- Chapter 16 -
Looking nervously to Tony, Loki was hesitant to start speaking, "Jarvis, my dear, would you show Tony?"
"Yes, Madam," he said quietly. A panel in the back wall slid away to reveal a large wall-mounted TV. It clicked on and showed the two of them standing in the gym. Tony was pulling the mask on over his head. He clicked the latches into place and his arms suddenly dropped to his sides. A moment later Tony dropped to the floor and began clawing at the mask desperately trying to get it off of him. Loki was at his side in a moment, popping the latches open, ripping the mask off, and hauling him up against her. The entire event lasted less than ten seconds. The screen clicked off and the panel slid closed over it.
"That's not, it's not," Tony wasn't sure what he was saying. Powerful disbelief pervaded his mind. "It was hours. I had it on for hours. I felt it."
"The mask works by disabling all of your physical senses," Loki began, "Most sentient beings mark time by the decay of their bodies. This decay is measured by the physical senses. It's why time is perceived to slow when a person is uncomfortable or unhappy, or speeds by when they're happy or enjoying that moment. The perception of time is a lie, a delusion of the senses. This is what the mask is used for. It removes all of the delusions that your body feeds you. It strips them away leaving only you behind."
Since there had never been anyone else to teach this too Loki had only ever told this to one other person. "The Masquerade of Shadows comes from an era when the warriors of Asgard didn't wield weapons but were the weapons themselves. They removed the power their bodies had over them, made their flesh subservient to them. They mastered all their senses, physical and magical. In doing so they became an unstoppable force which maintained peace in the Nine Realms for hundreds of thousands of years." Loki looked back at the mask in her hands.
"They fell out of favor when powerful weapons became favored over making oneself into a weapon. It's easier and faster to learn to wield a weapon, than to learn to be a weapon." A sad little smile crossed her face, "At the height of their use they would hold a tournament, once every century. The tournament would determine who the hundred greatest warriors in Asgard were. When the tournament was complete, these warriors would compete in the arena. Each warrior would don a Masquerade of Shadows, all one hundred of them. Then they would brawl. The brawl would last for one hundred hours. No one was allowed to rest or remove their masks. You had ninety-nine opponents and only one hundred hours to down them all."
"It was a fight to the death?" Tony asked. It sounded very Roman, Spartan even.
"No! Those only became popular after Asgard lost its way. Asgard wasn't always as it is now. In the beginning, Asgardians treasured life, all life. As the King goes, so goes Asgard. It was only after Asgard fell to sickness that they began to value the glory of battle over the lives lost to win it." It was a sickness Loki had no hope of curing. Time would not heal that wound.
There was sadness in Loki's eyes and Tony felt the anger flowing through his veins again.
"The mask is made to enable you to battle, win, and not take a life in the contest. These warriors I spoke of, they would almost never kill, such was their respect for life. They would brawl, and if anyone killed an opponent, then they were sent home heaped in shame, to be remembered forever as a vile murderer. It's also why the dungeons of Asgard are as a city beneath the main city. It was to hold and reform miscreants, criminals, and the prisoners or war." Loki looked back to Tony.
Her expression hardened for a moment, "There is no skill, no grace in the act of killing. To take a life is the easiest thing there is. I can snap man's neck in less than a second. I can kill my way through a large crowd in minutes. There is nothing to be proud of in this. There is no glory in killing, no glory in cutting a life short. There's violence and blood."
.-.-.-.
Though he hadn't before Thor now listened as Loki spoke. It was only recently that he'd began to see the value in minimizing casualties, and possibly even avoiding battle if it could save lives. He remembered dozens of times that Loki counseled them away from battle or tried reasoning with their enemy before joining battle. Thor remembered with glaring shame how he called Loki cowardly for not simply killing. Loki's words sounded wise to Thor, and he wondered what might have happened if he hadn't ignored Loki's wisdom when he had it.
This is odd. Director Fury was very suspicious of what he was hearing. This was an unguarded moment between Loki and Stark. A moment where Loki had no reason to put up a front or put on an act. Stark's reactions certainly spoke to Loki acting in what Stark considered to be a normal fashion. Everything pointed to this being a genuine interaction. It was highly suspicious to the Director though. This wasn't the Loki he remembered meeting in the Tesseract chamber. That was an entirely different person by the looks of it. This gave uncomfortable weight to Dr. Banner's assertion. Is Loki an enemy now?
.-.-.-.
She smiled then, yet it barely softened her expression. "To these great warriors, the show of skill wasn't in murder, but in subduing their enemies alive. An enemy won't simply allow you to take him prisoner, he'll fight with all he has. Even subdued, he may still strike at you. This is what they'd do. They would brawl one another, not to kill, but to subdue. Once an opponent was properly subdued then the healers would transport them out of the arena and see to their wounds. This was The Grand Maul."
"Let me guess, Amma taught you this?" Tony wanted to meet this woman more than ever. He wanted to meet them all.
Instantly Loki's expression softened and she smiled brightly, "Of course Amma taught me!" Afi Gin and Afi Gorynych taught her how to battle, but it was always Amma who taught her the history. 'To know the past is to know the future,' her Amma always told her.
.-.-.-.
Who is it though? Frey had wondered who taught Loki and he finally knew. He wanted to meet this 'Amma'. Grandmother? Both mine and Odin's mothers are dead. They have been for centuries. How did Loki meet this woman?
"Brother, who is Amma? Why would he call her such?" Frigga asked him. She knew, as her brother did, that her boys didn't have grandparents. It was something she always tried not to devote too much thought to.
That she was still willing to speak with Frey gladdened his heart. That was something at least. "I don't know," he replied. When she turned and gave him a hard look, he realized he was right to dread her learning the truth. He didn't want to disappoint her, to lose her trust in him. He'd have to work to regain it. That was a heavy thought. "Truly, sweetling, I know not. I'm just as curious as you to meet this person." He pulled in his seidr again until the ache bloomed. He wasn't going to give himself away.
Without a word Frigga turned quietly back around. She didn't bother to stop her seidr from continuing to hiss, Betrayer, at him. She didn't know how they were going to move beyond this day.
The history Loki was mentioning was certainly interesting to Odin. It was something he was going to question his son on later. There weren't very many records left either in the Royal Archives or the Library of Gladheim dating back to the First Era, almost none at all. There were a few more from the Second Era, but still not many. War destroyed more than just lives and architecture. Much of the precious knowledge from those eras was lost. Loki seemed to have some of it. Odin's eye narrowed some. Whomever 'Amma' was gave it to him.
.-.-.-.
"So, what? You can keep it on for three, no, more like four hours? You were still fighting when I can down here," Tony said.
"I can keep it on for a little longer than that," Loki didn't want to brag about herself. Bragging about one's own accomplishments was so petty and undignified. She'd always believed that one's actions and accomplishments should speak for themselves. On the other hand, Loki had no problem with singing the praises of her husband's accomplishments from the highest towers. It was amusing to watch him turn pink as she did it.
"Tell me how long?" Tony stood looked back to the mask. He could feel the fear, but he refused to let it conquer him. Loki fidgeted with the mask and bit at her lips. "Don't be shy about it. It's me your talking to." He stepped closer to her to run his hands up and down her arms. "Come on, tell me."
Loki huffed as she looked back up, "If you insist on knowing, then fine. I'm completely effective in a fight to just under seventy-five hours. I'm still competent up to eighty hours. Eighty-one hours into wearing it and my mind just slows down too much and then I'm a rather useless lump on the floor. I've never been able to maintain a decent fighting form for the full hundred hours. As for the longest period I've kept it on? That measures at one hundred and four hours, thirty-eight minutes, and three seconds." Loki shrugged. "Amma got tired of me oozing across the floor and lying in the walkways, so she took it away. Now you know."
.-.-.-.
Eighty hours?! That Loki could move while wearing the Masquerade of Shadows shocking enough to Frigga. To see him battle in it was an impossibility made manifest. She turned Odin, "Husband, we must find this woman. She could be an invaluable resource for Asgard." She leaned in closer, "This person could tell us of Loki, things we've not seen. We must find her. We must."
"We will, my wife. I promise you that," Odin replied. He bristled slightly at the name 'Amma'. Only his mother and the Lady Nerthus could hold that place. For another woman to have claimed the place of Amma was untenable. For Loki to so readily call this woman such was disturbing to hear. Yes, he thought. I should like to meet the woman brazen enough to impose herself on my family.
This woman trained my Little Brother. Thor thought it odd that an old woman could train Loki to be so skilled in battle. Any old woman who could do this was a woman he wanted to meet. I wonder if she would train me as well? Thor watched the exchange between his parents. He understood Stark's desire to train with the mask, he shared it. Perhaps Uncle Frey knows. "Uncle, do you have one of these? Could I try it?"
"No, the last one I knew of was destroyed long ago," Frey glared at Odin again. By Borr and his boy.
More anxiety filtered through his thoughts. Thor saw the look and decided against asking anything else. That wasn't a look made for asking questions of. It was one that could bring yelling and arguing. He knew well of his uncle's dislike of his father, knew it was more the Mad King Borr's fault than his father's. His mother said that it happened so long ago that there was no need to worry about it. "Time heals these kinds of wounds," she would say. Not all of them, in his opinion.
.-.-.-.
Though Tony hadn't made it ten seconds, Loki could last for more than eighty hours. He looked at Loki with open shock. Without stopping to think he laughed and hugged her. When he let go, he said, "I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, I married the most awesome woman ever!"
"Tony be serious," she chided him with no real irritation in her voice.
"I am." He leaned down to rest his forehead against hers, "You're so amazing Loki, and I'm so happy that you're all mine."
.-.-.-.
It was a scene that Pepper had to look away from again. The devotion in Tony's eyes, the love and even reverence written over his features when he looked at Loki was just too much for her. That was how she imagined that he would look at her someday. It was as sweet a look as she thought it would be. That he was looking at Lilith, at Loki, like that was just too much. She thought Lilith was just a toy Tony played with when he was bored. She chided him so many times that he should treat Lilith better and not give her unrealistic expectations. Bitter sorrow infused her thoughts. I wonder how much Loki was laughing at me? She wanted to get up and leave the room. It was an overbearing desire that wasn't easily tamed. Pepper refused to run, refused to cry. She had her dignity and absolutely refused to give that up. Where would I go anyway, we're locked in. That realization only made it that much more bitter.
Loki is not yours, Frigga thought, a little venomously. Her son had never been able to abide fools. It made her wonder why he was tolerating this fool. A nasty little suspicion snuck into her mind then. Loki's mind was unbalanced. Frigga didn't know for how long and that hurt her as well. If Stark took advantage of that, the thought didn't go much further. Frey knew of this and tolerated it. Frey had never tolerated either of her children being harmed. He always did what he could. Despite being the Lord of an Elder Realm, he still came to her aid time and time again. The fact that he hadn't told her of what Loki had done hit her once again. It was still painful. There was no reason that she could see for it. Frigga relaxed back into her chair despite this. The facts and details of Loki's current living arrangements were something she was going to have to get. They would either be persuaded from Loki when they went to retrieve him or pressured from Frey. More moisture misted over her eyes. Her son was unwell and normally she would call to her brother for aid. Frey was one of the most powerful Heal Meisters in the Nine Realms. Frigga wasn't sure that was still a possibility. If what she'd already seen was what it looked like, then retrieving Loki might not be a possibility either.
Disapproval tinged Odin's thoughts and he frowned. He'd been so distracted by Loki being alive and in possession of such a powerful artifact that he hadn't given Loki's marriage any thought. Some foolish mortal shouldn't have even been allowed near his son without his permission. It was his right and responsibility to interview and approve of Stark. Then he would've arranged and overseen the courting. Their marriage was something else that he was supposed to arrange then preside over. It was his right to entrust Loki to someone who was carefully selected and found worthy. This was his right with both of his sons. Odin certainly would never have allowed this had it been his choice. Some fool of a mortal wasn't welcome in his family. Stark wasn't worthy of either of his sons.
.-.-.-.
Let's do this. Tony walked away into the empty gym. This wasn't going to be easy, but he wouldn't be beaten by some bit of cloth. He turned, "One minute, huh? Ok, one minute it is. Can you give me anything to help?"
Loki sighed, there were times she hated how stubborn Tony was. "The minute is a test. If I assist you, then you won't have earned the victory yourself." When Tony frowned, she almost gave in. She knew that she couldn't assist him, but the urge to do so was still tremendous. She looked away. "I can't give you any aid," she began slowly, "but I can tell you that while you'll feel the loss of your body you can still think within the mask."
"That's nice and vague," Tony almost flinched at the look on her face, "Hey, no, no. It's ok, really. I get it." He put his hands up, "See, no problems."
Unease kept creeping through her thoughts. Loki walked over and handed him the mask. "One minute, I'll start counting from when the last latch is done up."
Looking at the mask in his hands, Tony held it up, "Ok, it's just you and me, and you will not win, you hear me?!" Tony took a deep breath to center himself. "Let's do this." He pulled it over his head before he could think about it anymore. It was just as dim as before, just as unnatural. I can still think, yeah, no kidding, maybe that's not the best idea. He did up the latches before he could think about the void. The world fell away beneath him again.
