Chapter 35: Demonstrated Changes

Darcy stared in amazement at the screen as Eric Selvig did the same. "Yep, that's a meteor," Selvig said as the two remained affixed on the fleeting images of frightened citizens. The facility was not far from where the object was supposed to arrive, but it would be more protected than the open piazza where the immortal stood, summoning the casket and aiming it toward the sky.

"This can't be happening; I didn't think he'd actually stay here for more than a few hours," Darcy muttered. Eric turned and looked at her in confusion. She shook her head and turned back to him. "What? I already told you he was the one behind it."

"I'm just surprised that you aren't terrified or furious seeing just a hint of him," Selvig replied. Darcy frowned and looked away as Eric took in a concerned breath. "Darcy, do you need to see a doctor, you know, a specialist or something?" She stared back at him in equal concern. "What I mean is, did you develop any . . . feelings for him?"

"I don't have Stockholm Syndrome and I'm not a victim of mind control or psychological distress, I just want to get back finishing this job, or internship, or whatever they're going to call it at the university," she muttered, folding her arms tightly around herself and scooting back against the head of the hospital bed. "He's going to freeze it, send it to the Arctic Circle, and no one will be hurt in the process and he'll expect everyone to worship him like he's Superman or something," she predicted in a completely unemotional tone. Selvig turned and looked at her in greater concern and surprise. Her eyes didn't move from the screen as she frowned and quickly unfolded both arms, gesturing to the screen as if she was speaking to someone angrily in person. Eric turned back to the screen, astonished, as the trickster exuded a blast of blue and white energy from the casket and it did indeed reach the meteor. "Big deal, anyone else with that whatzit could do the same thing! I'm not impressed and it doesn't prove you're any better a person for doing it! You can stop a meteor, but you can't wait for five minutes after a woman's fallen asleep to be a jerk. You're a creep, a big one, and you always will be!" She faced Selvig once more who was in awe of both the unfolding heroism in the city and the display from his colleague. She frowned at him. "What?"

(*)

The meteor hesitated every few inches as the ice more than cooled it; it now formed a thick shield around it, increasing its size by several feet in circumference. He held tightly to either side of the casket and stood firmly, grunting in frustration as he felt the force of the boulder pressing against him and the land around him. There were several people, mostly officers that had tried vainly to subdue him as he had summoned the casket, that were now lying on the ground covering their heads as the meteor lingered only a few feet over them. He cried out, summoning all the strength that he could muster and released a second set of senses to determine where best to hurl this rock. There were two very large spans of ice that lay in two opposite directions on this realm. It felt as though the one to the north, the closer of the two, would be the more sensible location.

Drawing in a deep breath and crying out again, he pushed against the frozen rock with all of the might that he had summoned. Several of the people still present glanced up instinctively and then gasped at the sight of the meteor slowly rotating then changing directions. It hurtled away from the city in a large arc, leaving a cloud of thin mist and relieved panic in its wake. The people stood slowly, silently, watching the boulder disappear in the distance. Loki kept his remaining senses affixed on the meteor's position and, once he was satisfied that it had collided with the icy surface of the far north, he began to breathe once more. He ignored the clamor of grateful people around him and willed his form to disappear, instantly transporting back to where he had left Brenhin. Unfortunately, the exhaustion that had begun to take him while changing the rock's course took its full toll and he found himself unable to move any further, appearing standing several blocks away from where the servant and the captain waited for him. He was unable to summon any further magic and leaned painfully against the nearest brick wall. It collapsed under his weight and he found himself lying on the crumpled rock with a cloud of dust and debris around him.

He coughed and tried to gather what little strength he had left to stand. He managed to sit upright for a few moments, but then felt strength leave him entirely. It was too onerous to even breathe now and he bitterly wished he had the strength of his brother. That brute had never been so exhausted by an act of valor that it had practically wounded him. No, he thought, There were no less than seven occasions where even mother feared he might die just from exuding strength. Still, this was unnecessary and all the fault of the oracle, and perhaps the fruitless citizens of the mortal realm. He cursed Drifa and the mortals of the polluted and perversely large city under his breath as the darkness closed around even his unconscious mind. No doubt he would be subjected to some sort of unpleasant dream from the past that Drifa wanted him to see. Oh well, he thought. At least not all of it was in vain. Now I have something magnificent to tell Darcy. She'll have to forgive me, for whatever it was, after such a display. She must.

(*)

"I'm telling you, it was like I was looking at them through a glass wall; I could see them, both of them when I concentrated, but I couldn't make contact," Jane said frantically. Thor looked back at her, uncertain of what to do about the situation given the fact that the Bifrost was not yet rebuilt and the fact that Volstagg had already left to go and retrieve Loki along with Darcy. Drifa had revealed to Frigga that Loki would soon be arriving on Alfsheim, his mother's home realm, to escape the devilry of Eldred who now wanted the trickster dead. She neglected to mention exactly when the trickster would be setting off for the natural home of the elves, and had a clever scheme for the warrior's presence in the realm until Loki and Darcy would inevitably make their way to Alfsheim with Brenhin in tow. In the meantime, Jane had tried to dreamfast with both Darcy and Selvig, concentrating on her memories of them and following all of the other instructions that Drifa had given her. It hadn't worked throughout the night, but she was sure she had come close. Something had to be wrong with the two for the enchantment to fall through. The sight of the two being so close and yet separated was nothing short of a nightmare. Thor pulled her close to him as her eyes began to glisten with desperation. "He's done something to her and to Eric, I just know he has."

"Did they seem as though they were in danger?" he asked. As likely as it might have been for his brother to have done something of an unsavory nature to his captive and perhaps the man who had aided Jane as well, there weren't enough signs to use as evidence in accusing him. Thor didn't want to head out to reprimand his brother if there was no need; doing it when there had been legitimate cause for concern had been difficult enough. "What did they say to you?"

"Well, nothing really. I mean, I didn't hear anything from them except for some murmuring. All I could see were silhouettes, but I knew it was them, I just knew," she said firmly. "I want to go back and see what he's up to."

"There's nothing to tell us that he's gone back to Midgard with Darcy or attacked Eric Selvig. It was quite a task getting you here in the first place, are you sure you want to go all the way back to earth? I might not even be able to return with you until the bridge is reconstructed," he argued.

Jane frowned at him. "I just don't know why it didn't work and I can't help but feel that little worm is behind it. He wangled his way into her personal space and I don't think he's going to stop there," she continued. "Can't you ask that girl where he is and what he's doing and make her give you a straight answer?"

"I didn't even know who Drifa was until two days ago and father seems adamant about not seeking her or speaking with her. If I didn't know any better I'd think father was afraid of her," Thor remarked. "Which is unheard of."

"There must be something you can do," Jane said anxiously. "It's been weeks, your family doesn't have some sort of plan for when the little creep goes missing? This can't be the first time, not with his particular reputation."

"He's never abandoned Asgard before," Thor corrected. "He's never been this overtly a mess before, for that matter."

"Well, he's done it now and it doesn't look like he's going back to whatever normal was for him," she muttered, taking a seat a few meters away from her beloved. "This would never have happened if I hadn't let her go outside like that, I should've seen that disturbance, I should've done something."

"There was no preventing him," Thor said firmly. "Once Loki has his mind set on something, he keeps at it until he's either successful or pulverized."

(*)

"Hey mister, you look like you got pulverized by that meteor on TV. Are you dead?" a young boy asked. Loki could hear the child's voice through the lifting haze of darkness. It occurred to him that the child was likely not alone, given the fact that no responsible mother in any realm would allow their child to roam around so dangerous a city. He groaned and tried to sit upright, fighting against the pain that had gathered in his limbs. It wasn't quite as terrible as having landed in the desert, but he had expended more energy and strength than he had anticipated then had fallen onto awkward and sharp bricks in the process of trying to get back. He felt the boy take hold of his shoulder and jostle him ever so slightly, obviously not convinced that he was dead but not convinced that he was awake enough. "I think he might be in a coma or something."

"He's not in a coma, he's still breathing," another young boy said from somewhere nearby. Loki drew in a sharp breath and tried to open his eyes. He managed to get the left eye open first and the right followed slowly, but both closed almost immediately after. To his dismay, he had been able to detect at least four children nearby and none of them were Drifa. "See, he's still got both his eyes, I told you it didn't blind him."

"You can still be blind when you've got eyes," a third voice announced. Loki managed to open his eyes once more and focus them. Four children; three males and one female, all of them appearing to have been watching him for some time. More energy began to pulse through him and he was sure in the next few seconds he would be able to sit and then stand. He groaned, unable to fully growl angrily, as he felt another one of the children smacking his shoulder. "Hey, mister, can you see? You looked right at that meteor and that's like looking at the sun and my sister says that looking at the sun even during an eclipse makes you go blind. Are you blind?"

"I don't think he can answer you if he's had a head injury," the female child added. "People with head injuries can be rendered temporarily disabled or have amnesia and stuff."

"Hey mister, do you remember your name, do you know where you are?" the first child asked again.

"Of course I remember my name," he grumbled, finally managing to pull himself up on his elbows and then sit fully upright. He breathed deeply and looked at each one in turn. Two of the boys looked almost identical to the younger versions of Thor and himself although in more modern and definitely earthly clothing. The third and the girl had a complexion nearly as dark as Heimdall's, but with crystal blue eyes like his brother. The girl appeared to be the youngest and smallest in the group, probably a sister of the third boy. He shook his head and ceased analyzing the small crowd that had gathered around him. "Go home, all of you, now."

"Do you think he's physiologically stable?" the girl asked the other three.

"I still think we should've given him the tracheotomy," her brother added. "I saw mom do it to a cat when I was at the office. I have a metal pen and plenty of hand sanitizer."

"He doesn't need a tracheotomy, he's not blind Londra," the second corrected.

"Tracheotomy isn't for blind people, it's for smokers," the girl, Londra, interjected. Loki sighed heavily and tried to stand slowly, bracing himself against part of the wall still standing. The girl watched him carefully, but the other three seemed to be more focused on their unorganized argument.

"Midgard is more chaotic than I had thought," Loki muttered as he tried to take a step and suddenly felt a cold chill move through him. "Children roaming crumbling ruins and flocking to strangers for no reason whatsoever."

"If it's for smokers then how did your mom give it to a cat, Jake? Cat's don't smoke if they're not in a lab," the first complained. The trickster felt strength leave his legs, trembling as he slowly sank back to the ground with a thud. He perked up as an alarm began to sound somewhere in the distance. It was loud and repetitive in a very high and irritating tone. The four children instinctively looked upward fearfully. "Uh oh."

"That's why we were here in the first place, mister, this building is condemned. Jake saw you fall down when we were walking and he was worried you wouldn't wake up in time," Londra explained as she hurried to his side and took hold of his sleeve. "Come on, that alarm means they're going to set off the dynamite in like five minutes."

"Try one minute," Jake added anxiously. The other two turned and looked at their friend in concern. "Go see if you can get them to stop. They've gotta be out front."

The two hurried out through a door hanging from its hinges and commenced to shouting 'stop' as loud as they could manage. A muffled voice announced something through a megaphone, but none of the three left in the building could decipher what was being said. The trickster's mind raced. He might have been able to survive the blast unprotected, might. Then again he was already somewhat compromised and it behooved him to at least attempt to protect the children that had attempted, futile and pathetic as it might have been, to spare him regardless of how grating and obviously ignorant they were. He closed his eyes and quickly caught a glance of the two that had run outside. They had made it to the workers, but the explosives were, according to the now flustered foreman, on an automated timer that was not cooperating with the reverse code. Loki inhaled deeply and hurriedly knelt, pulling the two children to him and gathering the majority of the magic that he had returned to him and a great deal of energy from electronic devices nearby to form a shield around them. Oddly, he hadn't been able to manipulate the energy and information within the explosives themselves which should have been much easier than the other. The two shrieked and clung tightly to him as the ground beneath them groaned and shook madly. A cloud of debris and smoke settled over them as the ground ceased shaking. To his surprise, Loki felt more powerful than before even after expending the energy to create the shield.

"Wow! You've got superpowers!" he heard Jake exclaim after several minutes of terrified silence. "Awesome!"

"How come you fell asleep in an old building if you've got superpowers?" Londra asked innocently.

"I did not fall asleep, I lost consciousness after redirecting that farcical heap of rock she aimed at your city," he explained annoyedly. "I can only imagine what kind of horror would have ensued had I not cleaned up her mess." He took a step backward away from them. "Now go home before fate hurls another incident at me." Before he could protest, the girl threw both arms around him and grinned brightly. "Wonderful," he muttered.

"Thank you," she said kindly.

He sighed and glanced around them. The cloud was blocking any chance of children being spotted by their parents. Not good. The boy suddenly did the same and the trickster felt every nerve ending in him set ablaze with irritation. He had a distinct dislike of young children and it wasn't likely to change having to save people at every turn. This had been a record-breaking awful day made all the more uncomfortable by the waifs at either side. Loki shook his head and willed the cloud to immediately dissipate, revealing that the building was perfectly level around them. It made the trickster wonder what humans could have been thinking setting off a destructive force where others were living. Wasn't that part of what had angered the entire populace about his initial attempt to take effective control of their chaotic planet? He breathed heavily and found the strength to stand up fully. He realized that the several minutes that had passed had given the children's mother enough time to make her way to the front of the crowd near their two friends. The sight of the strange, glowing dome had kept a full-scale panic and mourning from forming in their friends and mother. As soon as the trickster heard a frightened female voice calling the names of both children, or what he assumed they must have been from the four addressing one another, he gathered more strength and energy, willing himself to re-appear at his servant's bedside. Luckily, as he found himself materializing next to Brenhin, the captain was nowhere in sight. He breathed heavily for a moment and centered himself as Brenhin appraised him.

"You look positively frazzled, Loki," Brenhin observed. "Where have you been?"

"None of your concern," he retorted, fumbling with the gold chain he realized had appeared in his hand as he had appeared in the room. He growled and finished re-clasping it to his attire and mumbling a curse toward Drifa yet again. Brenhin watched him silently, one brow raised in reproach of the youth's choice of words and secrecy. After a few moments more, the trickster stood and looked firmly at his servant who seemed to be in far better condition. "I am going to find Darcy and bring her back. Be healed by the time I return or . . . or . . ."

"Or what?" Brenhin asked in amusement.

Loki sighed and glared at him. "Or I'll leave you here to make a new life among humans," he warned. Brenhin frowned at him, still giving him a reproachful gaze. The trickster was angered and it was causing him to lose both focus and logic. This was hardly the best time for him to go and retrieve a woman already infuriated with him. He sighed. "Just, be ready to leave when I return with her."

Brenhin shook his head as the trickster disappeared. "Of course," he sighed. "I'll have some words of comfort for you when you return, of that you can be sure."