Chapter 130: A God on the Other Side
The glowing portal snapped shut behind Ethan and the Ancient One, leaving them standing in the quiet arrival hall of the New York Sanctum.
Ethan carefully lowered the sealed Asgardian case onto the reinforced stone table. The heavy slab groaned audibly under the dense weight of the Uru.
"Odin could have included wheels," Ethan muttered, rolling his stiff shoulders.
The Ancient One placed one hand against the case. Golden light briefly moved across the dark metal before fading.
"It is safe," she said. "Though I suspect owning it will create more problems than receiving it did."
"Tony specializes in those," Ethan replied.
With a flick of his wrist, Ethan levitated the heavy case down the hall and secured it inside a protected artifact room.
When he returned, he looked at his teacher. "Was Odin's pressure in the observatory a threat or a test?"
"He wanted to know whether you represented Kamar-Taj only while it was convenient," the Ancient One explained plainly.
"Challenging him physically would have been suicidal," Ethan admitted.
"Understanding when not to draw your wand is also progress," she said, her tone carrying a faint trace of approval.
"How long have you known him?" Ethan asked.
"Long enough that neither of us remembers our first disagreement honestly." She offered a small smile and refused to elaborate further. She gestured toward his hands. "Jane Foster is still waiting."
Ethan nodded, raised his hand, and opened a portal back to New Mexico.
The portal opened on the edge of the desert, directly beside the burned Bifrost mark.
Jane immediately approached the moment she saw Ethan return alone. Erik, Darcy, and Gwen walked up behind her.
"Thor reached Asgard," Ethan told her. "Odin is alive. Loki took control of the Bifrost and used it against Jotunheim. Thor destroyed the bridge before it could tear the realm apart."
Jane's relief at hearing Thor was alive lasted only a moment before the rest of the explanation reached her.
"He said he would return."
"He meant it. He asked me to tell you that he would find another way."
Jane looked toward the burned mark where Thor had vanished. Her eyes remained wet, but when she spoke again, her voice was steadier.
"Can he contact us?"
"Not immediately."
She crouched beside one of the damaged sensors and ran her fingers over its scorched casing. "The bridge existed. We measured it. That means it can be understood."
Erik joined her beside the equipment. Their instruments had captured readings during both arrivals, along with everything Tony's drones had collected during the battle. It was more information about the Bifrost than anyone on Earth had possessed the day before.
Tony offered Stark equipment and processing power, earning an immediate warning from Jane that the research remained hers.
Darcy folded her arms. "So the boyfriend lives in another realm and the interdimensional train station exploded. Worst long-distance relationship in history."
A strained laugh escaped Jane before she turned back to the damaged sensor.
While Jane and Erik returned to the sensor arrays, Gwen stepped closer to Ethan.
"Did Loki survive?" Gwen asked quietly.
"The tracker briefly detected him after the fall, but lost the trail in the void," Ethan said.
"Thor knows?"
"Yes," Ethan replied. "It gave him hope."
Tony approached Ethan as soon as Jane turned away to coordinate with Erik.
"What did you bring back?" Tony asked, his eyes darting to Ethan's empty hands.
"Thor's gratitude," Ethan said.
"Terrible conductor. Try again."
Ethan told him about the refined Uru billet.
Tony's eyes lit up. "Where is it?"
"Inside the Sanctum."
"Why?" Tony demanded.
"Because leaving divine metal in a temporary evidence tent seemed unwise," Ethan answered.
Maria Hill walked past them carrying a datapad. "For once, we agree."
Ethan held up a hand, producing a detailed, magical illusion of the dark, heavy billet rather than bringing the real metal out into the desert.
Tony moved closer to the illusion, studying the dark billet from every angle. He immediately asked when he could examine the real thing and whether Ethan would allow him to remove a small sample.
"Tomorrow," Ethan said. "You can scan it. You are not cutting pieces off it."
Tony started to argue that a proper examination required more than looking.
Ethan stopped him before he could build momentum. "No cutting it, melting it or shooting it to see what happens. Odin specifically warned me not to let Stark waste the metal."
Tony forgot the argument immediately. "Odin knows who I am?"
"Your reputation travels farther than you do."
Maria Hill pulled Ethan aside near the edge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. perimeter. Natasha and Gwen stood nearby.
Hill asked only what mattered operationally. "Can Asgard send another weapon tonight?"
"Not through the Bifrost," Ethan confirmed.
"Are we at war with them?"
"No. Odin gave me the Uru because the Destroyer was Asgard's responsibility."
Hill studied him. "And what did you promise in return?"
"Nothing."
"Good."
Hill noticed Ethan's slightly shaking fingers and the scorched cuffs of his coat. She decided the written report could wait until morning and ended the immediate debrief.
Before Ethan could open the portal home, Natasha caught his wrist and turned his hand over. Red lines crossed his palm, and a faint tremor ran through his fingers when she pressed along his forearm.
Her eyes moved to his scorched cuff. "Anything worse than this?"
"Nothing that requires a healer."
Natasha released his hand, though her expression made it clear she did not entirely believe him.
"Then take us home before you fall over in the desert."
Gwen's gaze lingered on Ethan's trembling hand before moving to Natasha.
"Make sure he actually rests," she said. "He thinks reading dangerous books in a chair counts."
"I've noticed," Natasha replied.
Ethan opened the portal, and the three of them stepped into the Sanctum's main sitting room.
The gateway had barely closed before Ethan dropped onto the sofa. He leaned back, stretched his legs out and let his head fall against the cushion. When he tried to roll one shoulder, a low groan escaped him.
Gwen paused near the stairs. "That bad?"
"Now that no one is trying to destroy a planet, my body has decided to complain."
She came over and looked at the burns around his cuff before pressing a brief kiss to his cheek. Her own suit was scorched along one sleeve, and dried desert dust covered most of the white sections.
"I'm showering before this suit starts growing its own ecosystem."
Gwen headed upstairs, leaving Natasha standing beside the sofa.
Ethan remained still for several seconds before lifting one hand to rub the side of his neck. The movement accomplished very little.
Natasha walked behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
She pressed experimentally with both thumbs.
The muscles beneath them were hard enough to make her pause.
Ethan's head tipped back when she pressed again. The slow pressure forced some of the stiffness loose, and a relieved breath left him.
"That," he murmured, "is much better."
Natasha worked along the top of his shoulders without answering. She found one tight spot near his neck, held the pressure until it softened, then moved to the other side.
After a minute, she stopped.
"Your back is a mess."
"I noticed."
"This needs more than me standing behind a sofa."
Ethan opened one eye and looked up at her. "Are massages included in the liaison agreement?"
A faint smile touched Natasha's mouth. "A good spy learns many useful skills."
"So you actually know what you're doing?"
Instead of answering, Natasha pressed her thumb into another knot. Ethan winced and immediately stopped questioning her qualifications.
"You need a full massage," she said. "After both of us have showered."
Ethan watched her disappear down the hallway.
Before he could follow her advice, familiar blue light opened across his vision.
[Quest Complete: Hammer Falls]
Rewards:
8,000 System Points
Ben Tennyson Template Synchronization +3%
Asgardian Rune Primer
Uru Resonance Data
Divine Energy Resistance Fragment
Magi-Tech Research Boost
Ben Tennyson Synchronization: 17% → 20%
System Points: 53,010 → 61,010
New information settled into Ethan's mind. The symbols carved into Odin's case now possessed basic meaning, and the Uru's presence no longer felt completely unreadable when he focused toward the artifact room.
Knowing what he was looking at did not teach him how to forge it.
Ethan closed the System window and pushed himself off the sofa. The Uru could wait until morning. His aching back was considerably less patient.
He showered and returned to his bedroom wearing loose dark trousers. The hot water had removed the sweat and grime, but the deeper stiffness remained. Raising either arm still pulled painfully across his shoulders.
A knock sounded against the bedroom door.
Natasha stood in the doorway wearing the familiar French-maid uniform Ethan had given her when she first moved into the Sanctum.
The lace headpiece sat above her freshly dried red hair. The tight black bodice, white apron, tiny skirt and lace-topped stockings were exactly as scandalous as Ethan remembered. The difference tonight was what she carried: a folded towel over one arm and a small bottle of oil in her hand instead of a feather duster or coffee tray.
Ethan's gaze moved over her without apology. Natasha caught him looking and entered the room with a faint, satisfied curve to her mouth.
She placed the oil beside the bed, then bent forward to spread the towel across the mattress. The skirt rose dangerously high, giving Ethan a familiar view she made no effort to prevent.
Once the towel was flat, Natasha straightened and motioned toward it.
"Face down."
Ethan removed his boots and lay across the bed.
Natasha shut the door behind her, sat beside him and poured a little oil into her palm. She warmed it between both hands before spreading it across his neck, shoulders and upper back.
Her hands were firm and practiced. She worked slowly down from his neck, pressing into the tight muscles around his shoulder blades before following the strain along his upper back. Ethan's breathing gradually eased as the worst knots began to loosen.
For several minutes, neither of them spoke.
There was no need.
Natasha climbed fully onto the bed and settled astride Ethan's hips. The tiny maid skirt rode farther up her thighs as she leaned forward and resumed working the hard muscles around his shoulders.
She poured a little more oil into her palms, spread it across his upper back and pressed both thumbs slowly beside his spine. Ethan sank deeper into the mattress as the tension finally began to loosen.
Whenever Natasha leaned forward to reach the muscles near his neck, the tight bodice of the maid dress pressed her breasts against his back. The contact was soft beneath the fabric, completely different from the firm pressure of her hands.
Whenever Natasha leaned forward to reach his neck, the tight bodice pressed her breasts against his back. In the beginning, the contact lasted only as long as each stroke. As the massage continued, she began remaining against him, her chest dragging softly over his oiled skin whenever her hands moved.
Ethan's breathing changed. The massage was still relaxing his muscles, but the rest of his body had stopped relaxing entirely. His dick hardened beneath him, pressed uncomfortably between his trousers and the mattress.
Natasha felt the change in the way his hips shifted beneath her. She continued the massage without commenting, although her hands became slower as they travelled down his back.
Ethan reached one arm behind him. His fingers found the bare strip of skin between the top of her stocking and the short maid skirt. He stroked the outside of her thigh, moving gradually toward her hip.
Natasha allowed the touch until his fingers reached the edge of the skirt.
Then she caught his wrist.
Then she caught his wrist, drew his hand away from her hip and placed it beside his body.
"The massage is not finished," she murmured near his ear.
Ethan turned his head slightly toward her. "Your breasts have been pressed against my back for the last two minutes."
"They are not preventing the massage."
"They are making it difficult to judge the medical benefits."
Natasha leaned down again. This time, she deliberately pressed her chest against him while her lips touched the side of his neck. Her hands slid from his shoulders to his waist, leaving warm trails through the oil.
The kiss lingered.
Ethan tried to reach back again, but Natasha straightened before he could touch more than her thigh.
"Turn over," she said.
He shifted beneath her. "Are you finished?"
"With your back."
Natasha raised herself onto her knees and gave him enough room to roll over. Ethan turned onto his back, his erection clearly outlined beneath his loose trousers.
Her eyes dropped to the bulge before she lowered herself across his hips again. The black lace of her panties pressed against him through the fabric of his trousers.
Now Ethan could touch her properly.
His hands moved up the outside of her thighs, disappeared beneath the scandalously short skirt and closed around both sides of her ass. He pulled her more firmly against his erection. Natasha drew a quick breath, and her thighs tightened around his hips before she recovered her composure.
When he began sitting up toward her cleavage, she placed one oily palm against his chest and pushed him back onto the mattress.
"Now," Natasha said, leaning over him as her breasts strained above the tight bodice, "you can touch the maid."
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