SHADOW OF DEATH
Chapter 32: Time
Guards and post office patrons made way in reverence as they saw their princess enter the post office. She spoke a few low words to the very concerned clerk who rushed towards them as they entered. He nodded and led them into a large room adjoining the lobby. This room was lined from ceiling to floor with locked grey metal boxes, each labeled with a computerized orange and black Kikanda script. Shuri thanked the clerk who gave her an obsequious nod of his head and profuse words of being "at her service." Shuri tapped away at her handheld computerized tablet again only to shrug and show it to Loki.
"This is it," she said as she pointed to the coordinates on a map of the city. "This is as far as it takes us. Somewhere in this room."
"That's rather anticlimactic," Jane responded with pursed lips. She furrowed her eyebrows in concentration as she walked around the room and stared at the Kikanda labels on each of the boxes. "Is there at least a secret underground crypt or a catacomb or buried treasure or something?"
Shuri snorted and shook her head. "There's an underground parking lot below us. Perhaps you will discover something more mysterious in the boot of an automobile."
Loki considered the room carefully before he gave a disgusted groan. "If I had my magic, I could search the room in a moment. How do we begin to determine what we are supposed to find here? Or do we assume it is random coincidence that the coordinates lead here?"
"You expect me to believe you think this is a coincidence?" Shuri responded with a skeptical glance at the prince.
Loki merely closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose as he concentrated.
"I can tell you it's not a coincidence," Jane said with her eyes closed. She opened them again to stare back into the unremarkable room. "I know, I know. Not a lot of help, but I can tell there's a reason."
Loki considered Jane again before half of his mouth quirked up in a smile. "Lady Jane, we have come to this location to dig under the ground below us," he stated.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. "No, Loki."
His smile crept across his entire mouth then. "We have come to seek something from one of these boxes."
"Yes," she said with a shrug and she began to trace her hands along the mail boxes again, curiosity burning in her fingers. "But don't you dare start asking me about each box to identify which one."
"You do not need magic, you only need Jane," Shuri said with a laugh. "Let us look at these boxes. I will take the east wall. Prince Loki, you search through the west wall. Jane-use my translator on my scanner and take the north wall. We can meet at the southern wall if our search till then gives nothing."
Loki considered Jane again. "Dr. Foster, close your eyes," he said.
"Why?" she asked.
"I wish to test something."
She complied, but slightly reluctantly.
"Feel through this room with your new senses. Can you feel anything unusual? Anything that calls to you?"
She inhaled deeply, but kept her eyes closed and tilted her head to one side. She gave a step in one direction before she stopped and opened her eyes again. Loki scoffed when he saw she now carried Mjolnir in a backpack. She pulled the hammer out and closed her eyes again. She carried the hammer as if she were dousing for water instead of searching through hundreds of post office boxes. Her mouth whispered unspoken words as she walked slowly across the room and turned in a full circle. The blue aura that surrounded her was as slight as a veil of lace until her eyes flew open and she banged her hand against one box so hard, she left an imprint of her hand in its metal face.
"Here," she said. "This one is not the same. There's something…familiar…and very, very powerful."
Shuri read the label and laughed. "Oloki Othino. If an Mkanda clerk received a phone call to make a post office box for a 'Loki Odinson,' that is a close interpretation of how to write it," Shuri said. "I will speak with the mail clerk again."
When the clerk returned following after Shuri, he remained ruffled and nervous in his manner as he scanned the label with a device and tapped through a database.
"This was created by a businessman who returned home to Birnin Zana from New York over a year ago," the mail clerk said. "It has not been opened since. It has received no packages."
"Open it," Shuri commanded after giving Loki a knowing glance. The clerk obeyed the command of the princess and gave a startled gasp when the box held a small parcel within in. The clerk stammered slightly as he checked is database records again.
"It should be empty," he said. "It has received no incoming mail."
The clerk pulled small parcel out of the mail box. It was wrapped in a layer of brown paper and a single scrawled line of direction was upon its square face.
"It isn't possible," the mail clerk said as he shifted nervously on his feet. "There are no stamps, no address, to return address, no international postal seal. We do not allow our post office to be used as a safe deposit box. My apologies for this breach in policy, princess. I guarantee you I will see that the situation is remedied immediately…."
He was prevented from finishing his apology by a wave of Shuri's hand.
"It is for him," Shuri said as she took the package from the unfortunate clerk and read the label for a second time. She handed it to the Asgardian who stared at it dumbstruck. "Loki Odinson. He is the one."
Loki inhaled a startled gasp as he held the package in his hands. He could feel the traces of magic lingering on the outer package, though faint, but it could not compare to the feeling of power emanating from within.
"Let us return to the palace," he said as he thrust the package into a pocket. He felt nervous being so exposed with such an object, even in a location as well-protected as Birnin Zana. In case it was what he hardly dared to hope it was, he would not open it here.
Ooooo
"Wait, you're telling me someone mailed an Infinity Stone in a package and it's just been sitting in a mail box for the past year?" Jane said as she paced Loki's room. Goose trailed in and out of her footsteps, rubbing its orange body against her feet and nearly tripping her as she ignored its quest for her attention. "No. I can tell that's not what happened."
Loki stared at the green and gold relic he held in his hand as if it were speaking to him. He barely heard Jane's musings.
"It couldn't have been mailed," Shuri interjected. "Maybe the creator of the post office box placed it in there to keep it?"
"No," Loki said. "There are traces of magic on the casing. Whoever the soothsayer is who sent me those coordinates also must be adept at magic. It is a wonder for such spells take more years to perfect than even three Midgardian life spans would allow."
"You are certain the prophet is human?" Shuri asked.
Loki shook his head to show his uncertainty. "If the prophet is not of Midgard, then their skills at concealment rival even mine and we should be wary."
Goose sniffed at the relic in Loki's hand and licked it before turning a curious gaze onto the Asgardian. Loki pushed the flerkin aside with his elbow. Goose gave a hiss and such an expression of affronted dignity that Shuri stifled a giggle. Loki continued to analyze each swirl and crevice on the casing of the stone and he pursed his lips as he considered it.
"It's been here, on Earth, this whole time," Loki finally said in tone of wonderment. "It is little wonder Thanos was so keen on acquiring this little realm. Who would be so foolish as to keep two Infinity Stones within the same realm…and then leave it so defenseless?"
Jane rolled her eyes and grumbled something about "patronizing Asgardians."
"I believe you are correct again, Lady Jane," Loki remarked in a tone that hid whether he meant to speak out loud or not. "The metal casing on this stone is made of Uru."
"What does that mean?" Jane asked.
"Its casing was forged on Asgard," he said. His gaze left the strange necklace and met hers again. "I cannot help but assume that both the Tesseract and this Eye of Agamotto were hidden on Earth by Asgard."
She considered this carefully and then nodded. His sharp intake of breath was his only response as he placed his fist under his chin and considered the relic again.
"I am beginning to wonder if there are more reasons to Asgard's keen desire to prevent the other realms from meddling with Midgard than I originally was told," he said.
"You think Asgard wanted to do more than, what did you call it? Protect nature?" Jane said.
He nodded. "If Asgard wished to hide two Infinity Stones on Midgard, the short-lived, magically inept peoples of Midgard could hardly recognize their value or wield them to the same level of destruction as the peoples of the other realms," he mused. "If unused or rarely used, their power would remain muted and would not act as a beacon to herald their location to the other realms. If none from the other realms were permitted entry to these lands, these relics would remain safer still."
"What Stone is this?" Shuri asked.
"Time," Loki responded. "The tales say this one has the power to change time."
Both women's mouths fell open and they turned to face the Asgardian prince.
"Are you telling me that this Stone could be used to see into the past or the future or to change the past and the future?" Jane asked. She ceased her pacing to sit by Loki on the couch where he remained unmoving for a few moments longer, uncharacteristically unraveled by what he held in his hands.
"Yes, Jane," he said and his eyes remained on the elliptical gem. "It can do it all."
She inhaled loudly and dropped her eyes to stare at the small relic in his hands warily.
"Can it be destroyed the same way as the other one?" she asked.
"In theory, yes."
"Then what are we waiting for?"
"It's not that simple…," he began. "Don't you understand? This changes everything!"
"Exactly-this changes everything! We don't want to change everything, do we?" she answered.
"But I can fix it," Loki responded in an unusually contrite voice. He earnestly leaned forward and took her hand as he spoke. "I can change everything. This is my opportunity to makes things right."
"How so?"
"Jane, I could bring Thor back. I could make it so New York never happened and none died. I could turn back the effects of The Fall and put Midgard back together, as if nothing ever changed. I could make it so I never sent the Destroyer to New Mexico or turned the Bifrost onto Jotunheim, never fell into the Void, never planted the idea to defy the All-Father's commands into Thor's ear. Don't you see? This is our answer to fixing everything!" He said and his voice grew in excitement as he spoke.
She startled at that before her brow furrowed and she replied only with, "No, Loki."
His eyes grew large with anger and he pulled away from her as if she had stung him. Jane shook her head and decided to explain further after she carefully considered her next words. "If you changed it all, you do not necessarily know it would be better. What if it actually made things worse?"
"Then I could go back and fix it again. Don't you see? I can go into the future or into the past and make sure everything comes out as it ought. With this small trifle, I could search out every possible future to ensure the best possible outcome is achieved and I could change all the unnecessary mistakes of the past. Jane, you could go back to being as you were!"
"And allow you to remake the world into the image of Loki…in the image of Jane?"
"Is that such a bad thing?"
"Yes!"
"Why?" he asked, perplexed.
"Can't you see? It never ends! There's always something to change, to shift, to adjust until soon you are like Thanos-trying to restore the universe to your own perceived idea of what it ought to be according to yourself."
"I am not Thanos," Loki spat back angrily.
"Then don't strive to behave like him! Don't you see? This is your chance to prove you are not him-to willingly let go off the chance to be in control. Maybe that's what the Stones are for-elements that man was never meant to control because it does something to you when you try. When you try to control them, it twists something in you….and it ends up controlling you….and makes you into something you were never meant to be."
"Is there no way that Loki can do right? Am I doomed to only bring evil and not good?" he said in a distraught, simmering exasperation. "Jane, you castigated me after New York and now again as I seek to remedy it. Asgard sought to avoid direct war, but when Loki makes that happen, I am seen a villain. Don't you see? Thor would come back. The hero, the true king, your beloved, could come and save the day for you and for all Midgard as he was always meant to. Would not that be a more glorious, fitting end?"
"Maybe not," Jane said quietly as she knelt to force him to meet her gaze. "What if Thor isn't the one we need this time? What if all this is so much bigger and grander and more complicated than any one of us can comprehend-even you with your crazy, alien brain and me with my supernaturally altered one."
Loki closed his eyes to avoid her piercing, knowing stare and fought to maintain his stoicism, at least externally. However, internally, losing the ability to end all this, to bring Thor back, it was as if he had to let his brother die again-and at his own hand again-and he could not bear it. He opened his eyes when he felt a pressure on his lap and he saw Goose curling up on him with a resounding purr.
Shuri, who had remained silent during their exchanged, cleared her throat. "Prince, if this Stone has the power to change the past, could it be used to bring back the other Stones?"
Loki's face shot up in surprise as he considered her words.
"Take it," he whispered to Jane as he kept his gaze fixed on Shuri. He closed his eyes again. "I dare not hold onto it for a moment longer. Take it and destroy it in the same manner you destroyed the Mind Stone. Do so without a moment's delay."
He thrust the relic into her hands and did not speak again. Shuri and Jane, seeing his need for solitude, left him with none but Goose for comfort as they made their way out of the palace and into the gardens.
The whole palace felt it when the power of Mjolnir collided with that of the Time Stone and pulverized the relic into an ocean of miniscule green shards in the grass outside the palace. As Loki felt the air change around him with the demise of yet another stone, he buried his head in his hands and tried to think of anything else-anything except his momentary and now extinguished hope of seeing his brother again, of gaining the forgiveness of his mother or any chance of gaining acceptance in Asgard again.
Ooooooooooooo
Author's note: so I had like five different ways that the Ancient One hid the Time Stone. All were much more epic. However, I liked this decidedly less epic version better. :)Thanks so much for reading and reviewing. Really- you keep this story going.