"Have you ever seen her doing that?" Loki anxiously asked.
They were still walking away from where Morgan was seated, looking for another bunch of trees under which they could sit.
"Once." Som answered "But I did not actually see her. She needs complete silence, so she remained alone."
He was speaking Bengali, which Loki thought was quite a pretty language.
"Who did she spy on?"
"You really want to know? Then, let's make a deal: a truth against a truth. Ask me what you want and I ask you what I want."
Loki took a moment to think about it. He honestly did not trust Som as much as he trusted Morgan, but they visibly trusted each other like brother and sister. And he did not seem to have any intention to manipulate him. After all, he had risked his life as well during their expedition to retrieve the Book of the Cosmic Entities. Besides, he was as inquiring as Morgan was when they first met. A genuine curiosity, nothing more.
"Fine. So, first question: who did Morgan spy on?"
Som swallowed what was left of his beer.
"The Guardian of the Hong-Kong sanctuary. I had a personal grudge against this guy. The most arrogant Master of the Mystic Arts you can ever imagine. She maybe told you that she helped me stealing his teleportation ring when he came to Kathmandu... This is also why I offered her better brass-knuckles. She actually broke her former ones in order to fool the mage in making them look like his rings. I would have loved to see his face when he realized that!"
Loki chuckled. This was even better than what he imagined.
"My turn. If you were working for Thanos the whole time, during the attack on New-York, why have you not told anyone?"
The Asgardian tightened his fist. Here was one of the things he did not want to hear. Som knew where to hit, he had to recognize this.
"Alright, sensitive subject, sorry."
"How did you know that?"
"The Thanos thing? Well, sorry to see that you underestimate me. The Tesseract issue, then the Infinity Stones presented in the book from Kamar-Taj... Not difficult to deduce, in fact. And I have a very good memory."
Loki breathed heavily. He was right. What was the point, anyway?
"Imagine, then, how it feels." He muttered "Being defeated, chained, imprisoned, and then telling others that you were nothing more than a puppet, whose mind had been manipulated? I still have committed crimes, and I would still have served my sentence, with even more discredit than before."
"Quite logical indeed, from that perspective..."
No pity nor accusation in Som's tone. Just understanding. Loki's uneasiness was steadily decreasing.
"Another question?" He smiled.
But Loki was not listening. He could not help turning his head towards Morgan, already far away from them.
"I have good news and bad news." Som started.
"And I have no time for riddles."
"It is not one. The good news is that, if she takes time, your brother is alive. That is absolutely certain. Otherwise, she would know very quickly. The bad news is, she is probably watching him doing whatever he is doing, so we cannot know if it will take a long time or not. Most probably, it will."
Loki could not refrain a sigh of relief. Thor was alive. Alive. He smiled feebly. Of course. His older brother was the most resistant being he knew, even thrown into space, he could make it out alive. Invulnerable oaf.
"I presume things surely got better between you two." Som laughed.
"You can say so. Do you have a brother?"
"I do. A younger one. Deaf-mute, hence my incredibly useful knowledge of Indo-Pakistani sign language. But our relation remained... arduous."
"To the point where you tried to kill each other?" Loki taunted.
To his surprise, he saw Som losing his merry attitude for a few seconds.
"That makes two questions." He spoke.
Another tedious sibling relationship. They could soon create a club.
"Ask yours, then." The Asgardian calmly replied.
"What is your name?"
Oh, a familiar one.
"By the way, you did not tell me yours either."
"I am very much aware of that. And I am glad to see that Morgan always keeps secrets so well." Som laughed.
Time to test him, Loki thought. What would his reaction be, when he sees the truth he asked for? What did Midgardians do, when they saw monsters?
He had stopped considering himself as a monster, that was a fact. But that did not mean that others had done so.
"I can be Loki Odinson, of Asgard. Or I can be Loki Laufeyson, of Jotunheim."
He took back his Frost Giant appearance; blue skin, red eyes and thin lines across his face and arms.
"Wow." Som simply said.
He did not seem frightened at all. Curious and interested, for sure. Loki was confused. Morgan had assured him that Som had no power. He could not see life the way she did. Why, then, this so casual and almost cheerful tone?
"I sense that you kind of expected me to run away, screaming." He said, dubiously raising his eyebrows "After all we have been through with Morgan, do you think that this is the most frightening thing I have seen in my life?"
"I did not expect you to be frightened. However, I thought that your perception would have changed." Loki admitted.
"Oh, I see. I am cheating, but I want to ask you another question: the name you chose is Loki Odinson, right?"
"It is."
"Indeed, you do not seem to like the blue one much. As for me, the name I chose is Som Singh."
"Are you serious?"
"Dead-serious. Morgan loves to say that I am quite something." He laughed.
He sat on a fallen tree, under a eucalyptus. Shade, at last.
"This whole thing about being despised, spat on, even threatened... Apparently, the three of us are too familiar with it, for various reasons. I still don't know a lot about you and I won't try to ask for everything right now, but now is my turn to see if your perception will change."
"Go ahead. I doubt you will succeed." Loki smirked.
"Both of us combined cannot beat Morgan, but I have two names as well. Som Singh is the one I chose. And the one I was born with is Chandra Dey."
He paused. Loki's disorientation was clearly visible.
"I do not know anything about Midgardian names, so I do not see what you intend to mean."
"Right, I forgot. Chandra is only given to girls. To sum it up, I was born a girl and raised as one. The thing is, I never felt like one."
"Did you use magic, then? You can change your appearance?"
"Oh man, I wish it was so simple." He nervously laughed "No, not at all. It requires risky chirurgical interventions and putting chemicals in your body. Not funny, not pleasant and not easy, but I was ready to go through it. Let me tell you that people on Earth are quite cranky with what they call "transsexuals", and I really hate this word. In some countries, they are just disgustingly patronized, in some others, they risk their life. All of this to say, no matter what you do, there will always be individuals calling you "bloodthirsty blue monster", or calling Morgan "soul-destroying devil", or calling me "perverted transsexual demon". So, I stopped caring."
"And you lost your bet." Loki smiled.
"Which bet?"
"That I would change my perception. You still are the same pathetic Midgardian."
"Thank you, psychotic Asgardian."
At this moment, Loki was really glad that his plan to dominate the world had failed.
It was dark. Dark, ancient, and abandoned. Morgan was quite happy, in a way. She was fed up with white. Nevertheless, she had no idea where she was.
"Where are the dwarfs?" Someone said.
How could I know, she briefly thought, but she turned around and saw a group of three people she would only have dreamt of while on acid; a walleyed culturist, a talking racoon with a machine gun and a tree playing video games.
Of course.
Why not.
She was in Thor's mind, she recalled. She could see and hear what he saw and heard, but he could not detect her presence. He seemed well, for someone who had been thrown into space. Had he even... gained an eye?
She had no time asking herself further questions, since Thor received a huge metal bar on the head. The impact sent him right into a heap of debris. Morgan found herself in front of a gigantic being, whose hands had apparently been replaced by protheses.
"Eitri! It's Thor!" The Thunder god screamed.
Morgan carefully noted every single detail. She listened Thor explaining the situation to Eitri, who also had his share of horror when Thanos exterminated all his companions. Even though she had already seen him on videos, Morgan was impressed by how different Thor was from Loki. He was visibly a proud, even boastful person. His voice was authoritative, but also determined. He had no doubt about what he could do and what should be done. But when she saw what he was about to do, she wondered if he was not simply stupid.
"Do you understand? You are about to take the full force of a neutron star!" Eitri warned "It will kill you!"
"Only if I die!"
"Yes... That's what... killing you... means."
How could he still be alive, Morgan was truly amazed.
But she grew more amazed when he actually came out of the star alive. Dead-looking but not dead, because she was still with him.
"Where's the handle?!" Eitri was screaming "Tree, find the handle!"
Morgan saw the moving plant, he was Groot, dropping his video game and bravely lifting the axe that just came out of the forge, to suddenly cut his own arm. These creatures had guts, she could not deny it.
A few seconds later, she saw Thor's hand moving. Some sparkles formed around it, rapidly gaining intensity. What followed was the biggest lighting bolt she had ever seen, illuminating the entire forge, when Thor grabbed the handle of his new weapon. His power was breath-taking.
"Tree and rabbit, are you ready for the battle?" He loudly asked.
"Hell yeah!" The rabbit/racoon/whatever screamed.
"I am Groot!"
"I am coming, my friends!" The god of Thunder solemnly declared.
He raised his axe and a giant, bright light appeared around them. Morgan jumped back into her body.
"Okay, that's it, I'm done." Som sighed "I did not think that I would be more impressed by Morgan taming snakes, and now you tell me that you are talking to them. Have you thought about a name for your new taipan friend?"
"Not yet, actually. She never names her snakes."
They had been talking and saying nothing (but mostly talking) for almost an hour now, and Loki had come to the description of his now bifid-tongue-pet.
"May I suggest Julunggul? It is one of the many names Aborigines give to the Rainbow Serpent."
"We have a similar legend on Asgard. Jormungand is a gigantic snake circling the whole realm of Midgard."
"Or you can just call him Bobby."
Som stood up and stretched his arm above his head. It would soon be sunset. If someone, a couple of years ago, had told Loki that not only would he befriend with a Midgardian man, but also value a Midgardian woman's life more than his own, he would have laughed at this idiotic, insane, insulting idea. This reminded him of his own words to his brother.
"Say goodbye. This day, the next, a hundred years, it is nothing! A heartbeat! You will never be ready."
Now he knew how Thor felt. Not willing to think about this. Doing everything not to care.
"What is she, to you?"
Som was unbelievably discerning.
"I think you easily guessed the answer." Loki evasively said.
"Both of you are not eager to talk about sentiments, are you? I guessed what she is to you, the same way I guessed what you are to her, and all I see is a mess. You surely did not choose the easiest person in the world, and neither did she."
"What is your point?"
"My point is, you still have a lot to learn about her. I feel like I should give you a very important piece of advice."
"And what is it?" Loki sighed, half-annoyed, half-intrigued.
"She doesn't really enjoy cooking. But sometimes, without warning, she starts to make crepes, for no reason at all. If she ever mentions it... Say. Fucking. Yes."
Loki thought that he had come to a point where he could not be surprised with Som. He was wrong.
"What are… Crepes?"
"The most delicious pastry in the world."
"I thought it was chocolate eclairs."
"Oh, you have a lot to learn." Som laughed "Maybe we should take a look at her, though. It's been a while."
Loki could only agree. They almost ran towards Morgan, but she had not moved an inch; her eyes were still closed.
"I feel like she will soon come back." Som said.
As soon as he ended his sentence, Morgan brusquely opened her eyes, which almost made him jump out of surprise.
"How are you feeling?" The Asgardian asked.
She did not answer right away, busy slowing down her jolting respiration.
"That was... eventful..." She started "Your brother... is safe and sound... I saw him in a space forge... with a racoon, a tree and a huge dwarf... and he has a giant axe now... which apparently shoots rainbows... so bright that it brought me back here..."
"I swear there is no cocaine in my samosa, but you really sound high."
"Thor is on Nidavellir..." Loki muttered "Do you remember the name of this dwarf?"
"He said he was Eitri. He was the one who crafted Thanos' Gauntlet, which can withstand the power of the six Infinity Stones. To thank him, Thanos killed his friends and cut his hands off."
"What a charming fellow..." Som sighed.
"Thor helped him forging a weapon that could apparently defeat Thanos. An axe called Storm-breaker."
"And it can summon the Bifrost?" Loki incredulously asked.
"Apparently. He must have left Nidavellir by now, heading wherever Thanos is."
Loki helped Morgan standing up. Ironically, he was the one feeling on the verge of collapsing. He had spent so much time wondering what had become of his brother, and now he just learnt that he came out of this umpteenth ordeal stronger than ever. He was at the same time relieved and anxious again. Thor was used to run head-on towards danger. If Thanos managed to get his hand on all the Stones, would Storm-breaker be enough to stop him?
"Morgan, Loki." Som called "I think we may have a clue about that."
They came where he was standing, up a rocky hill, from where they could see Coober Pedy. Clearly, there was something wrong. People were running towards the Underground Motel and feverishly checking their phones.
"We would better go and see."
Shit's getting real. Infinity War happens on a very short period of time, so I'm not re-writing the movie, but I feel up for the challenge of "how to defeat Thanos after the battle". So, regarding the hidden clue, Som's birthday is on April 25th, and two days later Morgan and Loki get out of Whatever-its-name, on April 27th, the day Infinity War came out.
Concerning the passage where Loki evokes Jormungand, I do not include Loki's mythological children in this story (I mean, I will mention them but in different ways). Also, sorry for those who expected Som to break his empty bottle on Loki's head. He rather prefers to live. Plus, he says he likes his samosa so he shouldn't be such a bad person, right?