Chapter Seven

The Great Escape Part II

Cassiopeia Galaxy

Shedir System

Sector 40

Cold was an understatement. Tony really envied whatever weird alien genes made it possible for Loki to not to feel the cold and simply walk outside here in a thin shirt. It was really not fair, he couldn't feel his toes and fingers. He was glad that he was never really severely injured and also that he never stopped trying to keep his body as fit as possible. The walk was still tiring. The first part of their escape went well, Tony would be suspicious if not for how much of it was pure damn luck. Ever since Loki first mentioned their escape he was kind of annoyed that that the god didn't feel like sharing his little info about the aerodrome sooner. His majesty probably didn't want to lower himself by asking some lowly human to team up with him. Tony also noticed the decrease in guards though, so some tiny part of him was almost glad that they didn't decide to do this sooner. It probably wouldn't have gone this well. Even if they were far from free yet.

He didn't know how long they've been walking only that it was getting darker, not that it was all that light to begin with. The darkness was their friend, sure, but Tony still missed the sun, well any sun, his sun was too damn far away so he would be satisfied with any kind right about now. The fresh air, albeit cold did wonders to his head, he was not thinking this clearly in weeks. It was good to be outside, even if he was getting really tired. He didn't use his muscles this much in who knows how long. Not that he was ready to admit his fatigue, he could go a little further. He survived the last fucking desert, he will survive this one too.

'Let us descend here, we may find some shelter for a few hours.'

'Shouldn't we keep going?' Tony asked.

'I still need you alive, you need rest or you will not make it. I need to heal as well.'

Tony dreaded to be captured again, but a few hours rest sounded like just the thing he needed. He ignored the veiled insult in Loki's words and followed him down on some not too steep hillside, and he was stupidly glad they've never taken his shoes. Frostbite and cuts would be a given. He wasn't even sure whether this place was a desert or just some plain with too little vegetation. Everything was cold and dry. He also suspected that Loki could see in the dark a lot better than he could, because he didn't notice where they were headed only when Loki was looking inside a cave mouth.

'I wonder what lives here,' Tony said, half as a joke, really.

'Nothing that cannot be killed,' Loki replied matter-of-factly and headed inside. 'That would maybe even give us a decent meal.'

'I wouldn't have pegged you for the Bear Grylls type,' Tony observed as he followed him inside.

'What?'

'Adventurer, survival in the wilderness, that sorta thing.'

'You kill it then you eat it. It is hardly a skill worthy of praise. Even the simplest brute is capable of it'

'Sometimes I forget that you're a Space Viking.'

'This should be far enough,' Loki said as he stopped. 'If someone looks inside they will not be able to see us.' And with that he sat down.

Tony looked around so that he wouldn't sit on anything then sat down as well.

'Okay, so while we rest. How's phase two gonna go?'

'You may want to elaborate on that.'

'We get to the aerodrome… which is now that I think about it, the actual phase two, since phase one was-'

'Stop with the rambling.'

'So we get to the aerodrome. How are we gonna leave? Just hop on a ship and play luggage?'

'I was thinking more along the lines of hostile takeover,' Loki answered.

'Oh right, sure… I always wanted to be a pirate.'

'Rest Stark, we cannot know how we will proceed unless we know what kind of ships are available.'

'Sure, it's not like I'm freezing my balls off in this place.'

'We won't be able to find water on the way, so you may want to consider talking less.'

Tony snorted at that and leaned to the wall. It was not so different from their cell. The air was colder and fresher, but other than that, the same feeling. He knew he wouldn't sleep, but he drew the coat tighter around his torso and tried to stay warm.

'Can't we light some fire or something?' he asked.

'Inadvisable,' Loki said. 'Besides, we have nothing to light fire with, not with my magic still not available.'

'Oh right, fancy shackles, useful,' Tony told him and Loki glared in answer.

'Our escape would me much smoother if I didn't have them on.'

'Your escape would be a solo mission, if you didn't have those on,' Tony corrected.

'You of little faith, Stark. I told you I need you alive.'

'Yeah? For how long? The longer you wear your bracelets the better.' Loki finally turned fully towards him.

'That may very well mean our demise,' the god said. Tony searched his face, why was he pushing this? Then he realized.

'Oh, I get it, you need me to get that off!' he said.

'If I could remove it on my own, I would've obviously done so by now,' Loki answered angrily.

'What if I say no?' Tony asked. 'I don't see how it would help me to help you with that one.'

'And if you do not help me why would I keep you alive after we are far enough?'

'That kind of attitude is not helping your case.'

Loki glared at him for a moment then seemed to think it through.

'Well, but I only need to reach the borders of the Nine Realms to be able to travel where I wish, but how will you get back to Midgard without me?'

'And if I help you take that off, what's the guarantee that you'll help me? You won't need me then, you could just as well abandon me or kill me. And I won't let either of that happen.'

'I could give you my word.' Tony snorted again. 'Even I cannot break an oath, Stark, and believe me I care more about getting my magic back and escaping The Other than I care about your life. Leaving you alive does not harm me, but gains me a lot. Your death on the other hand would put me on a disadvantage. Surely you can see that you are more useful to me alive.'

Tony looked at him. He had no reason to believe him, but what he said was true. He shouldn't trust him though, he really shouldn't.

'I'm probably gonna need tools for that anyway,' he said finally. 'No reason to argue about it right now.'

One part of him was convinced that he would regret it if he did it, but another part of him was sure that they needed each other to get out of this, to get away from here and to safety and that Loki knew that too. He will cross that bridge when he got to it, now was not the time to decide.

x-x-x

They really only rested for a couple of hours and while Tony was really getting way too cold it also helped him to be able to keep going. Hell, it felt spectacularly good to be on the move again and get some blood back into his limbs. Even if there was wind outside, he still didn't feel as cold as when they were sitting in one spot. He really couldn't feel his toes at this point though, which sucked. He also kept looking around and listening to any noise that may be around them. After they left the cave they were no longer on a plain but walking among smaller and bigger hills. He would've been captious on such a terrain, but Loki moved forward with such certainty that Tony could be sure that they won't fall off a cliff or something. He had absolutely no idea how long they've been going, his sense of time was fucked up since he was taken from Earth.

'Tell me we're at least halfway or something,' shit his face felt frozen too. He could compare notes now, which was worse, burning in the sun after escaping torture in a desert cave or freezing to death after escaping torture in an alien prison. Fuck his life, fuck it so very much.

Loki abruptly stopped and Tony almost ram into him.

'What?'

Loki shushed him – or hissed at him it was hard to tell – and simply reached back to smack a hand over his mouth. Rude.

Then Tony almost dropped himself to the ground when a loud noise could be heard and strong wind whipped around them. He followed Loki's gaze after he was sure he would not get a heart attack and saw that it was actually a plane that was flying across the sky right above them. No, not a plane, space ship! It was really close to the ground so it was surely landing.

'Yes, I do believe we are close,' Loki observed as the ship descended further and vanished behind another hill. They started moving again and Tony felt the adrenaline pumping in his veins.

When they reached the hill Loki crouched down and Tony followed suit.

'Whoa,' was his first reaction when he noticed the aerodrome in the distance. There was one incredibly high tower with lights on it, kind of looked like a giant mushroom with the dome on the top of it. The whole thing was huge with ships landing and taking off all around the tower, cargo loaded and transported. It was busy with a lot of movement.

'How are we supposed to get on a ship without being noticed?' Tony asked. They were pretty close, so getting to the ships would not be a problem, but getting into one may be, especially with Loki's "hostile takeover" plan. 'And taking over one seems pretty impossible to me.'

'Of course we won't attempt to do that now. We get onboard, hide in the cargo hold and take over once we're out in space, wait patiently and strike silently in the right moment.'

'Silent attack from the cargo… we're gonna be the snakes on a plane,' Tony remarked.

'Precisely.'

'No, that's a… nevermind.' He should really stop with the Earth pop culture references with someone who's not gonna get it. 'Which ship then?' he asked and was already taking stock of the available ones. A small inconspicuous one would be the most ideal.

'Far side, second from the left,' Loki said. Tony turned and searched and felt how his eyes widened, because it was the biggest fucking ship in the whole dock.

'Look, I know the joys of megalomania, trust me I really do, but how about we tone it down a little bit this time and take a small one like reasonable people?' He asked as he turned towards the god, because seriously. Loki turned to him and looked like he wanted to roll his eyes.

'You see the smaller ships, yes? Do you see the insignias on their sides? Those are Skrull battleships. Fast yes, and heavily armed, but also full with soldiers, maybe even thirty to fifty onboard. I highly doubt we would be able to take them all down with one blade and your weapon.'

Tony turned back towards the dock to look at the smaller ships. There were quite a lot of aliens around them, so much was true.

'Now the ship I meant on the other hand is a cargo ship. It has no insignia, so it probably belongs to someone independent, but definitely not to the Skrulls. It's slower and larger, but it only has a small crew and most likely even those are not highly trained soldiers, not all of them anyway.'

'Who are these Skrulls?' Tony asked.

'The ones who rule most of the Andromeda, a forced to be reckoned with, I assure you. The Andromeda is where we are heading if you did not figure that out by now, so it would be unwise to take a ship they may recognize as their own.'

'How big is a small crew then?' Tony asked. He really hated to rely on Loki this much, but he was his only source of information. He wanted to get away from here too, so for now Tony would take his word on such things.

'I know not for sure,' the god answered. 'But I assume it has to be around eight or ten at least, but even if it is more our chances are better than with any of the battleships.'

'Okay, cargo ship it is,' Tony said. 'Now we only need to get there without being noticed.'

'Verily,' Loki said and got up. Tony was sure the god had more experience in sneaking around – he looked like the type – so he followed him once again, as silently as possible.

Tony's heart was threatening to simply push the arc reactor out if its place it was beating so hard by the time they reached the first crates down at the dock. He was right about Loki being good at this sneaking around thing, which was really-really good right now. He was breathing hard, but still tried to keep silent, there was fortunately constant noise and movement around them, so he didn't have to be that quiet. His mouth may have been dry, since the last time he had water was a really long time ago, he was also cold and he was dead tired, but his mind was alert. It reminded him of the days when he forgot about time while working in his workshop, he was used to the lack of sleep even before this whole thing, now he was even better at it. He needed that now more than ever. They couldn't know how long the ship would stay here, so getting away may take quite some time even after they reached it.

Loki moved again and Tony followed closely behind, this time they hid behind some large barrels. The ship was really close now, they just had to climb in through the cargo door and find a hiding place. Nobody noticed them for now, timing was essential and Loki chose the right moments to move. It didn't really help to calm Tony's nerves down though. He stayed crouched down and waited to move again. Suddenly Loki got down even more and Tony did the same without knowing what was happening.

'They are here,' Loki whispered. He didn't need to elaborate on it. Tony was sure from the beginning that they would be searching for them here. Obviously, since where else would they leave than here?

'How many?'

'Five,' Loki said. 'Search party, they don't know we're here.' Tony nodded and took a few deep breaths. He didn't need to peek out. He knew Loki would move once the air was clear. Shit seriously, they were so close, they couldn't be caught now.

Loki went rigid and completely silent then and Tony didn't have to ask what was happening, because he caught the sound of talking. He couldn't understand, but he came to know the language their guards used by now. They got closer, fuck. Tony kept his breath even and even pulled the coat over his mouth and nose to hide his breath in the cold air. It looked like Loki stopped breathing altogether. Tony saw how the guards walked towards their chosen ship and talked with some other alien that was standing there, asking questions whether he saw anything most likely. The conversation went on for a few moments. If they chose to walk in their direction they had nowhere to run, not without getting noticed. Oh fuck seriously, they better not walk in their direction.

The conversation ended and the guards walked away. The alien by the ship, who was quite a lot more humanoid and had a whiter skin than their former captors, went inside. Loki and Tony stayed hidden behind the barrels for long moments. Loki's body relaxed a little after a while and Tony breathed a little easier as well.

Then before he had time to blink Loki was on the move and Tony reacted too slowly. By the time he could've started running, he noticed movement from the corner of his eye and he stayed hidden. Two aliens walked past, not too close, but not far enough either, while Loki already vanished inside the ship. Fuck. Well, Tony still had time to catch up with him. He peeked out very carefully and waited for the two to turn their backs. When they finally turned he ran. The ship was no further than 40 feet, but it seemed like the longest distance he ever had to run.

Then he was inside. It was a lot lighter than the outside and there were crates upon crates everywhere, and no sign of Loki. He walked carefully forward, hoping not to get noticed. Where the hell did that bastard go?

'Lok-'

A hand closed around his mouth and he was yanked backwards and down to the ground, a hold too strong to get away from and too fast for him to react much. He was dragged behind some boxes in a blink of an eye.

'Quiet,' Loki breathed next to his ear, barely audible. Tony relaxed in the god's hold as they got down to the floor, hiding away from sight. Tony nodded, hoping that it would make the other let go of him, but it looked like Loki was focused on something else and didn't ease up. Tony's back was pressed to his chest and Loki's hand was still covering his mouth. Uncomfortable didn't even begin to describe this position he found himself in.

Tony heard some footsteps not that far away from them, then the sound of a voice. Again, Tony couldn't understand it. Then he heard how the door mechanism started to move, all cargo was inside apparently and they were closing up. Thank fuck, maybe they would take off soon then. Loki was like an unmoving rock at his back and he only relaxed once the footsteps faded.

'Now we wait,' Loki whispered to him. Tony nodded again and this time the god let go of him.

Now, they wait.

x-x-x