I kept thinking about Tony and Death and how Hela is a goddess of death and then I read some Old Norse myths again and this idea just wouldn't let me go. I planned like 3.000 words, not 6.000! Never mind that I couldn't write anything else because I kept thinking about this!

Also this is strictly speaking not Marvel Hela but a mix of her and Norse mythology Hela.

Summary: Hela was tired of being under Death's thumb. She was made to reign and rule, bowing to the Mad Titan was beneath here. When she saw her chance, she took it and so Tony Stark started his life.

[Being a mortal man and an ancient goddess at the same time, it was a miracle, truly.]

"Freedom is life's great lie, and once you accept that, you will know peace."

Hela was the Queen of Helheim and still, still, she was under the rule of Death who was just so beloved by Thanos. Leading such an existence was beneath Hela. She may had been exiled from Asgard and banished into this realm, but she still had her pride. She, just like the rest of her siblings, was born to rule and reign. If not over a kingdom, then at least over her own choices.

Her father had called freedom a lie.

Hela agreed; after all nobody could ever be free from Death, not even Asgard's oh so powerful Gods, and therefore nobody could claim that freedom existed.

Still, Hela would not keep being under Death's, Thanos's, control. And so she tried to recall all the lessons her father hat once given her and then vanished.

Nobody noticed.

Tony Stark was a genius. His mother said he possessed old eyes, that he had an ancient soul.

It made Hela grimace.

She hadn't anticipated what being a human child really meant. It was boring, frustrating and downright horrible. Hela's control over her new body was terrible, she could barely move. Another day like this and she'd go mad.

It wasn't Lethe she called upon. She wasn't so stupid as to think that forgetting herself wouldn't end horribly for her. Instead she just erased what made her feel wrong.

Tony compared Howard Stark to Loki. He knew it wasn't fair to his father, who really hadn't been at fault for his children's fates - that was Odin's work alone -, to his dad.

Loki hadn't been there for the most of Hela's life. Tony knew that when he and Hela's siblings had been young, Loki had tried to raise them. Tony also remembered green eyes watching in horror as Odin banished them all.

So he compared Howard Stark and Loki.

And Tony dropped his robot dog when he realized that even then Loki had ultimately been the better parent.

Loki who had never been there still won against Howard who could be there but still wasn't.

He didn't want to resent Howard for it since he was only human while Loki was a god.

Nevertheless, he felt ice in his veins whenever he saw the man.

Tony knew he scared other people. He was too silent, too cynical, not childish enough.

Jarvis didn't mind.

And Tony learnt what a warm and meaningful embrace was. He never wanted to let go of Jarvis.

Maria Stark taught Tony that his body was the greatest weapon he could wield. Smiles could destroy people just like a knife- gun- bomb.

Hela stirred, half woman, half death, all gruesome. Her appearance had only ever scared people.

Tony wanted to make the best of his body.

Peggy Carter, Aunty Peggy, taught him how to use the weapon he'd been given. When to flash a smile at a camera and how to punch somebody properly, all while never losing posture.

She didn't teach him how to kill. She didn't need to. Tony knew every way a person could die.

Tony was still a genius. His tutors were good but not good enough. He found himself correcting them as soon as he had understood the material. He built his first engine when he was six. He found the process fascinating. His death bringing hands created something. He brought something to life.

He showed Howard but he was too busy to really look. He showed Maria, but she scolded him for ruining his good clothes.

He showed Jarvis. Jarvis baked a cake to celebrate.

Tony went to MIT as soon as he turned 14. He was so young compared to everyone else on campus. But he, unlike them, knew how the world worked, how life came to be and how it ended. But Tony didn't know how to live. MIT was so strange. Parties, alcohol, drugs- louder, louder and louder.

Eventually he got a new roommate.

Rhodey made sure Tony stayed away from the parties and everything else.

"You remind me of my little sister. You're like a brother to me. Looking out for you is my job," Rhodey told him once.

Tony, a human of few honest expressions and awake for 48 hours on coffee and soup, had started to bawl. He hadn't thought about Hela's siblings in ages.

Hela missed them dearly.

Tony didn't cry at his parents' funeral, he didn't cry for them at all. He knew they had been murdered; he didn't even have to touch their bodies to know.

He considered revenge for a second, just long enough for his left hand to appear a bit pale in the sunlight.

For Jarvis though Tony cried. Only few people came to his funeral and most of them knew Tony already as the little genius hiding behind Jarvis legs whenever he could go with the butler. Jarvis' friends all pretended not to notice the tears running over his cheeks as they all supposedly didn't know how much the man had meant for Tony.

For Jarvis, Tony's eyes flashed green.

"I won't build weapons," Tony told Obadiah as the man carefully tried to manipulate Tony into handing over the company.

Hela was Loki's daughter. She could not be fooled by such poor attempts.

"Do with Stark Industries what you want. I've got other plans."

He had no interest in bringing Death to Midgard. Jarvis had always been more amazed by the robots and other more creative inventions Tony made, rather than the weapons Tony had designed to please his dad.

Besides, Tony had gotten a taste of what bringing life instead of destruction was like. Even if Dum-E was unfinished, but nevertheless he was still alive in a way nothing else that had come from Hela had ever been.

Tony wanted more.

Creating life was amazing, a gift Hela had not possessed. But Tony, he could create, he could give life.

Dum-E got one update after another, giving him more sentience. As clumsy as Dum-E could be, he was a good helper. And Tony desperately needed helpers with thousand ideas in his mind all the time. Creating U and Butterfingers really only was the next reasonable step. It had nothing to do with the fact that he felt incredibly lonely in his workshop.

Hela had spent centuries on her own.

Tony wasn't lonely.

In the end Tony still was the major shareholder of Stark Industries, but its new face was Obadiah.

Theoretically Tony wouldn't even need to do anything for the rest of his life. What his parents left him as well as what he still earned from SI would suffice for his whole life.

Tony didn't want to sit still and be lazy. He wanted to show the world that he existed, that he lived and that he would bring life.

With magic at his fingertips, a keyboard beneath his hands and a screen in front of him, Tony began to create. Slowly and steadily something formed and came to life. The first breath of a child contained in numbers, algorithms, code.

Just A Rather Intelligent System was beautiful and brilliant.

He wondered if that was what parents thought of their children.

Stark Solutions came out of nowhere as far as the media was concerned. One moment everything was the same, the next a new company with Tony Stark as its head made improved prosthetics available for the public.

"My legacy will be life," Tony told the eager reporters. "That's why I didn't take over Stark Industries."

The next time Tony saw Obadiah, he reeked of hatred hidden behind a perfect smile.

Leading a company wasn't more difficult than leading a kingdom. Nevertheless, it annoyed Tony. He could do better with his time than spend it signing documents. If Solutions weren't such a still frail company, Tony would try to find somebody who would lead it for him. Sadly, there was no one.

And Rhodey, of all people, had the audacity to make fun of him for it.

"I need better friends!"

"I'm the best friend you could ever get."

Tony shook his head. "Bet you, I can find better friends!"

A month later he introduced Rhodey to Pepper, his new assistant, and Happy, his driver/bodyguard he had picked up from a street racing tournament.

The three of them continued to team up against him and drag him out of his workshop. Life wasn't fair.

The coming of the New Year was a big spectacle in every culture, realm, universe. And each time it promised something grand.

"The cure to all?" Tony asked and Maya nodded before spiraling into an explanation of Extremis.

It sounded like she aimed for perfection. No being was perfect, not even gods, and every attempt to reach perfection had only brought devastation.

Still, her idea was good and could probably help many people if used the right way. And on top of that, better Tony knew where exactly that research was at rather than find a mean surprise coming for him later on.

He was in Afghanistan for a simple reason: protection. Tony wasn't building weapons anymore but he was manufacturing protection against them. It was one of the few cases in which Stark Industries and Stark Solutions worked together. Solutions would come up with a defense medium against a weapon of Stark Industries and SI would try to break through that again. A cycle which would hopefully end with Solutions having the upper hand.

A bomb exploded and Hela feared Death.

Tony was Hela and Hela was Tony and at the same time not. It was their life, their memories and yet- how could they be an ancient goddess and a mortal man at the same time?

"I'm dying."

They could feel it. Death was already reaching for them.

Then they woke up.

Yinsen showed them their reflection in a mirror. They had become sickly pale, their body was thinner, the flesh on their left arm had completely disappeared, their left eye was green, their hair a few shades darker than before and there was a car battery in their chest.

"This is quite extraordinary, Mr. Stark," Yinsen commented, seemingly only slightly put off by their appearance.

They let out a bitter laugh. "Extraordinary is one way to call a monster."

Silence followed as the man wrapped bandages around the skeleton arm. They put the mirror aside and tried to focus on something, anything else.

Pain had always been a great distraction.

"They want you to build the Jericho missile for them. Once you're done, they'll let you go," Yinsen translated for them, unnecessarily. Even if they had lost the ability to answer utilizing All-Speak, they still could still understand most languages spoken.

"I don't build weapons," they replied.

"You're a Stark. That's all that matters to them."

They take the hand the leader offered them, sealing everyone's fate.

Hela had come to Midgard for peace and freedom. Some mortals wouldn't be able to take it away from them.

"You're not creating what they asked of you," Yinsen said.

"I told you, I don't build weapons. I'm getting us out of here," they replied, trying to get the wires to connect with just one hand. Back at home they had not just one or even two hands, but six. They missed home.

"Your second hand," Yinsen started again, still as polite as ever. "It's fully functional, isn't it?"

"Yes, it is. Why are you asking questions you know the answer to?"

It was something they had never been able to understand. Questions were meant to gain more information, they were utterly useless otherwise.

"You called yourself a monster because of it. But your… condition didn't faze you."

They grinned. "So what's your real question, Doctor Watson?"

"What are you? A mutant?"

Mutants had begun to appear all over the world and they had considered using the excuse of being one, once they would have been discovered.

This man had saved their life though and lies would not be helpful in their case.

"Tell me, what do you know of Norse mythology?"

The sun burnt down on their body. Fatigue, nausea and the bitter taste of loss told them that they had escaped.

Rhodey was the sign that they were going home.

On their flight back, doctors tried to get a look at them, but they fought tooth and nail. Some parts of their changed appearance could of course be passed off by the malnourishment and torture they had experienced but the Arc reactor and their skeleton arm?

As long as they hadn't sorted themself out, they wouldn't let anybody touch them.

According to plans made ages ago, Pepper had become CEO. She tried to give them the position back but they had denied. It was just like how it was always meant to be.

The only setback now was that they had to look for a new assistant but that could be dealt with later. After they had sorted themself out, after they had build themself a better arm replacement to cover up the skeleton arm they still couldn't turn back to normal, after they had bought brown contact lenses and after they had figured out who the hell was selling Stark weapons under the table.

They weren't much involved with SI's sales, but being shot at by weapons manufactured by your company seemed like a good reason to get involved again.

Obadiah's betrayal hurt, but not as much as it could have, had they still been close. Besides, there had always been an edge to him that they hadn't liked.

It was remarkable that it hurt them at all though. They were ancient, older than any human alive right now. They were used to betrayal. They landed the suit and sat down on the ground, dead tired.

"Tony?"

Pepper was safe. She had some scratches, was a little shaken, but she was safe. That was all that really mattered-

Oh.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he replied. "I could really go and eat a cheeseburger right now though. Do you think your agent will let us go?"

"I am Iron Man."

Tony Stark.

Hela.

Woe betide everyone who'd dare to attack Midgard.

Tony had never been sick, not even as a baby. For that he was immensely thankful as being sick looked horrible. Now he was fortunate enough to discover how terrible it was, even if his case was more drastic than the usual cold.

"It's the palladium, right?"

"I fear so, Sir."

Tony grimaced and pulled up the hologram of his arc reactor and began to compile a list of possible replacements for the element.

"You need a new assistant, Tony," Pepper told him, he arms crossed, posture straight- he knew there was no escaping this conversation.

"But I'm doing alright," he replied. "I hand in my designs and reports punctual and manufacturing is doing fine."

Pepper shook her head and sat down at her desk. "We're barely keeping it together with managing Stark Solutions and Stark Industries both. We still haven't decided what exactly we want to do with Stark Industries since building weapons is off the table. Never mind that we have to manage the Expo now! And your 'punctual' is rather a 'last minute'."

Tony sighed and too sat down, knowing that it only made Pepper even more nervous if he kept standing.

"Okay so what if we move the robotics and clean energy department to SI and keep the more biology orientated departments with Solutions? I mean we have like twice the company and hands now, so we could get more people working on our smaller projects. We're into a lot of fields so we just gotta decide which direction they rather take in and sort them like that?"

Pepper buried her face in her hands. "Just he says. But this- it could work."

Tony flashed her a smile. "Of course it will work, I came up with the idea."

Then he stood up again, ready to leave. "I'll come up with plans for the Expo in the meantime."

"And get a new assistant."

"And get a new assistant," he repeated dutifully.

When Tony exited the building, Rhodey was just beside him, looking annoyed and amused at the same time.

"I can't believe you managed to keep the armor by embarrassing Hammer."

"It's not an armor, it's a full body prosthetic," Tony quoted himself and pointed at his artificial red and gold hand.

Rhodey rolled his eyes at him.

Tony had been thinking about it ever since he returned home from Afghanistan. His kidnapping had reminded him of questions he hadn't wanted the answer to.

Midgard was changing, no longer did only simple minded beings lived on it. If he had noticed, then others would do so too soon. If that were to happen too early, Midgard would vanish in a war it wasn't prepared for.

It was his home, more so than Helheim had ever been and he was going to protect it.

He couldn't do that alone though, (ex-)Queen or not. He, and Midgard, needed help.

How fitting that Tony could think of somebody who was in need of a home and would be ready to fight everyone to keep it.

Slowly but steadily he sketched runes into the sand of the beach behind his house.

He wasn't doing this because he had become sentimental and missed them.

Definitely.

"Hela?"

Green eyes looked at him in confusion as Tony handed the other a towel to wrap around himself.

"Yep," Tony answered, popping the 'p'. "I go by Tony these days. How are you, Jörmungandr?"

The World Serpent snorted. He was much more expressive now that he had taken up his human form again.

"You mean besides the headache and overall pain from being forced out of Helheim, where you imprisoned me, into Midgard in a shape I haven't held in a millennium or two? I'm perfect, little sister. Just fine."

Jörmungandr's eyes narrowed. "Why have you called me?"

Tony congratulated himself on not wincing. He had chained his brother into the deepest part of Helheim as a means to keep him from raging war in the nine realms. He attracted too much attention, he would have been killed otherwise. Of course that didn't justify his actions but still. He had possessed a reason.

"I wasn't aware you would have prefer being the new carpet leading to the All-father's throne. But, please, be my guest and go ahead with being an idiot again and getting yourself killed," Tony bit back.

"That's rich, coming from Death's little slave. Tell me, what's it like listening to every whim of the Mad Titan?"

Unfortunately they were both good at hurting each other. Out of all of his siblings, Tony had always considered Jörmungandr to be the one the most similar to himself. The oldest, Sleipnir, was too kind, Fenris too wild and the twins, Narvi and Vali, were too young and reckless still. Jörmungandr, if more fond of destruction than Tony, spoke in the same way and often came to the same conclusions.

"I- I don't want to fight. Hear me out and then go ahead and do with your life what you want," Tony said instead of throwing in yet another insult.

"I'm listening."

"Midgard is changing, evolving. It won't be long until it gains the Mad Titan's interest. When that time comes, it needs to be protected."

"And you want me to do that? What do I gain from it?"

"A home? Something worthy to fight for?" Tony offered.

Something changed in Jörmungandr's gaze, but Tony couldn't quite put his fingers on it.

"That's not good enough. Why should I go against the Mad Titan in his pursuit to enslave the whole universe?"

"It's a gamble and freedom is the prize."

"Freedom doesn't exist," Jörmungandr hissed. "Wasn't that the first truth father gifted us with as Odin sealed our fates?"

Tony smiled, knowing he'd win.

"Now imagine what it would be like to prove father wrong?"

"Pepper, meet my new assistant: George Lokabrenna."

Jörmungandr stepped into the room, fitting in too much for an ancient serpent whose knowledge of Midgard hadn't been upgraded since the time Alexander the Great was in power.

Jörmungandr made a rather impressive appearance being roughly one and a half heads taller than Tony with piercing green eyes. His long blonde hair he had braided so that it didn't reach his ankles anymore. He refused to cut it though so his braid reached until just above his midriff.

"And you found him where exactly?" Pepper asked only slightly put off.

Tony sat down on the chair right in front of Pepper. "Let JARVIS search for a PA online and ta-da! Here we are! I just came to hand you his information-application-contract-thingy."

He put the folder with the definitely legal and not faked documents on her desk and in turn stole her bowl of cherries.

"I am surprised to say the least," Pepper said smiling. "I was almost ready to borrow you my new assistant."

"Eh?" Tony raised his brows. "You have a new assistant?"

"Her name is Natalie Rushman. You might see her if you'd actually spend any time in the office instead at home or at R&D."

"Do you see this, George? I'm here to deliver good news and she sasses me. You're not allowed to sass me. Ever."

And Jörmungandr, that asshole, had the audacity to smile.

"Of course, Mr. Stark."

Tony crossed another element from his list as another calculation deemed it unsuitable as a replacement for the palladium core of his arc reactor.

"Another failed combination?" Jörmungandr asked, the tone of his voice mocking to everyone who didn't know him.

The two of them made a rather ridiculous picture. Tony was in his dirty work clothes consisting of an AC/DC shirt and an old pair of jeans, working on his arc reactor and absentmindedly taking a sip of his coffee. Jörmungandr sat in an office chair, wearing the finest suit that could have been bought with Tony's money, and drank green tea while reading the newspaper. After centuries of imprisonment, his brother probably deserved all the luxury he could get his hands on.

"Yes, and unfortunately I'm running out of combinations and ideas."

"Have you tried anything more powerful yet? Something not Midardian?"

"I'll try those when I'm through with whatever Midgard has to offer."

Jörmungandr sighed. "You've changed, sister."

Tony smiled. "And isn't that amazing?"

"How would you celebrate your last birthday?" Tony asked Natalie, who by all means was something more than a simple assistant. No assistant reeked of death as much as she did.

"I'd do what I want, where I want and with whoever I want," she told him and Tony nodded.

It sounded like a good plan. He grinned widely, handed her the papers he had withheld until she gave him an answer and immediately left for his workshop. He had some planning to do.

Tony sat down between Pepper and Jörmungandr, who was more or less disgusted by having to engage in such mortal actions. Rhodey was sitting on the other sofa next to Happy, looking just as confused as the other Midgardians in the room.

"This is your most harmless birthday so far. Are you sick?" Rhodey asked, appearing seriously worried.

"Just because I'm not horribly drunk and throwing a big party, I'm suddenly sick?"

Tony liked living and being loud. Parties were amazing – wonderful. But this birthday he'd rather spent a little less wild and a bit more meaningful.

"No, no, Tony," Pepper answered instead of Rhodey. "It's fine. Great. I could get used to celebrating your birthday like this."

"Me too," Happy spoke up. "What are we watching?"

"The little mermaid!"

Beside him Jörmungandr sat up a bit more straight.

"This is the worst Stark Expo ever!" Rhodey shouted over the battle sounds.

"Really?" Tony shouted back, trashing one Hammer robot. "It could do without murder robots but I think it's doing fine."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Jörmungandr taking one robot out with a hundred snakes crushing it. That was a spell their father had taught them for pranking, Tony had never thought of weaponizing it.

"JARVIS, delete that from all video feeds."

"Already done, Sir."

"What do you mean he is dying?" Pepper asked Fury, her posture all but screaming panic and worry.

"Was dying," Tony muttered but nobody was listening to him anyway.

"The palladium in his arc reactor was poisoning him, though I'm surprised he hasn't shown as many symptoms as anticipated."

The next half an hour was spent listening to Pepper ranting about him keeping secrets and whatever else. Tony honestly hadn't really listened past her first few words. He was busy thinking that damn, Howard Stark had managed to be a decent dad once he died.

"I'm not joining your super secret boy band, no matter how cool you think it is."

"I'm not going to ask you to," Fury answered.

That managed to surprise Tony. "You're not?"

"No, you're unsuited."

"Wow, okay. You don't know what you're missing out."

And Tony honestly didn't get it. He knew how to deal with battles, he was innovative and SHIELD needed him on the long run considering more and more threats were appearing all around the world.

"I want you as a consultant instead."

Well, he could work with that for now.

Tony had been sleeping when it happened. Trust himself to be asleep when something important took place for once. Jörmungandr stormed into his workshop, making Tony jerk up from his chair and slip to the ground.

Annoyed he picked up the shards of his broken mug, his favorite mug, which hadn't survived the fall as well as Tony.

"My mug," Tony complained but Jörmungandr wasn't having anything of it. On another day, perhaps he would have. They had grown closer again, their bantering being more friendly rather than out to hurt each other.

"There are more important matters," Jörmungandr actually hissed. It wasn't often that the World Serpent slipped into his more animalistic tendencies.

"What happened?"

Jörmungandr walked back and forth, ran his fingers to his blonde hair, messing up his braid.

"Something on Asgard changed-"

"Something?" Tony interrupted sharply. Jörmungandr was less his PA – his brother would never let himself take on a position that was beneath Tony's – but more Tony's informant on anything supernatural. Telling him that something changed wasn't sufficient.

"Yes, something. Before I could get my hand on anything more, Thor crashed in New Mexico, stripped of all his powers."

Tony counted it as a success that he didn't drop his mug's shards again.

"What!?"

"The All-father has banished Thor to Midgard. Our home has become a prison for the favored prince, isn't it interesting?" Jörmungandr spat.

Midgard was beautiful. It possessed so many facets despite being underdeveloped compared to the other realms. It was still peaceful in a way other realms weren't. There were wars, sure, but never had been the extinction of the whole planet threatened by another realm. That was a horror Tony wanted to spare his home. Making it a prison for Thor painted a big, fat, red target on it.

"We have to-"

"That's not all."

Tony arched an eyebrow. "It's even worse?"

Jörmungandr appeared conflicted for a moment. "Depends on how you look at it."

"What happened, Jörmungandr?"

"The All-father fell into Odin Sleep. Father, Loki, is currently on the throne."

Make him swear that Midgard will be protected at all costs.

Phil Coulson stared at his phone in surprise. No number he hadn't saved in it should be able to reach it, yet it was happening.

Who are you? He typed back.

Magical binding contract. He's no sorcerer but as the future King of Asgard, Thor should be able to draw up such a contract. Let him swear it to the Queen of Helheim. Midgard's safety depends on it.

He didn't get any more messages.

"Any news on Father?" Tony asked as Jörmungandr dropped next to him on the sofa.

"No, but Sleipnir has been sighted and I believe Fenris has arrived on Midgard."

"Been a while since we had a family dinner."

"We've never had a family dinner," Jörmungandr sassed back. "But if you wish, I can try to track down the twins too. Shouldn't be too hard, they aren't as good at hiding as they like to think."

Tony shook his head. There was no need to bring children into war.

Tony hadn't really known what to expect when he was told that SHIELD had fished Captain America out of the sea.

Liberty, honor, idealism, freedom and an American Icon for sure.

A man out of his time with PTSD and perhaps even depression hadn't been it.

The SHIELD doctors who had done Rogers' evaluation had probably been too preoccupied with being amazed, otherwise they should have noticed.

Or perhaps SHIELD just sucked in general. Tony knew that his file certainly wasn't as accurate as it should be. He also knew that despite doing work that improved human life, the mess that was his file would hinder Rogers from ever liking him.

It was fine, the man was too righteous anyway.

They found Fenrir playing catch with a bunch of mutant children. He appeared tired but there was a genuinely to his smile that was almost breathtaking. In general he looked far healthier than Tony ever remembered him being. The wounds around his ankles, wrists and neck were healed for the first time in ages. His curly brown hair was tied back and not looking like a wild mess.

"Won't you look at that, the mutt is having fun."

Of course Jörmungandr had to ruin the moment.

Tony shot him an annoyed glance and marched over to their brother.

Fenrir was reluctant to talk to them – Tony wasn't offended, not really (okay, maybe a bit) - but more than willing to form an alliance with them. Not because they were family, but because he had descendants running around that he actually cared about. Even if his descendants took the shape of a semi immortal man with metal claws and a blue devil teen that could teleport and was really more of a feline than a wolf.

Nevertheless at the end of the day Tony was surrounded by many smaller and taller mutants, giving a lecture about his robot arm while Jörmungandr and Fenris were probably gossiping about him and planning his demise.

He didn't really want it any other way.

Stark tower was up and running, Tony would spend the evening drinking champagne with Jörmungandr and Pepper. Everything could have been so nice. But Coulson just had to come and ruin it.

"As our official consultant, which your CEO and PA don't know about, we are asking for some consultations."

Tony was pretty sure that this was the highlight of the agent's day, given the amusement in his voice.

"Yeah, yeah, fine. Just leave the files on the table and I'll look through them."

Tony was a child, hiding behind his father's legs as if it could stop the soldiers from taking him and his siblings away. He was vaguely aware of the tears running over the living side of his face and of his father begging.

He couldn't see his father in the crazed expression of the liesmith.

Tony made his entrance with Shoot to Thrill blazing through the comms, flashing his Midgardian armor.

He wasn't helpless anymore.

He took off his helmet, JARVIS ready to get him out in case Loki or Thor recognized him but-

Nothing.

Thor didn't react, merely shooting his armor an impressed glance. Loki's reaction was far more stinging though. He didn't think much of Tony. It was written in the way he held himself, straight and certain of his success. To him they were just mortals, insects in front of a God.

Where had his wonder gone? Being amazed how easily humans circumvented all obstacles in the most creative ways. They weren't like Asgardians who took eons to change their ways.

Midgardians were mesmerizing, hadn't Loki said so himself once?

Hela hadn't understood then, too young and busy being scared by Asgard.

Tony felt like screaming.

Jörmungandr was waiting on the helicarrier's bridge, reading a book and pointedly ignoring Fury's piercing stare.

"Welcome back, how is your shoulder?" Jörmungandr asked without looking up.

Freaking bastard. Tony didn't know how Jörmungandr could tell that he had bruised his shoulder fighting against Thor but he knew he'd get his brother back for it.

"Fine actually, thanks for your concern."

"Stark, why is your assistant on my helicarrier?" Fury interrupted.

"Calm down, Captain Grumpy. He's not doing anything is he?"

"He's being an annoyance."

"Nothing new then."

In hindsight, he should have known that something was up. Tony should have known that Loki would never give himself up that easily.

He had been so stupid, stupid, stupid!

His father was the god trickery, how had he forgotten that?

If he had noticed what Loki hid behind that smile-

But it was too late now anyway. The Chitauri were here and all they could do was fight or blow up Manhattan with a nuke.

"Stark, can you stop it?"

"I'll try my best, Captain Grumpy!"

Falling was remarkably like dying.

He couldn't feel his body anymore and Death-

It was so close.

He wouldn't be returning to life this time.

It was fine. He had saved his home.

He was at pea-

"What the hell, Stark?"

The Hulk was hovering above him, Captain America looked distressed, Natashalie was concerned and Thor confused.

"Hell," he repeated, his ribs hurting as he burst into laughter.

"Stark, seriously, are you alright?" Liberty and freedom incarnated asked him. "Your face-"

"What's with it?" Tony asked, thought process just a tad too slow.

Nearly dying, he'd done so before, hadn't he? Ashen face, a skeleton hand and one green eye. He knew he had lost his contact lens even before battle but nobody had looked too close at him then.

"You-"

"Never mind, Captain, let's just get narcissistic, green and dangerous and then get some food, okay?"

Loki was still lying where the Hulk left him with the exception of Jörmungandr sitting in corner, polishing his knives and staring daggers at Loki.

"Is you assistant… safe?" Steve asked from his right and Tony could only nod, focused on something entirely different.

"He's different," he said. His magic wasn't what it used to be but he could tell that something had changed within Loki.

"I'm guessing mindmagic. Perhaps we should call the twins. They're good at that."

Tony snorted. There was no way Jörmungandr would admit to being inferior to the twins in something.

"Somebody mind telling me what's going on?" Barton interrupted, appearing even more idiotic than the rest of the Avengers.

Tony didn't get a chance to answer, nor did Barton got an explanation with Thor interrupting.

"You're free," the Asgardian prince said with a surprisingly unreadable expression.

"So let me just get this straight. You-" Banner pointed at Tony "- are the daughter? Son? Do you even go by he/him?"

Tony just shrugged. "Your idea of gender doesn't apply to me but he/him if it makes you more comfortable."

Banner sighed in frustration. "You're a child of Loki and the reincarnation of Hela. And your PA is your older brother Jomongand-"

"Jörmungandr," the blonde hissed.

"- Jormungandr, the World Serpent."

Tony bit into his burger. "Yup. Reincarnation might not fit it exactly because I am Hela and Hela is Tony and there's lots more you don't know but you got the basics."

"Why didn't you help your father then?"

Tony rolled his eyes. It should be obvious, honestly.

"Midgard is my home. Here I am safe from the Mad Titan and Death and nowhere else in the nine realms will I be tolerated. Loki was sent to take over Midgard, be it for himself or an order from Thanos, I won't let anyone burn this free world to the ground."

He didn't expect the fellow scientist to understand, not yet, but that was fine. As long as let him do what he always did, Midgard was going to be fine.

"Freedom is life's great lie, and once you accept that, you will know peace."

He was Hela, child of Loki, Queen of Helheim and he was Tony Stark, mechanic, Iron Man.

He was above average, amazing, extraordinary-

He loved proving people wrong.

Writer's ramblings:

That's it! I hope you all enjoyed this story!

Some explanations I guess:
Tony is Hela and the other way round. But imagine you're an ancient goddess and suddenly you're a mortal man. Tony can't deal with that at first, which is also the reason I chose "they" as Tony's pronoun for the middle part instead of he or she. At that moment all of Tony's walls separating his two lives shattered and brought up that feeling of wrongness he had magic-ed away as a baby.
Also Tony taking up more of Hela's original appearance whenever he dies is simply his magic/immortality trying to deal with the fact that he is human and a goddess at the same time.

Funnily I started this story because of the "Merchant of Death" thing but the longer this got the more I realized that it didn't fit my characterization of Tony anymore because why would he want to built weapons and bring destruction when he could do something much more fascinating?

And I decided to end the story here bc I honestly didn't really feel like continuing. Maybe some day, Jörmungandr is fun to write and I'd love to do something with rest of Loki's kids too.

But yeah, thanks for reading! Be so kind and leave a comment on your way out, please?