Avengers 1. Waiting for the ride

**Short first chapter, mostly explaining what's going on, who's present, what everyone's wearing (might have gone a little far on that) and establishing a little canon. Things will start happening in ch.2.**

**Takes place after IM3, before WS and completely disregards tDW.**

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It was a special occasion. Very special. In fact, none of them had ever experienced anything like it. A week earlier, Thor, recently returned from Asgard, had announced them all invited to a grand feast in his royal palace. None had wanted to refuse the invitation, so when the day arrived there was a rather large group of people who had gathered in a field just outside New Mexico. They had been told to dress up, but also that there would be duels and showings of skill, so clothes should not be too impractical. There was therefore a rather wide array of different kinds of clothes.

Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton stood close together. Both had been excused from SHIELD for the occasion. He was wearing a simple suit, an easy smile and his bow and quiver across his back. She wore a short red skirt and a matching jacket. Simple silver chain necklace and earrings, perfect makeup, short hair, low heels and what could easily be mistaken for black pantyhose, but which the team knew were just the visible parts of the bodysuit she wore underneath. Also, an unknown number of number of hidden guns and knives.

Bruce Banner stood towards the periphery of the group. Holding hands, and deep in conversation, with Betty Ross. They had only gotten back in contact a couple of months earlier when Bruce had realized he finally had something like a permanent place to stay, and they were still catching up. Both of them had the appearance of people who rarely dressed up, her with her hair in a ponytail, a bare minimum of makeup, flat shoes and a simple dress, and him with an purple shirt and a tie and dress pants. Dress pants which were far stretchier than they looked, courtesy of Tony Stark's fabric innovations. Still, the pair of them betrayed a rather good sense of style.

Tony Stark and Pepper Potts stood a few steps away. She had easily cleared their schedule for the invitation. Not even the board members of Stark Industries could argue that the pair should miss out on a chance to meet the king if another world. They kept the appearance of people who dressed up all the time. Tony, not a hair out of place, wore a sharp suit, just open enough to show off the arc reactor. In his left hand he held the suitcase armour and the other arm was up for Pepper to hold. She wore her hair in perfect waves down her shoulders, stylish jewellery, dizzyingly high heels and a long, dark blue halter neck. Everything from the heels to the matching purse was very, very fireproof. With extremis only recently gotten under any semblance of control any non-fireproof clothes of hers had burn marks or worse. The pair made small talk, friendly bickering and at times they smiled at each other in a way that made those around them feel mildly uncomfortable.

At least was Steve Rogers, a few steps further down from them, polite enough to look the other way whenever those smiles appeared. Like Bruce and Betty, Steve was unused to formal wear, though he at least had a proper suit. Even having left the jacket at home and with the red and blue and star-emblazed shield strapped to his back he looked much like a fish out of water. Steve had not invited a plus one, but he did engage in a little small talk with Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis. Talking with Eric at least, Darcy was mostly complaining about how she had not been allowed to bring her boyfriend (whom she had known for a week at most). Erik had pulled a tired old suit out of a closet somewhere and Darcy was wearing a strange skirt-top-combo which no one seemed to know if was intentional or not. The two of them were both giddy over the upcoming space trip, if for slightly different reasons.

Jane Foster, flat shoes, dress in a toned down flower pattern, stood alone, staring at the sky. If anyone noticed her chewing distractedly at her thumb, they did not mention it.

And last, but not least, and unusually out of place stood Nicholas Fury and Maria Hill. He was wearing a very formal looking trench coat and a new eye patch and she had an incredibly official suit-with-a-skirt. Both were quietly observing the rest of the group. Both were undoubtedly packing heat.

They stood like this in a loose circle while talking and waiting for their last friend to show up, getting steadily louder and more impatient as the minutes passed by.

Then there was a bright flash of light and Thor, the god of thunder, stood in front of them. With his cape and shining armour there was no reason to doubt he was really the prince of another world.


	2. Arrival and discussion

**There, told you things would happen in chapter 2. We get a bit of dialouge and "action", most of the characters are probably wildly ooc and the rest are slightly forgotten. Enjoy.**

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Thor stepped out of the disappearing pillar of light dressed in gold and a brilliant smile. Jane met him halfway to the group with a matching smile on her own face, and he took her in his arms in a loving greeting.

"Took you long enough!"

"Jane, my friends, I offer my sincere apologies for making you wait. Let us stand here no longer than we need to and rather step through the Bifrost to my home. The feast will begin the moment you arrive."

"Yes, great, wormhole travel. Can't understand why we don't use this more often. Seems so practical." Tony sounded just as much like the patron saint of sarcasm as always, but he was glancing up at where Thor had arrived from rather than at the man himself. Jane turned to give him an irritated look.

"It's called an Einstein-Rosen Bridge, not a wormhole, Stark. I really thought you'd know better» Bruce cut in before Tony could bite back an answer.

"It's really sort of the same thing. I don't want an argument, but I don't think the terminology is really important"

"Either way," Tony answered anyway, "big glowy portal to the party of a lifetime, c'm on guys!"

And terminology aside, he did have a point. Thor showed them all into the circle he had already made on arrival and then there was a few seconds waiting, then another flash of light and they were flying through space faster than any rocket. And then they landed.

Amidst all the sudden oohing and gasping, Pepper was the only one who caught Tony's sharp intake of air signalling panic rather than awe as an unfamiliar sky opened above and around them. His eyes were fixed on the void as his mind replayed a different sky, one littered with hostile aliens, and the image of a nuclear missile…

She gave his hand a comforting squeeze.

"Look at the ground" she whispered, careful not to draw attention. And he looked down at the shining and transparent, but still very solid bridge beneath their feet. And he held onto her hand and he closed his eyes for a second to match his breathing to hers, and he held on. And she hoped that no one had noticed who would be stupid enough to say anything.

They did not stand around to stare for long. Soon enough Thor was leading them over the rainbow bridge towards a large golden dome. There they were met by a tall, golden eyed man leaning on a sword the size of a smaller man. Thor took a step forwards and turned towards the group.

"My friends, this is Heimdall. Gatekeeper, watcher of all."

"Welcome to Asgard, friends of Thor." said Heimdall, golden eyes never leaving some undefined spot on the horizon. "I believe if you do not wish to miss the feast you should not linger here."

So the group pressed on, though Fury murmured an almost disbelieving 'watcher of all, huh?' for which he only got an overly mysterious smile.

And then the city of gold and glory rose before them. A palace with an equal measure of the futuristic and old fashioned which somehow still flowed together into a beautiful, harmonic whole.

"Wow," Tony finally said, after a little too long of awed silence, "Wow, really. I'd ask if you were compensating for something if I weren't suddenly so scared of godly wrath."

"This is amazing." Bruce chimed in not a moment later, pointing at different spires and decorations, "How is that even structurally sound? I mean, I don't know too much about architecture, or material mechanics, but that seems nearly impossible. I'm pretty sure that arch should have at least twice the support it's got."

"The arch?" Betty shot in, pointing in another direction, "What about that tower? This is just gorgeous!"

A few more people started pointing at things as well, and soon a beaming Thor was leading this group of warriors and scientists town the palisades of his palace as they gleefully discussed structural integrity and tensile strength, and the pros and cons of gilded decoration vs. stylish simplicity.

"Greetings friends!" came a loud voice towards the group as four people dressed in impressive armours with matching weapons stepped up to meet them.

"Ah!" Thor laughed a short and warm laugh at the sight of them "My friends, these are my shield-brothers and –sister, the warriors three and lady Sif." Thus ensued a session of

"Nice to meet you"

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance",

"That's a nice axe." and

"Aye, it is a good axe."

All the while lady Sif seemed focused on Pepper, or rather, at Pepper's feet.

"So there truly are skilled female warriors in Midgard, I am delighted, but whatever kind of torture training_ those _are for, I do not want to try it." She said with a smile and a question in her eyes.

"They are called high heels, and they are fashion, not training. Natasha wears them as well, when she wants to make an impression, don't you?" Pepper directed a smile at the assassin/infiltrator.

Natasha answered by glancing darkly down at her currently not-so-high heels and shuddering.

"I am never ever wearing high heels ever again."

"But you were good at it!"

"I used to do ballet, okay? It doesn't mean I have to like it."

And then the three of them were caught up in a discussion of training regimes and women's fashion through the decades. Sif soon began to insist that the two were not as different as one would think.

It was in this state of discussion and light-heartedness the group arrived at the great hall of the feast.


	3. Eating, drinking and telling stories

**I got my first two reviews all at once, so I got the happies and went and wrote this chapter. It references newer norse mythology and the marvel short _the Consultant_, but you don't need to know anything about either of them to enjoy the jokes. I'll explain the mythology one at the bottom just 'cause I love it.**

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The hall was huge, seriously huge. Not that anyone was surprised by this, but it was still a little overwhelming. There were four long tables arranged in a rectangle around an actual, gigantic fireplace. The tables were covered in all kinds of food and drink, recognizable and not so much, and the benches around them were packed with all manners of people. The entire left wall was open to a balcony. It was void of people at the moment, but crammed with benches and chairs overlooking what could only be some kind of huge arena. At the end of the tables sat the king and queen themselves, glasses raised in a greeting for the latest visitors. If they said a word or two to go with the movement though, it was lost in the cheering of a thousand voices as no one lost a second in beginning the feast.

Sif pulled Natasha with her so that she could sit with her and her friends. The two women had bonded quickly, Sif enjoying speaking with another warrior woman and Natasha apparently being reassured by the shield-maiden's honest and straight-forward personality. Clint followed them while keeping half an eye on Fury making his way up to greet the Allfather properly.

Situated at the table it soon became apparent that at least one of the warriors three had already helped himself to the ale, for he soon spoke more freely than was proper, so early in the evening.

"You Midgardians are certainly fearsome warriors. Bested Loki in battle, last I heard!"

Clint let out an uncomfortable little sound as he turned towards the large man. Natasha put her hand lightly on his arm, but did not have the time to say anything before the man droned on.

"It was really such a shame what happened to him. I never cared much for him myself, but he was a lot of fun at these kinds of gatherings. He played the best tricks, but Thor must have told you this already."

Clint calmed down a little, it was obvious the man meant no harm. "No, not really. Got any examples?" Let no one ever say that Clint Barton did not have an ear for tricks.

"Oh, well, there was that time with Thrym, um…" Anyone within earshot suddenly looked up with a mixture of horror and amusement. "It is a long story, but the short version is that Loki tricked Thor into dressing up in one of Freyja's…" but whatever it was he was going to say, it disappeared as he was hit in the face with a half-full chalice of mead. A second later, Thor was upon him. The ensuing brawl ensured that the ending of that particular story was not passed on that day, but the few words that had been said were enough to reduce Clint to a helpless fit of laughter for minutes.

Bruce and Betty had seated themselves with Tony and Pepper, side by side once more.

"What now? Fighting already?" came an exasperated sigh from Pepper at the sight of the wrestling Asgardians. She did let out a little chuckle, though, when she saw Jane standing by, very visibly internally facepalming.

"I don't know what they're fighting over," said Bruce, a smile on his face, "but it's apparently turned Barton into some kind of hyena by the sound of it."

"Or a donkey," Tony shot in, "or possibly one of those birds, what were they called again?"

"A kookaburra?" offered Betty.

"Yeah, one of those. That's exactly what I meant."

Letting Clint's Australian-bird sounds wash over them through the chattering hall, the four of them went back to eating in silence before Betty spoke up again. "You know, 'till now this has been… surprisingly easy."

"What," Tony answered immediately "taking a trip through space for a party with aliens? Yeah, surprisingly problem-free."

"Mhm, you know, no feeling like we maybe shouldn't be here, no food you're unsure of is fit for humans to eat or not, as far as I can see, no weird customs we've broken or ignored to piss people off for no apparent reason and, best of all, no way for my dad to find his way here to remove me from _improper company_." there had been a few incidents with a certain General Ross since Betty had become a friend, "What was it you did to make him hate you so much again? Demolished his favourite bar?"

"Oh, yeah, I did that. Wow, that was a long time ago, back when… when Natasha was still Natalie." Pepper noticed the emission. Natalie Rushman turning out to be not Natalie Rushman was far from the most important thing to have happened back then. Betty did not notice.

"You have got to tell me that story."

And Tony happily did, going into details as to how he pissed off the man to the absolute best of his ability, until somebody noticed that Steve had gotten his hands on a concoction that, while still incapable of getting him completely drunk, affected him. The sight of him adapting to this new state of mind was, frankly, hilarious.

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**So, Trymskvida is basically a story where the jotun Trym steals Tor's hammer intending to give it as a bride-gift if anyone could get him the beautiful goddes Frøya as a wife (I use the Norwegian spelling here because this is definitely not MCU canon) Frøya answers the whole thing with a resounding "hell no" but agrees to lend Tor her dress and priceless jewelry, because Mjølner is one of Åsgard's greatest treasures after all. So Loke makes himself into a woman, they dress up Tor as Frøya, he makes an ass of himself at the wedding and then kills everyone attending the second he gets his hands on the hammer. Of course it wouldn't have happened exactly the same way with Marvel, but I like to think something similar happened once and that Thor would rather everyone forget it.  
**


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Avengers, Friendship