heimdall ;; @bifrostgold
Looking to the space about him Heimdall could see the scars that lay in armor. The groves of battles won and lost. There were weapons yes, a power that could cause both harm and fear yet as far the eye could see, and his could indeed see far, there was a longing to help as well. Alongside repulsers lay plans for assistants, alongside schematics were designs to make them accessible. For all Tony could to destroy that he built he built it in love, it was there in the way that Dum-E brings another bottle and beeps giddily at him with the touch of praise, there in the way that records and music lined the wall and love seeped into the very coding of the place.
Love and more, magic woven into the brands, whispers of promise soon to be harnessed if only a hand could guide it. Heimdall hoped one day to speak in person to the other man, to share a love of technology and the blooming of all things new. It saddens him the terms on which they finally had to meet.
Still his amusement follows as Tony asks for information but Friday gives none. Loyalty to Tony so strong that Heimdall raises a brow when the AI seeks to scan him, attempting to flick through a thousand files and in find something, anything in their bountiful information that might appease their creator.
They would find none. Thor had been very careful to keep him away from Midgards data files, charming as it was their desire to know all weaknesses they had only stories of him and even those were seldom far and few.
Still he is not one to hide, inclining his head as Tony watches him, watching just as calmly in turn until a beep has his attention, turning away from the mortal to collect a small canister of oil and lean down to the little cleaner at the corner, drumming his fingers over the top and with a dash of gold he fills it’s canister leaving it with relief of a full tank once more.
It is not deliberate to keep Tony in waiting but he knew that the other was all the more eager in his impatience and they had time. At least for now, he wished for Tony to see he meant no harm in the space he found himself and the små metaller were simply so charming, they were hard to resist affection.
“Friday will find nothing of me in your databases, you lack the truth of many outside of Midgard. It is not your fault, Thor was under orders not to inform you of me. Please know he would not have kept it were it not important, he sends his greetings, naturally.”
The bite in Tony’s tone brings laughter, not demeaning of course simply finding it delightful that despite being completely incapable of harming him Tony never did let the anxiety bubbling in every twitch of his fingers beat the careful facade he had built himself. He was strong, seldom few gave credit in that. Not many would face him with such brash tone and hide their uncertainty so well.
“I was not unannounced and I am not your guest, well, not entirely. Your tower is very welcoming, it likes to keep you happy. It opened eagerly at the idea of you having company, you have gone a few days without anyone have you not? I only explained that I required to talk to you and it let me pass. My name is Heimdall. I was the watcher of Asgard, until it burnt. I am sorry we had to meet this way, I have admired your growth in technology for some time. I have not seen such advancements since the Dwarves first uncovered the stones, a small risk of longevity is the stagnancy that comes with the illusion of immortality.”
Golden eyes sweep once more across the work tops and his senses turn to the songs the wires sing as they cross, the way that electricity hums as it works to build and bring life to the lifeless. People think of technology as cold, something to use – a tool. It is, in truth, far more complicated than that. Everything in the realms is part of Yggdrasil, each metal and rock intristically linked to her veins, it does not matter if it speaks a language you can not. If it enjoys helping to a point of seeming in servitude or if it thrums with power to obey.
It had always been a quiet love of his own and the Bifrost had been both his greatest triumph and his worst creation. In some sense he empathises with the line that Tony Stark walks with each build that could be both good and bad dependant only on the one it choses to aid.
They were good in his hands when his hands were steady enough to hold them.
Heimdall raises his own at the thought, coaxing the screen at the back of the wall to open. Turning his gaze up ever politely.
“Friday if you would not mind, a search of Heimdallr in Nordic mythology may aid your identification of me. I am afraid little of it is accurate but it is all your people have.”
The accusation of theft brings his attention quickly back. Studying the one before him intently. So many had taken from Tony over the years, under the guise of friends or foe alike and much of it entirely shameless. It brought only further guilt in knowing what Heimdall must ask of him, what the Gods might ask of him but it would not be without return, it would not be without equal measure. They may not have bountiful coin or a glorious hall of weapons but Heimdall knows well none of that would interest Tony, instead he hoped to offer something better.
For he had seen the advancement of the stars before this realm had fully formed. He had seen technology lost to the blood shed of others, technology thought yet never quite perfected. Perhaps in turn for his aid of Thor’s people Heimdall might give Tony some joy in knowing his love of knowledge is not the only one to exist.
He would be more than happy to share it after all.
“I desire to steal nothing from you. In fact I come asking for your help as much as I wish there was no need for it. Thor’s father held a final secret in his death. A daughter who sought to ruin all that he had built in his cruelty. Thor caused Ragnarok in order to stop her, Asgard now lays in ashes and the Asgardians have no home. No where to go. He looks to bring them here no matter the many objections. The ship will be arriving in a few weeks, he thought perhaps Steve Rogers might help. Jane, Rhodey, any with political prowess who would give them sanctuary but you and I know well that none of them will be enough. It was my hope that you would be willing to aid Asgard one more time. We can not offer you much in turn but I have seen many things in my time I would be honored to share with you and I believe we have a friend of yours alongside us. Doctor Banner also gives his greetings.”
⁕—-» ”So you’re one of Thor’s friends? Why would you come instead of him?” he asked. Not that he really expected Thor to make special appearances to him these days. Thor came and went as he pleased and his love of Midgard seemed to come and go just as easily as his mood changed. Tony wouldn’t have called himself close to Thor in any real respect. They were friends, the engineer enjoyed when Thor was around, but he so often wasn’t, it seemed foolish to get mixed up with longing for the Asgardian to come back. Sometimes, Tony wondered if they’d ever see Thor again. He didn’t seem to have a great handle on how time on Earth moved or how quickly a human’s life could be taken from them.
Even still, knowing, understanding, and accepting that they were just a small part of Thor’s life, it still read as offensive that Thor wouldn’t turn up himself. They were friends, weren’t they? They were close, far closer than Tony was to this strange man refilling the oil canisters and chatting with his droids as if he belonged there.
At least if Tony rushed down to his lab to find Thor rummaging through his things, he wouldn’t have been surprised, fearful, or angry. Okay, maybe a little bit angry, because every time Thor went into Tony’s lab, he ended up breaking something... But at least it would have made sense. Thor was a friend, a member of the team, and always welcomed by Tony’s bots and security measures. The man who came instead? A stranger and someone Tony couldn’t automatically assume could be trusted just because he knew Thor.
He’d already seen plenty of examples of Asgardians who should not be trusted and the reasons why they should not be trusted.
Dark eyes narrow at Heimdall’s laughter and even more so as he insists he did not come unannounced or without invitation, using the excuse that Tony’s inventions had welcomed him in with open arms to ensure that their creator wasn’t lonely.
Now, in fairness, Tony’s gadgets did care about him. Most wrote off Tony’s love of technology as something that he flourished in and took pride in creating, but typically felt his attachment to the things he made was unnatural. They weren’t entirely wrong and even the billionaire didn’t understand just how deep-rooted the attachments went. How could he? He’d only just begun to accept the truth that his abilities went beyond that of a normal human, had no idea what they actually were, or what they were capable of, but he brought the machines around him to life, giving them personalities and possibly even the ability to feel.
Tony surrounded himself with his own tech because it often felt more real and more genuine than being around people who were supposed to care about him but didn’t really reflect that idea. His inventions did take care of him and did, in a way, seem to worry about him, though he could never bring himself to voice that. Everyone thought his obsession with tech had gone too far already, if he told them he felt like they had any sort of real investment in him?
God, Pepper would probably finally have him committed or something.
But stretching out the truth of Tony’s bots to give an excuse as to why Heimdall had been able to slip into the tower seemed manipulating in a way that Tony couldn’t process. Somehow, Heimdall knew how Tony’s tech worked or he knew how Tony viewed them and he played on their sympathies for him to express why he had been allowed in and he...
Knew things he shouldn’t have known? And admitted to watching him?
“How in the Hell did you know I’ve been here for days without seeing anyone?” he asked and if he’d been on guard before, he definitely was now. Several prototype suits displayed on the far left wall of the lab lit up around the eyes and throughout the chest plates, much as they would if Tony wore them himself into battle. Each pried itself off the wall fluidly, eerily silent in the way a massive suit of armor shouldn’t be able to.
They didn’t advance on Heimdall, but two positioned themselves firmly on their boots, scanners turned towards the intruder. A third hovered behind the two, smaller in size, clearly designed for quicker movement and agility, but no less deadly.
If Heimdall truly did hail from Asgard as Thor did, Tony doubted the suits would actually do much damage, but an older mark of the Iron Man armor allowed Tony to go toe-to-toe with Thor long enough to endure Thor’s brute strength and lightning fingers and come out alive. Having them on hand would, at the very least, help him stay calm in a situation that was purely designed to stress him out.
The protective display of suits didn’t seem to settle very well throughout the rest of the lab. Even Dum-E, still holding the bottle of water it clumsily tried to offer Heimdall, whirled and made a desperate little sound that Tony could often sight hearing every time he threatened to take Dum-E apart. It liked Heimdall. Why? His technology responded to Heimdall. Why?
Tony would have been so damned offended had he not been horrified by the reality of the situation that spawned before him. A man, clearly stronger than him, likely older than him, who had somehow gained remarkable access to his life and could potentially even keep watch on him, waltzed into his home without a single defense attempting to stop him and he had resonated so well with Tony’s equipment, he wondered if he would even be able to control it in the face of this mysterious Watcher.
The device Heimdall beckoned to slide open and produced an image on screen, much to Tony’s own horror. Some of his devices were designed to answer anyone who inquired something--like Friday. She would respond to anyone’s questions if prompted correctly, though she should take Tony’s command over all others. Now, though, he wondered if she would listen to Heimdall instead? Even things that were programmed to respond to him alone or only took well to his presence and his direction were bending at the stranger’s will.
Tearing his eyes away from Heimdall felt like an impossible feat as fear gripped his heart, but he did manage to glance over at the suits he’d called forward, just to see if they were still focused on Heimdall or they, too, had stood down, or worse, turned on him. Each still watched Heimdall intently, looking for a sign to strike, but somehow, Tony didn’t feel like that would last.
“Heimdallr,” Friday announced as the monitor pulled up a few reference images of Heimdall, Asgard, Vanaheim, the Bifrost, and a few excerpts from various online sources that spoke of Heimdallr in Norse myth. “Is a Norse pagan deity that is often credited as the Father of Humanity, the creator of the Bifrost, and the Watcher of Worlds. Not much is known of Heimdallr’s life due to an over abundance of Odin worshippers destroying artifacts and shrines of Heimdallr and many other deities. He is widely debated by many scholars and--”
“Thank you, Friday,” Tony cut the AI off, almost barking at her to shut her up. He instantly felt horrid, as he so rarely spoke to his precious inventions in such a harsh tone. At least she did respond to him, silencing herself immediately rather than ignoring his command for Heimdall’s. “So Thor never mentioned you, right? Because it was what? Too dangerous for us little ol’ humans to know about you? And instead of coming here to ask for my help after he no doubt destroyed Asgard himself--” Way to call out your friend, Tony, damn. “--he sent you? A stranger, who can apparently see into my daily life and control my technology however which way you please after waltzing in here? Why should I trust you, huh? If Thor needed my help, Thor should have come. I trust Thor. I know him. I would have listened to him, but instead, he “sent you” after Asgard went up in flames?”
How could Asgard just... be gone? That doesn’t even make sense.
Unless, of course, Thor decided not to come because he wanted to go to Steve instead, because he trusted Steve more--but now wasn’t the time to be petty or upset or hurt by that fact. Now wasn’t the time to make arguments about why Heimdall’s presence made sense because it absolutely didn’t.
“Nothing about this makes sense. Nothing about your story makes sense. Nothing about the way you strolled up in here makes me think that I should trust you or hand over any sort of aid to you. You--”
‘Doctor Banner also gives his greetings.’
For the first time since Tony stepped in to see a strange rummaging through his lab, he actually lowered his hand, the repulsor no longer facing in any direction it could actually do damage. Unless Tony had a panic-induced fit and shot himself in the foot, of course. Which, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, was more likely than it sounded...
So many questions ran through his mind. How did Bruce end up on Asgard? Why was he with Thor in space? Was he okay? What happened in the past few years since he and Hulk disappeared?
But if what Heimdall said was true, than Bruce was with them and Bruce trusted Heimdall. Bruce, of all people, the one person who was probably more paranoid than Tony Stark trusted this man. Maybe Bruce finally snapped and put his faith in someone he shouldn’t have? But that seemed so painfully unlikely... And if Bruce trusted Heimdall than perhaps Tony should as well? He didn’t, but it made the possibility of trusting him easier.
“Bruce is really with you?”
