Chapter Forty Four

Loki jumped when Merlin started screaming.

"Merlin? What's wrong?" he asked, hurrying to the magician's side.

"They're all….they're all going to…"

"What?" Loki shouted.

"They're all going to die." Merlin's voice was a whisper. "They're…they're already…" He lifted his hand from the shoulder he was touching. It was wet with blood.

"Merlin," Loki said quietly. "Please explain."

Merlin looked away. "I linked myself to everyone. Not to the point where it would kill me if they died, but enough so that I'd be able to tell how and where they are. But if there's a death wound…." His voice trailed off as he looked at the blood.

"Who died?" Loki asked.

"The Avengers," Merlin whispered. "Clint and Tasha shot each other. Those are the wounds I have right now. The others…they all died in a nuclear blast. There is no death wound. There are no bodies left."

Loki was still, replaying Merlin's words in his mind. Did that mean?...Thor?...

"We can still save them," Merlin said.

Loki's eyes snapped up, and met his.

"This is a doomed timeline," Merlin said. "A timeline where Rissa never met them. Where she never interfered with their lives. But that timeline, the one we come from? The Alpha timeline? It still exists. We just have to get back there."

"How do you think we'll manage that?" Loki asked.

"Well," Merlin said. "Whoever it is doesn't want us dead. My guess is that they froze our bodies at a point in time that they can easily move our minds back too. This is all just…"

"Part of the game," Loki said, answering. "'Level Two'."

"We can still win," Merlin said, sitting up. The color was starting to return to his face.

"But it won't be easy."