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Day 277

Sarah's place

"The bridge has to be stable for at least several seconds or Thanos won't step into it."

Jane nodded. She blinked slowly once, then again. They'd been working in her kitchen for several hours. Keeping it purely business tonight.

"But our current calculations show the portal remaining open only three or four centiseconds," Loki continued.

"Mmm-hmmm. The gamma radiation produces such a"—Jane yawned—"volume of photon energy that it destabilizes itself."

"It collapses on itself."

"Yes."

"How do we counteract that phenomenon?" Loki asked. He pulled Jane's notebook closer, looking for clues.

"Dunno." Jane laid her head on her folded arms. "There's something, but I can't remember."

Loki sighed. "I should let you rest."

"'Kay. G'night," she murmured.

Loki nudged her shoulder. "You won't rest well here. Go lie down."

"Nah," she drowsed. "Too tired."

A moment later he scooped her up as though she were a child, his arms securely around her back and under her legs.

"Loki! I'm so heavy. Put me down." But it felt good.

"Hush." She lay her head on his shoulder in surrender. He carefully navigated the doorways to lay her gently on the bed.

"Mmmm," she sighed. "Thanks."

Loki pulled a blanket over her, then stood beside the bed. Her eyes fluttered open again. She touched his hand. "Aren't you staying?"

"No, I'll give you some peace."

"You do give me peace. 'Specially when you're all nice like this,'' Jane mumbled. "Stay."

"Good night, Jane." He bent and lightly kissed her forehead.

"'ridium."

"What's that?"

"...should check out...iridium..."

oooOOOooo

Day 278

Chitauri Space: The Sanctuary

He had wanted to stay. And so he'd made himself leave.

The cracks in his prejudices, the shifts in his convictions, the alteration in his perceptions-they left him feeling like impossibilities were plausible, like a newborn. Raw. He'd surprised himself by enjoying the past few nights sitting at Jane's kitchen table, discussing, plotting, calculating.

He still couldn't quite wrap his mind around what had happened to him.

He had categorized her first as an enemy pawn. She had caused Thor to change the rules of the game and she had to pay for it. When those plans were foiled, he began to view her as a collection of skills, as a mind. But Jane wasn't a tool or a resource or a political pawn. She was a woman, a brilliant woman who had gotten caught up in matters far beyond the purview of a typical human, yet who was holding her own.

It continually amazed him how she kept pace with him—and perhaps occasionally surpassed him—intellectually. It was a pity that dreams were the only way they could meet. If they were actually working together in a laboratory he'd no doubt Jane would have the portal question solved in a matter of days.

There might be other benefits to meeting in person. He found this small mortal more and more intriguing. He had angrily demanded that he needed to touch her, but that approach wasn't going to achieve what he truly wanted. So he had endeavored to be gentler, to win her cooperation. He'd thoroughly enjoyed unsettling her, testing her resistance. Teasing. Pushing. Watching. Waiting.

But the feel of her in his arms last night had been a punch to his gut. All his teasing and baiting came back to haunt him. When she'd relaxed and curled into his shoulder, he'd wondered if he was going to be able to let her go.

So he had to let her go.

She was not his to hold. She belonged to another.

And yet.

He could not forget that night they had sat together on her couch. The night they'd declared a truce, when he'd held her close. The night he'd nearly persuaded her to let him kiss her. Jane had been tempted. She'd swayed toward him, pupils blown wide. Her cheeks had bloomed bright pink. Her voice had gone hoarse.

She'd told him once that he drove girls wild. Did he drive her wild?

What would it mean if Jane wanted him? Perhaps even cared for him?

What if? Could it be?

No.

She was favored by Thor.

The child was Thordottir.

"Runt!"

A scant heartbeat later, the toe of a particularly sharp boot drove into his barely-healed ribs. He groaned. Daydreaming was dangerous. It lowered his vigilance.

oooOOOooo

Sarah's place

"Hey, look at this. Look what I figured out today." Jane pushed the notebook across the table.

No one sat in the chair. No one answered. But she'd felt the shimmer in the air that signified Loki's arrival. She looked up. He slumped against the kitchen doorway, a mass of black and blue and blood.

Jane gasped, pushed her chair back, and hurried to him. "Oh, no, not again!"

"S'fine."

"It's not fine. The torture keeps getting worse and worse! This is awful."

"Jus' need you."

"What can I do?"

"Please," he coughed. "I need you."

Jane stepped back. Should I?

A drop of blood splashed on the floor. She shut her eyes for a moment, then nodded. "Come on." She led him to her bed. He lowered himself slowly, his face a mask of pain. Once he was settled, she climbed in, careful not to jar him.

Loki lay on his back, still as death. Was he breathing? Seconds passed. A pang of anxiety seized her heart. What if he dies? What will I do? What would happen to us, to me and Alie? How would I stop Thanos without Loki? A wave of giddy relief broke over her when his chest rose and fell. Jane tried to ignore it.

"Do you, uh, need me to touch you?" she whispered. Where could she touch him without causing him more pain? In response, he moved his hand. Jane clasped it in both of hers.

The artificial silence of her dream rose around them. The sounds of the Vancouver night were unfamiliar to her and did not live in her subconscious. Loki pulled in another breath.

Jane rubbed a thumb over his hand. "How can they keep doing this to you? They're going to kill you. Doesn't Thanos need you?"

He didn't answer. She catalogued the injuries she could see: livid bruise on a cheekbone, cut above an eye, bloody lip. From his labored breathing she assumed his previous rib damage had been reinjured.

A lock of hair lay across his unhurt eye. Jane smoothed it back. "Why can't you fight back? Why do you let them torture you?"

"No power," Loki rasped.

"But that's the thing. Isn't your power an essential part of you? I don't get how Thanos can take it away."

He shook his head.

"Sorry," Jane sighed. "I'm just thinking out loud, but if Thanos could-poof!-change your very nature, why would he need to torture you? Wouldn't he just, I don't know, modify you so that you complied with his wishes? And why would he need to invade planets? He could just reprogram the inhabitants so that they obeyed him."

Loki frowned.

She gently wiped blood from his mouth. "I'm not trying to be Dr. Foster here. I know this isn't theoretical to you, and I'm not making light of the pain he's caused you. It's just been bugging me. It doesn't make sense."

oooOOOooo

Day 279

Sarah's place

"Isn't your power an essential part of you? I don't get how Thanos can take it away."

Loki once again lay staring at the characterless ceiling in Jane's bedroom. The lady herself snored gently, curled up next to him. I've never been party to so much sleeping in a woman's bedchamber.

Could Jane be right? Was it possible that Thanos hadn't truly taken his magic, his power, away? He closed his eyes, then inhaled slowly and deeply. After a few seconds, he exhaled in the same controlled manner. Again and again he inhaled and exhaled, allowing himself to reach a state of calm focus. He whispered the incantation for a sleeping spell and beckoned his magic to obey its master. The words drifted away. His hands twitched, but nothing materialized.

He was impotent. At least figuratively. Though I wouldn't put it past that mad Titan...

One hand twitched again. There was a hint, a whisper, a memory of enchantment.

He repeated the spell and waited. A shadow of evergreen scent, just a wisp, drifted across his mind. He couldn't reach it, couldn't grasp it, but it was just there.

But there was also: alien, unknown, sheath, coating, smothering.

What is this?

oooOOOooo

Day 280

Sarah's place

Tonight's episode of Jane's Bizarre Life finds our heroine lying in the arms of a demigod of questionable motives and morals. Jane imagined the opening credits featuring a montage of scenes from the past nine months of her life...

She was trying to rationalize how she was, in fact, lying in the arms of a demigod of extremely questionable motives and barely discernible morals. It was purely platonic, of course. Of course. She was simply acting as a sort of painkiller.

When he had arrived tonight, she was in the kitchen. He merely said, "Let's talk in the bedroom" and limped down the hall without waiting for an answer. She had hesitated. He was apparently still in a great deal of pain. But what were the ethical ramifications of cuddling with a sort-of-evil alien so that he would cooperate with a plan to save the world?

Ugh. When you put it like that, Foster, it sounds pretty gross. On the other hand, I do have a kid to take care of and he is, apparently, my eternal mate. I think I'm stuck with him. Plus, obviously, a happy, pain-free Loki was much easier to get along with

So here she was, all business, wrapped up in Loki's arms—purely for healing purposes, don't forget—plotting how to use the Tesseract to save the world. She was an astrophysicist, laser focused on her objectives. They had been discussing the stabilizing properties of iridium.

She was not distracted at all by the corded muscles in the arms that cradled her. She ignored how his long, lean body was molded to hers. She didn't even notice how his breath teased the hairs on her neck and when he spoke, the velvety vibration certainly did not make her lose her train of thought.

"Jane? Antiprotons?"

"Um, yeah. So antiprotons are like protons, except negatively charged. If one of them collides with a proton, both of them poof! disappear."

He chuckled. A shock of pleasure skittered down her spine. Have mercy.

"Poof?" he asked.

"It's an expressive word."

"Aha. So the iridium can produce these antiprotons?"

"Yes. The gamma radiation releases tremendous numbers of protons. If the protons strike an iridium rod, it can produce antiprotons, which then sort of erase the excess protons."

Loki slid his hand across her belly, following Alie's foot. Jane's heart flip-flopped.

"She'd better not be telling you secrets," Jane said.

"Hmmm. She's not telling me anything I don't already know," Loki said.

"Great. Stop talking to the stranger, Alie. I'm your mother! Talk to me!"

Loki scoffed. "I'm not a stranger. The child knows me. And she can't talk to you. You don't speak her language."

Do his ears hear the words his mouth is saying? Exactly how dense does one have to be, Jane wondered, before one's genius card is confiscated? For the thousandth time, she wished she knew what had caused Loki to forget their bond. Was this Thanos' doing?

oooOOOooo

Day 281

Sarah's place

"Kitchen or bedroom?" Jane asked.

Loki let a slow grin slither across his mouth. "What a delightful choice you present, my dear. And what's on the menu so I can better decide?"

He so enjoyed the way her eyes always widened when he toyed with her.

"Work or work."

He also enjoyed her no-nonsense attitude. It created such a challenge for him.

"I must choose bedroom, of course. Every time. Wouldn't you?"

"It depends."

He lowered his voice. "Your lovers should be flogged."

"This is business, not pleasure, Loki."

"Mmmm. We'll see."

oooOOOooo

"Where can we secure iridium?"

Is she aware that she shivers nearly every time I speak?

"Um...I think maybe Erik might know."

Does she realize how easily she drifts off in my arms? How pliable she is like this? Why? Why does she allow me to tease the child, when that means running my hands over her body?

oooOOOooo

"Loki?" she whispered.

"Hmmm?" he answered drowsily.

"Why were you in Puente Antiguo?"

"I told you—"

"Yes, but I want the truth." She laboriously turned to face him. "The Tesseract was far away from me. The SHIELD investigation site wasn't very close either. Why did you come to my lab? Why did you start showing up in my dreams?"

Why are you asking me these questions now?

"Loki? Does it have something to do with the Destroyer?"

Should I play innocent? She'd never believe me. He sighed. "Jane, is this really—"

"So what was it? Why don't you want to tell me?"

Obviously, Jane, because I don't want you to know the answer.

"Had Thor left something that you needed to retrieve? Or something you wanted to steal?"

Yes. Your life. "You could say that."

"What was it? What were you going to steal?"

She isn't going to abandon the subject this time. Think, Silvertongue. What will you tell her?

"Loki, look, I think it's super creepy that you were popping into my dreams and you won't even tell me why."

I don't want to lie to her. Norns help me, I don't want to lie to her anymore. But when I tell her the truth...

"Jane, I've very much enjoyed this truce." He traced the line of her eyebrow. "It's been a genuine pleasure to work with you. Thor, as always, is a fortunate man."

She frowned. "What are you talking about? Are you leaving?"

"You know that I was very angry with Thor." He smoothed a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Yeah. The Destroyer, remember? I was there in the middle of that."

"Yes. I know. The first time I saw you, it was through the eyes of the Destroyer. I saw this tiny mortal, who had somehow changed Thor so much in such a short time. He was so different. He was weak. Pathetic. He wouldn't fight me."

"Um. Okay?"

"And yet, he still won." He laughed bitterly. "Thor still got what he wanted, while I...fell. I lost everything that mattered to me. While I was enduring torture on Thanos' rock, I imagined causing Thor pain. I dreamt of taking away that which mattered most to him. I wanted revenge."

Jane drew back. He watched her watching him.

She blinked. "Revenge? You came to Puente Antiguo to get revenge on Thor? How would you get..."

He saw the instant she comprehended, the instant her whiskey eyes turned wary.

"Loki? Did you come to Puente Antiguo to kill me?"

She's afraid. She's afraid of me again.

He nodded. "Yes," he affirmed.

Jane sat up, made clumsy by the bulk of the child. Loki remained on his back, allowing her to have the position of strength.

"So why am I still alive?"

"I discovered that I needed you," he answered simply. I won't lie to her.

"For my work on the Tesseract."

He nodded. "Among other things."

"And what...what happens when you don't need me anymore?"

It doesn't matter. You aren't mine.

"You know what?" Jane said. "Don't answer that."

oooOOOooo

Day 282

Sarah's place

What a fool she'd been, not to see it all along. Of course. Of course Loki would dispose of her when she was no longer of use. She stood in front of the living room window, wrapped in a green shawl, staring into the inky night, wondering where Asgard was.

She just wished it didn't hurt so bad.

She'd grown to enjoy sharing dreams with him. Once he mostly got over seeing her as massively inferior, once he knocked the chip off his shoulder, she looked forward to her nights with Loki. He was so stinking brilliant. They could talk about all the crazy, nerdy, scientific stuff that hardly anyone else wants to talk about. He didn't ridicule her theories about travel through space-time. He'd actually done it thousands of times. Nothing she said was too radical for him. Her thoughts about life on other planets were matter-of-fact for him. He'd listen to her and then respond with an idea that pushed the envelope of accepted science even further. Who else would ever get that part of her like Loki did?

And—though she wished she were more noble than this—there were the other things she enjoyed. His face. His body. His voice. His laugh. It was impossible, of course: Jane and Loki, Loki and Jane. It was humiliating that she could not stop herself from wanting him when he saw her as disposable.

Plus, of course, there was the minor issue that Loki was...well, a complicated guy with a lot of baggage. A lot. If she were really a genius, she'd stay far away from him.

The atmosphere shimmered, announcing Loki's arrival. Jane stayed where she was. How would he end her life, when he was done with her? Would it be painful or would he be merciful? She would ask him tonight. Best to get it out in the open.

Jane felt rather than heard Loki's approach. A faint reflection of his tall form behind her showed in the window.

"I've been pondering that mark on your wrist."

This can't be good. Still watching the sky, Jane said, "Nope. Pick a different subject."

Their reflected gazes met in the window. "Come now, Jane. You've asked me some uncomfortable questions, said some unpleasant words to me. Isn't it only fair?"

She pursed her lips.

"As I've mentioned previously, I assume this was all someone else's idea. I assume that you were simply acting a part in a script, whether you were doing so willingly or not. I hope it does not offend you, then, when I tell you that the reason I never once considered it could be true is because you were entirely unconvincing."

"Unconvincing?" She cradled her burgeoning abdomen. "What about this is unconvincing?"

"Ah, but conceiving a child doesn't require that the two parents love each other, does it? And that is one of the requirements of a rune bond: two fully participating parties, each in love with the other. You needed to convince me that you were in love with me. And you never really tried."

Loki laid his hands on her shoulders. Adrenaline flooded her bloodstream. Is this it? Will he kill me now? Instead, he turned her to face him and slid his hands up to cradle her face. He searched her face, then brushed his thumb across her bottom lip.

"What are you doing?" she croaked.

"I'm finding out," he answered. "Giving you a chance to convince me. A brilliant woman I know once told me that scientists zero in on what they don't know and go after it."

Wait—what does he mean, convince me?

"I confess, though, that it's been a while since I've kissed a woman."

Kiss? What does he mean, kiss?

"I might have forgotten what to do, so bear with me while I remind myself," he continued. "I think we just take a small taste at first." He touched his lips to hers chastely.

Jane's brain appeared to have short-circuited. She couldn't talk, couldn't move, could only watch him watch her.

"When you are being kissed, at what point do you close your eyes, Jane?"

This was apparently just an experiment to him. Jane struggled to gather her scattered wits, to show him she wasn't affected at all. "Oh, I suppose I close my eyes when I really want to concentrate on what I'm feeling."

Loki nodded seriously. "I see...let's make ourselves comfortable, then." He led her to the overstuffed armchair, then sat down and pulled her down onto his lap. "This is better, right? We wouldn't want to get a neck ache."

What was happening?

"Let's do this properly, shall we?" He dipped his head again and brushed his mouth back and forth against hers, but she kept her lips closed. Next he settled his mouth on hers and applied a bit more pressure. He smiled against her mouth—was he merely enjoying the challenge?—and then nipped at her bottom lip.

A shock ripped through her lower half. She blinked slowly. Loki did it again and her lips parted slightly, mostly against her will. He angled his mouth over hers and deepened the kiss.

Jane wanted to put a stop to this, she was pretty sure she did, but she was floating on a wave of sensation. Loki slowly kissed her, gradually increasing the pressure and intimacy level. Some still-functional part of her mind noted that Loki tasted like a clean evergreen forest. He was savoring her as though she tasted like the richest chocolate.

"Dr. Foster, your eyes are shut. Don't tell me you're enjoying this."

Her eyes flew open—when had she closed them? She stared at him, dazed. His eyes were nebulas, swirling green depths.

"It doesn't look like you hate this, either, Loki." It would have been a bit more dignified if her voice had been steady.

"Hmmmmm….shall we have another go? I just need a bit more information to complete my survey." He opened his mouth over hers more forcefully, delving in with his tongue, suckling, exploring, nudging, devouring...

Her hands had been frozen in her lap, but now they itched to touch him. She laid one hand on his jaw and reveled in the sharp, masculine bone. The other she ran through his hair—so silky!—and gave herself over to the runaway kiss, the lips and teeth and tongue and breath and hands and muscles and wanting and aching.

She'd forgotten what a good kisser Loki was. The reminder was overwhelming. The last time we kissed—

The last time they had kissed...

Wait.

He doesn't remember that we've kissed before. This kiss meant nothing to him. She was all in, heart, soul, body—and baby. Loki was just fooling around. She had worked so hard to get over Kai and now she was borrowing heartache.

"Loki," she whispered against his mouth.

"Hmmm?" he murmured, and captured her lips again.

"We shouldn't do this."

"Why not?" He nuzzled behind her ear. She bit back a moan.

Yes, why not? It was hard to remember why not.

Because I love you but you don't love me. You don't even remember me.

"I can't do this, Loki."

He kissed one side of her mouth, then the other. Slowly he drew back and rested his head on the back of the armchair. Jane attempted to get up, but he snaked his arms around her and held her.

With his head still on the back of the chair, he said, "I'm terribly sorry, Jane."

She didn't answer.

"It wasn't my place to kiss you. You don't belong to me."

But I do!

"I had hoped...but I'm a fool."

"You had hoped what?" I'm a fool, too.

He raised his head and looked at her. "The legend. About kissing your bond mate."

"What?"

"I admit that I had every intention of murdering you in your laboratory. You were the reason, or so I believed, that Thor got everything I wanted. But you had something I needed—knowledge of the Tesseract. So I waited. And gradually, grudgingly, I grew to admire your mind. My respect for your intellect and capabilities grows each day. I have never found anyone in the Nine Realms like you."

He bracketed her face with his hands again and gazed intently at her. "You may not need me," he whispered, "but I will never not need you. I could never take your life now." He sighed. "In the end, Thor was the one who exacted revenge."

"Loki? I don't understand." Could he possibly mean what it sounds like he means?

He gathered her to him and rested his chin on her head. They sat quietly for a long moment, breathing each other in, just existing in this bizarre dream space.

"I wish it were true, Jane. I wish that you were mine. Mind, body, heart, and soul. I wish Alie were mine. Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh."

The air had fled the room. Jane's head swam and her eyes flooded with tears. "Loki," she choked out, "why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want to tell the truth to one person in this universe. Odin help me," he continued, "those nights after you nearly died, holding you, I realized that I cared what happened to you. It took me so long to see past my own prejudices, but I finally did it. I saw you, Jane."

Tears streaked unchecked down her cheeks.

Loki rubbed her back. "The torture will eventually kill me. I'm glad. I don't want to fight back. I can't, I won't watch you with Thor. I can't watch him touch you, watch him fill your belly with his babies."

"Loki, no—" Jane began, her voice thick with emotion.

"Don't you see? I've fallen into my own trap. I failed to take you from Thor. And he's already taken you from me. He always has been the better man."

Jane shoved his arms away and sat up, wiping the tears off her face. "Loki, please. Listen to me. You must listen to me. It is true. It is."

He gasped. His eyes had gone weirdly vacant. He set her away from himself and stood.

"Loki? What's going on?"

His face crumpled in pain and then he disappeared.

"Loki?" Jane looked around, expecting to see him across the room. "Loki!"

The next instant dread clutched her guts and her heart rate spiked. Icy fear streaked down her chest and weakened her knees.

"Oh, no," she whispered. She collapsed onto the armchair and panted for oxygen. Waves of terror washed over her. She moaned. Something terrible is happening. They'll kill him. Loki had made her swear not to return to that place of torture, but how could she not? Their bargain, the truce...none of it meant anything if Loki was dead. What can I do? She had no powers, no way of protecting him. It was madness to seek out that place. I have to know. I have to go.

"Alie," she whispered. "I need your help to find your father."

oooOOOooo

Chitauri Space: The Sanctuary

"The mortal will be here soon."

Loki's feet scrabbled for purchase on the ground. He gasped for breath, pain and nausea boiling through his body. The shaft of a Chitauri spear protruded from his shoulder. The curved double-edge blade pinned him to the column in the middle of the cell. Blood soaked his tunic, cold sweat plastered his hair to his head.

"No," Loki grated out. "She...won't...no."

The creature's laugh clashed into his ears and turned his stomach. Loki heaved and bitter bile filled his throat. He coughed and the spear cut more deeply into his body. He screamed.

Control yourself! Jane will sense the disturbance. Loki clamped his jaw shut, drawing blood from his lip. His nostrils flared as he drew frenetic breaths. This is only a dream. Perhaps none of this is real. But the agony ripping through his veins was no illusion.

"Oh, I think she won't be able to resist. Your tie with her is getting stronger. Or haven't you noticed, No-One's-Son?"

What tie?

"The child is growing."

Loki's heart stopped. His tormentor knew that Jane was pregnant. Denying it was useless. "No. She's smarter than—"

"Loki!"

A green blur hurtled toward him.

No!

Frantically, he summoned his magic, but there was only a void.

oooOOOooo

She was in the right place. That same stench of bitter burnt...something...hung in the air. The cave-like atmosphere, the oily air.

Where was Loki?

A screamed echoed through the dungeon. Was that him? She couldn't be sure what Loki screaming would sound like, but it was her only clue. Jane gingerly picked her way across the cracks in the dirt floor, her eyes straining to catch movement or light that would guide her steps. The dungeon, to her relief, appeared to be empty. A faint glow came from around a corner.

A series of smaller cells snaked off from the central chamber around a corner. The pale light came from one of these cells. Jane inched her way around the bend and peered into the first cell. Empty. She drew a deep breath and forced herself to move to the next one.

It's a dream, Foster. Just a dream.

A rough wooden column, as thick as the trunk of a tree, stood in the center of this second cell. Panic wrenched her heart: Loki was fixed to the column by a nasty-looking spear through his shoulder, like some kind of specimen.

"Loki!" she screamed, and ran to him. Her thoughts were scrambled, frantic. What can I do? There has to be something I can do. Loki shook his head wildly and held his good hand out to stop her.

She never reached him. Three steps away, a massive hand circled her neck and jerked her into the air. A fetid smell took away whatever breath she had left.

"Jane! No!" Loki stared at her, his eyes wide, his face paler than death.

Loki looks frightened. Why is he frightened? I can't breathe. I thought this was a dream...

oooOOOooo

No! This cannot be happening. Why is she here? How?

The Torturer spread its mouth hole in an approximation of a grin. "She's lovely, runt. Oh, and there are two of them. I—we—will enjoy them."

Jane screamed, or at least she tried to scream around the throttling grip the creature had on her throat. She kicked and clawed, but her efforts had no effect.

A red haze fell over Loki's vision. He stretched his usable arm and beckoned with his fingers, begging his magic to heed his call. "Koma fjölkyngi," he panted. "Koma fjölkyngi!"

He could feel the power now, straining to be free. It was deadened. Blocked. Shrouded. Sweat dripped off his forehead. His ears filled with the dull roar of fury. Jane's scream was choked off. She cannot be here. This cannot happen.

"I'll leave you to your convulsions, No-One's-Son. I'll show these females their new quarters." It turned away from him.

"This is a dream, Jane!" he cried, the effort excruciating. "Wake up! Wake yourself up!"

"Lo—ki!" came her gagging plea. "Help!"

"It's part of the fabric of my being."

"I don't get how Thanos can take it away."

The world shuddered to a halt. Time became paralyzed around him. Each heartbeat was a crashing timpani.

Jane's cry hung in the air.

They would not take her away from him.

They would not take the child.

He inhaled. His sinews tore. Breath was acid in his lungs.

"Slíta fjölkyngi!" he howled. "Slíta fjölkyngi! Break the spell! Release my power!"

A deep rending shook him. His vision went black, then rushed back in stark clarity. Swells of energy crashed over him, filling his veins with steel and rage. He felt it: the shroud over his magic shredded.

"She is mine!" Loki roared.

The foul creature paused and turned back to him. "How pathetic. Perhaps she was yours. The thing is mine now."

Power and strength flooded his body so quickly that Loki had to snatch the spear out of his shoulder before the muscles and bone healed around the metal. He flew off the column. The Torturer had a second to register that Loki was free before a conjured knife embedded itself in its arm. Jane tumbled to the ground.

Loki fell to his knees beside her. She was motionless, her eyes closed. He cradled her head. Was she alive? "Jane!"

She lifted her whiskey eyes to his stormy ones. "I'm sorry. So sorry."

Another shroud tore...and a whisper seared his soul. I would be bound to you forever.

A shriek rushed toward them: "You'll both die for this, runt!"

"You have to leave now!" He drew in energy and muttered the words he needed.

"Loki! I—"

But she was gone.


**Thanks to Wikipedia for information about iridium.**