Chapter Thirteen
As they traveled to wherever it was they were being taken, Fury silently explained to Lucy that he didn't want her to have any information on what was going on. "Plausible deniability" he called it. The whole thing felt like a nightmare.
Loki called to her, 'did Fury tell you anything about what's happening?'
'No, he says it's better if we don't know anything.'
They pulled up to a building, and after they were inside, a man took Lucy by the arm and started leading her away from the group. Loki grasped her by the waist pulling her back.
"I'm sorry, where is it you think you are taking my wife?"
"It's procedure Sir. You will have to be questioned separately."
Lucy looked at Loki frantically. "No. Please don't let them take me from you."
Loki moved her behind him, "no, you can take us together. Or not at all."
"You don't get to negotiate here!" The man shouted. "This is not a joke. You will come with me, and your wife will go with my associate. Or there will be consequences."
Lucy flinched as the man yelled, and ducked further behind Loki. She had started crying, and couldn't seem to stop.
Fury stepped between the men, before things spiraled completely out of control. He could see Loki trembling, trying not to kill the man where he stood.
Fury stood facing Loki, holding his hand up. "Okay, okay. Listen, I know this is all a little bit of a shock. I will go with Lucy. I will keep her safe. You have my word on that." And then he leaned forward and whispered, "you have to control yourself. You can't hurt anyone, it will only complicate things even more."
"You have no idea how complicated things have already been for us Director. We came here seeking safety, not this." He motioned toward the men looking at him with suspicion.
"Safety? Safety from what?"
The agent interrupted, "We do not have time for chit chat director. We will question them now, and IF they can give an explanation as to recent events, we will discuss their release. At which point, you can all catch up at your leisure."
Fury whirled toward the man, "I have done my best to be patient with you all. But if you don't shut your trap, I'm going to let Loki tear your face off. Now if you want us to comply without trouble, you will give us a moment."
The man glanced at Loki, and fear sparked in his eyes at Loki's expression. He stepped back, and motioned for Fury to proceed.
Fury turned back to Loki and Lucy, "we are out of time here. I will go with Lucy. Loki, just do your best to answer their questions." He looked back and forth between them. "It's going to be fine. You are safe here, and when all this is over we will discuss what happened in Asgard. Now Lucy, come with me. Let's get this over with."
He reached for her, and Loki moved her forward. She was shaking, and tears ran down her face. Fury felt terrible. He hadn't seen her this upset in a very long time. She stepped towards him, and he wrapped his arm protectively around her shoulders, and then nodded at the agent.
As they led Loki in the opposite direction he heard her whimper. And he quickly turned her away so she couldn't see him anymore. He followed the agent in front of them, moving her along with him. They entered an interrogation room, and the agent motioned to metal chair, at a metal table. It was all very cold, and intimidating.
"Look man, can't we do this somewhere else?" Fury asked, looking down at a terrified Lucy.
"No. Now sit. And you can stand quietly in the corner, and if you try to intervene, you will be escorted out."
Fury sat Lucy at the table, and spoke to her mind. 'I know you are scared Luce. But toughen up. Do not let this guy intimidate you. Wipe your tears, and be the badass you are capable of being.'
She gave a slight nod, and he moved into the corner. She sat up straighter. Wiped her face, cleared her throat, and laid her hands on the table in front of her. "Let's do this." She stated in a strong voice. "What do you want from me?"
Loki sat drumming his long fingers on the steel table in front of him. The man across from him looked terrified. He fumbled over his words. "Yes, um, Mr. Odinson, correct?" He cleared his throat for the tenth time.
Loki chuckled, he liked that the human was so intimidated by him. It made him feel better about the fear they were causing his wife. "Well where I am from, they usually call me Your Majesty, or My Prince." He answered smuggly.
Another man entered the room. This one did NOT look intimidated. "Yes well, we don't have royalty here. So we will be calling you whatever we choose." He nodded his head toward the door, and the first Agent got up and left without a word. The man turned back to Loki. Now, we have some questions for you, and you are going to answer them. Do you recognize these?"
He threw a stack of photos on the table, and Loki looked through them carefully. At first glance, they just looked like rocks. But as he looked more closely, he could see they had markings, and were cut like pieces of a puzzle. "No, I have never seen anything like them." For a second he forgot he was being interrogated as his curiosity got the better of him. "What are they?"
The man quickly pulled the pictures away from him. "Are you stating for the record, Mr. Odinson, that you have never seen these objects before?"
"No, I have not. Why?"
The man ignored Loki, and instead pulled out a new stack of photos. He laid them one, by one out onto the table slowly and Loki couldn't help but be surprised by what he saw.
"Where were these taken?"
The man turned the chair on the opposite side of the table around, and sat down facing Loki, his arms resting on the back of the chair. "Why do you ask?"
Loki was completely confused, "because it looks like Asgard. But it is no part of Asgard that I have ever seen. Where did you get these?"
The man smiled. "Well now we are getting somewhere. You are saying this WAS built by Asgard."
"I am saying, that it looks like Asgard. But it is not. Where were these taken?"
"Why here of course. In your little hidden settlement."
"Here? I'm sorry, did you say this is here, like, on earth?" Lucy was astounded. She had looked through the pictures three times, and had she not been told differently, she would have bet her life they were from Asgard.
"So you are saying you have never been to this location then?" He asked pointing his finger at the pictures.
"Of course not. When would I have gone there? I don't even know where this is." She stated, shaking the picture she was holding in front of his face.
"What about these?" He laid out more pictures in front of her.
"They look like rocks. What about them?"
"Do you recognize them?"
"They look. Like. Rocks."
"Well we think they might be special. To your people."
Lucy chuckled. "My people? I am assuming you mean Asgardians? Why would you think that?"
"Because we found this one..." he rifled through the pictures until he found the one he was looking for. It seemed to be the biggest of the rocks. "Here." He said, picking up a picture of an ornate stand.
Now it made a bit more sense. But only a tiny bit. "So you are saying, that since that rock was found here," she said pointing to the stand. "That somehow makes it special, or important to the Asgardians, whom you say built this...well city, for lack of a better term. Here, on earth."
"You disagree?"
"I have seen pillars like this one before. In Asgard. They are used to hold special relics, and things that are older than this planet. But none of them hold anything as mundane as a rock." She said, as she tossed the rock picture at him.
"But these are not just 'rocks' as you call them. They are special. And you do not deny that this is an Asgardian city." He said as he pointed at the table covered in pictures now.
"No, I said it LOOKS like an Asgardian city. But I do not see any reason why they would have one here. And what do you mean the rocks are special? Special how?"
For a moment, she felt the regret coming from him. He was wishing he had not said that they were special. But instead of explaining, he just ignored her question. He quickly gathered up the rock pictures, leaving the others on the table. Now that she knew the rocks were "special" as he called them, he didn't seem to want her taking a closer look.
He sat back down across from her, "let's get back to discussing the settlement we discovered here shall we?"
Fury rolled his eyes. "'We'? Please, you had nothing to do with its discovery."
"Another outburst, and you will leave the room Director."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Fury muttered under his breath.
Loki sighed and put his head in his hands. "Why can you just not ask me directly what you want to know? You seem to be avoiding something. I have told you over and over now, I do not recognize this place you have shown me. Nor have I ever laid eyes on anything like the objects in the pictures. So if you are not going to ask me a direct question, then let me take my wife and go to our children."
"Prince Loki, is Asgard planning on invading earth?"
Loki laughed, "oh yes. Because Midgard has so many things Asgard would want."
And then he looked at the man's expression. "Surely you are not serious."
At first he said nothing, just stared straight into Loki's eyes. Then he spoke, "things have been falling from the sky. Things containing Asgardian technology. Then we find a city, and within the city, we find yet another object. The most important piece you might say, sitting in what looks to be a place of importance. The city we find looks new, and is still under construction, and not only that, but there is a bi-frost entrance there as well. Tell me 'Your Majesty'," he said, the words dripping with sarcasm. "Why does Asgard need a secret bi-frost entrance, if not to bring people through quietly. Say, and army perhaps?"
Loki could not fathom what he was hearing, it was all so completely ridiculous. And yet, he could see why the humans were worried, if all of this was true. "Take me to this city. Let me see it for myself. I can tell you whether it is Asgardian. And tell you how old it is. You cannot date our architecture by looking at it. There are buildings in Asgard that have been standing for thousands of your years. But look as though they were finished yesterday. I can assure you that Odin has no plans to attack Midgard. He would never hurt humans."
"And what about you Loki? Would you hurt humans?" The man had a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth.
Loki took a deep breath, and closed his eyes. He wanted to hurt a human, right now. But instead, he looked straight at the man. "My wife is human, I would never harm one."
The man leaned forward and whispered, "I seem to remember that you would. And, that you have."
Loki was starting to get infuriated. But he knew that was what the man was hoping for. So instead, he smiled and through gritted teeth replied. "The incident you are speaking of was many years ago. And has since been resolved. Now, if you are not going to charge me with anything, and you won't take me to see this place. Please let my wife and I go."
The man just smiled, and got to his feet. "I will inquire if they want to allow you to see the city, but until then you stay where you are. Now get comfortable, you AND your wife, are going to be here a while."