Drums of Asgard.
Chickpeas and fuzzbuckets, here is the final chapter of this arc. I hope it is as epic as I envisioned in my head.
Murder on Mercury: Part Six.
It was nothing short of monstrous.
It reached the ceiling and looked like it was going to crack through at any moment. The skin was dry and blistering, weeping a strange black substance that smelt foul and like dying birds (Loki remembered the fall of the Great Eagles of the Western Mountains of Asgard and shuddered at the feathers downward spiralling in his mind). Horns that curled upwards looked like they could impale a thousand men at once and gnarled claws scratched through the dirt as festering yellow eyes made contact with the three men. It was something that not even Odin could have dreamt of conjuring up.
The Doctor stepped forward, bold as ever.
"Oh, so YOU'RE the one getting all the goodies!" he said loudly, drawing the monster's attention towards him.
Loki's magic shone brightly inside his chest and spiralled down his arms as green flames. He had to be ready for an attack…surely the Doctor didn't think he could talk such a beast down?
"Look at you, so big, so tall in your little pit. What are you doing down here then, huh?"
The guard beside Loki was clearly stunned. Was he TRYING to aggravate the possible Devil? The beast growled lowly and Loki considered that it could potentially understand human speech. That made the situation scarier than it had been five seconds ago in his eyes.
"You can't get out of here, can you? You're too weak right now, too pathetic! That's why they were made into your slaves, so that you could start harvesting enough energy to rampage freely, weren't they?!"
The monster screamed in his face but the Doctor remained unmoving, his face a sad stone.
"But you went mad for you couldn't be contained down here for so long…you couldn't wait all alone like this with your mind."
The thing roared loudly, shattering a few dozen rocks beside it. Loki flinched at the noise and his green fire flared, attracting the attention of the creature. The Doctor noticed this lapse of attention to him and called it back into focus.
"And if you receive Loki in sacrifice, then he would complete you, wouldn't he? You'd be more than powerful enough to start your "conquest"! Well, you forgot about someone."
The creature stirred even more, seemingly enraged at the Time Lord's arrogance.
"You forgot about me," said the Doctor in a low, dangerous tone and suddenly, Loki was reminded Thor when he was angry and how the thunder rolled over his head right before he was about to strike. "You probably never knew me from the beginning, but you REALLY should have. You should have done your research before trying something like this. The Daleks tried, the Cybermen tried and so did the Sontarans. You know what they all have in common?"
The large animal appeared to be confused, pausing in its anger as the Doctor raised his sonic screwdriver high above his head.
"They lost." He intoned gravely and the screwdriver emitted a pulse of thrumming energy that spread throughout the cavern, rattling the infrastructure and their very bones. Loki thrust out a hand and green fire hit the monster's face, making it stumble backwards and shriek.
"RUN BACK NOW!" the Doctor yelled, pushing the guard in front of him. "The whole place is going to come down and bury it forever! It will NEVER touch anyone innocent ever again!"
The former prince sent one last fireball at the thing's face and darted over, throwing himself up the rocks and into the exit. The Doctor took a glance back.
"You'll be alone even in death."
And then he was running up the tunnel too and all they could hear was the shrieks and anger of the supposed god as it was crushed by its prison and sanctuary all at once. Dust billowed in their faces and made them cough and Ted spat out some of it, giving a shocked laugh.
"This is nuts!" he cried above the outrageous noise.
It sounded like the very gods of Greek myth themselves were after their blood and Loki's heart thrummed in panic as the trio ran for their lives. He didn't want to be buried in forgotten memories to be forgotten himself! He wasn't like the human and Gallifreyan! He would probably survive the initial collapse and be left to wander the rubble and madness until he succumbed to insanity himself and - !
"Look, there's the entrance!"
He really needed to stop being on autopilot.
As the earth itself fell inwards, the three men staggered through the doorway to freedom and watched history crumble until there was nothing left.
"I have NO idea how we survived that!" whispered Ted, his face ashen.
Dr Lee was understandably upset.
"It was the only way available, Dr Lee, I'm sorry." The Doctor stood by the desk with a solemn air once more and Dr Lee slammed both hands on the desk.
"What the hell am I going to do now? I have to go back to Earth and tell the superiors and the government that the project was a failure because pest control got a little out of hand and whoops, they blew up the Pyramids! PLEASE FORGIVE US!" His face coloured into a nice shade of brick red and Loki suppressed a chuckle.
"That creature would never have been brought by my gun, sir," Ted spoke up from behind, a surprise entry into the conversation. "Bob died because of that thing's power. I'm glad we did what we did and if you get angry about that too, then go ahead and fire me! I need to deliver a message to Bob's wife and kids anyway."
The two humans had a stare down and the two outsiders watched in mild admiration.
"I'll handle the paperwork, just…get out, the lot of you. If I see you again, it'll be too soon." Emitted Dr Lee at last and Ted slipped out past Loki into the hallway while the Doctor gave a cheerful and wave.
"Nice working with you!" he lilted and swept out with Loki trailing behind him, ignoring the flabbergasted Dr Lee as he fell into his chair and put his head in his hands.
"What am I going to do now?"
Something fluttered to the ground, dislodged by his left hand and the professor picked it up. He read it carefully before looking back up at the doorway with a small smile.
"Thank you."
"So, we are just going to leave behind a big mess for the humans to clean up? I like that idea." Loki snickered as the two got into the TARDIS once more.
"Oh no!" the Doctor retorted brightly as he moved to the console, every footstep exuberant and reenergised now that the latest adventure had reached a satisfactory conclusion. "I left a message from the Shadow Proclamation. His job will be safe and everything should be running smoothly again on Mercury soon."
"You really do think of everything." Loki acknowledged as the Doctor punched in a few co-ordinates.
"Where do you wanna go next? There are so many things to do and see!" the Doctor burst out, eyes excited like a child's.
Loki shrugged. He didn't know the universe like this Gallifreyan did.
"Did that creature have a name?"
The Doctor stopped, lifting his head.
"What?"
Loki stared resolutely out the window, not wanting his expression to be spotted right now.
"Did that thing have a name? Do you know of it?"
"Still curious about the Mercurians, huh? Well, yes, it did actually."
Loki watched the Doctor carefully as the man walked about the room.
"What was it?"
The Doctor leant in to stare at some fuzzy satellite pictures on a channel, waving his hands casually.
"Oh, Ragnarok. Some vague meaning to its name somewhere."
All he got in return was silence as Loki fought to keep breathing amongst the shock and awful realisation trickling down through his heart.
I did not expect to have such an idea at the end like that. I hope enough of you know Norse Mythology well enough to understand the significance of the ending there, but if you didn't, I can explain next chapter if you like. Onwards and upwards!
Love Lily. X