Ch. 2: A Road to Knowhere
Everyone in the room started at the new voice; heads turned to face that direction. A tall hooded figure stood there.
"What the hell?" Stark asked. The visitor… a he, or was it a she, was wearing a grey hooded cloak. The hood was pulled over the face partially, but some of the features were visible. "Jarvis! I really need to you announce visitors a little better. Or is it Halloween and someone forgot to tell me?" He addressed the new arrival. "In which case the appropriate announcement is 'Trick or Treat', not nowhere."
"Sorry, sir. He just… appeared, like Mr. Fury's accomplices."
"That's Director" Fury muttered under his breath, then shrugged and spoke louder. "And not my contact."
"Jarvis, you're fired. And you," Stark directed his attention back to the newcomer. "And what the hell do you mean by nowhere? She has to be somewhere."
"Knowhere is a place. Taneleer maintains his… ah, collection on Knowhere," Thor explained before the visitor could speak.
Loki inclined his head in greeting. "I ought to have expected you. Somehow, I feel as if you can fill in some of the missing parts."
"You know this dude?" Stark asked. Loki just nodded causing Stark to glare back at him.
Pushing back the hood to reveal his full face, Greiwaldt nodded in return. "He does know me, and I believe I might be of aid. There are some things I do need to tell you. Heimdall said Kiri was taken."
"Yes," Loki answered quietly.
"But not the stones?"
Loki allowed a sliver of a smile to appear. "No, she did not have any of the stones. We had a plan… of sorts. Did not work out quite as we intended," he shrugged, "but it is feasible it still might."
"Even the Soul Stone?" Greiwaldt persisted, staring intently at Loki.
Loki shifted uncomfortably at the question. Greiwaldt waited patiently, continuing to stare at him. Sighing, he finally admitted. "Yes, she did have that one."
"Good, at least she is not completely alone," Greiwaldt smiled grimly. "Though I would not call the thirteen souls much for companionship."
"Wait, she took one of the stones with her after all? Isn't that dangerous, letting them get that close to the enemy?" Steve broke in.
"She will be fine, I think. At least I hope I taught her enough." Greiwaldt paused for a moment before continuing. "The rest of the stones you have collected, they are still safe on Asgard?"
"Yes," Loki replied.
"Umm… father?" Kai spoke up, his eyes focused directly on Loki, trying to ignore Greiwaldt. "I actually have the rest of the gems. Mother asked me to bring them if she was taken during the negotiations. Heimdall kept us informed as to what was transpiring down here, and… well, when Volstagg said they were coming I told him I had to come with, that she said I had to," Kai explained.
"She did what?" Loki gasped, clearly surprised by this information. "Crazy woman, why didn't she tell me this little tidbit?" he muttered under her breath, then asked Kai. "Did she say why?"
Kai shook his head. "No, but she suspected that we might need them if they took her. She didn't tell you because she hoped they would not take her, but she figured they might. And," he paused a second before he went on. "she figured you might be mad if you found out she thought it was a serious enough possibility to start considering contingencies."
"Well, she was obviously right on them taking her, but I can't believe this kid is carrying around these dangerous gems now?" Fury broke in, starting to pace the room, constantly checking the balcony for new arrivals. "Great… just what we need. What's to stop them from swooping back down and taking off with the kid?"
"My son is not a kid, and you need stay out of thisl" Loki snapped at Fury. "Kai has proven he can take care of himself, while you… you have caused enough trouble."
Greiwaldt chuckled at Loki's correction. "He is correct. Kai is quite capable. He could easily defeat you in any contest."
Fury eyed the young Asgardian. Kai was tall and slender like his father. "Seriously?" he scoffed. "I highly doubt that."
Kai lifted his eyebrows as he stared at the man. "Were we not involved in something so serious, I would take you up on that challenge."
"That was no challenge, boy. I don't fight boys," Fury turned his back to Kai so he did not see the grin spread across the boy's face.
"As you wish," Kai replied quietly, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice.
"You know, when this is all over, I'd kind of like to see you try to best him Fury," Steve tossed out. "My money is on Kai."
"Yeah, well you were just a scrawny kid too, till they fixed you up. I don't think that technology would work with the likes of him," Fury shot back.
"Be careful when you judge people," Greiwaldt said. "You will always end up being surprised."
Fury glared at him. "Sorry, bud. But I don't know you and don't care what you think."
"Oh, we have met before. I am surprised you do not remember." Greiwaldt smiled at Fury.
"Trust me, if I'd met the likes of you, I'd remember," Fury scoffed.
Stepping in to end what seemed to be a pointless argument, Tony chimed in. "I'm sorry to say I don't know who you are either. I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Tony Stark."
"Sorry, this is Greiwaldt. He is Katirya's half-brother," Thor finally introduced the newcomer to the others.
"Ah, that is not quite correct," Greiwaldt interjected. "As I stated, there are some things you need to know." Greiwaldt closed his eyes before he went on. "I suggest we all take a seat as this is going to take some time to explain."
"Well, we do have a slight problem to deal with first," Loki pointed to the charred body of Lady Sif.
Greiwaldt walked over to inspect the body. "Who is this?"
"Lady Sif. That was part of the bargain Fury made with his buddies. They'd return Sif if Loki and Katirya showed up with the gems," Steve explained.
"Oh, there was also another part to the message from Heimdall," Fandral spoke up. "He said to tell you his sister is with Katirya."
"Wait! Heimdall has a sister? Who's his sister… and… who is this friend of yours?" Stark asked as everyone moved to sit down as directed.
"Sif is alive?" Thor practically shouted. "Then, who is that?" he pointed to the remains.
"Now that is the sixty-four-million-dollar question," Stark quipped, then whirled to face Fury. "Still convinced you can trust your buddies?"
"They are not my buddies. I was simply doing a business transaction with them," Fury replied.
"Some transaction. But it looks like someone else was killed just to make you think they were honest. Jarvis, can you get someone here to deal with this?" Stark asked.
"I thought I was fired, sir," Jarvis replied.
"You're rehired… for the moment. As long as you can get the room cleaned up and start announcing people before they wander in," Stark said.
"Yes, sir. I will take care of it at once."
Stark walked over to inspect the body one more time. "So, we don't know who this is…" then glanced over at Greiwaldt, "And you're Katirya's brother."
"Half-brother," Thor corrected him.
"Not precisely. I must admit that I did not tell the exact truth earlier. You see, I am not Kiri's brother, I am actually her father," Greiwaldt announced.
"What?" Loki stared at Greiwaldt. "Her father? Why did you lie to her?"
"I had to," Greiwaldt sighed and sat down on a chair waving to the Asgardians to sit on the sofa across from him, completely ignoring the humans who were watching in total fascination trying to fathom what was happening.
Loki, Thor, and Kai sat as instructed while the Warriors Three moved to stand behind them.
"So, that makes you my grandfather? I'm confused," Kai spoke up. "I thought Taneleer was my grandfather."
"Right, so did I. Then who is her mother? And does Kiri know all this?" Loki asked.
"No, she does not. Her mother was Beythran. That part is true. Beythran's mother was also an Elder, which explains why Kiri can control all of the stones so easily, as I am also an Elder." He shot a quick look at Fury as he spoke, indicating he was fully aware of what had transpired before his arrival.
Fury shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had been staring at Greiwaldt and finally recalled their previous encounter. "You still owe me a helijet."
Greiwaldt smiled slightly as he recalled that little adventure. "A hell-of-a-what? Oh, that flying contraption. I was not the one to borrow it, so I fear I do not owe you anything. As to the gems, only an elder is capable of using all of the gems without harm, while others may use them for a while, eventually they can damage the individual as you saw with the human… Reign? No, Jane, Jane Foster, correct?" Greiwaldt asked.
"Yes, Jane; but how come Loki was able to use the Tesseract?" Stark asked.
"He is not human," Greiwaldt pointed out.
"I'll say," Fury muttered.
"So, you and Beythran were married?" Thor asked.
"Unfortunately, no, though I would have liked that," Greiwaldt said wistfully. "She was already married to Althanas. When Thanos discovered that Beythran was the daughter of Gaea…"
"Wait!" Thor stopped him. "Beythran is my half-sister?"
Greiwaldt nodded. "Yes."
"Then that makes Kiri my niece," Thor looked dumbfounded.
"Correct. It is all a rather complicated story, I am not sure where to begin," Greiwaldt said.
"How about the beginning?" Stark asked. "That's usually a good place."
"It's a great deal more complicated than that, but…" Greiwaldt hesitated. "I suppose you are right. First, my true name is not Greiwaldt, it is actually Ord Zynoz. And as you stated, I am one of the Elders as well."
"As well as what?" Steve asked.
"Others, there are other elders. We are not related, though we call ourselves 'brother' or 'sister'. Taneleer is also an Elder, as is Gaea… I think those are the only ones you might have been in contact with through this," Greiwaldt replied.
"So, do we call you Ord now?" Kai asked.
"Greiwaldt is fine. It is what I have been known by for several centuries. Now, as I was saying, Thanos wanted to ensure total control of the gems. As a Titan, he needed something to wield them with since he could not harness their power by himself, thus he had the gauntlet made. He also figured out that if he could father a child that was blood-related to an elder, he would have an even stronger hold on the gems – a child he could raise that would do his bidding and obey him."
"Obviously he has never had kids," Steve tossed out.
"Why do you say that?" Greiwaldt asked.
"They are notorious for not obeying their parents," Steve replied.
A ripple of laughter erupted from the assembled group.
"Point taken, but not something he considered," Greiwaldt conceded. "At first, he planned to marry Beythran himself, but then Althanas, his half-brother, came up with what they both felt was a better scheme. He suggested that if she were to bear a child of another elder, that child would be even stronger that if Thanos fathered the child."
"An interesting scheme, but how did they get her to agree?" Thor asked.
"She did not. In fact, she outright refused to marry Thanos. This created quite a problem as you can imagine. Althanas decided to see if he could woo her, since he was from Cartherion – his mother was a Cartherion so he did not present quite the same physique as Thanos."
"You mean he's not huge, and purple, and ugly," Loki quipped.
Greiwaldt snorted. "Correct. He was far more pleasing to look at. His courting worked and Beythran agreed to marry him."
"Wasn't his brother pissed off at him? I mean, like, he wanted to marry her," Stark asked.
"Thanos didn't care who married he. He did not love her, and to be honest, neither did his brother, but that wasn't an issue. They just wanted to have some control over Beythran so they could somehow manage to complete their, ah, mission," Greiwaldt replied.
"Mission? Some mission – marry a girl you don't love and somehow get her to have someone else father your child," Steve pointed out. "Not exactly the type of mission I would have signed up for."
"Sounds easy, right?" Stark added.
"But I am guessing there is more to this?" Loki asked.
"Indeed, a lot more," Greiwaldt replied.
•§•§•
She woke up slowly, sick to her stomach. Whatever they had given her was not sitting well. She wanted to throw up at first, but as she slowly returned to full consciousness the nausea passed. The cell, or maybe it was a room – she couldn't tell as it was simply too dark; there was absolutely no light. "Hello?" She called out, hoping she was not alone. No one answered. She figured if anyone else was in here, they were either passed out or choosing to not reply. Hopefully they were not dangerous.
Slowly rolling over, she rose to her knees and started to crawl around in the dark, trying to take stock of the size of the room and what might be in it. She figured to stand and walk was too dangerous until she knew precisely what was in here with her.
As she crawled, she reached out with one hand, groping the darkness to see if she could find anything. She continued to extend her hand until her fingers finally touched a wall. She took a break, still feeling nauseous. "Ok, so I've found a wall… and if I ever find who did this to me they are going to be very sorry."
After resting a few minutes and knowing she had reached at least one boundary, she slowly followed the wall until she reached a corner. "Well, well, well… another wall," she spoke aloud, glad to hear at least her voice. She realized it sounded rough. Rubbing her throat, she discovered it was tender. She wondered if it was bruised? Swallowing, she discovered she was very thirsty. Someone was going to pay dearly for this, she decided.
Reversing directions, she crawled back along the wall, trying to determine the size of the room. Reaching a second corner, she sat down to consider the venture thus far. The darkness made it difficult to determine how far she had crawled, but it had seemed like a long time. She sat in the corner considering the distance. It had felt like an eternity, but she realized it had probably been less than a minute.
"Well," she muttered to the darkness. "Let's try for another wall." She continued her slow exploration of the boundaries she was confined to. Eventually she returned to what she thought had been her starting place, if this room was rectangular. The corners had given her the impression that it was. Surprisingly, she had discovered no signs of a door or entry – or exit as she preferred to think of it.
Sitting in the corner once again, she considered what she had learned – not much of anything she concluded. She knew she was in a fairly small, rectangular room that was dark as hell. "Where's Hela when you need her?" she asked aloud, not expecting an answer… and not receiving one either.
'How long had I been here? Does anyone even know I'm here?' Her thoughts were not reassuring. Then she realized whoever had dumped her in here knew she was here. 'I just hope he doesn't forget me. I wonder if Heimdall can even see me it's so dark in here'. She laughed aloud at that thought. It was dark.
A loud noise interrupted her thoughts. An opening appeared across from her, but the brightness of the light blinded her.
"Awake? Good. Don't go anywhere," a disembodied voice instructed her as the opening began closing.
"Wait! Don't go! Where am I? I need water… food!" she shouted desperately.
The opening paused and a shadowy head could be seen in it. She could not make out any features as her eyes had yet to adjust to the light. "It's in the middle. You'll find it." The opening snapped shut.