Chapter 7 Summary: All hell breaks loose as Loki's forces attack SHIELD's base of operations, and Loki is intent on wreaking havoc upon his tormented brother.
AN1: Thank you for all the support. It's amazing how much seeing your response lifts my spirits. Happy Valentines Day!
AN2: I have decided to omit the argument from the laboratory. I wrote it out, and realized I wasn't making any significant changes except for some internal stuff on Thor's part, so I decided to drop the scene. And... this chapter speeds a bit. I'd recommend putting on your seatbelts, folks.
"As soon as the Tesseract was stolen, we were sure to move Erik Selvig and Darcy Lewis. We assumed Loki would come after people close to you, so they are in lockdown in a SHIELD safehouse in Norway. They will be safe."
Thor was once again overwhelmed with his gratitude of the Son of Coul. "Thank you. You were not incorrect about Loki's wish to take those with whom I have a close connection. I know for certain it was no accident, Loki taking Jane." He swallowed heavily. "I fear what he plans for her when he is done." Horrendously violent images tumbled heedlessly through his mind before Agent Coulson's words distracted him for his inward hell.
"She talks about you a lot. You changed her life, you know? You changed everything around here."
"They..." He briefly entertained the idea of not having crashed to Earth, of not having brought such pain and destruction to Jane's world. It was an option that made him blanch at the thought of never meeting the people who changed his life, but there was the draw of leaving the beautiful planet, of leaving Jane and his Midgard friends far out of harms way. "They were better as they were," he managed bleakly. "In Asgard, we think ourselves more advanced, that the Aesir are the highest of beings, yet we come here, battling like bilgesnipe."
"Like what?"
"Bilgesnipe. Huge, scaly, big antlers. You don't have those?"
"Don't think so."
"Well, they are repulsive, and they destroy everything in their path."
He moved to look out across the great white clouds of Midgard, their white surfaces darkened by the nighttime. His arms crossed over his chest, like trying to ward off a chill that had come over him. "When I first came to Earth," he began, hearing the Son of Coul approach him from behind, "Loki's rage followed me here," frightened people, angry citizens who didn't know why they had to leave, the bright eyes of the children, so scared, so trusting as he picked them up, like he could protect them from all evil, the Destroyer, explosions, death, the pain "and your people paid the price. And now again," His voice shook imperceptibly. His fingers tightened around his arms. "In my youth I courted war."
So wrapped up he was in his introspect, Thor did not hear the approach of Nick Fury. "War hasn't started yet," the confident Midgardian in black stated. Thor turned from the window to face SHIELD's leader.
"A fact I am deeply grateful for," Thor said, although he did not know how long the peace could last with Loki's scheming.
"Do you think you could make Loki tell us where the Tessertact is?"
"Loki's mind is far afield." A fact he cursed more and more each day. "It's not just power he craves, it's vengeance. Upon me." You changed her life. He could only pray she wouldn't regret him. "No amount of pain could rend a truthful answer from him."
"A lot of guys think that until the pain starts," Fury said. The chilling part was that it sounded like he knew from experience.
"What are you asking me to do?" Thor asked, bristling slightly. His words before about pain hadn't been intended to be interpreted as an invitation to torture his brother. He ground his teeth together before he said something he regretted.
"I'm asking you what are you prepared to do."
Now, Thor was a warrior. He was well-versed in the way of using pain to gain answers when he required them. But this... his own brother? He had planned on answering diplomatically, saying he, as a Prince of Asgard, could not possibly torture Loki, who was still considered a citizen of Asgard. Instead, this is what came forth: "How dare you insinuate that I should torture my own brother! Is the human race so vile as to assume I could do such a thing to my own kin? In all the nine realms I have never-" Thor stopped hearing the words that spewed from his mouth in his rage at this Nick Fury. What kind of man could ask such favors?
He snapped his mouth closed when the Son of Coul put a hand on his shoulder, drawing him backwards a step. This shook Thor out of the angry haze he had been in, and he felt drawn back into himself. Nick Fury hadn't reacted to the tirade, face blank as if he were listening and absorbing the spiked words Thor hurled his way.
"I apologize for my inappropriate behavior." Summoning all of his princely training, "I must decline your request." There. He said it.
"Director," a new voice inserted, "I would be more than willing to interrogate him myself without the need for violence."
Thor's eyes were drawn to the Lady Natasha. The shock of violent red hair haloed a beautiful face even the Light Elven women would be envious of, but Thor could see a darkness within her that belied her outer beauty. She was capable of dark and sinister things.
"Agent Romanoff, are you sure that would be wise?" Fury asked.
Her eyes sharpened to fierce points, that veiled darkness making itself known, "With all due respect, there's nothing I cannot handle. Sir." Her pose was defiant, confident, and the Thunder God could see she held no fear in her stance.
Thor felt his lips curl unwillingly into a smile at her stubborn personality. Yes, he knew he would like Natasha.
Fury breathed out once, "I need the Council's permission to allow you to interrogate him. Agent Coulson, with me," he ordered curtly. Without waiting for a response, because that's just how Nick Fury was, he turned on his heel and headed for the Council conference room with Agent Coulson following behind.
Agent Romanoff approached him. She was much like Son of Coul in that she did not treat him like an outsider, or something to be gawked at or shied away from.
"You will forever have my gratitude, my lady," he said honestly. "I fear my words to Fury were said in anger, but I cannot deny that the sentiment remains."
Her expression didn't change as she said, "Don't worry about it. Fury can be a bastard when it suits him."
He took her understanding gratefully. A silence descended, but didn't last long. "I must warn you, Lady Natasha, that my brother is a master manipulator."
Her lips began to tug into something that was the semblance of a smile, but her expression was one that looked like longing and pain mixed together. "He's not going to be the only one."
Jane would have felt out of place if her true emotions weren't held in paralysis by her current situation-sitting in the rear of a procured SHIELD quinjet, surrounded by men with menacing black attire covering them head to toe, with various assault weapons in their hands.
Jane could see out the front window they were approaching the Helicarrier. She had been on the behemoth of engineering only a handful of times during her employment by SHIELD, and could never quite believe it when the massive airship lifted off the ocean surface. Jane was a physicist and she could calculate the massive energy that would have to expend in order to break all those hydrogen bonds. The number (by her very accurate estimates) was hideously colossal. That wasn't even taking into account the reflection panels that made her actually gasp in awe the first time she saw them in action. What, she was a scientist and they were basically cheating the laws of physics. Once she thought through it, though, it wasn't too strange. Light doesn't operate under any absolute set of rules, and all you would have to some is finagle with bending the light rays.
Still insanely cool.
But now was not a time when Jane marveled at SHIELD's base of operations.
Hawkeye did that cool move that snapped his bow open, his high-tech quiver strapped to his back.
Jane wanted to ask how he planned on neutering a megaton Helicarrier with a single arrow. She didn't; not that he would have answered.
The tertiary sensor that was keyed to Loki's scepter indicated it was time to move in.
The rear door to the craft slid open, the master archer striding for the open mouth without fear. Wind bit into the cabin, but it didn't deter Agent Barton as he stopped just inches shy of a thirty thousand foot drop.
One thing that hadn't changed with Loki's presence in their minds was the look in his eye while he lined up a shot. They darted around for a bare moment, probably estimating wind speeds or whatever he did to make his arrows hit their marks every single time. Then they became so singly focused it never failed to send chills down Jane's arms.
He drew an arrow, and she noticed the custom-crafted head was styled differently than your average arrowhead. Then he fired, Jane's eyes tracking the black shaft until it disappeared behind the massive lift fan.
Jane kept watching the fan, waiting for something to happen. She noticed the barest of movements from one of Hawkeye's fingers, and that's when she heard the massive explosion, saw a plume of red and orange flame light up the engine. The carrier shuddered in the air, dipping only minutely before the other engines upped their rotations to keep the base afloat.
The much smaller craft landed rather gracelessly on the upper runway, with a hard jolt that nearly sent Jane to her knees. She kept her wits about her though, and followed suit with the rest of their crew off the quinjet, despite how out of place she looked in her signature flannel and jeans in the sea of sleek, black soldiers.
Next thing she knew, she was being scooped up by Hawkeye, despite his bow, and sliding down a ventilation shaft in his tight grip. He barked out orders to his men as he set her on her feet, and Jane's ears trained on the echoing sound of a great roar that didn't sound at all human or animal.
"Loki wants you," Clint added, tone emotionless and robotic as he began the trek down this particular service catwalk with a few men following suit.
"Yeah, I know," she answered, though she knew he didn't need to hear it. She hadn't needed Hawkeye's order, either. She knew exactly what Loki wanted from her, but she felt loathe to do anything for him. Why was she even here? She should be helping her own team set up the machine, not here being absolutely pointless in a situation she had not a shred of experience in. Hawkeye would do just fine without her. She was a rational mind, and rationality dictated that she shouldn't be anywhere near this assault.
Loki's intent was never quite discernible to her. Only when he wanted her to know something did he let her have it.
Her purpose here was not one of those things.
Her feet (or Loki's magic) began to carry her along the array of service catwalks that lined the Helicarrier ceilings and hidden passages. She wasn't entirely aware of her surroundings when she heard a massive crash from beneath her. Her blank eyes snapped towards the sound. She found herself on the ceiling of some sort of repair shop, with jets she couldn't identify with mysterious hatches popped open and men in shop scrubs mulling beneath her. Until they all froze at the large intrusion of their space.
A massive, muscled, and obviously angry green creature rolled from a gaping hole in the wall, opposite a much smaller, but still impressively sized man.
A man with archaic armor and long blonde hair.
The only man strong enough to hurl the Hulk through a wall.
His face flicked upwards towards his opponent, totally unaware of her eyes on him, the lights catching the blue of his eyes.
Jane didn't understand why her heart was in her throat.
He looked familiar, and for some reason she knew his name. His name was very important to her.
Thor.
Thor?
Thor!
For a minuscule amount of time, she felt Loki's magic recede, as if it shied away from the brilliant light that suddenly filled her. But with the light came the worry, because damnit, he was about to face down the Hulk!
She was about to yell for him, tell him to back the hell away, to run, something, but everything in her stopped. Jane's demeanor did not change in her instant of pure freedom, and Loki's heavy magic instantly stilling and burying all thoughts she had of the man who had risen and was now battling a rage monster twice his size.
The fog of Loki's magic stirred restlessly. It had become easy enough to ignore, like an object far in her periphery vision, but now it swirled in her mind like a sleeping dragon awoken. It encroached upon her conscious slowly enough, so slowly she almost didn't notice it.
As she felt the fog grow stifling, Jane lost control of her limbs. She knew this was Loki's doing, and grew angry at him for doing this. This wasn't a part of the deal! She gave him the portal and the world would give her recognition, respect! He wouldn't just use her body to suit his own purposes!
With all of her attention now gone from the battle below her, she began walking much faster in the direction of... What?
The large repairs garage was far behind her and she was in one of the small service passages when her body stopped, and looked down. With a grace she never knew she was capable of, Jane planted a foot on a vent cover, kicked it from its moorings, and dropped through it as if she were an assassin/spy like Hawkeye. She landed lightly in a deserted hallway, and walked in a direction not of her choosing with the blare of an alarm and the flash of the alarm lights in her eyes.
Here she was, completely under Loki's control and waltzing down a hallway of the Helicarrier as if she ran the joint.
The astrophysicist's mind went latent, almost like when she was just on the precipice of sleep but hasn't quite fallen into it, except it was perpetual and suffocating. Loki guided her through the maze of halls, and if she had any sort of awareness, she would have been surprised she ran into no SHIELD agents. Loki was intentionally avoiding them. If she were aware, she would have scoffed at him for not keeping her in the service passages.
Her puppet body eventually reached Loki's prison from a very convoluted route through the carrier. He didn't look surprised or relived to see her as he loosened his magic, giving her reign over her limbs again. The memory of the fight in the garage was buried deeply. It was almost as if she had no recollection of being anywhere near the garage.
Now back in (semi)control, Jane glowered at him through the glass. "Never. Do that. Again," she spat, carefully enunciating each of her words.
Loki seemed to find this amusing, which she found infuriating. Her mind was trapped in a paradox, simultaneously hating Loki with every scrap of her being and wanting to shout her praise to the god of mischief to the heavens and beyond because he validated her research. The two emotions, hate and absolute adoration, were felt so strongly at once nearly overwhelmed her. Her head hurt briefly until the hate suddenly faded away, and she looked to the control panel.
She knew what she had to do now. Loki must be freed.
The control board looked rather complex, but her brilliant mind quickly figured out how it worked, and with a few flips and switches, she finally hit the release button, and the door opened without a sound.
Loki strode out so casually you would never guess he was escaping maximum security confinement. His eyes were alight with psychotic mischief. He paused for a moment, his head cocking to the side a moment as if he sensed something (or someone) drawing near, and grinned a wicked smile. A doppelgänger shimmered into existence in the cage. "Come here, my slave," Loki beckoned.
Even if Jane had the capacity to resist, his tone wasn't asking any favors. Without the ability to truly comprehend what she was doing, Jane willingly walked into the cage meant for the Hulk. Loki's double pulled her close to his body, one arm around her neck. It was loose, so she was in no form of discomfort, but she could feel that something monumental was about to happen.
The true Loki stepped off to the side as a veil of invisibility fell over him. His brother drew near.
Thor was not gravely injured from his fight with Banner's alter ego, but he had not anticipated such power in the giant green beast. But he could not deny that he felt utterly sore, like all his joints had been dislocated and then snapped back in place. He had grown concerned towards the end of their battle that he might actually become seriously wounded. He was so relieved when a Midgardian had captured the attention of the Hulk and encouraged the rage monster out of the Helicarrier.
Now, he was running full tilt towards Loki's prison. This was his brother's doing, and he was sure everything going on was merely a distraction to allow Loki adequate time to escape.
Upon his arrival to the room where his brother was being held, he had such a vivid flashback to his nightmare before arriving on Midgard it nearly crippled him.
The door to the cage was wide open, and there was Loki, grinning like the soulless miscreant Thor had insisted he was not. And in his arms, looking so perfectly placid it broke Thor's already damaged heart, was Jane.
Her eyes glimmered an unearthly blue, and his heart broke even more. Jane would have been unable to fight Loki's magic. She was literally a slave to Loki's will.
Thor had always been one to throw himself into a situation and sort out his thoughts later. That was what he did now, with a great, roared, "No!" Thor lunged towards Loki and the captive Jane.
His arms immediately went around Jane, trying to pry her from Loki's grasp- which shimmered out of existence as soon as Thor had Jane in his arms. His momentum carried them to the ground, Thor taking the brunt of the fall.
Thor immediately recovered, getting to one knee quickly and running his eyes over the downed scientist.
Jane lay unresponsive, eyes blue and wide open. Her expression was blank, as if she did not even realize where she was, who she was with. His eyes moved from his love, who appeared physically unharmed for the most part, to the true Loki outside the cage.
"Are you ever not going to fall for that?" the God of Mischief asked drily, but there was dark amusement in his eyes.
Thor felt betrayal well up in him, and flew at the transparent prison wall, Mjolnir making a large crack in the surface.
The prison shook precariously, freed from the bonds that had kept it stationary.
Fury's demonstration of the cage's treacherous trap sprung to his mind.
All at once, Thor knew exactly what his brother's intentions were.
Loki laughed. Laughed. The wound of betrayal grew. "The humans think us immortal... Shall we test that?"
"Loki," he began, his tone pleading, fringing on begging, "do whatever you wish to harm me, but... Please, please leave Jane. Let her out. I will not fight, just please let her out." While he spoke, Thor backed slowly away from the cage wall, and knelt next to Jane once more.
Loki's head cocked in cool calculation, "Once, your begging would not have fallen upon deaf ears. Thor, son of Odin and heir to the throne of Asgard, begging for the life of his kept mortal doxy. That just sounds too perfect to be real." The former prince smiled, a twisted gesture. Thor's expression of carefully managed rage and fear failed to change. "Dear Thor, you are as dull as I remembered. I have but one hope for you and your mortal." Loki paused, and the blood son of Odin felt like he was choking. "You will see her die, Thor. Violently. Painfully. And do you know why I wish death upon this mortal?"
Thor could only stare, but it was plain that Loki was speaking in cruel, bald rhetoric.
"Because she knew you. Because she knew you, and you meant something to her. That reason, and that reason alone is why she must die today, Thor. Even if your heart continues to beat after hers has ceased, know that she dies today because of you." Loki's last words were calm. Sure. No trace of remorse or second thought.
He moved to the control panel.
"Step away please." The words were a shock to Thor, and his eyes trained on the speaker. The Son of Coul. "You like this?" he asked, deadpan, gesturing with the strange, glowing weapon in his hands. "We started working on the prototype after you sent the Destroyer. Even I don't know what it does." The weapon seemed to engage then, the sides flaring in brilliant slits of orange. Thor almost smiled. Agent Coulson was a brave man, among the bravest of the mortals. He would forever be in the man's debt. "Do you want to find out?"
And then, when Thor was beginning to feel better about the precarious position he and Jane were placed it, Phil moaned in pain, the tip of Loki's spear appearing through Coulson's chest.
"NO!" The word tore from him involuntarily.
Loki stood behind the Son of Coul, pushing the spear deeper into his chest. The red of blood bloomed like a macabre rose on Agent Coulson's chest. It was a grievous wound, one that eve the most durable of mortals would likely not recover from. Thor's horrified gaze went to his brother, whose expression was cold indifference. Jaw set, eyes blank.
Everything in Thor just stopped. He became unaware of everything, even the comatose Jane, except for his brother. Who now enjoyed killing. Rejoiced in pain and suffering. He didn't recognize the man in front of him, the man who callously stepped around the body of the now downed Son of Coul without a second glance.
Who was stepping towards the control panel like there hadn't been a single hiccup in his plan. Like he hadn't just murdered a man for no reason other than that he was there.
"Loki, no!"
But his words were far too late.
One moment he is looking upon the malicious face of Loki, the brother he no longer knew, and the next he and Jane were falling through the blue Midgardian sky.
It was disorienting, and Jane was still absolutely silent and completely limp as the cage spun heedlessly around them.
Their bodies flew about the cage like ragdolls, Thor's heavy impacts making large cracks in the glass walls. He winced every time Jane made a particularly vicious contact. His body could surely sustain such hits, but her mortal form was not as durable as his Aesir body.
Each time they flew past each other, Thor would reach desperately for her, anything to try and bring her small body to his, and each time he would miss. His fingertips would just brush against her, cling desperately, but ultimately would not catch her. It was madness.
Thor became more and more mindful of the rapidly approaching ground.
It was sheer luck that he caught her when he did. Just flew right into his arms, and he didn't waste the opportunity to clutch her to his chest.
Her eyes sprung open when he did so, and he saw the deep brown he had so missed.
His relief was short lived, as he finally got his footing. The ground was so close. He could see the rocks and sand and sea, the prairie grass beyond the shoreline. It took all of his focus to prepare his takeoff.
"Hold on," he whispered, as he launched with Mjolnir through the glass and out of the cage. Jane was clinging to him like a lifeline, and his arm was snug around her. The glass shattered around Mjolnir, and the pair went with it.
They were too close to the ground, he realized. He hadn't even had a proper takeoff.
His flight was absolutely chaotic, and he knew that no amount of corrections could stabilize it. They were going to hit the ground no matter what he did.
In a split second decision, he let go of Mjolnir, and wrapped both arms around Jane. Thor manipulated their positions in the air so that he would hit the ground first and hopefully spare Jane from injury. He was doubly terrified because he knew she would never survive such a catastrophic impact. He prayed to the Valkyries and Odin and any and all others that he could think of to spare Jane. For the first time in his life, he spared not a single thought for himself.
Let him die, for all he cared. Just spare Jane.
The impact was thousands of times greater than Thor feared it would be.
Jane's pained scream would haunt him for the rest of his life. He could literally feel her breaking in his arms, and the feeling was killing his soul. He struggled to retain his hold on her, and to keep himself in the path of the unforgiving earth they had come down upon.
Dirt and grass flew up around them, and he tried to ignore the feeling of Jane's blood beginning to coat his arms. Her arms, once tensed and clutching the chestplate of his armor, were now crooked and bent unnaturally. Her entire body felt like dead weight. The comparison sickened him.
At long last they came to a heaving halt, the trench left behind by Thor no small feature added to the landscape. He didn't think of himself as he stood gingerly, holding Jane against him like she was the fragilest of beings.
Her chest expanded weakly against his as he laid her down in the grass with as much care and gentleness as he had ever done anything. Her breathing was shallow, interrupted by these choking sounds that made him think she was being smothered by her own blood. Her body was broken.
He hadn't spared her from any injury at all. The realization shredded him inside, and tears, for the first time in a long while, threatened his eyes.
Her eyes were no longer pale blue, and he briefly recalled seeing them before he tore them both from the falling prison, but the natural doe brown his imagination had never done justice to. They focused on him for a moment, something akin to relief and happiness glimmering in them and her lips slowly smiled, but the action looked weak. She opened her mouth to try to say something, but no words came as it became a cough, with droplets of blood coming from her mouth to splatter on her face and him, and then an agonized moan.
Then her eyes slipped closed.
"Jane!" he exclaimed in panic, "Jane, please open your eyes," Thor begged, fear-roughened voice breaking. She was so still as the grasses waved around her. "Jane, my love, please," he plead again, and he swept her waving hair from her broken and bleeding face.
What use was his strength now? Here was Jane, dying in the grass, and all his brute strength, all his courage and fortitude, all his confidence, all his powers cowered in the face of a challenge that he could not overcome.
His fear exploded inside of him as he let out an enraged roar. Why did he do this? Why did he cause such damage to those he loved?
Was this all he was destined for? Death and destruction and ruin? He cursed the Fates, his father... Loki. His once-brother.
He was pulled so suddenly into the depths of a memory he nearly jolted away from Jane.
A look of sympathy so clear on Odin's face
Thor's stallion, Toothgrinder, laying on his side in a stall, blood on his sides and sweat soaking his flanks
Horses are of Midgard, after all
They are breakable
Such grief, Thor looking down at his downed partner
The healers cannot do anything more, my son
Why not
Toothgrinder groaning, Thor wincing
This is beyond any healing spell
Sadness, horror, longing
He will receive a warrior's welcome when he arrives at the gates of Valhalla
Why must he go to Valhalla father I want him to stay here with me
Death is something no being can stop
Anger
I should be able to
Oh, son, your talents lie not in healing but on the battlefield
I wish I was more like Loki
Toothgrinder's breath coming slower and shallower now
Envy, sadness, grief, anger
I believe that this is beyond your brother's abilities
I should be able to
Love, determination, love, happiness, warmth, gold and silver and spinning colors, love
then
Toothgrinder breathing deeply
Toothgrinder standing
Toothgrinder nickering to Thor gently
Toothgrinder playfully butting his head into the prince
Surprise, shock, relief, love
Thor's stunned face turning to his father
A look of distaste so clear on Odin's face
The only half-remembered experience suddenly filled him with fierce determination as he stared upon the woman he loved, inches from the gates of Valhalla in his arms. He couldn't, for all his ranks and respect and power, remember how he had healed Toothgrinder. He hadn't even remembered the experience until this moment, and it raised many questions that he would eventually need answers to, but now, all he could think of is how he couldn't remember how he had done it. He wished fervently he could, but since reality was Jane coughing blood onto his armor, he could only try to resummon the powers that he was afraid had left him forever.
Thor let his eyes fall closed. He tried to recall his boyhood, before Mjolnir had claimed him, before he was the warrior prince of Asgard or the God of Thunder, and before his brother was the God of Mischief and Lies. When he was just Thor, and his brother was just Loki, and they were best friends. The purity and innocence of childhood were virtues he lost long ago, and he struggled to recall their presence.
He tried to remember the light and unconditional, childlike love that had poured forth from him, had flowed as easily as the tides. How his shunned powers of healing had come to the surface in a warm, golden flash of giving a piece of himself to another living being.
He placed his hand on Jane's battered face, trying to push all that warmth into her still body. He suddenly felt the magic begin to flow, barely a pinprick of exchange at first. Almost like pulling a piece of his soul from his fingertips, but it wasn't painful. It was a piece of his soul that rejoiced in giving, in healing, in kindness and selflessness that had somehow been buried beneath the callous, war-hungered man he had become.
The pinprick of pulling continued, but he felt that it was not enough.
He filled his thoughts of Jane. The way her lips curved as she laughed on the roof of her building with the fire crackling in front of them. How the soft orange glow made her skin look like molten bronze and her hair like the finest Alfheim silks. Her kind, beautiful soul. Her merciful eyes and sweet smile. Her passion, her determination. Her faith in him so great he sometimes wondered if he could ever hope to deserve one such as her. The pinprick became larger, growing and expanding like the light of day as the sun broke over the horizon. He felt as if he were pouring his entire essence into her, breathing life into her broken body. It was magnificent.
Had his eyes not been closed, he would have seen the cuts and gashes closing, the skin as smooth and flawless as if nothing had happened. The injuries that couldn't be seen- the bleeding brain, punctured lungs, the hemorrhaging organs- all began to clot, and the tissue healing without scars. The broken bones were slower, their healing more ungainly, but they slowly moved back into place, their shattered ends meeting and knitting back together. Jane was slowly becoming whole again.
Her damaged heart with it's once broken beating, began to pump once again as the inexplicable magic of Thor hugged her close and carried her safely away from the entrance of the netherworld.
The flow of magic gradually became smaller, tapering off in a way that did not feel as if Thor was failing. Simply that he had done enough, and it was time to stop. He swallowed heavily, afraid to open his eyes and find that he had not done anything. That Jane still lay dying and he could do nothing to prevent it.
But, that was not what he saw when he finally gathered his vaunted courage and opened his eyes.
She was whole again. As beautiful and healthy as the fateful day he had called down the Bifrost and promised her that he would return. Her clothing bore the marks of their crash: her shoes long lost, her pants torn along seams and ripped open all along her thighs and knees, her outer flannel shirt was gone, the only evidence it had even been on her were a few red strands of cloth clinging to her inner shirt, a loose-white shirt that bore so much blood Thor nearly broke down. But the body beneath those tattered remains was healthy, healed.
He was afraid when he looked upon her and saw her so still, but he put a hand to her chest, the blood still wet against his palm, and felt a steady, strong beating there. He smoothed over her face fretfully, pushing the strands of hair from her features. He didn't trust his voice, but needed her to wake up. Softly, he said, "Jane? Jane, love, open your eyes."
All seemed right in the world when her eyes flickered open.
According to Norse myth, Thor is also the god of healing. Bizarre? Yes. Accurate? Probably not. Useful? You better believe it. Also, the name of Thor's horse is actually the name of one of Norse Thor's goats that pulled his chariot. Hey, this isn't canon so I can do whatever I want.
Also, I'm not sure where Asgard got its horses, but I have extensively studied evolution, and there is just about no chance Midgard horses and Asgard horses are not related (or the same) from what we saw of them in the Thor movie. And I like the idea of Asgard getting horses from Midgard. Don't like it? Well, that is too bad.
Chapter 8 Preview: Jane and Thor are once again reunited. But all is not well as Jane's machine is in the grasp of Loki and his plans to bring the Chitauri to Earth are moving forward.
"Thor?" Her tone was equal parts disbelief, awe, and deep affection that Thor was suddenly afraid of putting name to now that the object of his desire lay in front of him.
Despite his misgivings, he didn't hesitate to pull her healed body into his arms, sighing deeply in profound relief, "Oh, Jane. My wise, beautiful Jane."
