Chapter 44
The Trickster
Earlier...
"Nooooo!"
Sayaka heard the scream echo through the halls, followed by the flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. She picked up the pace, sprinting towards Nagisa's room, expecting the worst. She was not let down.
Malekith was being carried by some sort of hulking monster. But more importantly, an unconscious Madoka and Nagisa were held in the creatures' other arm. Before she could reach them, the Dark Elves leapt off of the balcony, a blow from Thor's hammer doing little to stop them.
"Madoka! Nagisa!" Sayaka shouted as she rushed over to the edge, where she saw one of the Dark Elf ships had caught them. "Fire!"
Sayaka hurled streaks of flame at ship, but it was already out of range. She watched helplessly as it returned to the mothership, and both faded from sight. Desperately, she scanned the skies, but they were gone. All traces of the Dark Elves had vanished from Asgard, save for the damage left behind by the battle.
She turned back to the room, to see that the others had arrived. Though they weren't paying attention to where the Dark Elves had been. When Kyoko entered the room, she froze, and then dropped her spear, the weapon clattering to the ground. She collapsed to her knees, eyes wide in shock. Her costume vanished as she simply stared blankly ahead.
When Mami arrived, she froze as well, hands over her mouth in horror. Thor was simply standing there as well, barely even reacting as Mjolnir flew back into his hand. What was going on? Madoka and Nagisa had just been kidnapped! Why wasn't anyone doing anything?
Then she followed Kyoko's gaze to see something she had looked over previously, and a chill ran through her body. Frigga was dead.
She heard more footsteps from outside, and then saw Odin enter the room. He said nothing, as he saw the body of his wife, merely dropping his spear and slowly walking over to her. He knelt down, cradling her in his arms, silently.
Preparations had gone underway remarkably quick. Troops were armed and ready, and repairs on the castle had already begun. Even Odin was readying himself, now carrying some sort of glowing blue cube in his hand.
"Father, you can't!" Thor objected.
"I am Odin Allfather, King of Asgard. There are very few things I cannot do boy." Odin said calmly, though at the same time in a tone that indicated he was not to be argued with.
Thor flinched, but stood his ground. "You intend to use the Tessaract to fight against the Aether."
"Our enemy possesses an Infinity Stone. And now, we do as well." Odin said.
"It will not end well, father." Thor said. "I have seen the devastation these relics can unleash. You may be placing our people in even greater danger. The Tessaract destroyed an entire S.H.I.E.L.D. base as a side effect of its use. Intentionally using it as a weapon could have dire consequences."
"We are warriors, boy. With the power of this Stone, we shall match that of the Svartalfar. Malekith and his men will fall on ten thousand Asgardian blades." Odin said.
"And how many of our own shall fall on theirs? How many shall die when the Tessaract clashes with the Aether?" Thor shot back.
"AS MANY AS ARE NEEDED!" Odin shouted, suddenly exploding in rage. Sayaka flinched as his voice echoed through the halls, and her vision was briefly filled with visions of armies charging towards each other, fighting and dying in glorious combat. Nothing but a pure test of strength and will, steel against steel. It filled her with pride and courage, though the feeling quickly left when Odin suddenly coughed, and winced in pain, leaning heavily against his spear. "We will fight! To the last Asgardian breath. To the last drop of Asgardian blood."
Everyone paused at these words, as Sayaka struggled to process just what he had said. Thor looked like he was going to say something, but Sayaka spoke up first.
"What about Madoka and Nagisa! If that thing is as dangerous as Thor says, then what if they get caught up in the crossfire?"
"It cannot be helped. The defeat of these creatures must take priority. Their sacrifice will be sad, but an understandable casualty of war."
"What? Then what makes you any different from Malekith?" Sayaka shot back.
Odin laughed, though it was a cold, humorless laugh. "The difference, girl, is that I will win."
Odin then turned to leave, indicating that he would hear no more on this subject, leaving the rest in shock. Sayaka looked at Mami and Kyoko. Mami was staring at the ground.
This was wrong on so many levels. But then, this entire situation had become so wrong. Asgard had seemed so amazing at first. Norse gods right out of legend. Heroes from myth. Superheroes even! But then, that shine had gradually been stripped away more and more.
And now, here they were, in Asgard's prisons, walking towards the cell of the man who had attempted genocide of the Frost Giants. Who had led an alien invasion of Earth. Loki, God of Mischief. With the Bifrost closed off, Thor had said this was their only way.
The man was more handsome than Sayaka had expected, being tall and slender, with shoulder length black hair. He was wearing a dark green tunic and leggings. Despite being a criminal, his cell was luxurious compared to the others, with a luxury bed, chairs, and table, complete with dining sets and books. She supposed that criminal or not, being a prince got him special treatment. Though considering everything he had done, there were people far far more deserving of those niceties than him.
Loki regarded his visitors with an expression that radiated arrogance and smugness, even considering his imprisonment.
"After all this time and now you come to visit me. Why? Have you come to gloat? To mock?"
"Loki, enough." Thor said, sounding weary. "No more illusions."
Loki paused, and then sighed. Sayaka gasped as there was a sudden flash of green light, and the cell changed.
It was a mess, the furniture hurled about and smashed, food strewn across the ground, and strike marks on the walls.
"Now you see me brother." Loki said. He himself was a mess, disheveled, gaunt, broken. He turned to Thor as he stepped forwards. "Did she suffer?"
"I did not come to share in our grief. Instead I offer you the chance of a far richer sacrament."
"Go on..." Loki said.
"I know you seek vengeance as I do. Help me escape Asgard, and I will grant it to you. Vengeance. And afterwards, this cell."
Bad situation or not, Sayaka couldn't let this go unspoken. "Do you really think we can trust him? After everything he's done? He's betrayed you again and again? Right Kyoko?"
"Sure… whatever." Kyoko said.
To these words, Loki gave a cold chuckle. "The girl does have a point. Who are they anyways? Are you keeping company with more mortals again? Is she a replacement for that other mortal girl? What was her name, Jen? Did something happen to her? Such is their way, I guess. Here one heartbeat, gone the other."
Thor scowled at that comment, but instead said. "Jane Foster is fine. Are you ready to go?"
Loki smirked. "When do we start?"
Thankfully, the palace was mostly deserted, the guards normally assigned were gathering to prepare for Odin's attack, leaving the group free to travel to their destination. The crashed Dark Elf ship.
"This is so unlike you, brother. So clandestine!" Loki said, clearly amused by the whole affair. "Are you sure you wouldn't rather just punch your way out?"
"Keep speaking and I just might." Thor said evenly.
"Yeah!" Sayaka glared at the God of Mischief.
"Fine, as you wish. I'm not even here." Loki's form shimmered green, and he then took on the appearance of an Asgardian soldier.
"Well, at least we don't have to look at his smug face anymore." Sayaka said.
"True, true." Loki said. "Though we could be more inconspicuous."
There was another green shimmer, one that obscured Sayaka's view, and suddenly, her appearance was changed to that of Hogun. She looked around to see that Mami had been transformed into Fandral, Kyoko into Volstagg, while Thor (of all people) had been transformed into Sif.
"Oooh brother, you look ravishing!" Loki jested.
Despite the situation, she felt the urge to laugh. She immediately felt horrible about it though, and stifled the urge. They were breaking a mass murderer out of prison, what was wrong with her?
Thor paused briefly in confusion, before resuming walking. "It will hurt no less should I kill you in this form."
"Fine, then perhaps you would prefer your new companions, given that you seem to like them so much."
There was yet another flash of green and everyone's appearances changed once more. Loki had taken the appearance of a blonde man dressed in an outfit and shield modeled after the American flag. Sayaka was vastly different, transforming into a gigantic green skinned creature, while Mami was a red-haired woman in a tight fitting bodysuit. Kyoko was now wearing a high-tech suit of red and gold armor.
"Whoa, this is much better!" Loki said. "Costumes a bit much. So tight! But the confidence! I can feel the righteous surging! Wanna have a rousing discussion about truth, honor, patriotism? GOD BLESS A-"
Thor suddenly placed his hands over Loki's mouth, ramming him against a wall. Sayaka turned to where he was looking to see guards moving in a nearby hallway, and she and the others joined Thor where he was hiding.
Once they were gone (and Loki had turned everyone back to normal) Thor let go.
"You could at least furnish me with a weapon." Loki complained. "My daggers!"
Thor glared at Loki. There was then a brief clicking sound. Loki grinned. "Finally, more sensible heads prevail."
Then he frowned as he looked down, realizing the handcuffs that had been placed on him.
"What, I thought you liked tricks?" Thor said.
"It's the best look yet!" Sayaka said while Loki scowled.
Even if his father was the Esper of Wisdom, Sayaka really had to question Thor's judgement on this decision. She watched Kyoko fiddle around with the Dark Elf ship's controls.
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have me do that?" Mami asked.
Kyoko snorted as she pushed random buttons. "Remember the last time you tried to fly? We're here!"
"I thought you said that the lot of you knew how to fly this thing." Loki said.
"I said, how hard could it be?" Thor argued back.
"Well she doesn't appear to be having much luck."
"I still think I should be the one piloting."
"After the stories you've told me, I think the one best suited for the role is her." Thor explained.
There was a sudden humming nice, as the ship lit up.
"Ha! Got it!" She then gripped the controls, and Sayaka felt the ship lifting off the ground.
There was a sudden trembling sound. Sayaka looked at the displays, seeing the interior of the castle being torn apart by the ships blade.
"I think she missed a pillar." Loki snarked.
"Shut up."
"Look out for the guards!" Mami said.
"Pfft, it's an occupational hazard. If they didn't want to get crushed, then don't enlist!" Kyoko shouted as she punched it. There was a lurching feeling and then the ship rocketed forwards, smashing straight through the wall of the palace and out over Asgard.
"Look, why don't you let me fly!" Loki said. "I'm clearly the best pilot here."
"And yet I chose her."
"Why? What makes your judgement so sound."
"Brother. Between the two of us. Which can actually fly?"
"That's hardly a suitable method."
"For once I agree." Mami said.
"Hey, any of you dipshits heard of Elite Dangerous?" Kyoko snapped.
"What?"
"Thought so." She said.
There was the sound of gunfire, and the ship shook. Sayaka looked at the displays to see the Asgardian cannons shooting at them.
"Hey, this thing has guns right?" Kyoko laughed wildly as she made the ship take a vertigo inducing dive.
"Kyoko, these guys are on our side!"
"Fuck the police!"
"What's gotten into you?!" Sayaka demanded, stepping to the opposite side of the control console. There, she was taken aback as she saw Kyoko's eyes, wide and bloodshot.
There was another shaking rumbling sound, that threw Sayaka to the floor.
"Well done, it looks like she just decapitated your grandfather!" Loki commented.
Sayaka looked up at the displays to see a statue now missing it's head.
"Viva la revolucion! Down with the bourgeois! Off with their heads!" Kyoko shouted.
Kyoko suddenly plunged the ship downwards, smashing through a few more public monuments, a bridge, and carving the side of a building and then smashing a gun turret, heading straight towards the ground, now laughing maniacally.
"Kyoko!" Mami called out. "Slow down!"
"Why? Who care's! None of it matters anyways!" She laughed.
"We do! Were here!" Sayaka said, forcing herself to stare at Kyoko. She froze, her eyes widening. She jerked on the controls and the ship swerved upwards, righting it's course.
There was a moment of confused silence, before the ships alarms went off.
"Well, it looks like their chasing us." Loki commented, noting several longships now in pursuit. The ship then shook. "And now their shooting at us."
"It's fine!"
"No, It's not fine. What kind of plan is this? Let's steal the biggest, most obvious ship in the universe and escape in that! Flying around the city, smashing up everything in sight so everyone can see us. It's brilliant Thor, truly brill-" At that moment the hatch to the ship opened, and Thor shoved Loki out.
"Whelp, this is our stop" Kyoko said, abandoning the controls and leaping out. Sayaka sighed and followed, along with Mami, jumping off the ship to make a narrow landing in a longship several meters below. As the looked up above, the Aesir were still busy chasing the now empty Harrower, none the wiser."
"I see your time in the dungeons has made you no less graceful, Loki." Fandral snarked.
"You lied to me." Loki said. "I'm impressed!"
"Glad you're so entertained. Now do as you promised and take us to your secret pathways."
Loki nodded and took the longboats controls, steering it away from the city and through the lakelands outside.
Then something whipped past Sayaka's head, and she was forced to duck. The ship rocked, and when she looked up, she saw that one of the longboats had broken away from the pursuit of the Dark Elf ship, and was now firing upon them.
Smoothly, Loki took the ship to a higher elevation, while Fandral grabbed a rope, and nodded. "For Asgard!"
He leaped off and swung over to the pursuing ship, effortlessly disabling the soldiers, before giving a graceful salute. Loki nodded and the longship picked up speed.
Mami gasped, and Sayaka whipped forwards to see that they were being steered straight towards a cliff face.
"Loki!" Thor exclaimed.
For his part, the God of Mischief merely chuckled. "If it were easy, everyone would do it!"
"Are you fuckin' nuts?" Kyoko demanded.
"Possibly." He replied.
Everyone braced themselves as the ship picked up speed and the cliff face grew ever closer. Then, Sayaka saw something she hadn't before, a narrow opening in the rock. She ship rocketed through, and there was a multicolored flash of light, and a sensation not unlike when she had traveled through the Bifrost.
In a blinding flash, suddenly, they were out of the cave and into open air, beneath a yellowed sky.
"Tada!" Loki took a smug bow.
Thor's plan had worked, and now here they were, in the realm of the Dark Elves.
Sayaka slumped to the ground, not realizing that she had been holding her breath. She leaned against the ships side, breathing heavily, and dismissing her costume.
She looked around at the world they were now in. The sky was bleak and dark, the sun looked to be in a permanent eclipse. Beneath her, the ground was parched and black, and dotted with the crumbling ruins of massive ships. She recognized them from the battle Odin had shown her and the others.
"Sayaka?"
She looked up to see Mami approaching her. She smiled gently as she sat down next to her.
"How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine." Sayaka said, awkwardly looking away.
Mami paused, and took a deep breath. "You're not."
Sayaka said nothing, merely looking at the desolate scenery passing by. Finally, she spoke. "I'm fine."
"No, you're not." Mami placed her hand on Sayaka's shoulder. "Tell me."
"I said I'm fine!" Sayaka snapped.
Mami flinched, though her expression quickly returned to calmness, with a gentle smile. "Alright. Just remember, I'm always here."
Sayaka slumped further as Mami walked away. Why did I do that? She wondered as she looked back at the desolate landscape. I'm supposed to be a good guy. A hero.
And yet, despite that, she had broken a mass murderer out of jail, aided in stealing a spaceship, and helped it smash up a city in order to escape from law enforcement.
She turned towards Thor and Loki, now both sitting together, calmly talking. Even after everything Loki had done, she still felt some affection and concern in Thor's voice. They were still brothers after all.
Sayaka wasn't sure she could really understand. She was an only child, and her parents weren't exactly close, being so involved with work. While on an intellectual level, she could understand that sort of behavior, she couldn't empathize. Loki had done terrible things, yet Thor still showed concern to him.
That felt so… off to Sayaka. Not wrong, just… odd. She tried to imagine how she'd react if one of her friends had done something wrong. The image passed into her head of Madoka as some sort of interdimensional conqueror, and the ridiculousness of it made her chuckle briefly, though again, it was followed by shame. She had broken a supervillain out of prison, this was no time to laugh.
Sayaka looked back up at Thor and Loki, still talking. He was one of the bad guys, a mass murderer, a supervillain. And yet… she had seen how broken he was upon learning of the death of his mother. Sounding genuine when he asked if Frigga had suffered.
Why did this have to be so complicated? He had done bad things, he was in jail for bad things. That should have been the end of it. Justice. But…
"And it looks like we've arrived." Loki announced.
Sayaka was roused from her musings, and looked up to see the Dark Elf ship floating in an empty field. She pushed all her confused thoughts to the side as she rose and donned her costume again.
This was it. She formed a sword. Madoka and Nagisa were in that thing, suffering God knew what at the hands of Malekith and his minions. And Sayaka wouldn't let anything stand in her way until they were safe once more.
Madoka sat down on the ground as Sayaka finished her recount of what had happened. That they would go so far to rescue her, defying Odin, breaking Loki out of prison, it was amazing.
"T-thanks." Madoka said. Really, is that all I have to say?
"Don't mention it!" Sayaka smiled, though it was clearly forced. Regardless, Madoka embraced her. She didn't say anything, the two friends just held together, comforting each other.
They were interrupted by a pinging noise, and when Madoka turned, she saw the Holo-Ramuh appear.
"Oh thank the Maker you're alright, Madoka!" Ramuh said. "When my summoning suddenly ended, I feared for the worst."
"I'm alright, more or less."
"So what now?" Sayaka asked.
"With the death of Malekith and the theft of the Aether by this Gorr, Odin must be informed." Thor said.
"So we're going back, huh." Kyoko said. "After all that work getting out..."
"Loki, know you of a way back?" Thor asked.
"Ah, yes. About that…" Loki said before suddenly winking out of existence.
"What?" Mami asked. "What just happened?"
Suddenly, there was the sound of engines. Everyone looked up to see the Dark Elf ship taking off into the sky, before disappearing into nothingness.
Thanks to The Name Of Love for beta-reading and idea sounding!
~Dragonexx