Chapter 3 - Glad Tidings, Em-Em!
-o-
Eventually, the aliens lost. Thank god. The aliens lost, and Nora was still holding the God of Mischief's hand. Or perhaps a more apt description would be that he was holding her hand. Rather forcefully so, at that.
They were currently walking down a street, moving toward... Nora had absolutely no idea. Loki was still barely talking to her, and she was getting rather sick of it. She was still confused, but after a whole day of kill-or-be-killed, she was too tired to be confused. She was getting rather annoyed, though.
After turning yet another corner, Nora rolled her eyes. "Loki?"
He glanced at her. "Yes?"
She didn't even know what to ask, or where to begin. "Could you at least tell me where we are going?"
"No."
Nora mentally cursed the man before deliberately slowing down, pulling on his arm to make him stop. Or to annoy him, if nothing else.
He stopped and looked at her, clearly annoyed. "What?"
She raised an eyebrow. "I would like to remind you of a few things. One; I am not some thing you can drag around as you please. Two; did you forget I am human? Which again means I don't have unlimited stamina. I was already exhausted hours ago, and this endless walking without even knowing where we are going or how long we are going to wander around like this - consider me demotivated. Three; I didn't even know that aliens, gods, superheroes, and huge, green men existed until today, and being dragged around like this after the day I've had - well, it's not an activity I would choose. Ever. Four; could you at least talk? I don't even care what you talk about, but Jesus Christ on a candlestick, I'm going nuts. Five; we should probably figure something out before I have to pee, because that's not happening. Six; we should generally figure this out! Seven; I don't know where my friend Emma is, and it terrifies me, because I'm pretty sure she headed out to fight today as well. I need to know that she's okay, or at least not dead. Eight; please stop being a complete asshole. Nine; please stop being a complete asshole. Ten - can you guess what ten is?"
Loki stared at her for a small eternity, and his expression flickered with a mixture of emotions. Mostly it was different levels of anger, but she noticed the brief moment where he just looked…vulnerable. Vulnerable and afraid. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. Man, his eyes were expressive. One just had to pay attention.
After a small eternity, and then another small eternity, his expression changed, and there was a reluctant acceptance there. She even thought she could see a hint of amusement.
Raising an eyebrow, he pursed his lips for a moment before speaking. "Would I be correct if I guessed 'please stop being a complete asshole'?"
She gave him a genuinely amused smile. "Nope. It's actually; wow, so Norse gods are real? That's fucking fascinating! If you are real, does that mean Asgard, Valhalla, and whatnot are real as well? Also, did you actually make Thor dress up like Freyja? And then proceed to successfully make them believe all through the meal that this was, in fact, Freyja?"
He just blinked at first, apparently not at all prepared for the abrupt change in topic and mood. He was probably not prepared for her sudden enthusiasm either, because he narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he was trying to figure out whether she was joking or not.
"I'm not joking, no, because wow, really? Anyway, will you please tell me where we are going?"
He raised an eyebrow. "The grace in which you change conversation topics is astounding."
Nora laughed. "I know. It's one of my skills."
"I cannot wait to hear about the rest," Loki said, and she laughed again. "And no. I cannot tell you where we are going, because I do not know."
Nora was about to say 'what? why?' but managed to stop herself when she realised he probably didn't quite know what to do either, and that just sitting down would just make everything worse. It would make it worse for her, at least.
"All right," she said, shrugging. "In that case, could we attempt to find Emma?"
After gazing at her for a moment, he nodded.
-o-
Nora figured Emma's house was as good as any to start, and when they began walking again, Nora felt much better. It generally felt a lot better if one only had a goal.
She prayed Emma was all right. She had a feeling she was all right, because Emma was most definitely not a damsel in distress. Still, accidents could happen, and Nora had an icy lump of 'what if' lodged in her chest.
"What are you going to tell her when you find her?"
Nora gave Loki a puzzled look. "The truth. Why do you ask?"
"You are going to tell her the truth," he deadpanned. "I'm sure that will turn out just fine."
"Of course it will."
"You cannot be serious."
"Of course I'm serious," Nora said, rolling her eyes. "It'll be just fine."
"What if she recognises me?"
"Recognises you? What do you mean?"
He gave her an annoyed look. "Are you being deliberately obtuse? Did you miss the part where I attempted world domination just earlier today?"
Nora couldn't stop herself from going all sarcastic herself. "Oh shit, that was you? And here I thought I'd found someone who could be the Clyde to my Bonnie. But world domination is perhaps going a bit too far. And then one is expected to actually rule the world afterwards. And that sounds like an ordeal. No thank you."
"Now you are being deliberately obtuse."
"I like to call it sarcasm."
Loki rolled his eyes. "Call it what you like. Now answer my question."
"What if she recognises you? Well, then I'll explain the situation. And if she doesn't recognise you, I will tell her who you are, and then explain the situation."
"That sounds like a terrible idea."
"Well, what do you suggest? Make something up?"
He shrugged. "It may be a good idea to do just that, yes."
"I beg to differ," Nora said, shaking her head. "And even if it was, I would still tell the truth."
"Ah, yes. Humanity's need for doing the Right Thing. Perish the thought of doing something as horrible as telling a lie."
Nora snorted a laugh, something that earned her a curious look from the God of Mischief.
"That's not it," Nora said, giving him an amused look. "Should the situation arise where I would be better off lying, I will gladly lie through my teeth with a smile on my face. And as long as I get away with it, I don't feel bad for a second afterwards. I won't lie if it has consequences for someone else, though. But this is not about morale, or about 'doing the Right Thing' as you so dramatically call it. I am merely choosing the option that will have the best outcome of this situation."
He hummed non-committedly, so she just ignored him.
Nora prepared what she was going to say if – when – Emma opened the door. Nora and Emma had codewords, so they could communicate without anyone else realising. If Nora called Emma Em-Em, that meant 'everything is fine' (they had used this one surprisingly often). Palmy meant trouble. Tidings meant 'follow my lead. Interim meant 'wait'.
And a lot more. It was genius.
-o-
Nora held her breath while waiting for Emma to open the door. What if she wasn't here? What if something had happened? What if-
Emma opened the door, and Nora spoke before Emma could say anything. "Hey, Em-Em."
Emma had frozen for a second, but hearing Em-Em made her relax, and she stepped forward to put her arms around Nora's neck. "Thank god you're all right. I went to your place earlier, but you weren't there. I was worried."
"Sorry. It's been one hell of a day," Nora said as she wrapped her one free arm around Emma's waist. "But, glad tidings, Em-Em – no more hole in the sky."
Emma stepped back, glancing between Nora and Loki. "I'm guessing there's a story here somewhere."
Nora sighed, but gave Emma an amused look. "Emma, meet Loki, Loki, meet Emma."
Loki nodded stiffly at Emma, but Emma gave him a smile anyway.
"It's been a rather odd day, to say the least," Nora said, shaking her head. She turned to look at Loki. "Do you want to tell the story, or should I?"
Loki huffed, rolled his eyes, but then waved impatiently, and Nora took this as a 'just get on with it already'.
She shrugged, and gestured at Loki before beginning to speak. "The short story? Loki, who is an actual Norse god, because apparently Northern mythology is not so much mythology as it is a reality. Thor is somewhere in the city as well, Mjolnir and all. Anyway, Loki was the one who opened that hole in the sky, and then wreaked havoc on New York with his alien army."
Loki tensed up next to Nora, and his expression was rather stormy. Nora ignored it.
Emma's eyebrows rose in surprise, but that was the only reaction, and Nora gave Emma a mental applause.
"All right," Emma said, frowning slightly in confusion. "I have a feeling there's more to this story."
"I was chased by five aliens - they were rather persistent - and I knew I had to get away, so I jumped up on a car, and hitched a ride with one of those spacewagonship-things. Of course that was a so-so solution, because suddenly I found myself quite high in the air. The alien flew over Stark Tower, thankfully, and I jumped off. Loki was there, then Thor arrived, and Loki grabbed me, we had a brief hostage-situation, which ended when I happened to touch his hand. Long story short – apparently I can lift mind-control by touching."
Emma's eyes lit up in understanding, and Nora inwardly applauded her friend again.
Emma gestured at their hands. "Which explains the hand-holding."
"Exactly."
"All right, I understand," Emma said, nodding. "So what are you going to do now?"
Nora sighed. "Excellent question."
"I do loath the idea, but Asgardian help would be the wisest choice at this point," Loki said, sighing. "Which means Thor."
Nora shrugged. She was quite frankly too tired for anything else. "As good as any place to start, I suppose."
Loki looked…defeated, quite frankly. Exhausted. And that was probably why he tolerated it when she bluntly explained what had happened.
"I suspect they are at Stark Tower. But I am uncertain as to whether or not I will be a welcome sight. I am not certain it is the best idea to show up uninvited."
"Well, if you can't go, that means I can't go," Nora said before rolling her eyes. "This day… Jesus, this day… Anyway! If we can't go, how are we going to do this? Because someone needs to speak to them."
There was a long moment of silence before both Loki and Nora turned their gaze on Emma.
"I'll just get my coat, then, shall I?" Emma quipped, and vanished into the flat for a moment. She came back outside, locked the door, and turned to look at the two people holding hands. "All right, let's go then."