pretending to be busy since she had started her show. "And really funny.", he added to her attempt to sound as cool as he did when he said his famous sentence or rather the sentence that had made him famous - well, more famous than he already had been.

But seriously, this whole thing was nothing groundbreaking and not even anything his scientifical friend hadn't seen yet. Tony himself was using neural technology for decades already, allowing him to move in his Iron Man suit like it was a second skin.

Tony was drawing his attention back towards his own business when suddenly a change in Hope's voice made him look up again. "What the--"

He raised from his sitting position immediately, still half dressed in his Iron Man suit, as he watched the distant ship sending a shadow over this place. "So who invited E.T. for lunch?", Tony couldn't help turning every situation into ridicule. It was just his nature.

"Tony," His eyes darted over at Hope. "You've got outside, I'll take inside."

"Got it.", Tony confirmed before his face got hidden under the ventail of his helmet. And just as he flew by the shranked version of Hope, his tinny voice added: "And if you continue bossing me around, I won't stop calling you Tinkerbell for the rest of your life."

"I'll let you know if they're friendlies.", was coming through his communicator before he followed and left through the small hole in the barrier as well.


*** Tony exits to Ship - Milano ***

[Hollywood Heidi]

***Hope, Tony, Thor, and the Milano crew enter from Ship - Milano***


As soon as their feet touched the ground, Hope released Groot and quickly turned, firing her stinger at the ship that had built up momentum once again after she and Tony had abandoned their attempt to slow it down. The hunk of metal too near their spot on the ground seemed to vanish into thin air with only a barely audible thunk of something hitting the grass.


"What'd you do to my ship?!" came the accusatory cry of alarm from the man who'd been co-piloting along with the raccoon. He actually appeared human. Then again, so did Thor. Well, it was easy to argue that Thor was a specimen beyond just any ordinary human man but she was mentally getting off topic. Point was 'looks human' didn't necessarily mean he was an Earth human.

Hope's helmet snapped back as she walked forward, pausing to scoop a small item off the ground, before proceeding to the man. She took his hand and placed the tiny ship into his palm. "I made it fun-sized. You're welcome." Hope stepped back and addressed all of them. "We need to hurry inside the barrier. It's time for those explanations."

[Ariel]

(TEMP PLAY BY ARIEL)

Gamora and Peter grasped tightly onto the gold and red armor encased Avenger as he hovered over where Hope had landed with the rest of the crew. Gamora and Peter watched as the suspended ship coming in at high speed suddenly disappeared right before their eyes as the three of them lowered all the way to the ground. "Everyone okay?!" Gamora called out to everyone, as they grabbed a hold of their barrings from the close to death experience they just shared. Gamora wanted nothing more to feel relieved and be able to breath again, yet she had an inkling that they weren't safe just yet.

"What'd you do to my ship?!"

Gamora grew startled by the sight of Peter approaching Hope in a hot headed rush. "Peter!" Gamora ran after him to prevent him from doing anything stupid, especially in front of their new friends.

"I made it fun-sized. You're welcome." 

Gamora stared down in awe at the Milano, now nothing more than a spec in Peter's palm. Though, she marveled for only a moment before her attention was brought back to the bug lady in front of them.

"We need to hurry inside the barrier. It's time for those explanations."


Gamora nodded as she pressed forward with Hope, "What is this place?" Gamora asked as she peered around at the rolling green hills accompanied by a cascading cliff that dropped down to one of the largest bodies of water she had ever seen. This place was surreal, unlike any other planet she had been on during her whole existence. 

[Anduin]

Okay, it was rather a crash than a landing but at least his new jetpacks were working.
They were alive! That was all that counts for the moment. 
The first thing he did after his feet – sorry, his nose – hit the ground was heading over to Hope. 
"Groot, are you okay?," he turned at his best friend (or nearly his son) with worry on his face and in his voice.
It took a moment until he realized what happened to the Milano.
Well, to be honest he didn’t really realize WHAT happened to their ship…
"What did you do? It… vanished…"
But then Star-Munch got her attention when he shouted out loud: "What'd you do to my ship?!"
"I made it fun-sized. You're welcome."
Rocket tried to catch a look at the tiny thing in Peter’s hand.
It was the Milano.
That seemed to be an interesting kind of technology.
"We need to hurry inside the barrier. It's time for those explanations."
"Yeah. And maybe you‘re going to reveal how you fun-sized the ship."
"Or maybe I’ll get some of your accouterment…," he added mumbling to himself.
To Groot: "I like her."
And like all the others he followed Hope to something she called the barrier.
But for now he didn’t see anything else than a huge landscape... 

[Anduin]

He didn’t have his hammer anymore but he still got his powers. And he used them to jump overboard and land on the ground, carrying Mantis on his arms. 
"Okay, we’re save," he said soothing to her while he set her down with caution.
The other people around started arguing about the ship or something like that.
But for him it was obvious that the new Lady used her powers to shrink onto the Milano. Pushover. Why did they make a big deal about it?

"We need to hurry inside the barrier. It's time for those explanations."
The God of Thunder turned his face to Hope.
He wanted to respond something – a cool remark – but then he saw something that made him not believe his eyes.
"LOKI!"
With this cry of astonishment he also went over to the barrier – or to be exact to the place where his missed brother seemed to be appered from nowhere.