Lost in the Woods

Chapter 9

"And you're sure we won't spontaneously combust? Our atoms won't be scrambled into mortal smoothie?" Tony questioned, shivering in the cold, pre-dawn air.

Thor scratched his head, one eyebrow crinkled in thought. "I do not think so Son of Stark." he shrugged nonchalantly. "Loki really was far more informed about the effects of the bifrost." The thunderer held out his hands to Steve on his left and Natasha on his right. "It is improbable that any significant damage should happen to you. I'm sure Heimdall would have mentioned it otherwise."

The group of humans glanced at each other nervously, not at all comforted by the demigod's words. They reluctantly joined hands, forming a connected circle.

"Are you sure you got a lid on it?" Steve asked, looking directly at Banner.

The scientist nodded, taking deliberate, even breaths. "I gave myself a shot to regulate my pulse, and I'm as mentally prepared for this as I could ever be."

Thor smiled encouragingly. "Hold on to each other tightly. I am told that beings unused to space travel may find it a bit jarring. I would rather not loose any of you along the way."

"Great." Hawkeye muttered, gripping tighter to Black Widow and Bruce. "If either of you lets go of me I will personally plant an arrow in your eye socket."

"I doubt it." Stark muttered, his calm mask slipping in anticipation. "You'd be dead."

And with that last, unsettling remark, the five mortals and the demigod were sucked up in a blur of rainbow light and hurtled away, past the far reaches of their galaxy.

As they travelled Steve had to remind himself that this wasn't some bizarre dream. The saturated light around him was so intense he felt cheated by the colours on earth. Whole constellations he knew flashed by in seconds and in the blink of an eye they had already left their humble Milky Way. Time seemed almost suspended as they travelled, each second slowing down just enough for him to appreciate what he was looking at. The sights before his humble eyes were places never seen before by humans, beyond even the feeble reach of their most advanced telescope. The sheer size of space was daunting, overwhelming in it's magnificence.

He idly contemplated how unfair it was that humans were gifted with such a short life time - it would take thousands of years to explore such a vast dimension. He couldn't even begin to imagine all the phenomenal worlds unexplored by their people, worlds they would probably never have the chance to set foot on. If the Asguardians, who had thousands of years beneath their belts, still hadn't discovered all the life forms in this universe, then what chance did a human who only had a good sixty years before old age slammed down?

Across from the Captain, Bruce Banner was thinking the same thing. As a scientist his natural curiosity drowned out any fear he felt while being flung across Yggdrasil.

Stark, ever the mathematician was similarly contemplating how to reproduce the vacuum they were being sucked through, unparalleled intellect struggling to determine the amount of energy needed to perform such a feat.

Clint and Natasha, on the other hand, were more focused on holding tight to the people next to them and keeping their heads despite the insanity of their mission.

Then, suddenly they were in Asgard.

The five mortals felt as though they had been slammed down by a giant fist, hurled without warning onto a hard, multicoloured platform. None of them landed on their feet, but lay sprawled on the strange piece of architecture, breathing heavily.

After a panicked pause, Clint, Tony and Bruce promptly coughed up whatever was in their stomachs. Retching may have been unpleasant, but all of them were relieved to be otherwise in one piece. Black Widow slumped back, gripping her stomach and trying to breathe deeply through pangs of nausea. Steve, more immune to the disorientating travel, checked on each of them in turn.