Chapter Text
(Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel or any Marvel Characters in any way, shape, or form)
(What’s the difference between form and shape anyway?)
Forged by Lightning, Rescued by Love
Chapter 12
(In this chapter the majority of the content is going to be the others reacting to reading Loki and Thor’s files as well as file 0, though there will be a bit of other content. I do understand if anyone doesn’t want to read this chapter all the way through, but it’s here if you do!)
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Eir finally began reading the document she had set in front of her out loud.
“Ok. This document says that this document is called file zero....version four point zero?” Volstagg raised an eyebrow at that.
“Version four point zero? If I’m not mistaken that indicates that this isn’t the first version of this document. So this must be the fourth version of this file. What happened to the other three?” Eir hummed in thought for a moment and then responded.
“My best guess is that the file must have been updated several times before being presented to us. I think the princes must have given us the most updated copy because it would be the one that gives us the most information.” Eir straightened the papers before continuing.
“Alright. The file starts by saying that the group name is called The Avengers, as we already knew. After that there are two lists of names. One list is labeled ‘Original Avengers Members’ while the second list is labeled as ‘Second Wave Avengers Members’ with a note in parentheses after it explaining that there are members that were added later. The original Avengers must be the children who initially formed the group before Thor and Loki joined them. A few of the names have what appear to be nicknames mentioned in quotations within the actual names. For simplicity’s sake I’m just going to read them as they are put.”
“That seems reasonable enough. Can you please read us the names on each list Eir?”
“Of course. The names of the Original Avengers are Dr. Bruce Banner, Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton, Steven “Steve” Rodgers, James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes, Sam Wilson, James “Rhodey” Rhodes, Virginia “Pepper” Potts, and Anthony Howard “Tony” Stark.”
“WOW, that first kid is already a doctor!? He must be a genius then!” Fandral read the document over Eir’s shoulder with his own eyes in order to see the nicknames in parentheses.
“Hey wait a minute... Loki has mentioned the names Steve and Bucky before! I guess he was referring to the kids called Steven Rodgers and James Barnes.” Heimdall interjected.
“I saw Loki actually speak with two boys named Steve and Bucky this morning after he arrived back at the Avengers’ headquarters on Midgard. That must be them.” Fandral spoke again.
“So if I’ve got it, the preferred names of the ORIGINAL Avengers are Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Rhodey, Pepper, and Tony?” Eir nodded.
“You appear to be correct. Are you ready for the set of names for the Second Wave Avengers Members?” Everyone nodded. “Alright. The first name on the list is actually Thor. After that the names go as Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, Peter Benjamin Parker... oh there’s Loki! Anyway after Loki the names go on to say Harley Keener, Edward “Eddie” Charles Allan Brock... and then for some reason there is a slash mark between that name and the name Venom Symbiote.” Heimdall spoke again.
“Oh I believe that that’s the Klyntar creature and his human host! They were also talking with Loki this morning. Please keep going.” Eir smiled to show her thanks and continued reading.
“Alright. The last few names are Anne Weying, Darcy Lewis, Jane Foster, and Dr. Stephen Strange.” Volstagg whistled a bit.
“Wow, ANOTHER Doctor!? How many geniuses are on this team!?” Sif gasped.
“WAIT A MINUTE! JANE FOSTER AND DARCY LEWIS ARE THE NAMES OF THOSE TWO GIRLS THAT THOR MADE FRIENDS WITH IN NEW MEXICO BACK WHEN HE WAS FIRST BANISHED TO MIDGARD! THEY HELPED HIM REGAIN HIS WORTH FOR MJOLNIR AND HIS POWERS!” Fandral gasped now, along with everyone else, but he kept yelling afterwards.
“Oh my GOODNESS SIF YOU’RE RIGHT! THERE’S NO WAY THAT’S JUST A COINCIDENCE! ARE YOU TELLING ME THOR ACTUALLY REUNITED WITH THOSE SAME TWO FRIENDS BECAUSE THE AVENGERS HAD TO SAVE THEM FROM HYDRA AS WELL!?” Sif now had a sad look on her face.
“Oh my goodness, I don’t know why, but that’s simultaneously sweet AND disturbing. I mean he got his friends back, but they had to suffer for that to happen. How tragic ARE the stories of these kids!?” Everyone started interjecting but Eir spoke up to silence them.
“Please calm down everyone! We’ll never get through all of these if we keep freaking out. To summarize, the Original Avengers are named Bruce, Natasha, Clint, Steve, Bucky, Sam, Rhodey, Pepper, and Tony, while the SECOND WAVE Avengers include Thor and Loki, as well as a few other children named Vision, Wanda, Peter, Harley, Eddie, Venom, Anne, Darcy, Jane, and Stephen. Perhaps we should strictly only call Steven Rogers ‘Steve’ and Stephen Strange “Stephen’ to keep the names straight?” The others agreed and Eir continued.
“Moving on then. The file then identifies the team leader to be “Steve” Rodgers, and the owner of their Head Quarters Building as Tony Stark. After that there is a long paragraph of notes, which I will read now.” Eir cleared her throat before continuing.
“The notes say....HYDRA” Everyone flinched upon hearing the name of the organization that had hurt their princes so suddenly right at the beginning of the sentence like that. Eir decided to restart the paragraph to allow the others to recover from their shock.
“HYDRA....is a terrorist organization that was originally formed by the Third Reich, otherwise known as the Nazi Empire, who’s main goal is to take over and rule the world. All of the members of the Avengers team are former HYDRA agents. HYDRA kidnapped and slash or found the original and second wave Avengers members and either forced or manipulated them, if not both, into joining HYDRA’s ranks.” Everyone started to feel anger bubbling up inside of them. Eir kept reading.
“After serving HYDRA for various amounts of time, the original Avengers decided to break out of the HYDRA together. The Avengers were eventually able to free themselves and come together to form a team. The original members all escaped HYDRA on the same day.” Eir became slightly confused as she came upon an acronym she had never heard of before.
“The NYPD... What is the NYPD?” Heimdall interjected again to answer her.
“Ah, if I’m not mistaken then that means the New York City Police Department. It’s just a regular unit of Midgardian law enforcement.” Everyone nodded in acknowledgment of this new knowledge and Eir proceeded with her reading.
“Thank you Heimdall. Moving on...The NYPD recognize the Avengers as a gang due to their tendency to perform vigilante actions in pursuit of HYDRA cells hidden throughout New York City and the surrounding bureaus, and because their actions are considered to be unsupervised by any legal guardians.” Everyone gasped in shock. Volstagg spoke in anger.
“They are fools! The princes and their friends are NOT just some common illegal street gang! This is madness!” Eir quickly chided him.
“Volstagg It’s just an opinion being made by one group of people. It doesn’t define who the Avengers truly are.” Everyone calmed down at that statement and Eir read a little bit ahead quietly before speaking when suddenly her facial expression changed into a look of shock, disgust, and grief.
“OH NORNS HAVE MERCY! THIS IS TERRIBLE!” The others were all frantically asking her what it was for about 30 seconds before Eir continued.
“A-All Avengers members are victims of illegal human experimentation!? With human being used as a term being used to represent their status as a person even if they are not biologically human by species, ….mind control, brainwashing, and TORTURE, which lead to all of them developing or exacerbating, if not both, their various types of physical disabilities and mental disabilities and disorders, with a substantial presence of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, also called PTSD, among nearly all, if not ALL, members!? Oh my word.... these children... our own PRINCES.... they were-” Volstagg yelled out in outrage.
“EXPERIMENTATION!? HYDRA USED LOKI AND THOR AND THE AVENGERS AS LAB RATS!? AND TORTURE!? ACTUAL TORTURE!? D@3N HYDRA! MONSTERS! THEY’RE MONSTERS! EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! THEY ARE GOING TO DIE...THEY’LL ALL DIE I TELL YOU!” Sif and Frigga began crying. The Warriors three were yelling death threats against HYDRA. Heimdall was trying to keep himself from destroying the room out of rage. It was absolute chaos until-
“SILENCE!” Odin had yelled in his most authoritative voice. A moment later he calmed said voice down. “I am also completely INFURIATED about what HYDRA has done to my sons... BELIEVE ME, I AM! However, we CANNOT go off trying to attack everything in sight in pursuit of HYDRA’s destruction! We ARE going to help Thor and Loki destroy HYDRA, but we cannot do that without more information on what kind of organization they are! So everyone needs to sit back down and listen to the contents of these files so that we can actually learn what Loki and Thor need us to know about what HYDRA can do!” Everyone finally regained their composure. Eventually Eir once again began reading.
“The paragraph ends by stating that the goal of the Avengers is to destroy HYDRA and avenge the fallen who were killed, or who’s lives were uprooted or destroyed by HYDRA’s actions as well as to rescue, then there’s a note in parentheses saying ‘and possibly recruit second wave members into the Avengers’, end parentheses, and the sentence continues. I’ll back track to a few words before the parentheses. It says, ‘as well as to rescue other kids and teens like them who were forced into working for HYDRA.’ That’s the end of the notes section. Anyone who is still confused can reread that later.” Eir cleared her throat again and continued.
“After that, it states the Avengers’ Motto. It says, ‘If we can’t protect, then we’ll avenge.’ I suppose that explains a bit about how the Avengers chose their name. After that.... goodness gracious!” Everyone looked confused, but Eir continued before they could ask about it.
“The next section, labeled as subnote one, states that current records of the torture methods the Avengers were subjected to while under the control of HYDRA can be found attached to the actual medical records instead of the file summary pages. I... I didn’t know that these documents would contain extensive records of that! I would brace yourselves for some gruesome explanations.” Everyone took a moment to let that information sink in. Eir sighed and continued on.
“The second subnote states that the ages, and I am assuming by ages they mean the account of how old all of these kids are... anyway, the ages in all of the files are updated and changed at the beginning of each new year. And finally, the last subnote states that the current second wave Avengers were rescued from HYDRA by the other Avengers while on missions. It ends by saying that not all second wave Avengers were rescued at the same time. And that is the end of file zero. If everyone is ready... it’s time for Thor’s file.” Everyone nodded grimly as Eir picked up the file and opened it to the summary page.
“Alright. This reads file nine.... version two point zero? I guess that Thor’s file was one that was updated at least once? Anyway.... The file starts in a list format. It starts like this.... Name: Thor Odinson. Birthdate.... Unknown?” Fandral raised an eyebrow in confusion.
“Birthdate unknown?” Eir looked at the birthdate section again.
“Wait there’s a note in parentheses. It says that November 21st has been chosen for the sake of records based on memory and comparison between Earth and Asgardian calendars. The Midgardians must have had a little trouble comparing our calendar to theirs.” Heimdall nodded.
“That makes sense. Please keep going?” Eir nodded.
“Alright. The file continues by saying that Thor’s estimated mental age in human years is about.... 16? Goodness, that’s so YOUNG! Oh, here it also says his estimated physical age in Asgardian years is 1052. That sounds about right. Of course it says his sex is male and then.... then it lists his asset name.” Odin narrowed his eyes.
“Let me guess.... it says Static Slayer doesn’t it?” Eir nodded sadly.
“Yes... yes it does. Let’s.... let’s continue on from there if that’s alright? Now there’s a small paragraph labeled as Subnote One. It says ‘Thor Odinson was rescued from HYDRA along with fellow second wave avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker while the original avengers were on a mission raiding a HYDRA hideout.’ My word... This means that Thor was rescued from HYDRA at the same time as three of the other children!” The others were all somewhat disturbed at this thought. Eir took a moment to regain her composure before continuing.
“There is a second subnote. This one says ‘Thor’s home planet of Asgard previously considered Thor’s status to be classified as deceased. This is currently not true and copies of this documentation for the sake of proof of life will be provided to the royal family of Asgard.’ Well they definitely followed through on THAT considering that we’re READING this documentation right now. Then there is one last subnote. This one says ‘Thor is the older brother of fellow Avenger Loki Odinson. Along with the original Avengers, Thor Odinson, as well as second wave Avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker participated in the mission leading to Loki Odinson’s rescue from HYDRA.’ From what I can gather this means that Loki came into the Avengers AFTER Thor, but BEFORE the seven other second wave Avengers that Loki says that he helped to rescue. Alright, are we ready for the main notes paragraph?” Everyone grimly nodded once again.
“Alright, Here it goes. Prince Thor Odinson is the real patron of thunder figure from the Norse mythological legends. He is considered to mentally be a teenager in comparison with his teammates even though he is over 1000 years old physically due to a longer lifespan. It states that Thor is the crown prince, and it states that he is considered to be next in line for the throne Asgard.” Odin hummed in slight satisfaction.
“I must say, I’m glad that they recognized him as a prince even though he wasn’t from their world. It’s almost as though they were trying to give him his true identity back.” Eir nodded.
“I’m glad as well.” Eir read a bit ahead and began to look sad.
“Here comes a rough part.... the explanation of how Thor wound up in the hands of HYDRA.” Everyone leaned in closer and listened with rapt attention as Eir read the heartbreaking story. Eir took a deep breath before beginning.
“After surviving banishment and attempting to return home to Asgard, Thor wound up getting lost in an unspecified location in New Mexico. While he was lost, he was kidnapped by HYDRA, who wound up planting evidence in New Mexico meant to fool everyone he knew into thinking that he was dead, and then..... and then experimented on, tortured, subjected to mind control, and sent him on HYDRA missions before breaking control.” Everyone looked extremely saddened at this statement. Odin sighed with grief.
“Planted evidence.... they faked his death so that we wouldn’t think to look for him. Oh how blind we were!” Frigga put a supportive hand on Odin’s shoulder and urged Eir to continue, which she did.
“Thor was set to be teamed up with second wave Avengers members Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker as a HYDRA strike team, but this did not occur because all four were rescued together from HYDRA by the original Avengers.” Sif spoke up again.
“So Thor and the other three children he was saved with were the first of the second wave Avengers to join? And Thor was going to be teamed up with them by HYDRA, but they were rescued before they could do it?” Eir spoke ones again in response.
“It appears so. Moving on from there.” Eir read a bit ahead.
“Oh, this is an explanation of Thor’s powers and skills coming up. It says ‘Thor has a magical connection to his preferred weapon, a hammer that is called Mjolnir. Thor’s powers, which he was born with and are not a product of HYDRA experimentation, consist of the ability to produce and control lightning bolts’.” Eir paused and hummed in pleasant surprise.
“Hmmm.... this is definitely interesting! It says that Thor has also learned how to sense electrical signals, and how to short circuit or activate technology with his lightning.” The others were impressed. Frigga responded verbally to this.
“It seems that Thor’s powers have developed somewhat while on Midgard. What else does it say Eir?” Eir read ahead again, but all pleasantness was now gone completely from her face. In fact, she looked about ready to cry.
“Oh my WORD....Thor was occasionally forced to use his lightning as a torture and slash or execution method.... This has caused him to experience psychological trauma.” Every single person at the table gasped in shock and horror. Eir read ahead again, but this time she started crying.
“Oh NORNS HAVE MERCY! HOW DID THOR EVER SURVIVE SUCH PAIN!?” Eir’s breath hitched as she read.
“This.... this is about how Thor’s eyes... how they were....” Eir sniffled before just reading it. “T-Thor lost his vision, and one of his physical eyes, due to a HYDRA experiment involving MAGICAL SNAKE VENOM that went horribly wrong. This has lead to a diagnosis of permanent blindness! They.... they must have dripped the snake Venom right into them! This means that one eye is COMPLETELY gone because it was dissolved by the venom! I wouldn’t be surprised if the nerves were most likely corroded beyond repair in the eye that he DOES still have! I don’t think there’s anything I can do to fix them! Oh your majesties... I’m SO sorry!” Frigga started sobbing again. Odin hugged her close. Heimdall has a hand over his own eyes. Sif had a hand over her mouth with tears in her eyes. The Warriors three were in similar positions. After a few minutes Hogan spoke up.
“How did Thor get that strange black eye that seems to have replaced the missing one?” Eir sniffled before continuing.
“It says Thor has received a mechanical replacement for his missing eye from fellow Avenger Tony Stark, who has combined Thor’s electric sensing abilities with optic technology in order to allow.....” Eir paused a moments in confusion “....in order to allow Thor to quote on quote “see” electric currents?” Everyone was confused but then Eir kept going.
“W-wait... there’s more! It says Thor has further combined the bionic eye with a technique called Echostatic Pulse. This technique is similar to echolocation, but it uses the electricity in his lightning powers instead of sound. Thor also occasionally magically morphs the shape of his hammer to use it as a walking cane for the blind.” Everyone seemed intrigued. Sif spoke again.
“S-So there’s still at least SOMETHING that he can see? Well... at least he can still see lightning, if nothing else.” Eir nodded before letting her eyes widen in shock.
“Remember how the Midgardians discovered Loki was afflicted with something none of us ever knew about? It appears Thor is in the same situation. It says here, upon examination of Thor’s physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Thor most likely had a learning disability called Dyslexia as a child, which negatively affected his ability to read and write. Thor has relearned how to read and write in Braille, but his original Dyslexia has become present once again while using the written language method. Strategies to assist with this are in place.” Everyone was looking at Eir in wonder. Fandral spoke again.
“No WONDER Thor always had so much trouble reading as a child! A learning disability.... who knew right? So this means it was never completely his own fault that he kept falling behind in his studies after all!” Frigga spoke again.
“It makes much more sense why Loki wanted me to learn Braille too! I’m sure that Thor will want to stay with the Avengers just as Loki is. Loki must have wanted someone on Asgard to be able to read and respond to Thor’s letters in Braille since that’s the way he needs to create them now! Oh Loki, you’re such a good brother for being so helpful and supportive even though you have your own difficulties! And Thor has been so strong to have kept trying to continue living his life to the fullest and adapting his lifestyle to do that! I’m so proud of my boys!” Eir smiled a little bit.
“Allow me to give you one more reason to be proud my queen. It says here that Thor is actually extremely intelligent by Earth standards, and seems to be developing a significant talent for several categories of mathematics as well as electrical engineering. It seems that Thor may have found a new passion. I wonder how Loki likes knowing that his brother understands the appeal of academic pursuits?” Everyone couldn’t help but chuckle at that. Eir continued and suddenly went pale.
“OH MY WORD! HOW DID WE NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS!? THOR HAS BEEN IN DANGER OF SUDDEN DEATH HIS WHOLE LIFE AND NO ONE EVER SUSPECTED A THING!” Everyone gasped. Odin spoke worriedly.
“Eir what are you talking about!? What is putting Thor in danger!?” Eir responded quickly.
“It was also discovered that Thor has a SEVERE allergy to almonds! I... I think almonds are a type of nut found on Midgard. It says this allergy is severe enough to be potentially DEADLY, therefore an almond free diet is required for his own health and safety!” Eir read ahead a little then suddenly let out a small breath of relief. “Oh thank GOODNESS! There’s a countermeasure already in place for this!” Everyone listened closely as Eir described the countermeasure. “The document says that an epinephrine injection pen, which is shortened to EpiPen, has been provided to counteract this allergy, primarily in an emergency situation, should he accidentally be exposed to almonds in his food. Whatever this pen is must have emergency medicine in it that can save Thor’s life in the event of an allergic reaction! Oh thank the heavens!” Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Odin spoke again.
“Despite the presence of this countermeasure, I am declaring that almonds are banned from the palace in order to protect Thor from accidentally coming in contact with them! I may not be able to do much to help him, but at least I can do THIS! My son will NOT need to worry about dying every time he eats because of the potential presence of almonds!” Everyone nodded in agreement to Odin’s decree before Eir kept going.
“Thor has been granted duel citizenship between his home in Asgard and the United States of America, allowing him to legally be able to live on Earth, despite being from another planet. Interesting. I suppose this means that Thor is considered to be a citizen of BOTH Midgard AND Asgard. I wouldn’t be surprised if Loki were in the same situation.” Eir straightened the papers again. A look of confusion came on her face.
“Um.... it says that Thor’s lightning was probably used to assist in the CREATION of fellow Avenger Vision Jarvis?” Volstagg looked confused.
“Did you say creation? Are you saying that Thor helped to just MAKE a person? How is that even POSSIBLE?” Eir shrugged.
“We will probably find out once we read Vision’s file later on, or we can just ask Thor about it. Now there’s not much left to cover on this page, so I’m going to continue from there.” Everyone nodded and Eir kept reading.
“Upon the 2.0 version update of this document Thor owned a switchblade which was acquired after his rescue from HYDRA, and which he legally registered with the police through the acquisition of a New York State hunting license?” Heimdall cocked an eyebrow in confusion.
“Switchblade? What’s a switchblade?” Fandral spoke up in response.
“Wait, I’ll bet it was the knife he pulled out earlier in the throne room!” Everyone besides Heimdall went ‘ahhhhhh’ once they realized that that made sense. Heimdall decided he would just ask about the knife later on. Sif spoke up after that.
“Oh YEAH! That totally makes sense! I wonder why he had to get a license to hunt and register his knife with the police?” Odin responded after that.
“It’s probably something to do with Midgardian law. Is there anything else?” Eir spoke up once again.
“Just one more thing. After that in parentheses there is a list summarizing that Thor was officially diagnosed with PTSD, Dyslexia, Blindness, and a severe specific food allergy to almonds. That’s the end of the summary pages. So now if we’re ready, we can look at the rest of the file, including the actual medical records and those “photographs” that Loki mentioned. I have a bad feeling that this is not going to be easy to look at. I would brace yourselves for some rather disturbing images.” Everyone gave their consent for Eir to do as she needed. Eir turned to the next page.... and immediately went pale. Her voice came out in a terrified, heartbroken whisper.
“Oh my word!” Eir actually began to cry. She moved what she was holding with shaking hands.
“This.... this is worse than I imagined. You.... you need to see this for yourselves.” Everyone moved to look at the pictures. The moment they saw them every single one of them started crying right along with Eir.
______
Loki and Thor had been walking for awhile when Loki finally found what he was looking for.
“Ah! Here we are! This doesn’t seem like a bad place to wait.”
“Where are we Loki?” Loki pushed open the doors and lead Thor inside.
“This is that old music room we used to hide in when we wished to escape our tutors as children....or when we were younger I should say. It’s the one filled with all of the instruments gathered from other worlds... and that has the excellent acoustics. This is where you would practice your battle cries.” Thor chuckled.
“I remember that! You used to come in here to play the piano only to find me screaming my lungs out. Then you would chase me out with illusions of fiery demons that would haunt my dreams for many moons. I secretly loved it when you did that. I would pretend to fight them because I enjoyed how real they seemed.” Loki chuckled right along with Thor. They separated their hands because Thor wanted to use touch to explore the room on his own. They wandered around until Thor bumped against something covered with a sheet. Loki’s eyes lit up with amusement as he pulled off the sheet. It was the piano.
“Hey Thor.... Let’s sing a couple of tunes!” Loki started fingering the piano keys. Thor smirked too now.
“That sounds DELIGHTFUL! I already know EXACTLY what song to start with!” Thor and Loki then began singing songs without a care in the world.
______
Going through Thor’s medical records and torture accounts was even more heartbreaking than they originally thought. No one could get through it without shedding tears, not even Odin. It took 15 minutes after finishing Thor’s medical records for everyone to stop crying for long enough to realize that they weren’t even ready to go get the princes yet because they still had to read LOKI’S file. And then the crying continued for another five minutes because they didn’t want to learn about any more horror related to the princes. However, they knew that they needed to do this if they were going to support the Odinsons in their efforts against HYDRA. So they steeled themselves and decided the best thing to do would be to jump straight in instead of dwelling on the unknown. Eir went straight into reading with no prelude.
“This is file number thirteen version one point zero. Name, Loki Odinson, The Birthdate is listed as December 17th because it is the best assumption based on memory and comparison between Earth and Asgardian calendars. The Estimated age in Mental slash human years is 14. The estimated age in physically or asgardian years is 901.” Eir sighed.
“That’s still SO young... even younger than Thor. It honestly makes it much more tragic.” Eir cleated her throat. “Moving on. Of course the sex is listed as male, and then it lists the asset name. I’m assuming we all know of it?” Odin nodded and spoke in response.
“We all know that it says The Liesmith. Please continue Eir.” Eir nodded and kept going.
“Subnote one states that Loki’s adoptive home planet of Asgard most likely previously considered Loki’s status to be classified as deceased. This is currently not true and copies of this documentation for the sake of proof of life will be provided to the royal family of Asgard. Once again, I believe that the fact that we’re reading these documents means that they followed through on that. It’s almost the same subnote that Thor had. Alright then, subnote number two says that Loki is the younger adopted brother of fellow Avenger Thor Odinson. It goes on to say that Loki and his brother Thor are different species, with a note in parentheses saying that Thor is Asgardian while Loki is biologically descended from the Jotuns, or Frost Giants of planet Jotunheim. It then says that both brothers were evaluated at least partly by Asgardian standards. I suppose that makes sense since no one really knows much about the biology of the Jotunns anyway. The last subnote states that along with the original Avengers, Thor Odinson, as well as second wave Avengers Wanda Maximoff, Vision Jarvis, and Peter Parker participated in the mission leading to Loki Odinson’s rescue from HYDRA. This confirms our earlier assumed time table of Loki before rescued AFTER Thor.” Eir paused a moment. “I know that we are all dreading what we might next read because Loki’s story is probably just as heartbreaking as Thor’s if not more. However, we have to keep going if we want to be able to help the princes recover from and defeat HYDRA. Therefore, we must remain strong for them and continue to press on. Ready or not, here we go.” Everyone nodded in agreement, and then Eir began.
“This is the main notes section that I’m reading now. It says, Prince Loki Odinson is the real patron of mischief and lies figure from the Norse mythological legends. He is considered to mentally be a teenager in comparison with his teammates even though he is over 900 years old physically due to a longer lifespan. Loki is a crown prince, considered to be second in line for the throne. It goes on to say that he is of course from Asgard. Next it explains his powers. It says Loki has a natural type of magic power known as Seider, and most likely has hidden ice powers as well.” Eir paused at that. Frigga spoke up.
“I suppose that we never considered that Loki’s Jotunn heritage may also give him their ice abilities along with his own natural magic. We shall have to think about that in the future. Does it say anything else about Loki’s powers Eir?” Eir continued.
“Just a little my Queen. It states that both types of power, meaning both ice and magic, were NOT a result of HYDRA experimentation, but are instead inborn abilities. After that we start getting into Loki’s time with HYDRA. Are we ready?” Heimdall spoke up.
“No... but we don’t have a choice in the matter. We need to do this whether we are ready or not. Please continue.” Eir took a deep breath before continuing her reading.
“Loki Odinson was sent to Earth by his father King Odin of Asgard on a mission to discover the fate behind the supposed death of his brother, fellow Avenger Thor Odinson, who upon the original creation of this document was NOT considered to be deceased, and to bring Thor’s body along with his hammer Mjolnir.” Everyone nodded solemnly. Eir continued to read with a sad tone in her voice.
“During his search, Loki was kidnapped by HYDRA. Loki fell victim to HYDRA’s torture, experimentation, mutilation, manipulation, and mind control methods, and then it states in parentheses the words ‘as did the other members of the Avengers while they were part of HYDRA’. The rest of the sentence after the parentheses goes on to say ‘which caused Loki physical and psychological trauma’. And then....” Eir stopped to read ahead, but suddenly an expression of combined anger and heartbreak appeared on her face. Eir, shockingly, started yelling out the next sentence in fury.
“HYDRA used a TWO MONTH period of SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, specifically, solitary confinement in a SOUNDPROOF BOX with NO LIGHT! L-Loki himself compared the size of the box to a COFFIN. It says this barbaric treatment was used as a CONDITIONING TECHNIQUE of all things!” Everyone reacted in outrage. Odin spoke up again, venom clear in his voice.
“Let me GUESS. This horrid action against Loki has caused my son some type of mental trauma!?” Eir responded sadly.
“I’m afraid you are correct my league. It says that this treatment has caused Loki to develop a fear of being trapped in small spaces, which is called claustrophobia, as well as a fear of the dark, called Nyctophobia, AND a fear of excess silence, which is called Sedatephobia.” Eir continued with tears in her eyes.
“We... we already heard some of the next part already from Loki himself. Due to HYDRA experimentation and torture, Loki’s lower left leg was unwillingly amputated and replaced with a vibranium prosthetic. It also says, just like you said Loki mentioned on the day of his return, that HYDRA brainwashed Loki into believing that by working for them, Loki could deliver revenge upon Thor’s supposed murderers, leading to Loki becoming a mind controlled HYDRA agent. As you learned earlier, HYDRA also trained an unwilling Loki to become a skilled assassin. Loki eventually managed to PARTIALLY break the mind control....but...” Eir gasped in shock and anger.
“Are you KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW? It says that this lead to HYDRA SEWING HIS LIPS SHUT! And THEN it says that the stitching was later SELF removed, but will most likely leave permanent scars! Loki must have had to cut his own mouth open! Those MONSTERS! HOW COULD THEY SUBJECT HIM TO THAT!?” Eir had to take a moment to let herself break down crying as the other also sat their with silent tears of anger and sorrow flowing down their faces. Eir continued a minute later.
“While still in a partially brainwashed state, the Avengers were on a mission investigating the HYDRA base where Loki was located. While under mind control, and still injured from the lip sewing incident, Loki attempted to attack the Avengers, thoroughly convinced that humans could no longer be trusted as a whole and was prepared to kill them all out of a HYDRA implanted desire for revenge for himself AND his brother. However, this mission was participated in by the second wave Avengers that had joined before him, those second wave Avengers being Peter Parker, Vision Jarvis, Wanda Maximoff, and Thor. This indicates that those specific second wave Avengers were present at the HYDRA base that day. This is where Loki was reunited with his very much alive elder brother Thor, who’s presence helped Loki to break the mind control fully. Once completely free of mind control, the Avengers rescued Loki by evacuating from the base, offered him a position within the Avengers, which he immediately accepted, and then they brought him back to their headquarters.” Eir gasped again.
“Oh my WORD! It says that night was also the night when Loki discovered that his brother was not only alive, but was also now permanently blind. It also says the people who conducted Loki’s evaluation have noted that this news may have caused even MORE psychological trauma for Loki, as he partly BLAMED HIMSELF for Thor’s banishment, which... as we know... is the the reason why Thor was originally on Earth before being kidnapped by HYDRA! It says Loki has developed something called ‘separation anxiety’ in relation to his brother because of the psychological trauma associated with thinking that Thor was dead for an extended period of time, AND fearing that a similar situation may happen again!” Frigga cried out again.
“Oh my dear Loki, how I hate the way he has suffered! No WONDER he clings to his brother’s hand so tightly! The poor thing must be constantly terrified for Thor’s safety at every instance they spend too much time apart from each other! That sounds truly AWFUL! How did Loki get through being on Asgard without Thor for four days without constantly being worried sick!?” Odin tried his best to comfort Frigga.
“Don’t fret my love. Loki and Thor are together now. Never again will they have to suffer the torment of being split apart! We will make sure of that Frigga, I promise you!” Frigga nodded and took a minute to compose herself before letting Eir continue her reading.
“As we suspected earlier, Loki has been granted duel citizenship between his home in Asgard and the United States of America, allowing him to legally be able to live on Earth, despite being from another planet. Alright now what else is here?” Eir read ahead one more time and sighed in relief before speaking again.
“Oh good...the rest of this is just talking about other things we also already knew about. It says that upon further examination of Loki’s physical and mental health history, it was discovered that Loki is afflicted with chronic Narcolepsy, which is a sleep disorder often characterized by having sudden bouts of sleepiness as one of the main symptoms. This makes Loki susceptible to falling asleep almost anywhere at almost any time. Loki is to be provided with medication to assist in coping with this condition, which he will most likely be required to take for the remainder of his natural life. Finally there is a summary list in parentheses that Loki was officially diagnosed with Nyctophobia, Sedatephobia, Claustrophobia, Narcolepsy and PTSD. And of course... the amputee status is a given. That’s the end of Loki’s summary page. Now all we need to do.... is go through the rest of Loki’s medical and torture account records and then bring the princes back in here in order to go through the files of their friends.” Frigga sniffled.
“I... I almost don't want to let them in! They’ve already suffered SO MUCH, and now we’re going to let them subject themselves to living through the accounts of the suffering of their dear friends and teammates!? It was torturous enough for us to go through THEIR files, ESPECIALLY since Thor and Loki are our loved ones! How torturous do you think if will be for them to go through so many more files for their comrades!? How could we ever expose them to something like THIS!? I want to PROTECT them from pain, NOT CAUSE THEM MORE!” Fandral spoke.
“We ALL feel that way my Queen, but I feel like the princes may feel more hurt by never knowing what truly occurred. After all, they probably need this information as much as we do. I can’t imagine the months of pain that must come with constantly wondering how their teammates came to be in the hands of HYDRA and how they were truly hurt by them. They will be upset, but they may also gain a sense of closure that will stop their constant questions. Besides, these are apparently copies of the real files. Loki and Thor probably won’t let us stop them from just going through another set of these pages back on Earth. At least if we read the files for them here, we can try to comfort them and support them through the pain.” Frigga sniffled again.
“I... I suppose you’re right Fandral. The least we can do is help them to get through this instead of denying them our comfort. We should stay by their sides. Eir, let’s just... let’s finish the rest of Loki’s files quickly so they won’t have to wait much longer.” Eir nodded and opened the rest of document up for all to see. It didn’t take long for the gasping and crying to start up once again.
_______
The group cried for another 20 minutes while trying to reconcile with the suffering of both of the princes once Loki’s file was finished. They were already SO tired from all of this, but they still had a job to do. And that job was to fulfill Loki and Thor’s request to allow them to go through their team’s files.
The group, except for Eir, decided to go fetch the two princes all together. Every single one of them was filled with worry for Thor and Loki’s well-being. They have gone through SO MUCH PAIN in their time away from Asgard. How could Thor and Loki POSSIBLY ever be ok again after everything the Princes been made to endure!? They eventually located the Odinson brothers in the old music room where instruments gathered from across the realms were kept.
They were about to walk inside, but instead paused outside the door when they realized that Loki and Thor were playing the room’s musical instruments and singing. They all stopped and listened, mesmerized by the sound of the song they sang.
(Song: “Brother” By NEEDTOBREATHE. I do not own this song)
Ramblers in the wilderness we can't find what we need
We get a little restless from the searching
Get a little worn down in between
Like a bull chasing the matador is the man left to his own schemes
Everybody needs someone beside em' shining like a lighthouse from the sea
Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Face down in the desert now there's a cage locked around my heart
I found a way to drop the keys where my failures were
Now my hands can't reach that far
I ain't made for a rivalry, I could never take the world alone
I know that in my weakness I am stronger
It's your love that brings me home
Brother let me be your shelter
I'll never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're feeling low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Brother let me be your shelter
Never leave you all alone
I can be the one you call
When you're low
Brother let me be your fortress
When the night winds are driving on
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Be the one to light the way
Bring you home
Loki and Thor took a moment to breath once they finished. Everyone in the room realized that the song they just heard had a purpose. They were singing that song because they were reminding each other that they were always there to each guide their brother when things were hard. That’s when the group knew that as long as Loki and Thor had each other, then they could get though anything, and they would do it together. Loki and Thor noticed when the others came in. Loki noticed that they entered with smiles on their faces. Loki raised an eyebrow.
“Ummmm we weren’t exactly expecting any of you to be HAPPY after reading our files... so why are you all smiling?” Thor was confused now.
“Smiling? What in the world? Loki is this some kind of trick?” Frigga chuckled.
“No my sons. This is no trick. We are smiling because we heard you singing together. Your song.... it made us realize that you are going to be ok so long as you have each other. It was quite an inspirational piece!” Now Loki and Thor were smiling. Thor spoke again.
“Thank you. It is quite inspirational to us. It’s one of our favorites. We sing it when we’re about to do something that we know will be difficult. It acts as a reminder that we’re not doing anything alone. We were..... getting nervous about learning what was contained within the rest of the files. We needed a pick me up, so we sang.” Loki stood up from the piano.
“I’m assuming this means you’re ready for us to come back?” Odin nodded.
“Yes we’re ready for you. The files of your teammates are ready to go and are being watched over by a rather impatient lady Eir, so we really must be on our way if we don’t want her to become agitated.” That got a chuckle out of everyone. Thor and Loki, expressions of determination on their faces, joined their family and friends in walking back to the King and Queen’s chambers, ready to face whatever information they may learn.
______
So long did it take to read the other files that by the time they were finished, night had fallen and the princes were falling asleep on their parent’s shoulders. The Asgardians were now quite attached to the humans and Klyntar that the princes had befriended. As Loki and Thor were sent to eat and get some rest, the Asgardians at that table vowed that they would protect the Avengers with their lives.
For now, it was time to give their princes some long overdue care and attention.