SHADOW OF DEATH

Chapter 25: Mind Stone

Jane and Shuri remained on stools around the lab table, all attention focused entirely on the Asgardian prince. Since his intrusion and subsequent tirade, his mercurial mood had simmered to an eloquent melancholy. He felt inclined to speak and so both women sat in rapt attention, making the most of his momentary burst of openness to learn all they could. Goose slept happily on the table in front of him and from time-to-time, Loki recalled his hands from illustrating his points to stroke the flerkin's fur.

"As I was saying, both the Tesseract and this scepter contained what are known as Infinity Stones. There are six in total and each controls an essential aspect of the universe. The Stones by themselves cannot be wielded except by beings of immense power. Not even the All-Father could wield one without an intermediary harness.

"The harness used for the Space Stone was the Tesseract. This relic was capable of opening doorways through geographic space that could transport fathoms of beings across galaxies in the blink of an eye. The Mind Stone, encased in the scepter created by the Mad Titan, is capable of opening doorways through neural consciousness. Think of it as a doorway to the minds of all cognizant creatures. It forms a permeable barrier between the one who wields the scepter and the one, or ones, upon whom it is used. This allows unrestricted access into the mind of the recipient and also enables the bearer to influence and insert what they wish within. Their personality, skills, and desires remain but are simply overwritten by their master and directed to the master's purpose."

"I would like to know why you have not destroyed it, the Mind Stone, I mean?" Shuri asked.

"It's rather useful," Loki answered with a deliberate slowness. "Besides, Infinity Gems are not easily destroyed. Unless I had seen it myself in the fate of the Tesseract, I would not have believed it were even possible. They are very powerful. The Stones themselves have a will and desire of their own."

"That's kinda creepy. What do they want?" Jane asked.

"I know not. I have not been in a place where I have been willing to ask. The Tesseract was rather fond of Erik Selvig. It spoke many secrets to him while still under SHIELD custody, even before our paths crossed. The Mind Stone, when I received it, had already been shaped and channeled by another. It has not been fully released from the power of this other and so I have been unable to sense its will apart from that of Thanos. While for a time, I thought I was able to counteract his will and bend the Mind Stone towards my own instead, even then my influence was limited. And, as we had the misfortune of discovering this week, Thanos can still override my efforts and sink his claws into minds on Midgard."

"So I assume that direct contact is not required then?" Shuri asked while Jane furiously scribbled notes beside her.

"Not necessarily. Close proximity to the Stone will stir up minds and emotions and influence people in the vicinity towards a particular direction, according to the purposes of the wielder. For example, I once utilized it on a SHIELD hellicarrier to stir up dissension, anger, and distrust among your so-called 'Avengers'. While I lay separated from the scepter and 'safe' in a prison cell, the scepter still obeyed my will and exerted its influence on all who were aboard the vessel without their knowledge."

"Why?" Jane asked, obviously disturbed by this revelation.

"Entertainment and mischief of course. Why else stir up a hornet's nest?" Loki said with a bitter grin.

"I do not believe you," Shuri said. "You were not chasing the Avengers for your own entertainment."

Loki released a long-suffering sigh. "Fine. How can I explain it? Your Dr. Njeri, in speaking of the segmentary lineage system of the Nuer of South Sudan, spoke of how they organized themselves into a state of near-constant conflicts and shifting alliances. She said this can be expressed in the saying: 'me against my brother, my brother and I against my cousin, my cousins, my brothers, and I against our clan, our clan against the other clans, and all our clans against the world.'

"Your Avengers quarreled and bickered worse than arrogant cocks in a farmyard. Each sought to fight the others to prove themselves the largest rooster in the pecking order. They were so busy needling each other that they paid little heed to the danger Midgard was in. To unite the Avengers, they required a common enemy-one they could hate and despise enough to put their petty grievances, posturing, and jealousies aside long enough to fight for a common cause.

"For them to perform as I wished, they needed motivation and 'conviction'. They needed something greater and more inspiring than the ethereal 'good of humanity' and 'peace on earth' and other such drivel to compel them into motion. They needed enough rage, adrenaline, and pure fear to ally themselves into the formidable force they were capable of. Vengeance, hate, and anger provide much more useful motivation than goodwill and compassion ever could."

"You wanted them to hate you," Jane said in a low voice.

"Of course. They could not comprehend the threat Thanos is to your realm and, tethered as I was, I could not sufficiently explain the threat. Thus, I graciously volunteered myself to stand in the stead of the Mad Titan. I am well adept at playing a despicable cur. I am well-equipped to stir up hatred towards myself-even when I do not intend it. When I do intend it, I always achieve the desired effect. I succeeded in stirring up the wrath and rancor of every Avenger and, predictably, they came to the defense of New York, a unified team willing to do whatever necessary to keep the city from falling into my hands."

Jane having long since forgotten about taking notes, jumped slightly when Goose batted her pen from her hands. She jerked her head towards the flerkin, took her pen back, and reluctantly scribbled onto her notepad again.

"Your plan worked until….," Shuri started to say, more to herself than to Loki. She trailed off and turned her eyes to where the Asgardian prince stared vacantly at the wall of the lab.

"Yes. Until that. The Avengers performed marvelously. Truly a delicious piece of irony, I think. Despite being outnumbered and overrun by the Chitauri army, they managed to organize the city's warriors in defense of the populace, closed the portal, reclaimed both the Tesseract and the scepter, and destroyed the entire Chitauri army. It would have only been a matter of time before both relics would be safe in the weapons vault on Asgard and your realm would be free the greedy gaze of the Mad Titan."

Jane gasped. "You mean it wasn't the bomb that stopped your army?"

Loki gave a mirthless laugh. He rubbed Goose on the neck again and gave a light smile at the responding purr emanating from the flerkin.

"Your own leaders killed exponentially more than I ever could…or ever would," he said. "They value your citizens so highly that they would gladly exchange three million of their own for my head. I assure you, that is not a statistic I boast of. I am a warrior, but I am also a Prince. Asgard rules all the Nine Realms and Midgard happens to be one of them. I swore an oath to protect all the Nine. At the end of my personal effort, a few thousand may have given their lives. I call that a mercy in comparison with the millions your Midgardian leaders claimed or the billions that Thanos would have sought if he came in my stead."

A silent tear trickled down Jane's face. "So, they didn't have to die?" she whispered.

"Nay, Lady Jane. My brother, the Golden Prince, the heir of the throne of Asgard died a needless death in his vain efforts to protect the very Midgardians who were then killed by their own leaders. Your Avengers, your Erik Selvig, they should have been celebrated for their heroic efforts in the glorious battle, gone on to face future foes, and lived long after the Battle of New York."

Jane exhaled and leaned her head on her hand, her elbow on the lab table. She stared at the lines of her notepad as if they could solve all the questions of the universe as she fought to maintain her composure.

"How did you survive it?" Shuri whispered. "You were there, yes? In the center?"

"Indeed. I felt the oncoming energy of the explosion and used my magic to transport myself to safety. Thus, the one being your realm sought to destroy managed to survive."

Jane abruptly stood. "I need to get some air," she said. She failed to meet either of their eyes and slipped quietly from the room. Shuri and Loki sat in a somber silence and watched her disappear. Shuri dropped her eyes to Jane's notepad, took up the discarded pen, and doodled a series of flowers along the margin.

"I'm sorry," Shuri said. She lifted her eyes from the notepad to meet Loki's. "About your brother, I mean. More as well, but especially for that. I do not know what I would do if such a thing were to happen to my brother but I think some explosions and property destruction would be involved."

Loki watched as Shuri struggled through a variety of thoughts and conflicting emotions. The strength of her presence and her sharp wit made him forget how very young she still was.

"You are close with your brother?" he asked.

"Yes," she said, smiling fondly at the thought of him. "Despite our difference in age, we have always been close."

"Princess, are you next in line for the throne?" Loki asked, finally voicing the question he had long wondered but had failed to ask.

"Nini?" she asked before she let it process. "I suppose you could say that…but not really. Our line of succession is based partially on blood relation to the former monarch but also based on the ability to defeat any rival claims in one-on-one combat."

"The Black Panther must easily defeat all foes," he remarked.

"Not necessarily. He can't be claimed a victor if he has such an advantage. The powers of the Black Panther are first stripped away and then he must fight without powers and without weapons. Only if he is victorious can he maintain his claim to the kingship and become the next Black Panther.

"I may serve my people as queen, but only if emergency protocols are established during a time of war or instability. I can also serve my people as queen if I defeat all others who lay a claim to the throne. Wakanda has seen a few queens during our long history, but very few. Some were daughters or sisters of kings who held blood ties to the throne. Some were former Dora Milaje who were appointed by elders of their tribes as possible rivals. They either achieved their positions through political maneuvering, popularity, and a lack of competition or because they were fierce warriors who could defeat rivals without weapons. I am not so fierce a warrior nor am I so skilled in diplomacy."

"Do you not wish to preserve your claim?" he asked.

She shrugged. "I can defend myself if necessary, but I am not a warrior and have no desire to be one. I do not enjoy politics. Even if I were the firstborn, I would still wish he be king. I am not suited to it. I am happier supporting my brother and making sure his reign will be strong and successful than in ensuring my own. T'Challa needs me and I need him and we are both happier as we are.

"T'Challa used to tease me and say I am like the ant and he is like the mgunga tree. The mgunga, it shelters and feeds the ants. The ants, they act as mighty little defenders, protecting the tree from animals even as large as giraffes and elephants. Even though the tree is large and strong, it relies on its tiny inhabitants for assistance. They are stronger together. T'Challa may say I am as tiny as an ant and just as irritating, and I may say he is as dense as a tree and as prickly as the thorns of the mgunga, but we still need each other as we are."

Loki nodded, lost in thought.

"Were you close with your brother?" Shuri asked.

Loki pursed his lips slightly and tapped his fingers against his chin. "As children, yes. When we came of age, less so. We were close in age and we were raised to compete more than to complement. In competition, there can be only one who proves victorious and the other is left in the shadows."

Shuri cocked her head to one side and looked at him inquisitively. "You wished to be king?"

Loki gave a sardonic laugh. "I was king. I ruled all the realms for a mere handful of days. But, nay, I never wished to ascend to the throne. I merely wished to be recognized as the equal of my brother. That has proved as vain a quest as that of protecting Midgard."

"How could you ever be your brother's equal and he yours?" Shuri asked. "You are not the same. Is the cheetah the equal of the crocodile? They are both fierce predators, but one will fare better on land than water. I happen to know I am a crocodile and will stay in the Nile instead of chasing a gazelle through the savanna. If you prefer to be a cheetah, do you simply paint spots onto your scales?"

"It hardly matters now," Loki replied, his tone equal measures irritation and anger. "Thor is gone."

Shuri opened her mouth and closed it again. There were many words she could say, but none that would sink through his grief and cool the heat of regret and guilt that boiled beneath the surface. "Come, bwana," she finally said. "It is growing late and we both should eat. Twende kutafuta chakula."

He nodded. "I could eat," he said and rose. Goose opened one eye and when it saw them preparing to leave, it leapt to the floor to follow them.

Oooooooooooooo

Loki returned to the lab late in the evening. He could not sleep. His mind roiled like clouds in a thunder storm and he wished for the distraction he hoped to find there. When he arrived, Jane was there, scanner in hand, her back turned to him.

She failed to respond as the lab doors opened and closed, signifying his entrance. He did not wish to disturb her so he did not address her. She had not spoken to him since her emotional departure earlier in the afternoon and he did not want to intrude on her solitude. He tapped on some of the screens of the computer system running their research and projected their latest designs of the Bifrost to review. He nearly forgot Jane's presence in the corner until nearly a half hour later when her trembling voice broken through his concentration.

"She doesn't like you," Jane said in a strained whisper.

Curious, he turned to her. "Not many do. Tell me of whom you speak?"

"The Mind Stone," she replied. "She doesn't like being tamed as if she were a beast or a slave to be enthralled to the will of a master. She is her own."

He turned now to where Jane still faced away from him, her back rising and falling, and her shoulders hunched inwards towards the wall.

"You and your master have used her ill. She is not happy with you," she said, a cold solemnity coloring her tone, as if it were not Jane speaking to him at all. She turned to face him and his heart nearly stopped as her eyes met his, glowing a brilliant blue, looking not at him but through him. In her hand, she no longer held the scanner but the scepter.

"Jane," Loki said in a voice he hoped hid his panic. "Put the scepter down."

"She and her sisters are not meant to be yoked to the whims of finite creatures. You, your master, the others who have sought them, desire to build your own power, to be masters of forces you were never meant to control. The Stones desire to build, to create, to paint the universe with runes that weave life. But you seek to twist them, diminish them, and bend them for what they are not meant to be used for."

Loki paused, unsettled at who, or what, was now speaking to Jane, through Jane, and in control of her mind. He must tread carefully. This did not sound like Thanos or his minion, nor did it sound like Jane.

"What do you desire?" he asked.

"To be free," she responded, walking slowly with the scepter stretched towards him. The scepter cast an unearthly glow upon her face that mimicked the glow of her eyes. "Break my bonds and let me be. The Space Stone has been freed. It is time for the Mind Stone to be released. You tarry too long and make false promises in your heart. You fear and so allow fear to hinder you from what you ought to have done the moment you held the accursed tool of the Titan in your hands."

With single-minded determination she strode across the lab, easily grabbed Mjolnir by the handle from where it sat on the counter, and left.

It was not until the door closed again that Loki's attention snapped back to the empty lab and he realized he was alone. He ran after her, his heart pounding within his chest.

She walked through the underground lab, up the stairs, and exited through the door that led into the gardens. The brilliant full moon shone down upon her, glinting an eerie blue in her hair which fell loosely down her back. The stars could barely be seen through the silhouettes of leaves overhead.

"Jane, what are you doing?" he asked, no longer attempting to hide his worry. She stared at him again, her blue eyes not looking at him but into him and beyond him.

"You let him corrupt your memories. You are full of his influence in you. You cannot even sift through which thoughts are yours and which are his," she said. She placed the scepter upon the grass, lifted Mjolnir into the air, and Loki could feel the air around him crackling with power.

He ran towards her and tried to pull her arm down. When this failed, he attempted to strike her head and free her from the mind spell.

"Jane, your mortal frame cannot manage the power wielded by Mjolnir or the Mind Stone. You will kill yourself. Do you hear me? You cannot do this!" he shouted as he fought her.

A shot of blue energy lashed out from the scepter as he spoke, sending him careening onto the grass and away from Jane. He tried to return to his feet but was bound to a prone position on the grass. The energy from both Mjolnir and the Mind Stone crackled and swirled in an expanding tornado of power around Jane, immobilizing Loki in place. Jane's eyes grew even brighter, as if lit from within by blue supergiant stars.

She swung Mjolnir. A blinding blue flash exploded from the collision, overwhelming Loki's eyes and on instinct, he covered his head with his arms. He heard a sound like an avalanche intermixed with smashed glass and, just as suddenly, he could not hear anything. He felt the explosion crash over his body like a tidal wave, pounding him deeper into the grass and singeing his clothes and hair with the heat of it.

He lay panting, breathing in grass and dirt as he struggled to regain his senses. His hearing returned first, though he could hear little other than a ringing sound. He tapped his toes in his boots and wiggled his fingers in the grass to ensure he maintained all his appendages. Once sure, he rolled himself over with all the effort of a beached horpier grub and he groaned. He rubbed his eyes until they obeyed his wishes and could again fulfill their function properly. He sat upright and blinked again. Five trees lay felled around him and all plants in a twenty pace perimeter had been uprooted by the blast. Flowers and leaves and bits of dirt clung to him. He could still smell the smoke coming from the ends of his hair.

A cloud of smoke hid the center of the circle from his view. He took a deep breath, rose to his feet, and warily walked into the haze. In the spot previously occupied by Jane, he now could barely see his feet below him. He could identify fragments of shattered metal that once formed parts of the scepter intermixed with tiny sparkling pinpricks of light he assumed were the remnants of the Mind Stone. Besides these, Mjolnir lay in the deep grass, its handle reaching upwards to the sky.

The smoke sifted and swirled in the breeze and through a break he could finally catch a glimpse of a human form lying prone in the grass. Her entire body sizzled and blue and gray wisps rose from her skin and hair. He knelt by her and swore loudly as he saw the black burns that marred her face and hands and ran down her neck, where he assumed they continued even further. Her eyes still stared into the unseeing infinity above her, blue depths lost to her present and no longer lit from within.

"Jane, Jane," he said and poked her gently. She did not respond. He took her burnt hand in his but he could not feel a pulse. He sought to send his magic through her to heal what he could and cursed again when he felt the familiar bonds keeping him from accessing it.

The garden door swung open, followed by a barrage of footsteps. A handful of Dora Milaje and King's Guards rushed out first, weapons drawn, eyes scanning the garden to assess the situation. T'Challa came behind them, garbed in his black armor, claws drawn. Shuri followed, despite T'Challa's obvious protests for her to stay in the palace.

"What is this?" T'Challa asked, his voice muffled by his mask.

"I do not fully know. Please spare me further inquiry until we tend to the health of the lady," Loki hissed through gritted teeth.

Shuri pushed passed her brother to kneel on the grass beside Jane. She kept firm control of her wits enough to begin shouting orders to the soldiers and pressing buttons on her kimoyo beads and calling for more help. She ran her hands over Jane's wrist and mouth and heart and she turned upon Loki with a look that showed her composure was beginning to crumble.

"We must bring her to your healing room," Loki said, refusing to recognize the truth Shuri's expression should have conveyed.

Shuri gave a questioning glance towards her brother and he nodded. Loki swept up Jane's wilted body into his arms and carried her towards the medical center as quickly as he could. The guards remained in the garden, assessing the shards of metal and stone and tree and grass.

"Brother, I could not find a pulse or a heartbeat," Shuri whispered, so low she hoped Loki could not hear. Her eyes met those of her brother. T'Challa now carried his mask in his hands. He took her hand in his.

"Is she?" he asked.

"Indio," Shuri said, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. "Jane is dead."

Ooooooooooooooooooo

Author's Note: We are reaching some sections that I actually wrote a long time ago, hence the quicker-than-usual next chapter.

Translations:

Mgunga: whistling thorn acacia tree

Twende kutafuta chakula: let's go find food.

Nini: what

Bwana: sir

indio: yes