The ship was dark and vast…it echoed along the corridor as they walked him to an unknown destination.
His mind was moving very fast. There had to be a way to momentarily subdue their plans…whatever they were. He had some ideas, none of which were terribly attractive.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
Nothing.
"So…we are going to see….him?" the thought of the Other seeped into his thoughts. Unpleasant in its own right.
Nothing.
The click on the ship's floor was becoming irritating. "We are not going to Thanos now, surely?"
Nothing.
And his patience flared. "I'll take some honeyed mead. And we are heading toward the center of Yggdrasil, so if you'd be so kind as to set us at the nearest convenient realm?"
"Your humor, Aesir, is unappreciated."
"At least I received a response," he muttered. And they continued on, getting on a lift and rising up.
It was cold, the metal that clanged on.
It didn't really faze him.
And after a fashion, the doors opened. Loki walked out and looked around. "Prince of Asgard."
It sent a chill down his spine…but it wasn't the voice he had known. "No longer," he said. "Asgard's land is gone from the cosmos."
"I know," said the voice…and he leaned into the light from his perch.
This was not the Other, not the one Loki had once known. "I don't believe that I've had the pleasure," he simpered.
"Not so pleasurable, Asgard's Prince. You owe a debt."
"Debt?"
"Do not pretend, Loki of Asgard…you know of what I speak. I am here on Thanos's behalf, and he demands repayment."
"When will we be seeing Thanos?"
The being smiled.
"It is pleasant when you find someone with whom so little need be said and yet meaning is conveyed."
"Thanos," the being began to pace, and fell into full relief of light. He was looming, his head bearing a bejeweled helmet. His eyes were black and heavy. "Will not be coming. He knows that you are going to Midgard. He knows also that the other Prince will be seeking a maid."
Loki's brow furrowed. Thor and his love were not so in love any longer…unless …and he thought that Thanos must not be privy to this. "What of the maid?"
"She held the aether."
He nodded.
"She can be of use to Thanos."
He was confused a moment. "You want the Midgardian mortal?"
"Not I…Thanos."
"And what does Thanos want of me?"
"Convince Thor to give her up. It will satisfy the debt."
Loki considered this for a moment. He offered a stiff nod.
The being smiled maliciously. "Take our guest back to his ship…"
They surrounded him and led him away…
"Loki," Thor was standing at the hatch as Loki walked up into the belly.
He didn't look at him. He was deep in thought…"They'll be releasing us momentarily."
Loki walked to the front of the ship and stared out ahead of them, into the vast space between worlds. And there was a woman just beyond, not knowing what was coming…
"Fuck it," she said as she squatted to the floor to pick up the fallen papers. It had been a day. Jane Foster was trying to collect herself after her presentation before AAAS. After losing the Nobel Prize, she had to start from scratch. It was not pleasant.
"Jane!"
She rolled her eyes, turning. "Hi Pete."
"Great presentation," he squatted next to her and began helping with the papers.
"Thanks."
"I was thinking…"
Don't think please.
"…maybe we could go to this bar just down the way and grab a bite."
"Thanks…but I need to get home. Start the next phase."
He nodded. "Ok, well. Good work."
They stood together awkwardly. "I'll see you, then," and she held the stack of papers to her chest, clinging unnecessarily tightly, and turned down the corridor.
It had been such a disaster. Everything since London.
Thor never coming back, just as she had predicted.
Losing the Nobel.
Sokovia and everything that was.
And now, just trying to piece her life back together. Because, she realized, no one would be doing it for her.
She reached for her keys…
No keys.
"Shit," she said. Where were her keys…?
She sighed…reached for her phone. She ordered an Lyft. And there was forty dollars she'd never get back.
Jane called her landlady, because of course she didn't have a key to her apartment. It was with her car keys. "Yes, Mrs Bennett. Yes if you don't mind. I …yes. I know it's late. Thank you. It won't happen again," and she hung up. She sighed.
Jane watched as the buildings in DC whizzed by. How did she end up here?
She closed her eyes. So many things had happened. Too many, really. Too many to count. And she was alone, just as she had been.
Only this time, no Erik, and no Darcy.
After London, she had been too emotional and distraught to pay them attention. She desired only solitude and work.
How long had she waited for him? Weeks? Months? She didn't know. She woke in a stupor, and left shortly thereafter.
And ended up in the States, avoiding New Mexico.
She rested her forehead on the cool glass of the window. The presentation was laughable. Ever since she had been passed over for the Nobel, people thought of her as something of a naive joke.
Despite London. Despite New York. They all seemed to believe that a wormhole wasn't possible here, and that to build one was folly.
They were small thinkers.
The car pulled in front of her New Alexandria townhouse and she got out. She reckoned it would be a long weekend, and fancied delivery and Netflix.
Mrs Bennett had left the door unlocked, and Jane clicked the door shut, leaning against it, letting her head thud softly on the glass of the outside door. She took out her phone before she walked through toward her unit and opened the door. "Yeah hi. Large pizza, plain. And a side of fries with cheese. And…ah…a two liter of Coke. No that's it," she sat down, and picked up the remote. "I may never shit again."
It was two in the morning when she woke on the sofa to a knocking on the door. Jane sat ramrod straight.
"What the…?" she got up and went to the door, peering through the peephole. "Mrs Bennett!" she cried, and opened the door.
"Jane. Strange men were just here asking about you," she looked very worried.
"What men? Mrs Bennett, it's two am."
"Well, why do you think I've come?"
Jane stepped aside and let her in. "Did you talk to them?"
"I did. But I didn't trust them. So I told them to leave and come back in the morning."
She looked around…she should go. She should not stay if strange men were looking for her. "Thank you Mrs. Bennett…What time were they here?"
"Ah...around fifteen minutes ago, but they only stayed five minutes."
Jane nodded. She'd wait for a few minutes to make certain that no one was watching her, and she'd duck out back…
She'd need those keys.
"I'll need to leave. I…I'll be in touch as soon as I think it's safe."
"Who's looking for you, Janie? Are you in trouble?"
"No. But I never count out the possibility that strange men are looking for me."
Mrs Bennett looked at her crookedly as Jane rummaged through her things. "Are you in the sex trade, Jane?"
"What? No! No…no I'm not. It's complicated."
"It always is, dear."
She rolled her eyes and sighed. No sense in trying to make her understand. "Ok…" she peered out of the window. She would need to get back to her office. She had left her keys there, and then back to downtown proper for her car…
This was getting complicated.
"Mrs Bennett…I have a lot to do before I can leave DC. So, I think I'll just get going now. I won't tell you where I'm going…" she shoved everything she cared about in one bag, clothes and toiletries in another. Her purse was filled with her money, her laptop…a few books. "Until I'm settled. I need to get off the grid."
"Who are these people, Jane? Should I be scared?"
Jane was opening the door, then turned. "They're S.H.I.E.L.D…and no. They're just assholes."
It had been trying, the attempt to get all of her things together. The kerfuffle with her keys had set her back considerably.
No matter. She was on her way now, and that was the material point.
On her way where, she hardly knew.
But there was no way she was going to allow S.H.I.E.L.D. to get her shit again.
Or anything else for that matter.
She zipped down I-95, thinking about New Mexico.
Probably not the best choice in terms of where to hide.
Florida.
Jane smiled.
Florida might be better. More crowded. She could gather her thoughts there…determine whether she should leave the country or stay put.
She drove all night and all the following day. She was in Jacksonville filling her gas tank.
Had she overreacted? Was Mrs. Bennett a pawn?
No. Silly notion.
Jane sighed and got back into her car.
Stupid Thor. This was all his fault. She had never lived in fear before, and now, that was all she did.
Constant, unrelenting fear.
She didn't trust S.H.I.E.L.D. She wasn't speaking with Darcy or Erik. She was all alone in the world, fighting a faceless something, while her almost boyfriend scaled the cosmos and probably slept with other really hot alien women.
She seethed.
Ex-boyfriend.
Jane could not be involved with him in any capacity any longer. It was too painful, too unpredictable.
Too….much.
She pulled into a nice-looking hotel and checked in, thinking only of a bed and the sound of the ocean.
She got her keycard out and slid it through the sensor.
"Hello Miss Foster," came a voice.
…and inside her hotel room was at least eight men in suits, all looking very stern and solemn.
"We need to speak with you."
She sighed very heavily. "What about?"
"Thor," he smiled.