A/N: Another one that took forever to edit. Thankfully, it's done. Only two more chapters to go from here. I hope you all enjoy!
Loki Laufeyson
He isn't prepared for the cold. It's something he should remember from last time, but after so many months of Midgard's tepid yet acceptably pleasant weather, Thanos's desolate rock is especially harsh on the senses. The first steps he takes are wobbly, his head floating off his shoulders. It's two more before his stomach stops flipping, and three before he throws up. The spew hits the rocks and is gone in an instant, leaving behind polished sediment.
Loki wipes his lips and cleans them, too. An illusion hides what his magic can't heal and gives off the scent of lavender. He dons his battle armor, the horned helmet heavy on his head like it's never been before. There's no one around, but he wants to be ready.
He raises a hand and then remembers he has no staff. That's back on Midgard to be dissected and studied far from Thanos's reach. One day, they might figure out how to use it. Perhaps Jane will lead the charge. He imagines her on a hilltop, brilliant in golden armor, raising a sword to the sun and rallying an army into action. Charging forward on horseback, belting out a war cry as she topples her foes.
It makes him happy.
It makes him sad.
It feels like only seconds since he left Midgard, but time is its own beast here. It could be hours, days, months even since he last set foot on earthen soil. Each breath he takes could be a thousand of hers. Every second a year of her life.
He may be a name to her by now. Nothing but a name, and not even one worth remembering.
Footsteps don't make him jump, but they come annoyingly close. Two creatures, vaguely humanoid in shape but too grotesque to be anything other than monstrous. Six black eyes roll around their flattened heads. Insect-like tendrils on their faces grope for glowing green mush. They speak in grunts and groans, sometimes shrieking when they're especially excited. Loki doesn't know them off the top of his head, but he does recall those sounds, especially the shrieks, from his first few days on this rock when the Other and his minions 'made him pliable.'
Loki approaches from behind. Magic blends him in with the stars, but it's a wasted effort. They're far too deep in their conversation to hear him coming. Shadows paint the rock face, twenty feet tall before one of them finally looks up and groans to his partner. By now, the shadow has gained four arms and six legs. An elongated head snaps razor-sharp teeth at them. A tongue darts in circles, sniffing the air.
The guards scramble, firing their weapons at the rock face and screaming for backup. Insect-like guards scuttle over in formation, flanked by chitauri soldiers called from the front lines. That or they grew tired of waiting and craved bloodshed wherever they could find it. For that, Loki is happy to oblige.
Ten more shadows join the first. They come in all forms, some with a thousand heads and others with none. Some wield swords and some have tentacles. One has a saber of light from one of the movies Jane made him watch. They make no sound, but the frenzied guards and soldiers are chatty enough. If one screams, another will fire on him. Two chitauri bump into each other from behind and begin brawling. By the time they recognize each other, both are missing several limbs.
It shouldn't be this easy to rile them up. Perhaps they feel the strain of the months in their way. Loki certainly isn't complaining.
The fun continues until a tall silhouette takes shape atop a mountain. Its hooded face is hidden in darkness and by a mask, but when his fingers part and he raises his hand, Loki knows that visage all too well. It stops his blood, scrapes his skin, and twists his bones. It hasn't been so long since he felt that itch in his skull. Every day, it's there. Held at bay like a common housefly but never truly gone. Over time, Loki learned to ignore it. Though always there, the itch is just that. An itch. It becomes part of him, like an old battle scar or an aging ache. Nothing to concern himself with when he could be taking Jane on a walk in the woods or for a swim in a private lagoon.
His arrogance throbs in his chest and the pain is anything but sweet.
As soon as The Other arrives, the shadows vanish. Loki banishes them himself. They're not needed anymore. The last guards standing blink whatever eyes they have and swing at the air when someone moves too quickly. It takes time for them to realize the threat is gone. Even more to understand it never existed. It takes The Other descending the cliffside, his otherworldly presence crushing them into submission.
"What is this?" He growls, rounding on the ruined faction. "What foolishness have I seen?"
That's his cue. Loki steps out. "If I may, old friend, 'foolishness' is rather belittling. I would call it 'showmanship.'" He grins in the face of the monster. Against his mounting fear. "I always aim to please."
The Other looks at him, his fingers flexing. He glides across the barren field, close enough that Loki can see his face. He is not smiling. "Where is it?"
Loki tilts his head to one side like a child. "Where is what?"
The Other's body ripples with anger, just barely contained within his usual untarnished poise. "Asgardian, have you forgotten our contract?"
"I don't think so," Loki says, rubbing his chin, "though I confess my memory has been fuzzy as of late. Why don't you remind me?"
A hand swipes at his throat, nails grazing but not quite breaking the skin. Loki waits for The Other to try again, or else wrap those fingers around his neck and do what he's been aching to do since Loki first talked back to his master.
"An army for the tesseract," The Other growls, spitting putrid breath in Loki's face. "You have what you are owed. Now you must fulfill your end of the bargain."
In the presence of their commanding officer, the guards have pulled themselves together and surround Loki. Spearheads and blasters fix on his head, ready to eviscerate him at The Other's word. Loki glances at them, still smiling.
"Of course," he says, reaching into his pocket. "You have been most accommodating, and I do owe you this."
He reveals a cube of luminescent blue. It shines on the rocks, a gross imitation of life amid the bareness. The guards' gasp, ecstasy mingling with apprehension. They all know what this is. The power Loki holds in his hands like a paperweight eclipses every meager second of their lives. Insignificance is a heavy burden to bear, but they all must face.
Even The Other stares in wonder, like he never expected the plan to work out. It would be understandable. Loki is not angry. He is a self-serving creature by nature and it never occurs to beings like The Other that doing for others can often do for oneself. Slowly, he unsticks his hands. Reaches for the tesseract. Loki flattens his palms, free of any resistance. The tesseract floats across them, over The Other's pallid skin, turning on a corner like a spinning top.
Unseen eyes gaze in wonderment, speechless before this unspeakable power. The Other hisses, first in approval, then in surprise when the cube flashes white. It blinks in and out, slow at first, then faster. The tesseract swells into a ball and bursts at the seams, earning a shout from The Other as he snatches back his hand. The shattered pieces hit the ground, losing their ethereal light and smoothing jagged edges. What was once the tesseract is now a pile of pebbles.
Loki grins. "Oh, dear. I must have left the real one in my other coat. I suppose you just can't have it."
He expects the hand around his neck, the icy touch worse than any Jotun, and the blade-like nails puncturing his skin. What Loki doesn't expect is the rancid, rotting stench pouring from The Other's maw.
"You are a fool, Asgardian," The Other hisses over his guards' cries for blood. "To think you could play such a trick."
"It worked, didn't it?" Loki croaks.
The Other squeezes tighter.
"You have failed." He throws Loki against the rocks. Though The Other is hardly the strongest one here, the impact still winds him. He starts to stand, but a single finger keeps him down. "You mock us, you spit on our generosity, and now you will suffer."
Fire seeps into Loki's skull, frying his brain and melting his eyes from within. It travels down his neck into his heart. From there it spreads through his blood, turning it into sludge that clogs his veins. It slices through flesh to reach the bones. They break and heal a hundred times. Snapping in half. Shattering. Twisting. Shifting.
Loki can't scream. He can't make a single sound. He's back to those first few days when he was still a pampered prince who thought he knew the universe. The first day he realized how truly ignorant he was, was the first time it didn't hurt.
Now, he laughs. "You… think you know pain?" He lifts his head, knowing there are tears in his eyes and proud of every one of them. "I know pain."
The Other grits bloodstained teeth. "You will…"
And then the fire ignites.
"Erik, wake up. Come on." Jane shakes her oldest friend, throwing off his blanket and ripping the pillow out from under his head. "Erik! Can you hear me?"
Erik grumbles and rolls over in the grass. His snores are cut short by her manhandling. The whites of his eyes show through half-open lids, but when she stops they close again.
"Come on," Jane growls, shaking him harder. "Wake up, Erik!"
"Mmm… five more minutes, Mom."
"No, Erik, it's Jane. I need you to wake up. Right now!"
"Huh… Jane?" He opens his eyes fully and they're the same warm green that she remembers. "What's going on? I don't... oh, my head."
He looks and smells awful, like he's been rooting through a garbage can. Jane doesn't comment, just helps him to his feet and then rushes to the generator.
"We have to get this thing in the truck. Let's go."
She tries to lift the main unit, groaning with effort. It's not impossible to lift, but it's too much for her alone. Instead of helping, Erik stumbles through the grass, taking in his surroundings with utter bafflement. It couldn't be said what shocked him more, the forest, the tunnel full of unconscious men, Jane rooting through a toolbox for the right size socket wrench, or the beautiful woman in white, hogtied in front of a tree.
"Is she tied up?" Erik asks as the woman spits unintelligible curses at him through a dirty cloth.
"I found some rope in the tunnel," Jane says.
"That is not what I asked."
"We don't have time for this, Erik." Jane drags the tesseract, base and all, to the back of the truck. "We have to move quickly, now hand me those wires."
"Wait a minute." Erik steps over the wires to grab Jane's hands. She struggles, but he holds her still. "Stop it. Jane, just- just tell me what's going on!"
"There's no time!" Jane shouts. "If you must know, we've been stuck in a time loop for five months, and we have to rescue Loki from a guy who wants to destroy half the universe."
Erik blanches. "Did you say Loki?"
The woman, for whatever reason, makes a sound of satisfaction. Almost a laugh. Jane pulls away from Erik, kicks her in the stomach, and comes back. "I keep telling you, there's no time to explain. You just have to trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong?"
"Please don't make me answer that." Erik wipes a bead of sweat from his brow. Each breath comes with a hitch. Even given how unkempt he is, he's never looked so old. "Last thing I remember, I was at the New Mexico base investigating the tesseract. Then this… this man appeared. Loki, he… attacked us. Did something to me, I…"
The pain in his head returns full force. It might not have gone anywhere at all. He turns away like he doesn't want her to see, but Jane takes his hand. She squeezes it, forgetting for a moment the hurry they're in and giving her old friend the comfort he needs.
"Things have changed," she says. "He's changed. I know it's hard to believe, but I've spent the last hundred and forty days with him and he's not the man he used to be."
"You can't know that for sure, Jane," Erik says.
When Jane answers, she doesn't look at Erik. Instead, her eyes are on the woman. "Trust me. I know."
The two of them glare at each other, the woman's milk-white eyes ablaze with rage. After a few seconds, she blinks first, and Jane rushes back to the device.
"Hey!" Erik cries as she takes a screwdriver to a random plate. "Do you know what you're doing?"
"No, but we have to do it fast." Jane removes the screw and separates one part of the device from the other. She loads the smaller part into the truck. "God, why can't this thing be portable?"
When she goes back for the rest, Erik is already there, grumbling a mixture of English and Swedish.
"Don't do that. The truck has a loading ramp," he says, swatting her hands away and then staring blankly. "I don't know why I know that."
"It's fine. You're driving anyway." Jane tosses him the keys.
"I am?" He almost misses but manages to catch them.
"I need to stay in the back with Sigyn. Make sure she doesn't try anything."
"Sigyn?" Erik furrows his brow. "The wife of Loki?"
The woman lurches forward, howling wordlessly at Erik. Jane kicks her again. "Shut up!"
"I am so confused," Erik mumbles, wiping his dry forehead.
"Just help me load this last piece. I'll explain everything on the way."
Jane rushes back to the partially dismantled device and gets ready to push. Seeing no options, and with no other way out of here anyway, Erik lumbers into the truck. He turns on the ignition and lets his hands take the lead. The ramp comes down and he gets out to help Jane slide the device off the grass onto the platform. Even with the two of them, it's no easy feat. Sigyn's screeching doesn't help, but they learn to ignore it.
"You still haven't told me where we're going," Erik says. He's pretty sure they're still in the US. Maybe Canada. It can't be that far from the Mojave Desert, right?
"Manhattan," Jane says. "It's only a few hours away."
"Manhattan?"
"I said I'll explain." They get the device inside and Jane stalks back to Sigyn, ripping her off the ground. "If we're going to do this, we need a lot more power. Stark Tower will work. It always has before."
"But- But-" Erik motions at the other men, still dozing.
"They'll be fine. Let's go."
"Okay," Erik mumbles, climbing into the driver's seat in a daze. "Sounds good. Just tell me you don't have any more alien friends to pick up."
"I wish," Jane says, throwing Sigyn violently into the back seat.
Once everything is secured, they start driving. The GPS already has Stark Tower's address loaded, and the cool robot voice leads Erik on a northbound road for twenty-two miles.
As they drive, Erik takes extra care not to crash. He just can't stop watching her in the rearview mirror. "Look, Jane, whatever this is…" He stops, rephrasing it. "You're just one person. To do this, to save him… you can't do it alone."
"You'd be surprised what one person can do," Jane says, watching as Sigyn petulantly picks at a hole in the upholstery. "Besides, I won't be alone. I've got some solid backup."
"Try and think, Agent Romanov. The day you interrogated Loki, how was his demeanor? Did he seem nervous at all? Unsure?"
Romanov's fingers curl together, her plump lips puckering. Though she doesn't answer at first, Tony doesn't dare believe she'd shy before Cap's questioning.
"He seemed… very in control," she says. "Very calm and collected. He spoke to me like he was equal to, if not more than, me. Even when he was threatening me, I didn't detect a hint of regret. He was completely assured of what he was doing."
Thor looks downright miserable hearing that, and it's not hard to feel bad for him. Granted, Tony's never had a brother (and he's pretty glad about that now), but if it had been Rhodey out there destroying things and killing people, he'd feel the same way for sure. To show his sympathy, Tony offers him a shot of vodka. It's stronger and a thousand times more satisfying than the wine. Thor refuses.
"There is nothing you can think of that he said or did that could explain this?" Cap asks Romanov.
She lowers her eyes. "I've gone over-"
A sharp beep cuts her off.
"Sir, there seems to be an unauthorized visitor accessing the elevators."
Everyone looks up, even Thor. Tony rolls his eyes. "Again? That's twice in three days. That's it, I'm putting in a nanny cam."
No one laughs at his joke. Killjoys.
"Is it Nick?" Romanov asks.
"Nah, can't be," says Barton. "He'll be at headquarters all day."
"I do not recognize them, and their names are not on file," JARVIS says.
"Wait, there's more than one?" Cap asks.
"There are at least three," JARVIS says. Down below them is the steady, muted hum of machinery as the elevator rises. "One of them appears to be restrained."
Cap looks at Tony, eyes hardening. "You don't think…"
Tony snorts. "Turning himself in? Saves us a few tax hikes, doesn't it?"
This time, he's not laughing either. Everyone is on their feet, drawn to the silver door like fish on a lure. Tony takes the lead with Cap close behind. No one draws a weapon or takes a stance. They wait until the moment when the door slides open, and a woman in a dirty green coat marches into the lounge like a bat out of hell.
"Thor! We need to save Loki now," she says.
It's a wonderful menagerie of reactions. Bruce is blinking, Cap is gawking, Romanov has turned into a fish and keeps opening and closing her mouth. The look on Thor's face… well, given the situation, it would be rude to comment. Suffice to say, he didn't expect this.
"Jane," he gasps, stepping forward. "What are you doing here?"
"I drove," she says. "Look, we don't have much time. The day resets at midnight and we'll need a few hours to set up the device."
"Device?" Tony says.
"To activate the tesseract," Jane says.
"You have the tesseract?" Romanov shouts.
"It's in the truck. Loki used it to get to Thanos's planet and give himself up. That's where we have to go."
"Wait, who is Thanos?" Bruce asks.
"The guy who sent Loki to get the tesseract," Jane says, becoming agitated. "He's a psychotic monster who wants to use the infinity stones to destroy the universe. Loki is on his planet right now and we have to save him before it's too late!"
Everyone stares at her. Everyone blinks. The elevator is still open and a haggard man with an awful five o'clock shadow is leaning on the sensors.
"Trust me, guys," he says, "she's spent the last few hours explaining it to me and I don't get it either."
Ignoring him and everyone else, Jane rounds on Thor. Her face is red and not just from excitement. She's crying. "Thor, I know this makes no sense and I know it sounds crazy, but this is real. I swear to you. Loki is in trouble and I need your help. Please."
Thor can't speak. He seems torn between hugging her and pushing her away. Tony gets it. Now that he's gotten a good look at her, this is the same Jane Foster in all those incident reports he wasn't supposed to have read. They had a whirlwind three-day romance and haven't seen each other since. Now she pops up out of nowhere recruiting a rescue team for the guy they're waiting to beat up, who is also his brother. Not to mention all the talk about genocidal aliens destroying the universe.
There isn't enough booze in the world for that one.
"Jane," Thor says like he's just remembered her name and where they are, "I… I don't understand. Loki… did he do something to you?"
He pulls her close, searching her eyes for traces of blue. Jane pounds on his chest, her very brown eyes flashing with anger. "I am not possessed. Loki and I have known each other for months now. The only thing he's done is eat too many Reese's."
"Reese's…" Tony marvels, shaking his head. "Imagine that."
"Is that really your only takeaway from all this?" Barton grumbles.
"Well, forgive me, Katniss, I'm just more of a Snickers man myself."
"Wait a minute," Romanov says. "Did you say you've known him for months?"
Jane nods. "Yes, but it's not what you think. Loki and I have been caught in a time loop for the last few months…well, technically everyone is, we're just the only ones who know about it. This day has repeated one hundred and sixty-one times and I don't know for how much longer."
Everyone stares at her. Not that they weren't already doing that, but now Jane is pretty much the center of the universe. Hopefully, this isn't all just some elaborate distraction so Loki can start the invasion unopposed. Tony hasn't heard anything explode yet, so probably not. Which means she's serious.
"You're… claiming we're in a time loop," Bruce says, staring at her over his glasses.
"Yes," Jane says.
"And you and Loki are the only ones aware of it," says Barton.
"Yup."
They trade glances, daring each other to speak. Nobody wants to, so Cap steps in. "I'm sorry, Ms…"
"Dr. Foster," Jane says.
"Sorry, Dr. Foster. You can't expect us to believe that."
"Maybe not you," Jane says, turning to Thor, "but you know I wouldn't make this up. And even if you didn't, you know Sigyn."
"Sigyn?" Thor starts.
"Yeah, you know, Loki's ex? She's the one behind this. She created the time loop to torture Loki and get him to turn himself over to Thanos. It was all some fucked up petty revenge plot."
"Jane, that's absurd," Thor says, laughing nervously. "Sigyn hasn't been seen or heard from in centuries. Even if she had, she couldn't possibly possess that kind of power."
As Thor speaks, Jane walks to the elevator. Her friend, whom Tony now recognizes as what's left of Dr. Erik Selvig has kept it open with his body. He moves to let Jane through. Without a word, she pulls a tied-up woman all in white out of the elevator and shoves her down on the floor. Thor's eyes and jaw hit the ground.
"Sigyn?"
"What the hell is going on here?" Barton whispers to Romanov.
The woman says something through her gag. It doesn't sound like English and probably isn't polite. Jane finds an empty chair and drags it over, shoving the woman down. She fits her in an uncomfortable sitting position, checking her bonds before ripping off the gag.
"Little witch." She spits out stale air, then eyes Thor lazily. "Oh hello, Prince, how good to see you again."
"I… but… why…"
Jane forces Sigyn to look at her. "All right, you'd better start talking. Where is Loki?"
"What makes you think I know?" Sigyn growls.
"Well, you seem to think you know everything, so why not?"
Jane squeezes her jaw with all her might. That Sigyn doesn't blink makes her squeeze harder.
"It must hurt," Sigyn hisses, grinning like a cat, "to hold such scant power over me and know even that is an illusion. That the moment I have my power back, you will be finished, and it'll be by my goodwill if you come out of it with your mind."
Jane grits her teeth and Tony senses the oncoming brawl. There's something off about this Sigyn woman. He's felt it from the start. She looks like a mouse but feels like a lion. Even with her tied up, he doesn't think Jane will win this fight. So he grabs her around the waist, pulling her back. She's light, but not weak and fights with all she has.
"Let's not be hasty," Tony grunts, as Jane's elbow smashes his cheek. "We still have a few more gaps to fill in."
"You're too late," Sigyn laughs. Her hair and dress are a mess and she looks positively feral. "He's in the titan's hands now, and he will be torn down to the basest molecule, made into the nothing he always was. Whatever remains of him when it's over will be carried away with the wind like dust. You should thank me." She flashes blank but crazy eyes at the team. "You all should be grateful that I have squashed this threat and saved your planet from tyranny. If only you could understand the sacrifices I have made."
"Oh yeah, you're a saint." Jane snaps, sliding inch by inch out of Tony's grip. He should probably hold her tighter, or maybe drag her out of the room, but as small and cute as she is, he has a feeling this kitten has claws. "You want to monologue, go ahead. I'll get what I need out of you, and then we'll see how heroic you really are."
Sigyn snorts. "Strong words, mortal, but we both know you can't hope to back them up. I was moving mountains before your people could walk. I've seen things your feeble mind can barely fathom. You don't scare me, Jane Foster. You never will."
"Maybe not…" a deep voice says. Sigyn's chair flies back. She's at a ninety-degree angle staring up at cold blue eyes and a sky turning gray with storm clouds. "But what about me?"
"Oh…" Sigyn gasps as thunder rolls.
"Thor, calm down!" Cap commands. "We don't know what's going on here yet."
"We do," Thor growls, leaning over Sigyn until their noses touch. "You do not know her as I do. If my brother is in peril, there is no one else in all the nine who could be behind it."
"I find that hard to believe," Clint mumbles.
"Even if that's true, we need to think about this rationally," Cap says. "This might be a trick."
"Must be hard being the reasonable one for a change, huh?" Tony says, earning a scowl. "What, you think I haven't read your files? That was a lot of motorcycle damage the army was paying for."
"There's no time for this," Jane snaps, freeing herself at last and rushing back into the fray. She squeezes in next to Thor, poking a finger in Sigyn's face. "Start talking now or your ass is roasted, hear me?"
"As she says," Thor says, pushing Mjolnir into her neck, "confess."
"Rot in Helheim!"
Lightning strikes. Cracks appear in the windows and a few bottles in the bar shatter. Fortunately, it's none of the good stuff. Unfortunately, Tony's going to have to replace that carpet now.
"Thor!" Cap tries again. "If you don't stop right now-"
"You'll what?" Thor snaps, whirling around. "You saw what happened on the helicarrier, Captain. Loki was beyond reason. I looked him in the eye and there wasn't a shred of doubt. No hesitation at all. And yet now, on the day of his triumph, he is nowhere to be found? This is wrong, Captain. You know it as well as I do. All of you."
He casts them all accusing stares. Jane can't help as she's too busy melting Sigyn's face off. The hammer remains on her chest, not enough to choke her but keeping her in considerable pain.
"Okay, you're right. It is weird," Romanov says, clutching Barton's hand. "That doesn't make any of this true."
"She's right," says Bruce. "If we are caught in a time loop, that means everything resets at the start of each new day, including all of our memories. There'd be no way to prove it."
The nice thing about Bruce, Tony has come to find, is that his logic and calm rationale are great for bouncing around ideas. Jane must be feeling that now because her eyes are as bright as lightbulbs.
Jane Foster
The time has come. Mali was right.
Jane still doesn't know yet what about, but she feels it in the depths of her soul as strongly as she knows her name. While Thor keeps Sigyn in place and the rest of the team debate whether or not she's insane, Jane slips her hand into her pocket. She takes out the purple vial. Flecks of white bounce inside the fogged glass, creating ripples. Each one flashes across Jane's vision, and every time, she sees the world inside.
"Woah, glowing," Tony Stark shouts, using all his vast intellect to make this observation. "Now we have glowing stuff. You wanna tell me what that is?"
Jane shakes her head. "No. I'd rather show you."
She doesn't know what to do, so she goes with her gut. She slams the vial to the ground. It shatters not into shards, but dust. Sparkles. They burst into a violet cloud that swirls and spins around their heads. Captain America ducks to avoid it. Black Widow makes a fist like she wants to punch it. For a split second, Dr. Banner's eyes are neither brown nor green as the mist dizzies him.
After a few loops, it slams into the eastern wall. A line forms down the middle and parts like a zipper. The window grows, looking into a featureless void. Black lines slice through the light like knives. They start solid, then break into hundreds of pieces. Some stretch, some shrink, some grow extra appendages. They sharpen into focus, like microbes under a microscope.
Like words.
'To the Avengers,' the top line reads.
"What the hell?" Tony mutters, but he can't say much more.
'Please do not panic. Do not delete or in any way tamper with this message. Read it to the end. It is vital for the safety of the universe that you understand what I am about to tell you.
'You are currently in a continuous, unchanging time loop. As of today, you have lived this day, May 4th in the Terran year 2012 AD, one hundred and sixty-one times.'
"No…" Black Widow whispers, her fingers soft and limp.
'The time loop was created by Chronos, the master of time, at the behest of his wife, the Lady Sigyn. Thor will remember her as Loki's old flame who left Asgard years ago following a false accusation that led to legitimate mass murder.'
Thor exhales through his nose. As he reads, he presses Mjolnir deeper into Sigyn's throat, making her gag.
'She is doing this to get revenge on Loki. He is one of only two who remains aware of the passage of time. The other is Dr. Jane Foster. Sigyn chose her to give Loki a companion and someone to keep him sane for the time being. Her ultimate goal, however, is to break Loki down and make him suffer for the betterment of herself and Earth. For that reason, and that reason alone, you are all trapped.'
"Jesus Christ…" Steve Rogers breathes.
'Loki and Dr. Foster are working together to find a solution. I have no doubt they will succeed in breaking the loop, but they will need your help. That is why I'm writing you this letter. I will deliver it shortly before the start of each new cycle, as that is the time when Sigyn will be least likely to be watching you. For these brief moments, you share in Loki and Jane's awareness. I'm sorry to say it cannot last. If I could preserve this moment in time, I would, but my power is limited and my time grows short.
'Please read this again if you have time. Burn these words into your soul until the light fades from your eyes once more. I know how this may sound. I know you might not believe me, but when the time comes, you will see the face of your true enemy and you will know her. Tell Jane that she was right.
Good luck, my friends.
Mali'
Jane finishes the letter at a snail's pace. She's barely skimming by the end. It feels wrong not to give Mali's words the full attention they deserve when she risked so much to deliver them. If they ever see each other again, she'll apologize. For now, the biggest matter of concern is not her letter or all the shocking things Jane already knows. It's the fact that Tony Stark- the Tony Stark- is hunched over in a chair, white as death and sweating like a pig.
It's Dr. Bruce Banner looking ready to throw up.
It's Black Widow and Hawkeye clutching each other, Black Widow's hand clasped firmly over her mouth, and tears flowing.
"Are you guys okay?" Jane asks, reaching tentatively for the shell shocked Captain America. He shies away, refusing to look at her. This could be it for her. Maybe they'll decide to stop playing nice and just lock her up. "Look, everything in that letter is true. I can-"
"No," Captain Rogers says, one hand weakly raised. "It-It's okay. We…" He can't finish. He turns to Tony. "You feel that, right?"
Tony shakes his head. "I shouldn't. It's ridiculous."
"It's real," Thor mutters, clutching the hammer so tightly it's a wonder the handle doesn't snap. "It's all real…"
Jane's heart explodes. "Do you guys remember? You do, don't you?"
"Not quite," Thor says. "It's more… a knowing. This letter is not new. It's something else. Something familiar, even though it shouldn't be."
"Deja vu," Tony says, wiping his brow. "We call it Deja vu."
"Never had it like this before," Dr. Banner says.
"It's never been so real," Barton replies into Black Widow's hair. "But fuck, it is real. I've seen this before. Every sentence… I knew what it said before I read it. It can't- it just-"
"It can't be anything else," Black Widow finishes for him.
It's hard to hear them. Jane tries, but she's engrossed in the final few lines of Mali's letter. Reading them again and again. Taking in their meaning.
"Subconscious resistance," she mutters, not with happiness, but a grim satisfaction. "I was right…"
Tony moves with a zombie-like gait to the bar. When he gets there, he turns around, painfully sober. He goes for the window next, staring out at the launch bay. "I think… I knew him. Did we talk? He…" Tony chuckles. "He wasn't so bad…"
Jane walks up to him, not sure how close she should get. After all the glowing headlines and unflattering photos in trashy tabloids, she wasn't sure how her first encounter with Tony Stark would go. That confident, almost narcissistic man she used to expect has never seemed farther away. Underneath is something soft, deceptively sweet in ways most people can't ever see.
Her favorite kind of person.
"Heroes fight for the world," she says, "and they fight for their friends. You want to do both?"
He looks at her like she's something far beyond his comprehension. In a way, she probably is. Then he grins like no one in the press has ever seen. "You know what? I think I do."
Jane could've hugged him, but since that would be awkward with so many incredulous eyes on them, she settles for a friendly handshake. She jerks her hand a little too hard and then claps his together.
"Okay, woke up this morning thinking I'd be taking down one psycho, now I'm saving him from another. Works for me." He walks back to the bar. "Now, how do we find this Thanos guy?"
"We have the generator downstairs in the truck. Loki and Erik used it to house the tesseract and channel its power to open a portal in spacetime."
"So all we have to do is turn it back on and we're good?" Tony shrugs. "Easier than I thought. Now, second order of business. Do we need to bring snacks?"
"Hold it," Agent Barton snaps, his face quickly regaining color. "When exactly did we decide we're rescuing Loki?"
"Technically, we didn't decide anything," Tony replies. "I did. No one's stopping you from getting a nice massage at the spa downstairs."
"Don't patronize me," Agent Barton growls.
Tony puts up his hands. "I wasn't. Was I?"
Jane and Captain Rogers both shrug.
"We would be honored to have your assistance, Stark," Thor says. He straightens up and Sigyn coughs as Mjolnir shifts position. "The rest of you, I expect nothing from. Though your help would be appreciated, I understand that Loki's deeds may be too great for you to overlook. Should you choose to stay, my regard for you will not change. Please, do not feel obligated."
Jane wants to scream. Yes, yes you are obligated. We need you. We can't do this alone.
She doesn't because Thor is right. They don't understand what she and Loki have been through. All the subconscious conditioning in the world can't mimic the pain of total stagnation. All they know is the man from yesterday. The one who killed their friends without a thought and called himself a god among men. For all the anger crashing through her like waves on a beach, there's a somber reality buried under the sand. Some things are just unforgivable.
Dr. Banner shakes his head. There's no telling what that means. Jane doesn't know if she should speak, afraid she might abandon all traces of decorum and just start crying and begging. Meanwhile, Black Widow has Hawkeye wrapped in an embrace, whispering to him in Russian. It sounds like singing. He takes a deep breath and appears to calm down. Steve watches his team process everything before taking a breath.
"So… Thanos," he says to Jane, "he's that bad?"
"Worse," Jane says. "HYDRA is nothing compared to this."
"That's a tall order."
"So is joining the army."
"And taking a super serum," Tony adds.
Steve looks at him and something passes between them. Jane doesn't know what it is and has a feeling she shouldn't ask. Whatever the case, it brings a smile to the captain's face.
"Okay," he says, lifting his chin. "I'm in."
A sigh draws their attention to the back of the room, where Dr. Banner is removing his glasses. "I'm in, too. We need to see about this Thanos guy."
Sigyn groans, fighting against the weight of Mjolnir. Though her muscles are slackened, rendered useless by the potion's sway, her strength comes from determination. She opens her throat wide enough to croak.
"You can't… be serious. You'd go… so far… to save him?"
Steve narrows his eyes. "I came here to save this city and everyone in it. That's what I'm going to do."
"I fight… for Earth! I thought you… of all people… would understand that!"
"Then I guess you haven't heard, I don't like bullies."
He walks away as Thor clamps her mouth shut. Her teeth clack together painfully, almost taking off the tip of her tongue. Jane can't help a tiny chuckle.
"All right," Steve says, calling everyone to attention, "what's our next move?"
"We need to get the generator going," Jane says. "Loki was going to set it up outside on the launch bay."
"Ha, I was right!" Tony points at Steve. "Totally called it."
"Are you sure it'll be able to withstand the tesseract's power a second time?" Dr. Banner asks. "If it's already been used once, the circuitry might be fried. We don't know how well our technology can fare against this kind of energy."
"I did a preliminary inspection before we left," Erik says. He's left the elevator and is now freely raiding Tony's liquor cabinets, pouring a few drops of lime juice into a cup of vodka. "Everything looks good. No serious damage to the engine. Power levels are good. We just have to install it and turn it back on."
"Huh, and here I thought this would be hard," Tony says. "Okay, JARVIS, why don't you divert all power from the lower levels and give the staff the rest of the day off. We will be going into hardware mode and possibly destroying the mainframe. Not sure yet."
"Of course, Sir. Shall I also cancel tomorrow's dinner with the city finance commissioner?"
"That thing was still on? Jesus Christ, yes. Tell him I got malaria again. Thanks, JARVIS."
The AI beeps off to do his master's bidding, and Tony looks very proud of himself. Jane wishes she could share in his confidence. Unfortunately, the clock is ticking.
"We have to work fast," she says. "The loop resets in about nine hours, and that's nowhere near as much time as it sounds like."
"Then we'd better get that tesseract," Tony says. "Just promise me you didn't park on the West end. The traffic is insane this time of day."
"We parked in front of the building," Jane says.
Tony gawks. "You're not from around here, are you?"
He takes the keys from Erik, who's too deep into his drink to argue. As they head for the door, Tony stops suddenly. Jane nearly runs into him. The tremors running through her body flare and she's ready to shout when he turns to look at her. No, not at her, behind her.
Black Widow and Hawkeye are holed up on the couch, so close it's like they were molded together out of clay. Black Widow strokes his fingers. Hawkeye puffs out air like a chained bull. Neither of them will look at Tony, or anyone else. Their silence cuts deep. Even Jane feels it.
"Look, I meant what I said before," Tony says. "There's a spa and a therapy pool. The gym is down the hall if you want some target practice. Get a facial, take a nap. Whatever you need to do. It's okay."
"Yeah," Jane says, even though she only partly means it and they don't need to hear it from her. "It's okay."
Black Widow looks at her. Without anger, or disdain, or anything Jane can pick out. It may be nothing at all, but there's a new side to Jane she never thought she'd have. One that understands.
Anything for the man you love.
Since there's nothing to say, they don't say anything. Jane follows Tony out the door, down the hall, and into the elevator, trailed by the clock in her head ticking away the seconds.
It takes less time to set up than Jane had feared. With three more scientists and Thor and Steve to do the heavy lifting, they have the base and the generator set up within two hours. The tesseract remains dormant, but Erik assures them it will respond to the energy output and reactivate once they hit the right frequency. He says all of this while chugging down water fast enough to choke. Jane's just glad he's sticking to his one drink rule.
As they work, Sigyn watches from her spot in front of the fireplace. With Thor occupied, a new method of keeping her quiet was needed. So occasionally they hear the beginnings of a howl wrapped around a bright red silicone ball.
("I was going through a phase," Tony casually explained as he dug it out of a box in the back of his closet.)
"How's it looking on your end?" She asks Banner, shutting out the apoplectic wails and the rolling wind.
"Pretty good," he says, securing some bolts. "Thinking of adding a few more buffers so we don't knock out the power in the whole city."
"As long as we can keep it below one-eighth, we should be good," Tony says, flipping through a pile of schematics they dug out of the truck. He whistles. "Look at the detail on this thing. I feel like a kid sneaking porno mags. You did good, Doc Selvig. Magic juice or otherwise."
Erik grunts and keeps working. Jane wonders not for the first time if it's okay for him to be here. If she was wrong for bringing him here in the first place. Maybe he should join Hawkeye in the therapy pool or eat something better than alcohol. The one time she tried to suggest it, Erik turned his back to her. Like a busy parent with no time for their child's flights of fancy.
"I built this thing," he said. "You can't fix it without me. You know that."
Jane isn't so sure, but it would sound the same coming out of her mouth.
Another hour goes by and they're ready for a test run. Erik mans the controls while Thor and Dr. Banner ensure the tesseract is safely contained. Jane waits inside with Tony and Steve, protected by bullet and fireproof glass. That this probably won't protect them from an ancient otherworldly nuke goes unsaid. The illusion of safety is better than nothing.
"Okay," Tony says, munching on a bag of blueberries he got from somewhere, "assuming this works, we open a tear in the spacetime continuum to reach Scary Bad Guy planet, rescue Rudolph, use his nose so bright to guide our sleigh and we're done."
"Only if we don't die the second we're outside Earth's atmosphere," Steve says.
Tony snorts. "Like I haven't created life support systems for space travel. What do you take me for?"
"You have this on hand?"
"Check my other closet."
They discuss logistics and try not to descend into arguing. It fades into the background for Jane, who only sees Thor crouched over the tesseract, examining the relic with eyes that look as old as he is. She can't be the only one who notices he won't touch it. Not that she blames him. How Loki survived so long in its presence is a mystery she never wants to solve.
Heedless of the danger or anyone's concern, Jane steps out into the open and quietly approaches Thor. Dr. Banner has moved on to inspecting the actuator and throws her a single withering look before removing the panel.
With everyone so busy, it's almost like they're alone. They never did get much time to themselves. Only that night on the roof, and it feels like a hundred lifetimes ago. Can she even speak to him now the way she did then? She hardly remembers the person she was.
"How's it look?"
"Well enough," he says, not looking up. "My father's stories did not do it justice. I would crush this accursed rock between my fingers if I could."
"Yeah, I don't blame you," Jane says, rubbing her wrists. "What are you going to do with it?"
"When Loki is saved, it will be stored in the vaults below Asgard, where it will remain for the rest of time. I will see to it personally."
"Sounds good," Jane says. They can keep this going forever, but they don't have a lot of time. In fact, they don't have any. They never did. "Look uh… about last year. You not coming back and all."
Thor finally stands. "The Bifrost was destroyed. I had no means of return before now. The All-Father… he had to bend some rules given the circumstances."
"Yeah, I know," Jane says. "The Bifrost part, that is. Not the rule-bending part. Loki told me."
"He's told you much, then," Thor observes.
"We had a lot of time on our hands."
It wasn't meant as a joke, but Thor still laughs. Not a sad laugh either. She could almost believe he's in a good mood.
"Then you must know all sorts of unflattering stories about me," he says.
"A few," she says, hiding a smile. "We mostly talked about other stuff. Escaping, surviving… we watched a lot of Disney movies."
"So you did," Thor says, and now the light in his eyes dims to embers.
They stand awkwardly side by side, laughably different in height but equal in sobriety. Everything around them is moving faster, but they seem to slow down. It's taking too long to speak. She knows what she has to say, but that only makes it harder.
"Thor… I know how all of this must look, but… I hope you can trust me when I say I did everything I could."
He nods, far too quiet for someone so bombastic. It feels wrong to see him like this. She never imagined he had this side to him. So maybe everything has worked out for the best.
"I think about Loki…" he says, "how I treated him. How we all treated him. Did anyone ever for him like you do? You stand before a world of gods and creatures who could crush you with a thought, and you declare war, all for him." He takes her hand and doesn't kiss it. This means so much more than that. "I am happy, Jane. It may not seem like it now, but you have made me happier than I've been in some time. I hope you know that."
She smiles, tears welling up. The weight in her stomach isn't gone, but it lifts the slightest bit. "Thank you, Thor."
It was a nice moment, the best they'd ever have. Trust Tony Stark to ruin it.
"Hey, guys, enough with the love-in. We've got portals to open!"
The tesseract is glowing. Machinery grinds together like sirens. Jane closes her eyes, blocking out the light but not the surge. It laps at her skin like a flame. A warning not to get too close. Thor leads her inside, the tesseract's power bouncing off his bare arms like they're coated in steel. They are the last ones in. Only Erik remains at the controls. With a wall between them, Jane could mistake it for a simple light show. Not something that can decide all of their fates in an instant.
As seconds pass and nothing explodes, she relaxes her grip on Thor's hand and unwinds her twisted stomach. Erik taps the keyboard, inputting commands the device takes no issue with. Tony pilots his newly minted mark seven, checking for external errors and giving onlookers below one hell of a show. What will they think of an inter-dimensional portal opening up over their city, Jane wonders. Another weird Stark industries experiment? Better than the alternative, she supposes.
"I think we're good," Tony says, gliding through the window and landing gracefully on the balcony. "Great job, everyone. I say we take the day off tomorrow."
"Let's worry about today first," Steve says.
'And hope there is a tomorrow,' Jane thinks.
Tony floats down the stairs. "Okay, JARVIS, you're on guard duty. Make sure power levels remain consistent and we don't get accidentally lost in space. Now give me a 'Danger, Will Robinson.'"
"I'd rather not, Sir."
"Fair enough. Then prepare, oh… four life support systems for immediate departure. Don't think Nimue here is all that oxygen-dependent, right, Jane?" She glares at him with a look of death. Tony recognizes it immediately and coughs. "Uh, JARVIS? Better make that five life support systems."
"Seven, please."
All eyes turn to the door, where Black Widow and Hawkeye stand hand in hand, looking no less spent than they did several hours ago. A quiver full of arrows rests on Hawkeye's back, a bow between two fingers. Black Widow has an armory of pistols and knives. There's no telling what else is hidden in that catsuit. They both look ready for war.
"What's up?" Tony says, trying too hard to keep it casual.
Everyone sees through it, most especially Hawkeye. "It's Thanos, okay?" He looks at the tesseract with narrowed eyes. "If he's as bad as you say, we need to know about it. Whatever happens to Loki."
Tony and Thor look at Jane as if awaiting an argument. It doesn't come. The callousness of his words means nothing to her in the face of the action. If she didn't think he already hated her, she would hug him. For now, she smiles.
"Thank you," she says. "Thank you so much. All of you, thank you."
"Don't thank us yet," Tony says. "First we have to live through this. How do we look, Doc?"
Erik's eyes are fused to the monitor. "Engine's up and running and we're at one hundred percent power, but we've got a big problem."
"What's wrong?" Jane asks, her stomach sinking.
On the screen rows of letters and numbers roam like ants around a hill. Jane has to squint to make them out properly. They mean absolutely nothing to her, and that tells her all she needs to know.
"There's no prior destination," Erik says, tapping pointlessly at the keys. "I've checked the whole database. It's been wiped clean."
"You mean you don't know where Loki went?" Jane's voice wavers.
"I don't think he wanted to be followed," Erik says, suddenly far too sober. "I'm sorry, Jane."
He says it like they're finished. Like there's nothing else they can do. It looks that way. Everyone believes it, and Jane herself almost does for a moment. That passes with the next squeak of Sigyn's squirming in her chair. She's not laughing at them and doesn't seem at all conscious of Jane's hardening eyes honing in on her.
It's only when Jane is halfway across the room that she looks up, and by the time her fight or flight instinct kicks in, Jane has her by the collar.
"Where is he?" She rips off the ball gag. Sigyn coughs and sputters. "Where is Thanos's planet? Tell me now!"
"That thing tastes like alcohol and cheese."
Jane shakes her violently. "Tell me where Loki is right now or I'll kill you! Do you hear me?"
"Enough Jane!" Thor pulls her back, but Jane thrashes with all she has, kicking Sigyn in the chin.
"Let me go!" She shouts as Steve and Tony jump in to grab her legs. "Stop! I'm gonna-"
"Get yourself killed is what you're gonna do," Tony grumbles, Jane's knee crushing his cheek.
Steve leaves him and Thor to restrain her. The sad truth is that Tony alone without a hint of iron could do it, but Jane has always been bigger than her size, and so she refuses to give up.
Ducking her swinging foot, Steve kneels over Sigyn. "You see that? This is what you caused playing this little hero game. You want to save the day? Tell us how to do it."
Sigyn turns away from him, chuckling to herself. "Soon enough, the spell will wear off. These ropes will be like air to me, and the only time you will ever see me again is in your dreams. Every night."
The threat bounces off Steve, who prepares to make his next demand. Then a shadow drapes over them.
"Can I talk to her?" Black Widow asks.
Steve furrows his brow but seems to hear something in her request that Jane can't make out. He moves aside, allowing Black Widow to pull Sigyn to her feet.
She turns to Tony. "You have a private room somewhere?"
Tony, who has Jane's legs in a chokehold, gestures with his head to the left. "Bathroom's that way. It's single user."
"Soundproof?"
"Of course."
"That'll do. We'll be right back."
Black Widow frog marches Sigyn to the bathroom. She closes the door behind them and it automatically locks. Five minutes later, she returns with a set of coordinates written on a paper towel. "This should do it."
She hands them to a befuddled Steve as Hawkeye throws an arm around her. In the bathroom, Sigyn is curled up in a ball under the sink, her eyes bloodshot and her white skin pale to the point of translucence. "She… is… a monster."
Black Widow smiles quietly.
"You're lucky it was her and not me," Jane says, dragging Sigyn off the floor. "Now let's go."
They pass the napkin along to Erik. He inputs the numbers and the result is immediate. The building jolts, throwing Jane off balance. It's only because of Thor that she doesn't fall. The others aren't so lucky.
"Sorry," Erik shouts, shifting the stream further north. "This thing is easier to control when I don't have to think about it."
"That's promising," Hawkeye mutters.
An engine's roar drowns him out. The tesseract's glow becomes blinding. Out of the nozzle comes a beam of light. Erik curses and hits another button. The light spreads, stretching the side of a building like a funhouse mirror. Except it's not the building, Jane realizes through a shroud of awe. It's the very fabric of reality, twisting and bending to their will. Like paint smeared on a canvas.
It doesn't take long for the sky to give. It splits open, at least thirty feet down. A dark, empty canyon and a sky full of stars appear through the gap. No sound comes from inside, but neither does the vacuum of space. The life support systems arrive with perfect timing, wheeled in by a heavyset man who takes one look at the portal and sighs.
"Can't you ever just need coffee?" He asks as Tony flies down to meet him.
"What you need is a vacation, Hogan. How about Costa Rica? We'll take everyone," Tony says, taking the cart with a grin. "You know ladies love windsurfing."
"Whatever. Just don't die in there. I don't know how I'd explain it to Pepper."
"Buddies for life!" Tony salutes as Hogan rushes out.
Throughout their preparations, the portal has remained stable. A few people on the roofs of nearby buildings point fingers and cameras. Pictures are already online and if the only victory they achieve today is Loki's freedom and a few trending hashtags, Jane can accept that. Tony helps her secure the tiny backpack that is her life support system. Before she can ask any questions, a pinkish film spreads from her back to her stomach and crawls up her arms. It covers her mouth and she instinctively holds her breath. Then a gentle voice whispers in her ear.
System online. Oxygen levels normal.
Tony grins like a madman. "It's fully insulated, too. Try not to do any business until we get back, though."
They stand before the portal in a line, daring themselves to be the first to go in. Erik reads them some data, explaining all the ways they can die in cold, hard detail.
"I can keep it open for half an hour at most and even that's pushing it," he says. "Stay in constant contact with me and let me know the second you have him. We only get one shot at this, so stay focused."
"Last chance," Jane says, glancing around. "If anyone wants to back out, now's the time."
"Don't be so dramatic," Tony says, clapping her shoulder. "We're in this together now. If you can risk your life to fight aliens for love, we can do it for you. Or something schmaltzy like that."
He gives her a sweet, almost brotherly smile and it's so infectious, Jane has to return it. He really is a good guy underneath all that spectacle. By the time they're done, she might even call him a friend.
"It's funny, though," he says with a far-off look in his eye, "I have the strangest feeling that I need to kick Loki's ass in honor of my mother."
Jane doesn't know how to answer that.
In the end, Captain America goes first. The role of a leader comes naturally to him the way following him comes naturally to the rest. Before he goes, he nods at Jane, reassuring in a way he can't possibly feel, but she appreciates the effort. They take the plunge, one by one and two by two. Jane and Sigyn bring up the rear. It's unspoken that Jane will hold on to her. Whether or not she really can. Thor goes last, shooting Sigyn one more warning look before the darkness sucks him in.
"You're making a mistake," Sigyn growls, spitting out a hunk of knotted hair. "There is nothing within him worth saving. He is a hollow, soulless creature. A monster in the flesh."
"He's more than you can imagine," Jane says. "I'm sorry you never figured that out."
"I know him better than you ever will, Jane Foster."
"We'll see."
They step through the portal together, completely in sync. Out of the tender embrace a familiar world, and into the hands of fate.
Several blocks away from Stark Tower, as far removed from the war as two countries parted by an ocean, a man and woman weave through the throngs of apathetic New Yorkers, screaming as loud as their lungs will allow.
"Abby! Abby, where are you?"
The woman is in total disarray. Her blonde hair is a Frankenstein mess and her coat hangs from her arm by one sleeve. It completes its descent and she leaves it on the sidewalk, trampling the collar as she goes.
"Abby!" She looks in a shop window, the seventeenth so far, though she isn't keeping count. Plenty of yellow-haired children and girls with pigtails skip about, but none of them are hers. "Oh, God. Oh God, where is she?"
"Lauren," her husband, a tall man in a suit, grabs her arm. "Come on, she's not in there."
"She might be! Just let me check-"
"She's not there," her husband repeats, much more forcefully. "She's not in any of these stores. We have to go this way!"
He pulls her around the corner, across the street, and through a pair of iron gates. The wife follows, dazed and heady with fear. She wrings her hands together, lamenting how cold they are. Why did she ever let go of Abby's hand?
"The park?" She balks, coming back to herself as they pass the fountain. "There's no way she'd end up here. Henry-"
"Just trust me. I know what I'm doing."
And he does. The park has many paths and hidden corners. What should be a random detour seems carefully plotted, taking them down a path no different from any other. Lined with benches and lampposts, all maintained with the same lukewarm care as everything else in Manhattan.
They slow to a jog, unable to run through the congestion. Bodies shuffle past, too big or too small to matter to them. All the while, they cry out their daughter's name, attracting no attention but from those too self-absorbed to tolerate noise. The couple ignores the glares and keeps shouting.
"Abby! Abby!"
As loud as they can. Until their throats burn and their ears ring.
Until they hear the smallest sound.
"Daddy! Daddy! Where are you?"
The husband breaks into a run, bowling over joggers and tourists. Their shouts don't reach him. He makes a beeline for a certain lamppost where a blonde, pigtailed girl shivers in abject terror.
"Abby!" He cries, tears streaming down his face.
"Daddy!" The girl scrambles over, nearly tripping on a crack in the pavement.
They meet halfway, the girl jumping into her father's arms and burying her face in his shoulder.
"Oh thank God," he sobs. "Thank God you're okay."
"Abby!" The wife has finally caught up, taking the girl from her husband's arms and showering her with kisses. "Oh, Abby. Abby."
"Mommy," the girl sniffles.
They say each other's names for a long time, unable to form complete sentences. The parents take turns holding their daughter as if making sure she doesn't melt into the air. They hug her so tight, she almost can't breathe, but they can't help it. As long as she's here, alive and unharmed.
"How could you run off like that?" Her mother asks. She tries not to let her anger show. Now isn't the time for that.
"I'm sorry," Abby hiccups. "There were lots of people. I was scared."
"It's okay," her father says, taking her back from his wife. "The important thing is that you're safe. Now let's go home."
They leave the park and hail a cab. Luckily, one just happened to be sitting outside the gate. The family piles into the back, Abby snuggled between her parents. The father gives the driver their address as they pull into the street.
"I know a detour that'll cut your fare in half," the driver says.
"That'd be great," the father says, checking the ID on the shield. "Thanks, Carl."
The old man smiles through a long white beard.
As they drive, the hum of the engine calms their nerves. Now that the danger has passed, the adrenaline fades, leaving them all exhausted. When they get home, they'll go right to sleep. It's a sad waste of a beautiful day, but one they will never regret.
Abby nods off, her father rubbing the back of her head. Then his wife turns to him. "Henry, how did you know she would be there?"
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," he says.
She gives him that look. The one he can never argue with. Sighing, he takes her hand and kisses her knuckles.
"Last night," he says, "I had this dream. I was standing in the park under a lamppost. There was a bench and a tree. It was that lamppost. And I heard a voice in my ear say, 'This is where she'll be.'" His wife stares, mouth hanging open. He chuckles. "Told you you wouldn't believe me."
"Maybe it was an angel," Abby whispers, half-asleep
The parents look down at her, smiling. In the front seat, their driver strokes his shrinking beard as the wrinkles around his eyes stretch out.
"Yeah," her father says. "Maybe it was."
The driver runs his hand over the timer. The once frozen clock begins to spin. Its rhythm is steady, moving through seconds and minutes. Turning the day into night.
And all around them, near and far, the worlds begin to turn.
Around.
And around.
And around.
To the beat of time.