Chapter 16: Battles and Temptation:
Loki and Stephen tensed simultaneously, as neither could sense the Orb's presence on Knowhere anymore.
"Mikan. She must have used her Space Distortion Alice to retrieve it." Stephen explained, aware that Loki was still new to her powers.
The Asgardian Sorcerer only nodded, while trying in vain to retrace the Alice's spiritual trail. 'I can only sense her clones!' Loki thought, frustrated, unwilling to admit his inability to locate his Little One. However, Stephen knew better than anyone that when Mikan used some of her Alices or when she stepped inside the Mirror Dimension, she was able to conceal her spiritual presence. And the lone fact of spotting two of her Doppelgangers still fighting alongside Thor reassured him on her welfare.
"The last time I saw her, she was chasing after Gamora and Nebula. I'll take Gamora, you go for Nebula."
Stephen tried to ignore Loki's imperious tone and couldn't help but remind him that he didn't knew who he was supposed to go after: "Nebula?"
Loki kept himself from rolling his eyes. Not willing to waste any more time, he opted for the most effective solution. Placing his hand on Stephen's forehead, Loki showed him the vision of the two Thanos' daughters. "It's the blue one."
Nodding to this, Stephen used a portal to appear on the highest spot on Knowhere. Now that he knew exactly who he was looking for, he uttered a few complex incantations to locate the woman warrior: Nebula was still onboard her Necrocraft, flying all over Knowhere to find the girl who stole the Orb from her.
"By the Chain of Krakkan!" Stephen uttered, conjuring long and strong golden chains that constricted Nebula's spaceship. Realizing that Mikan was nowhere by her side, Stephen released the Necrocraft, letting it crash heavily on the ground.
Trying in vain to locate Gamora, Stephen casted the same spell he had used to find her sister. Sadly, there was no trace of her too.
"Where are you, Mikan?" Stephen wondered in a murmur, hoping that his friend was not facing any kind of danger.
"Confringo!" Luna shouted, reducing to pieces two Sakaarans soldiers about to kill Luca. The latter nodded thankfully at her, using one of the guns he had picked up to shoot down their assailants. His Alice wasn't the most useful one on battles and he refused to involve any of his animal friends into this.
Back to back, both friends assured each other defense. Luna casting a large variety of offensive and defensive spells, and Luca using more primitive offensive ways. They were slowly but surely taking the upper hand on the battle. Especially with Mikan's two Doppelgangers and the tree humanoid fighting by their side.
Meanwhile, Thor had given Drax the Destroyer his chance to battle the murderer of his wife and daughter. He had respected his need to avenge them. However, now that Drax lay unconscious on the hard ground, it was finally the time to get involved.
To his frustration, the god of Thunder, who usually would have enjoyed to be served a battle on a silver platter, knew that he had no time to waste fighting an entire army of Sakaarans and their Kree leader. Especially since Mikan and Loki should have had, by now, enough time to leave Knowhere. Therefore, Thor had to make it quick.
"Now that I am done with this incompetent, it is time for the real game to start." Ronan smirked, looking haughtily upon Drax's unconscious figure.
"I hardly think so! You are barely worth wasting my time." Thor replied, triggering the Zealot's anger, who pointed his Hammer at him.
Thor avoided a concussive blast out of Ronan's Cosmi-Rod and determined to put an end to this fanatic's nonsense, Thor spun Mjolnir and threw it at him. Unleashing furious thunder blasts in its way. Mjolnir hit Ronan straight on the chest, leaving him to gasp for air.
"Nice hammer! But mine is better." Thor mocked who had gathered Cosmi-Rod to examine it.
Not giving time to Ronan to raise up from the ground, Thor lifted him and punched him square on the jaw. His grunts of pain rung like music in Thor's ears.
As Thor was ready to put an end to the miserable being's life, he was taken by surprise when Nebula's Necrocraft crashed heavily on them. Violently dragging Thor and Ronan beneath her spaceship, Nebula threw herself out of it. Landing painfully on the ground, the Lumophoid was pinned down by the shockwave of the explosion that followed.
Groaning loudly, Thor lifted the heavy spaceship crushing him. With a jolt, he realized some strands of his hair along with his cape had caught on fire.
"Incarcerous!" surprised by the closeness of Luna's voice, Thor witnessed tight ropes binding Ronan's unconscious body. The Asgardian Prince nodded at the Midgardian witch and Luna threw him a little smile of her own.
Resuming his attention on Nebula, Thor posed his calculating gaze on her. Unlike what most people assumed of him; he was neither stupid nor ignorant. He was well aware of Nebula's status. If Ronan wasn't a man he could consider as a real opponent, Nebula and himself were playing on the same level.
With a small smirk, Thor closed slowly the distance between him and Nebula, as she moved in circular motions around him, looking for any weakness to use against him. Pulling out her electrified batons, Nebula opted for the offensive, speed and flexibility on her side. Using her first baton to block Thor's motion to conjure Mjolnir, she stabbed him on the sides with the second, smirked at the sight of a god of Thunder being electrified.
Snapping Nebula's first baton in two, Thor aimed at her head. Dodging the blow, the Lumophoid bent down and used it as an opportunity to pull her baton out of Thor's body. Avoiding narrowly another hit, Nebula aimed with her right leg towards the lower part of his body. Then, taking advantage of the pain Thor was in, landed another blow square on his jaw.
Blocking the next attack, Thor trapped in his strong grip Nebula's right hand and ripped her second electrified baton out of her grasp. Elbowing him on the jaw, Nebula freed herself, but she hadn't the time to escape Thor's fist. Losing her balance, Nebula fell on the ground.
Ready to strike again, Nebula's attack was cut short by Mjolnir striking her on the head. The shock was so violent it had broken her jaw.
One hand at his sides and panting, Thor observed with a small satisfied smirk Nebula's and Ronan's unconscious body laying powerless on the ground, defeated. Fighting what had remained of Ronan's army would be child's play.
Mikan's tensed posture relaxed slightly. A change that didn't go unnoticed by Gamora. The latter, however, was still puzzled by the Alice's odd behavior, so she waited patiently for her to explain herself.
"Thor has defeated Ronan and your sister. It won't take them much longer before they end the rest of his army." Mikan stated, mainly reassured by Luca's wellbeing. Indeed, as much as she valued his courage, he wasn't one for battles.
"You still haven't told me where you've sent us." Gamora reminded her, slightly disturbed by the weirdness of the room they had appeared into. Gamora couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with the walls and their surroundings were constantly moving in strange and threatening motions around them.
"We're in the Mirror Dimension, a place safe from unrequited attention."
The Zehoberei raised a cunning silvery eyebrow; quite unwilling to start such a conversation with a woman she had just met. Mikan perfectly understanding the reasons behind Gamora's reluctance to trust her, chose to start the exchange with her trump card:
"I've destroyed the Infinity Gauntlet." The young woman admitted.
To Mikan's satisfaction, Gamora gasped, taken by surprise by the revelation. Gamora closed the distance between herself and Mikan, her eyes glimmering with a sentiment that even the young woman couldn't determine. Somehow, deep down, even though she couldn't quite explain why herself, Gamora knew Mikan was telling her the truth. She knew that in this stranger's hands, the Orb would be in safer place than in her father's or the Collector's.
'For twenty years of my life, I've been raised by Thanos and, until very recently, helped him achieve his goal. I've killed thousands to satisfy his beliefs.' Gamora, thought, disgusted by the love that she was still feeling toward her adoptive father and the mass murderer he had turned her into. 'If this girl has truly destroyed the Gauntlet and does wholeheartedly want to protect the Stones, then I should give her a chance. Maybe this will help, even just a little, redeem me of my past mistakes.'
"I've destroyed the Infinity Gauntlet, Gamora." Mikan repeated, in a murmur. "I am in possession of two Alices that only appears if the chance of the Infinity Stones to be reunited is at its highest. My only goal is to safeguard the Gems, not to collect them." Mikan paused, locking eyes with Gamora. "You must know better than I do your father's intentions to gather them. This is the reason why I am asking you this: are you aware of any other means that Thanos could use to harness the power of the Stones?" The Alice asked, with the horrible gut feeling the answer would be an affirmative.
"You see… In his own twisted, psychopathic, deranged mind, Thanos believes that it is his duty to bring stability to the Universe. Just as he has done to my home planet, the combined power of the Stones will allow him to kill half of the Universe in a single snap of his fingers." Gamora explained, stressing her point by snapping her fingers. "Since you claim to have destroyed the Gauntlet, I don't think he'll require the help of Lady Death before trying every other possibility. I have never heard of any other Artefact able to harness the combined power of the Stones… But if there is any, Thanos will not hesitate to kill thousands, billions to get it."
Mikan shivered, more than ever unsure of her own capacity to protect the Stones from such a powerful and fearsome being.
"I see. Gamora, now that Loki has betrayed him and after Ronan's failure, how do you think he'll react?"
Gamora opened her mouth, before closing it soon afterwards. How was her father going to react? Mad people weren't predictable.
"To be honest, I have no idea. For reasons that are unknown to me, it just seems that he is waiting for something to happen. I've never understood what or who dissuaded him from going after the Stones directly by himself." Gamora admitted.
Mikan nodded, pensive. Something was telling her that it was rather someone and not something that was keeping Thanos from coming after the Infinity Gems. Yet, the young Alice had a hard time imagining who could instigate fear from Thanos.
Understanding that the woman facing her had already told her everything she knew about her adoptive father's plans, Mikan traced her right hand in a circular pattern and exited the Mirror Dimension, followed closely by Gamora.
"Well, I suppose it's a fare – Ah!" Caught off guard and powerless as an overwhelming force conjured her, Mikan screamed before disappearing in front of Gamora's wide eyes.
With a small yelp, Mikan closed her eyes as the ground approached dangerously. To her surprise, she didn't land heavily as she had expected to. Opening her eyes slowly, Mikan realized that she had been caught by Loki's strong arms. When she met his icy cold gaze, the hairs on the back of her neck rose up and Mikan refrained herself from shivering. The young woman could sense frustration and what looked like a small inquietude flowing through him. Raising a surprised eyebrow at the latter feeling, Mikan's heart began to pound furiously in her chest as the young woman couldn't help but wonder if it was her who had been the cause of his concern. However, without betraying any of his emotions or thoughts on the matter, Loki posed Mikan gently on her feet, blatantly ignoring Stephen staring at them.
To Mikan's most embarrassment, she had been too caught up in Loki's evergreen eyes to neither realize her friend's presence, nor to notice the fact they had already left Knowhere. Trying in vain to ignore Stephen's small knowing smirk and Loki's slight amusement at her flushed face, Mikan sighed helplessly. Aware that the two men were expecting her to explain herself on her long disappearance, Mikan silently used her Space Distortion Alice to conjure the Orb before them.
"I have managed to get it. I've also had a little talk with Gamora." Mikan paused, taking a small breath. "She thinks that something or someone is keeping Thanos from getting the Stones by himself. Do any of you happen to have a guess on what or who it could be?"
"Odin." affirmed Loki, whose eyes had darkened by the shadow of unpleasant memories. To him, the answer couldn't be more obvious. "Odin Borson is the only being that could intimidate Thanos. As long as he is alive, he won't severely mess with the Nine Realms."
"What do you exactly mean by 'severely mess'?" Stephen asked, annoyed by his lack of information and therefore his constant need to request Loki for explications.
"Well, the Infinity Gauntlet is destroyed, the Mind Stone is on Asgard, you and the Ancient One are the current guardians of the Time Stone, the Tesseract is well-kept in Odin's Vault and in Mikan's hands lays the Orb. All I mean to say is that, for now, we do not have much to worry about. Unless he is granted Death's help, which he probably won't look for, Thanos won't make any move before Odin's death." Loki insisted.
Mikan and Stephen exchanged dubious looks: was Thanos really going to quieten his hunger for power after already two failed attempts to retrieve the Stones?
"If you say so…" whispered Mikan, still unsure.
The young woman used her Space Distortion to store the Orb.
"Now that you have secured the Stone, just as you wished, what do you intend to do with it?" Loki inquired, curious to know what his Little One's plans were.
Mikan tilted her head, thinking for one instant before smiling satisfied. "The Stone is safe within my Space Distortion. I'll secure it with the same enchantments Stephen used to protect the Eye. And, if I were to die, it would forever become unreachable."
Unwittingly, Stephen tensed at Mikan's words. Only a selected few (in other words the Ancient One, Mordo, Christine and himself), knew about Mikan's conditions: her human body was too weak to contain the enormous quantity of Alices within it, the worst being the Corrosion one. The young woman was paying to a high price the enormous powers in her possession and even the techniques the Ancient One had taught her weren't enough to ensure Mikan's dying body a longer lifespan. And, by the way Loki was attentively looking at his younger friend, Stephen knew that the observant man had certainly put two and two together too.
'Humans are so fragile, they die in heartbeat. She is no different to the members of her race, no matter how powerful she is…' Loki thought haughtily, although hoping her condition wouldn't upset his plans for Mikan. 'Either way, it is not something that I cannot take care of.'
Just as if she had guessed the flow of his thoughts, Mikan threw him a small amused smile. Loki couldn't decide whether she was insouciant, stupid or both. She had told him that she was only 24 years old and, from what he had already seen, he wouldn't give her more than two or three more years to live. Had she just accepted this fact? How could she not be worried by such a pitiful fate? Didn't she even crave for more?
"Well, we've secured the Orb and we have no idea of where the Reality Stone is. So, what do we do now?"
"Well, it seems to me that I have fulfilled my part of the bargain. It is now your turn to take care of your part of the deal, Little One." Loki reminded her.
"Which is?"
"Stephen, Loki wants me to translate for him three books that belonged to Allice." Mikan reminded him. This made her realize, with a heavy heart, that he was no longer needed there.
Stephen had come to the same conclusion. If Loki was right, it would leave them some time before Thanos' next move. This meant that he would be way more useful on Earth than in a lost planet of the Andromeda Galaxy, where all he could do was watch Loki and Mikan making eyes at each other.
"Loki, bring me back to Kamar-Taj." Stephen simply ordered. Loki, too pleased to finally get rid of the Sorcerer's undesired presence, chose to ignore Stephen's demanding tone. Loki placed himself at Stephen's height and disappeared with him.
All by herself in the grand mansion, Mikan had finally the opportunity to properly look around the place. She was already familiar with the enormous library and the charmed dining room. She discovered several bedrooms, including the one in which Loki had nursed her. One room stood out as it was the only one she found locked. So, Mikan simply assumed it to be Loki's chambers. No matter how hard she tried, kitchens were nowhere to be found. Resuming her exploration, Mikan quickly went around what seemed to be a training facility, before finally entering a vast greenhouse. The latter held in its center a radiant golden apple tree. Attracted by the vividness of the apples, Mikan advanced slowly toward the tree, taking the time to study the other plants around her. Most of them radiated a special energy and probably concealed several magical properties.
When she finally reached the apple tree, Mikan felt the desperate need to taste one, just as if she had been bewitched. Too short, the Alice had to tiptoe to collect one. Surprised by the image of her reflection on it, the charm broke.
"Mikan, these are Idunn's Golden Apples. They are what grant us our youth, vigor and immortality."
Startled by Loki's velvet voice, Mikan turned around, still holding the apple halfway to her lips. He had changed from his impressive leather outfit and extravagant horned helmet for slightly humbler but nevertheless refined clothes. As he began moving towards her, slowly closing the distance between them, Mikan had all the time to appreciate his elegant, tall, slender figure, his words still playing in her mind, like a sweet temptation. In her hand laid a remedy to her health problems, a possible solace to the constant pain her body was in. 'At the high price of immortality.' Loki arched an elegant eyebrow as he reached her, a small smirk curved his lips, as his predatory eyes roved over her.
"One bite. One bite and all your problems will be gone." he whispered silkily, so close she could sense his breath on her neck. "You have so much potential, Mikan. Think of what you could achieve if you become immortal. Of what we would accomplish together. Join me and you will never be alone again." Loki promised, his voice just above a whisper, sowing temptation in her mind. 'Become mine.'
Mikan's back touched the trunk of the tree and the young woman realized she had unconsciously been stepping back. Loki leaned in closer, trapping Mikan who felt like Eve being lured by the Serpent into eating the Forbidden Fruit. The woman stood rigid, captivated by his gaze, her face flushed with embarrassment and desire, her inner conflict rendering her unreasonable. His cold, elegant fingers caressed her cheek. Mikan closed her eyes, escaping his mesmerizing gaze, breaking the contact. This brought her back to her right mind. A wave of panic filled her heart. She had been so close to committing an irreparable mistake!
Taking Loki's hand in hers, she could feel his surprise, aberration and indignation when she left the golden apple in it. He didn't even try to keep his face composed. His lips parted in surprise and his eyebrows joined up in a frown, he looked at her flabbergasted.
"You used mental manipulation on me!" Mikan accused him furiously.
"I was only helping you make the right choice." Loki countered.
"The right choice?! By imposing upon me a life of immortality and tinkering with my mind!"
"The charms on this tree attract mortals. Somehow, you managed to outside its control. I have only shown you mercy. Do you truly have so little ambitions? What are two or three more years to live in comparison to an immortal life!"
"And what kind of life would that be? Helping you accomplish your schemes? Becoming your queen?" Mikan scoffed.
"This sounds more appealing than what fate has in store for you, don't you think?" Loki replied haughtily.
"If you truly think so, then I feel sorry for you." Mikan fought back, triggering his anger. Moving away from him, she continued: "I am not like you, Loki. I don't crave for power or recognition. Those I have were bestowed to me."
Blocking her way, Loki was now facing her fully. Unfazed by his cold, heartless laugh, Mikan stared back at him, looking at him for the man he truly was.
"Do you even realize how much you could benefit from this, Little One? Are you really going to turn down such an opportunity?"
"Yes." Mikan answered firmly. On these words, the young woman exited the greenhouse quickly and retired to her room, leaving a feeling of indignation and, to his surprise, a great emptiness in Loki's heart.
A.N: Thank you for reading this chapter! Constructive criticism is always welcome, please leave a review!