Havoc and Retribution

Root Cause

"Where are we?" Natasha whispers to Bruce.

He glances sideways at her. "What makes you think I have any idea?" he responds incredulously.

"Well you have all those Ph.Ds.," Romanoff retorts.

"None of them are for categorizing and identifying metaphysical representations of life from Norse mythology," he grumbles crossly.

"These are the Roots of the Yggdrasil," Neona says quietly. "This is our home."

Verdandi and Neona, the two remaining Norns, spirited the survivors from Alfheim to this place using an impressive display of power. Now, Alfheim survivors, Avengers, Aesir warriors, the queen of Asgard and what remains of the Vanir resistance are huddled in an impossible place with the impossible task of stopping the goddess of chaos ahead of them.

Natasha turns to look at the young, blonde Norn of Birth. Well , perhaps young isn't the best word to describe her since it is quite possible she is as old as the universe. Neona is bandaging Bjern's arm and Natasha watches the adoring, starstruck look the Vanir man gives Neona.

"The home of the Norns?" Bruce asks. The space around them hushes as the rest of the people in the room, or whatever you call a space within space, listen in. There are the Vanir resistance members, Bjern and Syvlk trying to lead the remnants of their people. There are the Asgardian soldiers, led by Frigga, looking shell-shocked by how big the universe really is. There are the refugees from Alfhiem, huddled and disbelieving in corners, not ready to fight, only wanting to grieve. Lastly there are the six Avengers and the remaining two Norns. The space is a collection of gleaming armor and motley arrays of homespun cloth as all eyes turn to Neona.

"How can we be in the Roots of Yggdrasil?" Bruce asks. "That's a concept, too large to be a physical space we can inhabit."

Verdandi comes to stand at her sister's side, stray brown hair flowing around her face. "It's a metaphysical construct," she says, as if that should be obvious. "Any mind besides that of a Norn cannot see the extra dimensions and folding of space to comprehend the scale of Yggdrasil. Therefore, we create this construct to allow you to see the vastness of Yggdrasil without your little heads exploding," she concludes. Clint almost expects her to ask if they have any questions like a college professor.

"So, we're in the Roots of the Yggdrasil," Tony clarifies, pointing down at the twisted wooden floor. "So does that mean if we look up when we poke our heads out the windows...,"

Because Stark has no sense of self-preservation, he does exactly what he was thinking. Tony walks to the window, sticks his head out into space, turns and looks up.

His brain tries to tell him he should not be able to breath in the vacuum of space. But then his eyes tell his brain that there are bigger issues to deal with. For one, the fact that towering up into the stars and nebulas are crystalline branches stemming from the trunk of the biggest tree he has ever seen. Number two, the tree is floating in space.

Tony pulls his head back into the space. The Avengers look at him questioningly when he doesn't say something immediately. "Um, we might need a bigger boat," Tony finally mumbles.

"Or a bigger spaceship," Clint agrees. "With lots of cannons. Bristling with cannons in fact."

Verdandi cocks her head at him, and her eyes go distant for a moment which freaks Clint out before she seems to come back to the present.

"Not that I don't appreciate the whole, Sorority of the Cosmic Tree," Stark says, "But can someone please clarify what is going on?"

"Where would you like to start?" Verdandi asks wearily. "We can go through the whole explanation of how you can be inside the Roots of the Yggdrasil or you can take my word for it that it is possible to inhabit a metaphysical space while in the presence of Norns."