starkingenuity | The Not So Silent Hill

"My advice is to just ask her. She responds to that the best." Tony had too when he was younger. He was just a better person when treated like an adult. He might have acted childishly at times but his mind needed the stimulation that childish communication just could not bring. Alessa...he understood her frustration. "J-- tell Lessy we have a guest and not to destroy my kitchen. See if she'll come to our room."

Tony had faith in her even if she might not have faith in herself. When she got her body back.... They needed to be sure that she would be safe and happy. And that was easier said than done.

"We are going to have to move her body so it can be examined. And-- Okay, I don't mind telling you that this is pretty damned cool."

"I'm just not sure how much she really knows about what manners are supposed to be..."

Bruce rinsed out his mouth, not even bothering with shaving. He had yet to make shaving every morning a habit again, since he was so used to having no access to a razor.

He leaned on the sink, giving Tony an honest to God grin. "It is pretty cool." Going off to the fabled city of the gods to meet the All-Father who had been mythologized by their whole planet. No big.

And then Alessa stuck her head through the bathroom door. Without knocking. Was Bruce seriously the only one who knocked?

"I'm guessing that guy with the long hair's here," she said dryly.

"That would be Thor, and from what I've seen, a lot of the people where he's from have long hair," Tony said, gesturing with a toothbrush. Once again, he didn't seem to mind Alessa's sudden arrival. He took most things in stride...even things he probably shouldn't. "Want to go to Asgard? The real place, not the Norse mythological fantasy world. It's another planet."

Tony just...he just let it out so smoothly. That was one of the reasons he wasn't more popular as a person (his money tended to let people overlook that foible). He rinsed his mouth with mouthwash for good measure and dried off his hands and face before turning completely towards the girl.

"There are healers there that might be able to fix your body. And then we can go shopping for other dresses or try pigtails? Pigtails would look cute. What do you think, Banner?"

“Pigtails? Really?” Alessa seemed unamused, but Bruce looked at her thoughtfully.

“Maybe braids. Her hair looks a little long for pigtails, but I could see braids working out.” That was, of course, assuming they could heal her hair follicles too. It was possible that they were damaged irreversibly. “Either way, you’re wearing something other than a school uniform.”

“How are we even getting to Asgard? I don’t think we have a rocket,” she said, quickly changing the subject because she really didn’t know how to talk about things relating to appearance. The most she had ever been told was ‘brush your hair and smooth out your uniform’. She had yet to decide whether she wanted to change that or not.

“Asgard has something called the Bifrost. It can get us there without a problem.” Bruce carded his hair between his fingers absently. That was his idea of neatening up. “So do you want to go?”

“Sure.” She seemed surprisingly nonchalant about it. “When else can you go visit a new planet?” And if she was destined to destroy and recreate the whole universe, she might as well get acquainted with more than just her little corner of it.

"Evidently a whole lot if you're Thor," Tony responded, picking up clippers to trim his iconic beard before following Alessa back into his room. As he was still just in his boxers, he needed to get dressed and...meeting the king of Asgard seemed more formal than his usual tshirt and jeans attire.

Tony selected, with Bruce's and Alessa's help, a deep red collared shirt and black waistcoat with slacks and polished shoes. He looked really very dapper after, hair still streaked with white but fluffed up haphazardly, looking wind blown and care free.

Banner had his own clothing, but all of it seemed to scream Professor to him. He motioned for Alessa to join him at the closet door and crouched down to confer with his partner in crime.

"Purple really is his best color," he told her. "It brings out his eyes."

“I’ll take your word for it,” Alessa said dryly, ignoring how Bruce eyed them suspiciously from his spot in the bathroom, having decided that he would shave for this particular occasion after remembering that that was what most men did in the first world. “You spend long enough staring at him that I bet you’d know best anyway.”

The rows and rows of clothing in the closet shifted, Tony’s few purple shirts floating off their hangers and presenting themselves.

“Too frilly.” She put one with lacy frills, probably from a costume, back onto its hanger. “Too shiny.” There went a silk one. “Too purple.” Goodbye, bright plum purple. “Why does this have sequins?” That’s gone. “He’d look silly in this one.” She got rid of one that was clearly intended for business, all sharp lines and hard corners and really not Bruce’s style. “This one?”

It was a light purple button-down, not as formal as the last one but tidy and wouldn’t look out of place in a professional setting. “He could wear a blazer if you think we really need to look nice.”

She paused, then looked down at herself in her stiff, starched school uniform. “Do you think I should change too?”

Holding up the only shirt Alessa approved of to himself as if that might give him an idea of how it would look on Bruce, he was taken off guard by the girl yet again. "You? Can you change?" Forgive him for being an uneducated asshole sometimes but this was the very first time he'd had a little ghost girl hanging out with him. He just assumed that the uniform was part of the projection.

Having fetched one of Bruce's own blazers to go with a pair of dress pants Tony had yet to see him wear, he arched an eyebrow at Alessa.

This would be interesting.

"I mean... We are going to see a king. They tend to like it when you're dressed your best. Your clothes are very nice though." Tony wasn't placating. Uniforms, by definition, tended to be made for these sorts of obligations.

She looked at him as if he had just asked her if she could breathe (which she couldn't without help, but the principle stands).

"It's a projection. It looks how I want it to look."

And then suddenly instead of a little girl, Natasha Romanov was sitting on the edge of the bed, dressed in her usual catsuit but with Alessa's somewhat stern neutral expression. Alessa's expression really didn't look weird on Natasha's face.

"It just takes more concentration if I'm not used to doing it like that."

Alessa's voice came from Natasha's body, which was indistinct and had a blurred outline. Abruptly, she was back in her usual form, Alessa with her smooth school uniform.

"If you think the uniform will work, I'll stick with it. It's what I'm used to projecting."

Beyond unnerved, Tony blinked at Alessa-turned-Widow and shook his head. He head to play with his watch first, he had to find a suitable cologne, he had to do anything but look at Natasha Romanoff on his and Banner's bed. "Okay, new rule, no more anyone other than the three of us in this bedroom, all right? And that includes you looking like you because...no. No." He was very firm about that, rubbing the back of his head in annoyance before he laid out Bruce's outfit for him.

Bruce could certainly select his own clothing, but with the weed whacking currently going on in the bathroom, it would save time if Tony just helped him along a little. No offense to the man he loved, of course.

He dressed with Alessa standing there, sullen as usual, and fixed his tie before gently stroking back smoky, wispy hair that he couldn't really touch. "I think you look beautiful as you are. But dress anyway that makes you happy. The less stress you're under, the better. Banner! Put these on! I'm going to the kitchen to keep Thor from eating us out of house and home!"

"No? It's still me, it's just..."

Realization dawned.

"Ewwwwwww."

Excuse her while she wrinkled her nose, Tony. Yes, she was a very intelligent little girl with way too much knowledge of sex, but still. That was gross.

Nonetheless, she had no discomfort with Tony getting dressed in front of her. She stuck out her bottom lip a little and frowned when he called her pretty. No one but Vincent and Claudia called her pretty.

"It's a lost cause, Tony." Bruce came out of the bathroom, patting his face (which had luckily avoided any nicks) dry before checking out the clothes on the bed and nodding to Tony in thanks. "I'll be surprised if we still have a fridge by now."

"Well shit." He scooted out of the room to find the fridge door opened wide and Thor in front of the stove with all six burners going. There were twelve eggs boiling away in one pot, chicken shredded up with cheese and noodles in another and he'd done something odd with the left over Thai and tune fish too. Tony smirked. "Uh, hey, we're not that hungry."

"Will it only be the four of us, Stark?" He'd thrown a dish towel over his shoulder and used it to dry his massive hands. Jane was a lucky woman if any of this cooking was edible. "The bifrost may carry many more if the others will join us."

"Yeah, about that, they're off saving the world, little pieces at a time. Me and Banner and Alessa's body will have to go. Is that going to be a problem?"

"It should not. I have instructed Heimdal to take great care."

"Good."

"Now sit. Our morning feast has been nearly completed. The All-Father may wish to feast us as well, Asgard has been prospering."

Bruce got dressed quickly. Then Alessa fussed a little over him because apparently she did have an idea of how one presented themselves to authority and he didn't quite pass muster.

By the time they got to the kitchen, Bruce's curls were (mostly) tamed, his cheeks were smooth, and his blazer was impeccable. And he was looking fondly exasperated.

"Alessa, seriously, I don't think there is anything else you could possibly pick at."

"You have no idea how much of a perfectionist I can be if I want to," Alessa said, floating after him and blowing off nearly invisible lint from his shoulders. Bruce arched one eyebrow at all the food.

"Lessy, why don't you go clean up Tony instead?"

"Tony cleans up better than you do!" More lint blowing.

"Yes, Tony does," Tony agreed, finding the noodle and tuna concoction to actually be pretty good for breakfast. It wasn't oatmeal and mimosas but it was still pretty good, and hearty. Lots of protein. He had just been telling Thor that when the other two appeared. As per usual, Alessa got her juice just to feel like she had something in front of her, even if she couldn't drink it and Bruce... Yes, all right, so Alessa had been right. Tony did stare. A lot.

He couldn't help it. The man was attractive, without a doubt, but he wasn't Tony's typical sort of attractive. Maybe there was something about pheromones or the genetics of intellect that linked them, maybe it was something else, but Bruce Banner was by far the most interesting person Tony had ever seen. And he didn't want to stop looking at him.

He smiled when Bruce caught him and pointed out the Thai repurposing.

Thor greeted Bruce with a big grin as well and nodded a little at Alessa, though his smile deadened noticeably.

"I have consulted with many in Asgard. They will wish to question you and perhaps put you to a trial. Would you allow this?" he asked of Alessa.

Bruce rolled his eyes when he noticed Tony staring, but he still smiled, sitting next to his boyfriend and picking at the food. Sometimes, it was hard to tell Tony apart from a lovestruck teenager.

Although the smile disappeared when Thor mentioned a trial.

"What kind of trial?" Of course, Alessa asked what Bruce was thinking, looking very blase about the idea of being tested by a bunch of gods.

Honestly, dealing with Silent Hill and then Tony and Bruce being all lovey-dovey 24/7 had prepared her for everything, in her mind. Bring on the violent horror or sickeningly cute horror: she was ready.

Thor took all of this very seriously and though Tony did as well, he kept shoveling it in. Tony did better pretending nothing bothered him, as usual, though the look in his eyes for Bruce to read was more questioning of their agreement to go to Asgard after all.

All he wanted to do was do a little traveling to one of the more exclusive destinations he'd heard about. He didn't need Alessa to suffer because of it when she had already spent her entire life and then some suffering. He chewed his last bite a few too many times as Thor explained.

"Questions will need to be answered, truthfully. The healers must examine you. And, finally, you must swear to do all in your power to prevent Ragnarok. There will be spells to detect any male intent or noncompliance."

Well, that at least let Tony swallow.

That sounded...fair.

Bruce was still a little tense, but he watched Alessa for her reaction. She, for her part, seemed unfazed.

"Okay. I can do that." As long as the Asgardians were respectful about it. If she thought she was getting less than her deserved respect, there would be another tantrum thrown, and she wouldn't show any restraint.

She touched her glass of juice. The juice began to boil and pulp popped in big bubbles, sticking to the sides of the glass. Her version of playing with her food was cooler than other kids'.

"When are we leaving?"

Thor rose to his feet and Tony frowned, picking his napkin off of his lap to wipe his mouth. He'd said nothing about Alessa's need to be destructive because the last time he'd praised her for the trick, Bruce had given him one of those Looks and...teaching people manners really was not his forte. "Now?" he whined. "I'm not done eating."

"It would be better to arrive early. It is often a long wait to seek an audience. We have been granted early access."

Tony glanced at Bruce over the turn of phrase. Jane Foster's doing. Tony didn't bother to correct him. "All right then, Paul Bunion. Let's get out of here." He grabbed an apple from the table and shoved it in his pocket. Never knew when you'd need some sugar, he'd decided.

Tony watched Thor look up at the ceiling, an amused expression on his face, just before the light hit them. Just like that, the three of them and Alessa's body on her gurney arrived in a flash in a burnished copper room. Unsteady on his feet, Tony actually reached out for a wall and ended up tripping into Thor.

The force of the transportation shook the gurney and the machines attached to it, all sorts of unhappy beeps coming from them. The projection of Alessa flickered with a twisted expression of discomfort.

"Please warn me next time!"

Bruce, who had been thrown to the ground by the force, quickly pushed himself to his feet, brushing himself off before hurriedly checking and readjusting the machines.

As he worked, he took a moment to glance around in awe. The dome was absolutely gorgeous. He'd love a moment to just check out the craftsmanship and see how it worked.

At least Thor was apologetic as he watched Bruce and Tony scurry over to the body of the little girl under the watchful, golden eyes of the Watcher. They were not alone. Three women in bright silver samite stood with their hands clasped and their hair done up in remarkably intricate braids.

There were others behind them as well, strong warriors in golden armor, all waiting to attend them.

"Welcome back, Thor. We will take the girl. The All-Father is expecting you in the throne room," one of the women said, a young protege of his mother's.

Most people would be intimidated by being faced with a room full of Asgardians. Bruce knew from experience that he, at the very least, didn't have much to be afraid of. Unfortunately.

"Are you sure you're equipped to move around and maintain all this machinery?" Bruce looked to all the armored women, the presence of which immediately made Alessa tense up. "Her body is in extremely delicate condition. The loss of any one of these could really hurt her."

Alessa's jaw clenched and her eyes darted to Tony and Bruce. She did not like the idea of a bunch of strange armored women having full access to her body without any kind of precautions. They might try to bump her off.

Had Tony heard that fear, he might have laughed. Bump her off?

"We don't need to bother with your science. We have spells already in place that will allow the poor child to breathe comfortably. We should be able to remove nearly all of her pain and discomfort." Tony had no reason not to trust them. Thor was a good guy and while Loki was an asshole, Loki was adopted...and dead. There was no reason to worry.

Hopefully.

He crouched by Alessa's projection and smiled. "They're here to help you, sweetheart," he promised, touching where her cheek should be. "They don't know anything about the Order. We won't be too long. Banner and I will both come and see to your body as soon as we can and you can come with us or go with it if you want, just to make sure."

Hey, she hasn't had any good conversations since the 70's, okay?

Alessa narrowed her eyes at the women, looking a little like a cat ready to claw anyone who tried petting it. It sounded way too good to be true. "If you try anything funny, I will incinerate you all where you stand."

"Alessa, don't be rude. They're helping you." Alessa was still glaring when Bruce flashed the women an apologetic smile. "Thank you for your help."

One of the healers looked a little less than pleased but her superior smiled and nodded just the same. "It will be our pleasure," she said, but the tightness in her voice bespoke her fear more than anything else. They knew what Alessa was, what Alessa likely had inside of her. Honestly, Tony didn't begrudge them for being fearful.

If Alessa could bring about the end of the universe, there was every reason to be mindful of the girl.

The three gave little bows and floated the gurney off with them and Thor beckoned the rest to follow him. There were no horses waiting, but the walk back towards Asgard itself was beautiful and worth not speeding passed. Tony could help himself but nearly tumble off of the newly repaired bifrost trying to glimpse the stars.

Was it strange that Alessa took no small pleasure in the women's fear?

Bruce, usually so cautious, was absolutely entranced by the bifrost. He stared at the bridge, at the stars, at space all around them. Instead of keeping an eye on Tony as usual, he drifted dangerously close to the edge as well.

"You're both going to fall." Alessa gave them both a hardy shove away from the edge, even though she had not removed her projected eyes from the stars. Her feet left the bridge, crossing beneath her as she floated upwards to get a better view of space.

Bruce, for his part, stumbled from her shove and nearly fell on his ass on the rainbow. Luckily, he caught himself with a soft huff.

"There will be time for a greater ability to view Asgard when this is finished," Thor promised them, in response to both scientists almost willingly participating in dangerous activities at the edges of the rainbow bridge. With the city looming overhead anyway, there was just as much for the pair to see without accidental suicide.

Tony babbled on to Bruce about physics or possibilities but Thor more or less ignored them. His eyes were constantly looking for Alessa. He knew all about illusions, about protections. Yes, his mother had been possible of them, but it was Loki that had caused him to fear them most of all.

The walk to the city, therefore, could not have gone fast enough for Thor.

Passing between massive golden statues and through guard flanked gates gave Tony shivers. Sure, he was doing his best to play it cool but there were new and amazing things at every bend. Even parts of the city still in ruin left him utterly fascinated. Asgard was a planet of simpler times and technology he had never even thought of before.

Science and magic...who would have thought that they would be so close?

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Free! Do you think Alessa will see Loki!Odin for who he is?

She'd at the very least be able to see all the resentment towards Thor and Odin, so probably

Since she can see people's darkest moments she might now that Odin is actually Loki then. :p

Yeah, she could probably tell. She might not speak up immediately, but she could tell

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