Chapter Fifteen
"Are they your soldiers?" Reemanaskel Sumnayth, tenth generation soldier of the Muspelian crown asked Alessia.
"What? No." Alessia laughed. "Of course not."
"But then who will fight? You set this fire as a signal to Surmayath, did you not?"
"Oh." Alessia's look suddenly changed. "Yeah. yeah actually, you guys need to leave." She was addressing the group, but wouldn't raise her gaze to meet anyone's eyes.
"Um, why?" Sam demanded. "Who are you signaling? What the hell is going on?"
"We're not going to leave you here." Clint said firmly.
Alessia was staring at the gravel, rubbing one of her elbows with the opposite hand. "I'm sorry, but it's too dangerous... and I-I have to do this." Alessia said.
An icy, uncomfortable sensation filled Bucky's stomach. Something about the way she said it reminded him of Steve-Steve when he was about to do something dumb and risky.
"'Too dangerous'?" Bucky repeated. "'Too dangerous'?!" Alessia wouldn't look at him, and the ice in his stomach evaporated, boiling into an frothy hot feeling that spread viciously up his chest.
"Alessia, don't be an idiot, if something is too dangerous for all of us, what do you think you can do about it all by yourself?!" Bucky said fiercely. Leave her alone for two days and she's got someone calling her queen and she's setting signal fires. What the hell happened when we lost her?
"Don't tell me what to do!" She snapped. "You have no idea what's going on or what's at stake, so don't tell me I'm being an idiot. This has nothing to do with you-any of you- so you might as well leave."
"Ally," Clint said softly. "We aren't going to leave you, we're your friends and-"
"Friends?" She asked. "Friends?" she repeated, her voice tinged with an edge of hysteria "You lied to me- I thought you were an F.B.I agent or something. You could have told me- I got kidnapped because they thought I was your daughter. And You two" her eyes flashed at Bucky then at Sam. "left me all by myself. Do you know what happened to me when you guys didn't come back?" She demanded, stepping closer. Her gaze flicked between Sam and Bucky, their faces set with guilt. "Do you have any idea what I ended up doing when you guys left me?"
Loki stepped out of the car, still wearing Raisa's likeness as he turned to survey the mess. Surmayath's men haven't gotten here yet. He let out a relieved sigh. I might be able to get her out of here yet.
"Um, I really don't feel right leaving you here." Loki glanced backwards. That pathetic Midguardian driver is still here?
"Leave." He said, using his own, deep male voice to speak the word. He glared icily back, contorting the mask of Raisa's face into something horrible. The driver sped away.
Loki turned back to face the burning factory building. He started a brisk stride towards it when he noticed a van parked a few meters away. He slowed his stride, wary. His eyes flickered from building to building, and he left the image of Raisa glimmering around him. As he walked past the burning building, peering hopefully inside, he cast a wary look back over his shoulder-and was immediately glad that he did, because he caught sight of a small group of people standing behind one of the other buildings. He swiftly threw an invisibility charm up around himself.
It only took him a moment to identify the figures- well most of them. Enough to know that Alessia had found a Muspelian soldier and about a half dozen of his brother's friends. Barton and Rogers were with her. If only they weren't, he might have a chance of convincing them to listen to him. Hopefully one of their number would grasp the situation and do the smart thing and leave.
The location the phone had revealed was a gas station. However Tony and Natasha had barely buckled into one of Tony's many sports cars before a pillar of smoke appeared in the sky, streaming from a building not far from their destination. Tony wordlessly changed their course, but Natasha noticed he looked less confident as they sped down the freeway, the smell of burning rubber seeping into the car despite the closed windows.
"You're starting to think we should have called backup." Natasha said. It wasn't a question.
Before they had left Natasha had suggested they bring Rhodes, Vision, Wanda or Thor with them, but Tony had declined. "You said you know Alessia, right?" He had asked, grabbing a rectangle of metal that looked like a briefcase, but which Natasha knew was actually one of Tony's suits. "She's probably really scared and confused and I don't think bringing the whole team to pick her up is going to make her feel any better. Besides, I think the two of us can take a scepter-less Loki."
Now, staring over the steering wheel towards the abandoned factory complex, Tony chewed the inside of his cheek and had to admit he would have felt more confident with an additional teammate or two. However, when he pulled into the gravel lot, bumping over the train tracks that cut across it, he noticed a large white van, doors still hanging open where it had been abandoned a few yards away from the flaming building.
Natasha, however, noticed something else.
"Who's that?' She asked, pointing at the girl she had seen, dashing towards one of the buildings.
"Where?" Tony asked, taking his eyes from the car to follow Natasha's finger. "I don't see any one. Was it Alessia?" He asked, removing his seatbelt and leaving the car. Natasha followed him out, her brow knit together.
"It was a redhead." She said, staring at the spot she had pointed out. "But she disappeared."
"My lady," Reemanaskel said timidly. "I hate to question your judgement, especially so soon after the honour of meeting you, but I do wonder if your friends have a point."
Alessia turned a fierce gaze at the warrior, who shuffled uncomfortably under her stare. "It's just that I fail to see a strategy in which you are victorious." He said, glancing from Alessia to her newly assembled comrades.
"Victorious against who, exactly?" Steve asked him.
"Surmayath Sayr, conqueror of Surt Sayr, Father of Sinrutha Sayr, rightful queen of Muspelheim." Reemanaskel answered in a strong, practiced voice, and once again bowed his head to Alessia.
"Thats me." Alessia added.
A silence followed this remark as everyone absorbed the information. Rain continued to patter down on the group, while everyone but Alessia- or Sinrutha- and Reemanaskel grew wetter and colder.
"You're a queen? That's ...so cool!" Scott was the first to break the silence.
"But." Bucky was at a loss of words. "But." He said again. Once more he glanced at Sam, who once more seemed just as lost as him. But when he looked at Steve a different look was written on his face.
"Muspelheim…" Steve whispered. "It sounds Norse. Does that mean what I think it means?"
Whatever Steve had thought it meant, however, would have to wait, because at that moment, the ground beneath their feet shook. The sudden jolt caused Alessia, Steve, Sam, and Scott to lose their footing and fall to the ground. Bucky tensed, his balance almost compromised, but stayed on his feet. The shaking stopped as abruptly as it started, but the air seemed different somehow. Clint pulled Sam up while Reemanaskel offered his hand to his queen, who declined, and stood upright on her own along with Steve and Scott.
"I do surely hope you have a plan, my lady." Reemanaskel said, his voice grim. "Because your uncle has arrived."
Tony fell face first onto the gravel, and was pulled upright by Natasha a moment later.
"Earthquake?" She asked him, though her tone made it clear how much she doubted it.
"Do you smell something?" Tony asked.
"It kinda smells metallic, or like…"
"It's chemical…"
"The fire?" Natasha suggested.
Tony glanced around warily. Had the smoke blown down? It seemed a mist hung in the air that hadn't been there before. It could have been his imagination but…
"Over here," Natasha said suddenly, grabbing Tony by the arm and dragging him into the nearest building. She lead him to the nearest window and pulled tugged him down so that they both crouched on their haunches. Tony peered out the broken glass time to see a mass of tall, horned figures shimmering transparent against the building in front of them.
"Nat, I think you were right," He said, watching as the figures slowly became solid before their eyes. "We should have brought backup."
The Muspelian battalion was made up of around a hundred men, and assembled between the spot where Natasha and Tony had stood, and where Loki hid behind his invisibility charm. Loki recognized the commander right away, none other than Surmayath himself.
Surmayath was tall, standing well over six feet, just as Reemanaskel and the rest of the Muspelian warriors. His square face had a fierce, angry look about it, with a heavy brow, and a thick black beard obscuring the lower half. Two horns curled from his head, and a glossy black ponytail lay down his back. His whole body was wide and thick with knotted muscles that rippled like swollen nodules under his skin. His men were all uniformed identically, in deep red wrap fabric and gold-colored armour, similar to Reemanaskel's, but Surmayath wore a black garment with no armour, that left his arms exposed. From a belt at his waist hung a hefty broadsword, at least four feet long in its battered sheath.
For a moment the commander stood surveying the layout, his eyes landed on Alessia and glossed over the other six others who stood with her. He said something to the man who stood next to him, and the man replied back. Loki watched anxiously from his hiding place as Surmayath broke from his army to approach the small cluster that surrounded Alessia.
As he approached, Reemanaskel put himself purposefully in front of the Queen, drawing his sword and assuming a battle ready position. Subtly, Steve, Clint, Sam and Bucky also adjusted their poses to a fighting stance. Alessia took a step back, looking unsteady and unsure of herself. I told her that this was a bad idea. Loki thought gritting his teeth, But there might be one way to get her out of this.
For a moment of dreadful tension, Surmayath swept a lazy glance over the six men who had positioned themselves in front of Alessia, with an manner that displayed his doubt of their threat. Then he spoke, his eyes suddenly bearing straight into Alessia's.
"I must say I'm confused, Sinrutha." His voice was deep, but cracking, like a piece of metal being dragged over gravel."You seem a little under-prepared." He grinned, an awful, leery smile. "I don't suppose you have anything to say before I give my men their orders?"
Here Reemanaskel gave Alessia a slight backwards glance, maybe hoping that she had some kind of plan, but Alessia said nothing. She had her lips pressed together tightly, and she shook her head from side to side, more like she was denying the situation than saying no.
Surmayath drew his sword. "If you surrender now," He said offhandedly to the group at large "Your deaths will be painless."
Alessia pressed her hands over her mouth and closed her eyes. She seemed to be trying very hard not to cry, or not to scream. The others made no move to indicate their assent.
"As you wish," Surmayath said, and he raised an arm to make a motion with his hand.
"Wait!" Loki lifted his invisibility field. He was standing only a few feet in front of Surmayath, directly between him and Alessia, and halfway between Clint and Sam. His appearance caused most of the group to shift in surprise, and both Steve and Clint actively changed their stance to face him as well.
"Laufeyson," Surmayath said, "I didn't know I had the honour of destroying two dethroned sovereigns today." He smirked.
"She wants to enact Malngang." Loki said breathlessly.
Surmayath paused, obviously in deep contemplation. Alessia was still holding her hands over her mouth and looking like she was doing all she could to keep from crying. Steve, Sam, Clint and Scott were anxiously looking from Loki to Surmayath, but Bucky noticed Reemanaskel's reaction. He had relaxed at the word 'Malngang' and seemed to regard Loki with no ill will.
"She has to say it herself to for it to be effectual," Surmayath said after a moment.
"Say it," Loki snapped at once, turning back to Alessia, looking her in the face for the first time since she had run into the highway. Her nose and eyes were red with suppressed tears. He felt a pang of hurt seeing her so scared, but quickly shoved it away. "Say that you challenge him to Malngang."
She hesitated for a moment and so Loki hissed "It means you don't have to watch him massacre your friends."
"I challenge you to Malngang." She said at once.
"Fine," Surmayath said, sounding bored. "When?"
"A year from now?" Loki offered.
"Three days." Surmayath countered.
"Six months." Loki said.
"One week."
"Thirty days."
"Fine," Surmayath agreed. He made a motion to his army with his hand and the strange static filled the air again. "I will send a man to negotiate the location and audience with you in one week." behind him the army was slowly fading to transparent. "Until then," He glanced at Alessia and gave her a leery smile. "You look awfully like your mother, Sinrutha. I killed her too. Farewell."
He touched something on his belt and he, too, slowly dissolved.