Chapter 1: Fallen Away
Colours and a thousand thoughts swirled around the falling immortal. This anomaly was completely new to any of the nine realms, but with all of the memories clouding Loki's mind this felt somehow familiar. Part of him wished the solid earth would finally find him even if it meant breaking every bone he had; once in view, he knew he could center himself and morph to landing carefully as he had done the last time. This time was different and part of him feared that he would not live through it despite immortal power. Unfortunately the rainbow cloud was making vision and clear thought nearly impossible. He cursed inwardly, fleetingly, for not using magic sooner and simply falling. His thoughts drew back to his family for a moment, such as they were. He knew he would see his brother again, but could not be sure about his father and mother. A twinge of guilt and strange clarity came over him at the thought of his mother. Of all the beings in Asgard, she had been the only one who had ever truly cared about him . . . at least the only one that he could sense warmth from. As the thought of being without even the slightest possibility of Frigga's kind gaze and loving embrace left him, he noticed that the cloud was beginning to clear.
Finally, he thought. If that had gone on any longer I might have lost my . . . oh dear.
His thoughts shifted instantly to shock as the ground came into view too close for proper landing. He had fallen too quickly in that cloud. The earth met him harshly, having miscalculated its position in the radioactive cloud. Dust and soil flew into the air along with the few small rocks that weren't jammed uncomfortably into various muscles. After years of physical comfort and emotional pain, the trickster suddenly came to know just how truly awful physical pain without the benefit of healers was. Warriors spoke of pain making one stronger, but this misery couldn't possibly do anything to strengthen. Fortunately unconsciousness took him quickly and the colours, thoughts, and feelings all faded into a peaceful darkness.
(*)
"I'm telling you, just let me configure the satellite one more time. I remember exactly where they went up and you're nowhere near it anymore," Darcy complained. Jane was still furiously fixed on the same position in the night sky and had only until morning when the research would be relocating to a S.H.I.E.L.D. facility and she seemed to be completely ignoring the fact that the sky over the other realm had probably moved which made their sky the constant. She frowned at her partner and pseudo friend who still wasn't listening to anything she had to say. It had been three days since the stranger Thor had disappeared back into the sky with his friends following a disturbing incident that Darcy still couldn't explain. Jane didn't make eye contact and kept staring at the screen while Darcy frowned and shook her head. "I know what I'm talking about, too, you know."
"Just let me do this; he said he was going to return and I need to find that wormhole again," Jane muttered. Darcy looked at her with concern. Jane was usually a little hyper-focused and didn't like the idea of not having a fellow astrophysicist as her partner or understudy which Darcy shrugged to the side as being one of her quirks. Darcy had originally been a nursing student who had moved into studying health technology which eventually led to the billboard with the notice for the needed assistant to work with Jane's research. Darcy had always felt a little on the outside being stranded in the middle of a dessert with two astrophysicists. Biologists and physicists belonged to two different families and neither got along well with the other without ignoring a few quirks here and there. Jane sighed and closed her eyes for a moment looking back at her assistant apologetically. "I'm sorry, I know we haven't been on task. I just have to do this. Mr. Selvig is still working on the truck, maybe he could use some help."
Darcy frowned. "I'm a geek, not a mechanic," she replied with a slight tone of irritation. She wanted to stay indoors and had said very little about how much she really didn't like the harsh, stark landscape and the extreme temperatures. Jane tried to smile a little and placed a hand on her friend's. Darcy looked at her with concern. "He disappeared with those others talking about things he needed to do. Something about stopping his brother and saving his home. What if he can't come back? What if it takes a really long time?"
Jane stared back in stunned silence. The thoughts had briefly crossed her mind, but she had preferred to keep focused on finding the wormhole and bringing Thor back. She shook her head and turned back to the screen. "He said he was coming back, Darcy, and given that our entire purpose for being out here has been centered around that wormhole, I need to keep at this either way," she said firmly. "He'll come back, we'll finish our research, and you can go back to pre-med or wherever you need to go after this."
"I'm not a medical student, I work with electronics," Darcy corrected. It didn't register and she could tell that Jane was more interested in the screen readings than in what she had to say at the moment. The girl shook her head and moved toward the door leading away from the makeshift lab. "I'm going out for some fresh air, do you need anything?"
Jane waved a hand in the air. "I'm good, you take some time off for a while," she said kindly.
Darcy nodded, but said nothing as she opened the door and turned to look out at the barren dessert. She crossed her arms and looked up at the sky wishing that the cloud and Thor would suddenly reappear. She had been very taken with the immortal during his time on the planet despite having electrocuted him. He was handsome, strong, and interested in Jane, but Darcy felt a strong connection and felt safe in his presence. She sighed and glanced around the area, trying to think of something to keep her busy while all of this came to a halt. Out in the distance, something stirred in the sky that made her think she might have been asleep. It appeared to be the tail end of the very wormhole that Jane was looking for, but it clearly hadn't been on the map when she left. She narrowed her eyes and moved an inch closer. She felt panic begin to form in her chest as she realized that she was definitely awake and the outline of yet another person was falling to earth at an accelerated rate. She gasped as the figure collided with the ground making a distant crashing sound that could not have been pleasant. Without another thought, she raced forward.
She couldn't be exactly sure of how far she ran to reach the individual, but it did seem odd that she had managed to cover what had seemed like at least a mile in the blink of an eye. She panted heavily as she skidded to a halt in the cloud of debris that had surged as impact was made. She knelt immediately and instinctively felt for the edge of the figure or crater, whichever had been left for her to feel. She coughed and gagged, trying to see through the dirt, but unable to make out even the slightest image. Her mind raced and she thought about how Thor had arrived in the first place. Had he returned just as violently? "Thor? Is that you?" she coughed.
His brother's name, he could hear it through the cloud of dust as the short-lived darkness faded. As his head cleared, Loki suddenly wondered if he had indeed broken every bone in his body. He had never felt such pain before and the impact had made it nearly impossible to breathe. After a few brief seconds of centering himself and collecting his thoughts, he found himself able to open his eyes and listen. He heard someone calling his brother's name, a woman. He wasn't able to recall for the moment by face which of the mortals had been the proverbial golden apple of his brother's eye. He knew her name, but it could have gone with one of two faces that he had seen trying to help him. The voice called to his brother again.
Perfect, he thought. A captive will work more to my advantage now than anything.
The mortal's hand brushed his shoulder and a twinge of fear moved through him. He couldn't move at the moment and being completely helpless was not something he was used to. His eyes spun as he felt the mortal lean over him. She coughed twice and looked down at him. She had dark hair and piercing blue eyes that nearly matched his own. He gasped for breath, trying to summon the strength to sit upright as she looked down at him.
"Sir, are you alright? Can you hear me?" Darcy asked repeatedly after realizing that this was definitely not Thor, but he certainly had clothing that looked similar to the other four that had come to earth after him. She instinctively felt for a pulse at his neck and leaned down to listen for breathing. She heard his lungs struggling to draw in air and she quickly reached down, taking him by both shoulders and trying to lift him to sitting upright. While Darcy had yet to complete the journalism program at UCLA and had switched to political science after a very brief stint with nursing, she remembered quite a bit about the CPR and First Aid courses. It took some doing, but she managed to bring him to sitting upright, causing air to finally rush in where it was needed.
Loki felt his chest burn as air filled it once more and vowed silently to never, ever lose his balance again even for a distraction. He groaned and did his best to ignore the pain surging through every limb. The mortal held him, tightly and deliberately, and he noticed a strong warmth pulsing from her heart. It's rhythm was similar to Frigga's and the thought made him pine for home for a fleeting moment; he had been many places in secret but had never been in the position of being unable to return home before. He breathed deeply and felt blood pooling back where it was needed. Movement returned slowly as the mortal instructed him to breathe, which he felt a little unnecessary and irritating given the notion that all living things need to breathe. Once centered, he thought of how best to act. This hadn't been his immediate intention, but it certainly seemed like something he could benefit from.
"You look like you just got hit by a train," Darcy said appraising him as best she could. He wasn't a comparison to Thor or the four that had come after him; no rippling musculature or flowing hair. His entire presence seemed dark and shifty, or perhaps that was just the night casting shadows. She looked around as the dust settled and heard a small tone coming from her cell phone. She sighed deeply and scooted back for a moment, keeping one hand on the stranger comfortingly. The number was Selvig's, not the lab's. She sighed and reached down, lifting the screen on the phone and putting it to her ear. "Mr. Selvig, before you say anything, I need you to come out here right now or send someone outside right now. You won't believe what's happened and I think that I might have found another one of Thor's friends. He just landed in a heap in the dessert."
Loki's eyes widened. Not good; the last thing he needed was others coming to assist. Mortals were easy enough to handle, but in large groups they were menace and in this case a threat. No doubt all of the other mortals were being watched by Heimdall and, while he could cloak himself for several moments from the gate-keeper, he could not hide a concerned mob. He narrowed his gaze and willed the air around them to shift, diverting all magnetic waves to the object she was holding.
"Mr. Selvig? Mr. Selvig are you there?" Darcy asked hurriedly. She had heard the line go silent in mid-sentence. She pulled the phone away and looked down at it. The screen was blank and dark as if the battery had suddenly died. She groaned. "Darn it; I had two gigs worth of data saved on this thing and all my preferences." Darcy quickly put the phone down and turned back to the man that she had found. He seemed to be breathing and sitting normally for the time being. She smiled. "Well, it might take them a few minutes, but they'll be out here. Don't worry; we'll take good care of you. You're starting to look much better now. I guess those isotopes and whatever in that cloud cushions you guys or you'd all be dead." He turned and looked directly into her eyes silently. This must have been the one, a young woman who studied the fields of science known to mortals. She looked at him in growing concern. "What's your name, anyway?"
"Not important," he replied quickly, taking her by both shoulders. "But don't worry; I'll take good care of you." Darcy looked back in shock as a cruel grin crossed his features. She let out a small cry, dropping the phone on the ground, as the two disappeared.