Chapter 12: Madness
~∫ Thor ∫~
"Why did you bring him?" Thanos screamed at his brother, pointing towards Ian.
"Loki came with him. I figured I might as well bring him, maybe he can help the doctor?" Althanas tried to explain.
"I do not care. I did not ask for him." Thanos pointed towards the cell where Thor was. "Toss him in there."
Erik started to follow along with Ian, when Thanos put out an arm and stopped him. "Not you. I have a job for you."
"What help can I be? I am not doing anything for you, not after what happened the last time." Erik was adamant.
"Oh, I think you might," Thanos nodded to where Jane was sitting. The woman was simply staring off into space, a blank expression on her face. "I might bring her out of that if you do."
"How can I believe you?" Erik demanded.
"You just have to trust me." Thanos sneered at the man standing in front of him.
"What do you want me to do?" Erik asked.
"Find a way to move Mjölnir," Thanos pointed towards where the hammer lay.
"Good luck with that," Erik replied, laughing. "The only one who can use it is Thor. You have to be worthy of the hammer, and it looks like you aren't."
"I AM WORTHY!" Thanos roared.
"Then why can't you move it?" Erik taunted Thanos. "Why do you need me to figure it out? If you'd left Jane alone, she might have been able to help you. She is a scientist."
"She is a female, and therefore she is useless. Just like that one," Thanos gestured towards Kyrath.
"Wait! I am not useless," Kyrath snapped back, putting her hands on her hips. "You needed me back in Cartherion when my sister took off. And you need me now."
"Really? Prove it!" Thanos challenged her.
"Who you gonna get to find my sister now, since he can't," Kyrath jerked her finger towards Althanas.
"You?" Thanos roared with laughter. "You couldn't find your way out of the Cartherion Council Chamber. How are you going to find your sister?"
"I can see her," Kyrath lifted her chin defensively.
"Well, go find her," Thanos ordered. "In the meantime, put that sniveling fool in with Thor," he gestured to Ian, "and the good doctor can get to work on moving the hammer."
Thor had heard the entire exchange. The fact that Thanos offered to restore Jane to her normal self lifted his spirits, but knowing that Erik Selvig and Ian were here now, disturbed him. He wondered what Thanos was trying to do. Why did he want Erik?
The door to his cell opened, and Ian stumbled in.
"Ian!" Thor moved to the young man's side. "Are you injured?"
Ian sat up gingerly, wincing as he put his hand down. "I don't think so. Where are we?"
"I do not know. What happened? How did you end up here?"
"Loki came to get Erik Selvig. I just sorta went with, 'cause I wanted to find Darcy. We went to some place called Hel," Ian explained sketchily. "Next thing I know, Althanas brought us here, yelling at Loki to go get Katirya."
"Loki? Why did he want Erik?" Thor was confused.
"Thanos told him to bring Erik and Katirya to Hel. And man, that chick that lives there, she is just plain weird," Ian shook his head.
"Hela, you met her?" Thor was very confused. "Why Hel?"
The question was rhetorical, but Ian answered anyway. "Something to do with another place called Niflheim. Loki was warned if he wanted you back, he had to bring Katirya to Niflheim. What is Niflheim?"
"A place worse than Hel," Thor responded cryptically.
~ß~ Katirya ~ß~
Katirya stared at the facility in front of them. The brief stop at Jane's apartment had given Darcy time to look up the locations of the nuclear waste dump closest to Las Vegas.
They had traveled to the outskirts of the facility; a place called Yucca Mountain, and were standing there now. Darcy had assured her that they were fairly close to Las Vegas.
"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Darcy asked skeptically. "I mean, how is this radioactive waste going to find mew-mew?"
"Mjölnir will drain the energy from the waste when we get near it… at least, I hope it will." Fandral replied. "I've seen it do it before, although Thor was carrying the hammer at the time."
"Well, we can hope it will do the same thing without Thor holding it. The hammer's powers are not directly related to the person who wields it," Hogun added.
"So, how are we going to get this stuff? The place isn't exactly wide open. There are, like, guards everywhere!" Darcy exclaimed.
"Just follow me," Katirya said, starting to walk down the hill boldly towards the gates of the facility.
"Uh, Kiri…" Darcy started running down the hill, slipping on the loose rocks. "I don't think this is a good idea."
They were about fifty yards from the gates when a shot rang out, and the bullet hit the ground in front of them, kicking up dust. "Stop where you are!" A voice commanded them.
Katirya stopped and looked up at the guard in his perch atop the fence. "We mean no harm. I simply need to pick up a little sample of the," she glanced at Darcy, whispering "nuclear waste?" Darcy nodded. "Nuclear waste. I need a little of it."
"Sorry, ma'am. But you can't have any. Now go away." The guard barked back.
"Well, I am not leaving without it, so just let us be." fluttering a hand towards the guard, Katirya resumed her march towards the gate.
"I said STOP!" the guard shouted, and sirens immediately began to wail within the facility. Guards could be seen inside the facility, running towards the gates.
Katirya looked at Darcy. "I thought you said this was 'waste,' as in garbage. Why are they protecting it?"
"Um, I think because it is, like, dangerous." Darcy grinned.
"To whom?" Katirya noted that the guards had erupted from the facility and were in the process of surrounding her group.
"Uh, humans, earth…? " Darcy shrugged.
"Well, I have no intentions of letting it do any damage. Do you think I should tell them that?" Katirya asked.
"I get the impression they wouldn't understand," Fandral quipped as he looked around at the array of weapons trained on them.
"Seriously, put those down before someone gets hurt," Katirya admonished the guards surrounding them.
A few of them looked askance at her. "Are you kidding, lady?" one finally asked.
"I only want a little bit of this waste. Now if you will excuse me…" Katirya started to move forward.
The guards raised their guns in warning. "Now, little lady, you just turn around and go back to wherever you came from, got it? Otherwise, we'll be forced to shoot you."
"I am not leaving without some of this waste, so please step aside." Katirya once more began moving.
The first guard, shouted. "Shoot them!" and gunshots rang out.
"GET DOWN!" Katirya shouted, then planting one foot, she spun in a circle, one hand outstretched. The bullets bounced off a clear wall that suddenly appeared between the guards and Katirya's group. Katirya completed one circle, then began a second. Now the dust around them swirled up, causing the guards to lift off the ground. Within seconds, they were contained in a small cylinder, while Katirya and her group were stood outside of it.
"Now, just stay there. I promise we will not take any more than we need." Katirya marched into the facility.
Darcy stared at the guards, stuck in this clear cylindrical prison. "Wow! That was cool!"
•£• Loki •£•
"What do you mean, they just left?" Loki stared at Heimdall.
"Yes, my King. They are searching for Thor. Queen Katirya felt that he is on Earth." Heimdall quickly outlined the plan that the group had come up with.
"Vampires? Or radioactive waste? Are they insane?" Loki walked back towards the portal. "Send me there at once, wherever they went."
"They started at Jane's apartment. From there, I believe they were heading towards a place called Las Vegas," Heimdall's deep voice resounded through the chamber.
Loki closed his eyes and groaned. "I need to find them immediately. Can you locate them?"
The sentry walked to the gateway to the universe. Staring out into it, he nodded. "Yes."
"Send me there."
The first thing Loki saw when he arrived at the nuclear waste facility was the clear container of trapped guards. "Interesting…"
As he spoke, the whir of helicopters was heard overhead, and four branded with the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo landed.
He gritted his teeth, realizing that Katirya was most likely already gone. He was about to call Heimdall to return him back to Asgard, when he noticed Fury jumping out of one of the copters. "Great, just what I don't need."
Fury ran up to him. "LOKI! What have you done now?"
"Actually, it wasn't me… this time," Loki admitted.
"Then who? You are the only one standing here, with all the guards locked up in that… that…" Fury gestured towards the cylinder, "thing!"
"Probably my wife," Loki answered. "I was trying to meet up with her."
"Your wife? You mean that woman you were with back in Ireland? You married her? God help the Universe, especially if you have children." Fury shouted.
"Actually, we are expecting." Loki smiled brightly. "But, if you will excuse me, I am trying to locate said wife. Could you tell me where Las Vegas is?"
"Las Vegas? What would she want in Las Vegas? And what did she want here?" Fury demanded.
"I believe she had decided nuclear waste was easier to find than a vampire," Loki replied with an innocent look on his face.
"Well, that explains why she came here, that's all this place has – nuclear waste. But a vampire? They don't exist." Fury looked at Loki strangely.
"Actually, they do." Loki spoke frankly. "But it would appear she felt it was easier to find nuclear waste, thus the trip here." Gesturing towards the captured guards. "The guards seemed to have taken exception to her interest in the waste. I suppose we ought to let them out."
Fury barely glanced at the guards, who were now pounding on the cylinder. "Hill! Get them out! So why would she be looking for either of these things?"
"To find Thor, who went to rescue Jane." Loki answered, a somber look on his face. "Thanos apparently has captured my brother, and also now has Erik Selvig and Ian."
"How the hell did he get all of them? Especially Thor?" Fury shouted.
"Well, speaking of Hel," Loki walked over, putting his arm over the other man's shoulders, "I know a woman whom you just might like."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Fury pulled out of Loki's hold.
"Well, Hel is where I was, and that is when Thanos got his hands on Erik and Ian. I had gone there, as instructed, although I had not brought Kiri with me, just Erik. Ian was an unexpected, um... guest. I guess you would call him." Loki explained, knowing full well his answer was completely confusing, but that had been his intention.
"Ian was a guest? In Hell?" Fury's mouth gaped open.
"Yes, you could say that. They are still there, unless he has taken them to Niflheim as he said he was. And actually it was Althanas who was taking them there, not Thanos," Loki made sure to provide the correct information. "And I have to return there with Kiri, thus I am trying to catch up with her."
"So, you're saying your wife is trying to find your brother, using nuclear waste because that was easier than vampires? And that Ian and Erik are in Hell? WHY do I feel like something isn't right with this?" Fury glared at Loki.
"Nothing is right with it. Not since Thanos got his hands on Jane Foster. But I honestly do not have time to chat. Since Kiri is not here, if you will just point me towards Las Vegas…"
"I am NOT going to take you to Las Vegas!" Fury shouted.
"Fine, I shall just find it myself. Heimdall!" Loki shouted in return, then disappeared as Heimdall opened the portal.
